RE: [Iraq] The real reason for the war

From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Sat Jun 07 2003 - 14:11:45 MDT

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    From: Spudboy100@aol.com [mailto:Spudboy100@aol.com]
    > On your points 3 and 4; one might then conclude that the
    > disuasion of radical, militant Islam as practiced by
    > Salafists, Wahabbis, and Shiite Ayatollahs, as well as their
    > Baathist cohorts, would thus be in your interests?

    IMO, the reduction of fundamentalism in the world is in just about
    everyone's interests. Certainly I think it's in the interests of both
    the US and vast majority of people living in the middle east.

    > The
    > Egyptian government has surely followed the Saudi practice of
    > blame the USA since Sadat's assasination, as a means of
    > deflecting due criticism for failed economic policies.

    Yes. Most of the arab governments use the US (and Israel) as
    convenient scapegoats to deflect people's attention away from their
    awful situation and the vast corruption of the dictatorial regimes
    that rule them.

    > Since
    > nothing seems to be more poweful then power in this old
    > world, what are we to do to disusade militant, radical, Islam
    > (and its non-Muslims supporters) from practicing nuclear
    > guerilla warfare?

    Prosperity and freedom undermine fundamentalism. Fundamentalism
    thrives in areas where people are oppressed, poor, uneducated, and
    have few prospects for the future.

    So again, I see tackling oppression and poverty as the only viable
    long-term strategies to reducing terrorism. And I see US cultural and
    economic might as the most effective tools to accomplish this.



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