We are NOT in a war with Islam, but with extremists who happen to be Muslim. You know as well as I do AAA that stating we are at war with Islam would have catastrophic consequences. It is precisely what the extremists would want, polarize the situation and give legitimacy to their cries that it is a Jihad they are waging that ALL Muslims must join in against the Infidel. And how would that sit with American Muslims, who number in the millions and were just as aghast about 9/11 as their non-Islamic fellow citizens were? What would you propose we do with them? Repeat the forced evictions, illegal seizure of property, and internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII? Yes some mosques in this country preach hatred against the US and the Saudis continue to pump money into them. You're right that we should do something about that Saudi funding, but you can't shut down a mosque anymore than you can shut down the White Power Christian "churches" for preaching hate and encouraging murder against minorities. I feel far more threatened by a racist skinhead "fellow American" than I do by your average American Muslim. And BTW, our "way of life" happens to include freedom of religion and speech, among other things.
Pabst, you need to read more of my posts and get a sense of what my views are before jumping to conclusions. Then again, if you advocate declaring war on Islam and thus all Muslims worldwide, it won't do any good. Care to answer the question about what to do with American Muslims? Is the camps your answer? P.S. By the way, I didn't shed any tears over Koresh, but I sure felt sorry for the 25 or so children who died.
I am not trying to "discount" in any way, shape, or form the barbarous act of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his execution of Nick Berg. It was a heinous act, and one that I hope our Country responds to in a swift and decisive manner. That being said, it was interesting to learn tonight on the 10:00 news that the U.S. Military "detained" Nick Berg for 13 days before releasing him. Michael and Suzanne Berg believe that their son Nick would still be alive today had he not been "detained". As a result, they have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Nick Berg had been missing since April 9th.
On a day when we are all nauseated to the core by the execution of Nick Berg (who was Jewish), I will not let this thread be polluted by the likes of grimer11. His second offensive post was deleted (though reference to it can be seen in Hello_Dollars' reply) but his first remains. Going through this moron's posts, one will find little about trading and a lot about hate. Baron, please ban this idiot immediately. Moderators, one of you please, send me the IP details of this moron. I will exercise discretion and not divulge your identity. I will forward it on to some friends of the Berg family. I shall keep repeating this post till grimer11 is silenced.
For those of you that read Sum of All Fears, do you think Jack Ryan was wrong to stop the President from ordering the destruction of Qom at the end - after Denver was destroyed? I do. And I think the American people would demand no less. Geo.
The thing is hapaboy, muslims very much do tend to view the US as being 'at war' (albeit a limited one) against their religion. I would bet my life that if you sat down for a dinner at any household in the muslim world and asked them and they answered you honestly their answer would be along the lines of "yes, America is against muslims." Now, that's just the mild, casual view of things; a view, like I said, virtually every single muslim would support. So let's get that straight: muslims already interpret every foreign policy move America makes as being "against muslims". Then you have the more extreme view, which is also wildly popular in many places, that america is at war against Islam, the religion itself. Not a war whose goal is to eliminate Islam, but rather to control it and make it subserviant to the west (the US). And of course there is the most extreme view that this is a holy war to the end, until there's one man left standing. Ultimately, however you cut it, the war, in muslim eyes, is seen through the lenses of religion. So, really, regardless of what we think of it, to those opposing us, it is very much a holy war. And whether or not we choose to alter our tactics accordingly, it's about time we admitted to ourselves the reality of the situation.