>From: Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>
>>John Clark wrote:
>> Until about 100 years ago that was absolutely 100% true. Since
>>then their particular franchise of idiotic has been the bane of
>>the civilized world.
>Perhaps you should consider the claim that it was roughly 80
>years ago when the Arab world started feeling massively
>interfered with by the West. The time would be about right. Or
>do you believe a 1400 yr old religion just took a turn for the
>worse for no reason at all? I would also point out that the Arab
>world was much more "civilized" when the west was still largely
>barbaric. We tend to forget these things and see only the
>perspective of today and only a small part of that.
We should try to remember that Islam is as fractionalized as
Christianity. There is a big difference between the many general
forms of Islam and the fierce absolutism of Deobandi Islam taught
in the Pakistani madrassas. Think along the lines of an even more
right wing Jerry Falwell. Think fundamentalists.
We should not however buy into the nonsense that this somehow all
our fault. It is typical to blame a scapegoat, especially one that
is well off, for all your problems. The poor in this country
generally try to scapegoat the rich for example. Don't let them
guilt you.
We should continue to go after those responsible for the atrocity,
and their sponsors, while at the same time doing everything humanly
possible to protect the neutral, and the innocent.
And it's wouldn't hurt to start thinking about the endgame. As soon
as we're willing to admit publicly that toppling the Taliban is
part of the game plan, we should alert the U.N. so that peace
keeping troops and humanitarian assistance can be prepared to help
rebuild a very troubled land.
We can count in aid dollars who is just talk.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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