jseal:
>I noticed two assertions in your fifth post:
“The action was taken by a handful of extremists ...”
>Are you restricting the events of September 11th to only those actors who were on the aircraft? If so, then I must say that that seems to be unrealistic, as that excludes the organization which recruited, trained and financed them. If you are referring to the Al Qaeda organization which has operated in Afghanistan, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, the United States, and Yemen, then that hand must be very large indeed to hold all those extremists.
I was referring to the specific attack of 911, which was one of the main catalysts for the events currently unfolding. The group of individuals in those planes were part of the al Queda network. This is the "handful" that I was referring. In retrospect, the words "small minority" fits better. Although this organization is wide-spread, its numbers were relatively small. I apologize if I was unclear in my meaning.
>“… they view our country as a large, unstoppable juggarnaut that regularly stomps on their own lives, freedoms, etc. History, even recent, proves that they are justified in their feelings.”
>While I lived in the Middle East, I did get the sense that the general opinion was that American Foreign Policy was tilted decidedly, and inappropriately, towards the Israeli position. That is (was – it has been 16 years now) however, decidedly different from one which regularly stomps on their lives, freedoms, or any thing else. To what are you referring when you say this, and what Arab/Muslim history which involves the United States proves that they are justified in those feelings?
Without digging up reference books I'll throw out the Isreali/Palestine situation and the U.s.'s intrusive influence in this situation, the U.S.'s heavy involvement and strong support of the Shah of Iran, the United States is fighting a war in Afghanistan whose own roots extend not only to a terrorist attack on our nation but to a revolution in Afghanistan-supported by the U.S.-out of which Osama bin Laden and his al Queda network were bred, Bush's clumsy and ignorant words including the fighting of a "Crusade" on an internationally televised address, etc.
These actions and others taken by the white "christian world" can all be looked at to get a better understanding of why so many Middle eastern people have concerns about our government. Whether there is an absolute "right or wrong" here is really an unanswerable question. What is important is that we have an awareness of how we are perceived and why. Too often I hear people who I consider to be intelligent free thinkers saying that "those people just hate us, they always have and always will". Hatred always has a birth, a beginning, a starting point. Again, I DO NOT say that we deserve to be hated or be violently attacked. What I am saying is that every single person develops beliefs, emotions, etc based on their perception of the world and people they are surrounded by. *Whew, it is getting late and I fear I am rambling. ;p*
>Now, I happen to agree that American Foreign Policy is limited by the degree to which it parallels that of Israel’s. The current resident of 10 Downing Street has probably regretted his decision to so closely associate HM’s Iraq policy with the one issued from Pennsylvania Avenue.
Agreed.
>Irish’s allusions to warfare have value in the sense that a well funded organization can, and has, directed attacks against American civilians and military around the world. At what point is a sovereign nation entitled to act on the behalf of its overseas interests, and, given the record of Al Qaeda, what would you consider appropriate?
I do not consider attacking said organization when it is identified. I do consider the attack in Iraq a crime against the people there. There has never, never been any evidence that Hussein has ever supported terroristic attacks against us that I'm aware of and he certainly has never made any terroristic threats against us. Closest he came to that was stating that Iraq would fight if invaded.
Thanks for the questions and I hope that I am being more clear than I previously was. Feel free to ask more or pm me if you'd like to continue this.
Fred