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Originally posted by Mr Mephisto
Well, I'm no fan of Arafat. But simply IGNORING the Palestinian side is just stupid. I'm astounded you think acting that way will improve things.
What do you expect of the Arab fundamentalists? They consistently see "anti-Arab" actions and policies on the part of the US. I don't condone anti-American terrorism (or any terrorism for that matter). But I understand why it happens.
And what you can understand, you can address.
Mr Mephisto
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Good conversation so far (let's keep it that way
)
Anyway, I wanted to say something here, specifically regarding:
Quote:
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What do you expect of the Arab fundamentalists? They consistently see "anti-Arab" actions and policies on the part of the US.
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I would argue that they
selectively see "anti-Arab" actions and policies and frequently where they don't exist.
For example, there is frequent distortion and outright lies in the Arab press regarding US actions in the world, including Iraq. I can't name the number of times I've been on an Arab news website and seen the spin about "killing children" or "terrorist actions" when more moderate sources reveal that US troops responded to being fired upon first. Arab news also regularly demonizes the Jews, including spreading lies such as how they use Palestinian babies in blood rituals.
There is also notable silence in criticizing fellow Arabs, even when they are in the wrong. (Salmon Rushdie commented on this when he said, "Where is the Muslim outrage?")
For example, the reason we didn't finish off Hussein in 92' was because the Arab countries in the coalition REFUSED to go with us into Bagdad, even though the man started a war with Iran and Kuwait. Seems that their hatred of having the US invade a Muslim country was greater that their hatred of a man that caused the death of hundreds of thousand Muslims.
The extremists also have snubbed the US when we've sent aid to Muslims in earthquake areas and they have ignored the efforts of many US presidents to bring peace to the middle East (because of course, they won't settle for anything less than the destruction of Isreal).
And there is the heart of the matter.
There is a faction of extremists that WILL NOT STOP killing Israelis and ANYONE who supports them.
Also they WILL NOT STOP killing anyone who is NOT a Muslim in "muslim" lands, (which btw, they want to keep expanding), nor will they accept any law that isn't "Sharia" (which they also wish to expand.)
So while I can agree that there is some oppression, there is also a great amout of Islamic bigotry and hatred that is purely homegrown.