irateplatypus

I've seen a lot of debate on this board, my personal discussions with people i know, and on tv about the nature of the muslim hate for the western world... and more specifically, the United States.

Obviously, the problem of the mid-east brand of terrorism will not stop unless one or both of these two things happen:

1. We kill everyone who would do us harm.
2. Those who would do us harm or we ourselves are changed in a fundamental way that dissuades them from this course of action.

a lot of people tell me the problem cannot be solved until the israeli/palestinian conflict is over. i hope this is not true, because many of those who take the measures of acting/supporting terrorism do not consider victory anything short of eliminating israel altogether. so, it seems that if there are always going to be people who believe that israel shouldn't exist... then the overall root of terrorism can only be destroyed by either the end of israel or the death of those who will not compromise.

i hear a lot of appeasement talk also... that somehow harsh economic conditions are the cause of terrorism. "if only we'd hold out a compassionate hand..." sort of stuff. i don't buy that for a second. the vast majority of the 9-11 hijackers (as well as a large percentage of the terrorist funding/personnel) came from saudi arabia... one of the richest countries in the world. if every single person in that country isn't well-enough off, it is only because of their government... not ours.

so this leads me to believe that we are fighting eachother as purely a war of ideology. and, i can honestly say... i am certain this war has been fomented by the muslim world and not the west. i and everyone i know would be appalled by the burning of a mid-east country's flag or an effigy of one of their leaders. we do not hate the muslim world... they hate/mistrust us to a degree that i think the average American isn't aware of.

what has caused this ideological schism? short of all-out war, is there any realistic way to bridge the gap? i sure hope so.

after all that has happened in history... what can we do from now on best deal with the present ideological divide? what can we do to prevent future ones?

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill