X-Message-Number: 27077
References: <>
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: Combatting Terrorism, to Flavonoid
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:38:32 +0200

On 16 Sep 2005, at 03:10, Beth Bailey wrote:

> Flavonoid wrote:
> <This reminded me of the historical stories of the Christian  
> religion in the
> <Dark Ages, specifically, the "Inquisition."  Western civilization  
> mostly
> <rid itself of that mindset, which is very similar to the Muslim  
> minority
> <today, mentioned above.  Good historians should be able to answer the
> <question of "how did they get rid of the Dark Ages mentality?".
>
> There are various theories of how this happended including:
> The Protestant Reformation
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation
> And the subsequent Age of Enlightenment / Reason
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enlightenment
>
> Many pundits hope to see a similar movement emerge in the Middle  
> East, where moderate Muslims will actively speak out against  
> extremism, condemn violence, marginalize the terrorists, and  
> support reason, science, human rights as well as equality for  
> women. The best resource for learning about what is happening in  
> the Middle East is Robert Spencer's web site,
> http://www.jihadwatch.org/
>

Any idea that the situation in the Middle East is somehow independent  
of the ongoing support of regimes in that area by Western governments  
is inadequate. Start with the betrayal by the British, when they  
reneged on their promise to give the area independence in return for  
help in the 1st World War, then the undermining of the democratic  
government of Iran by the CIA, and finally the support of Saddam  
right up to the Gulf War - not to mention the full support of Saudi  
Arabia, the most regressive government in the area, for almost a  
century. Then we have to consider the largest receiver of American  
aid, Israel, which continues a brutal occupation that includes  
torture and murder on a daily basis. Egypt also receives billions  
each year from the US, but hey, they are heading toward democracy  
with their first "free" election, now if Hosni Mubarak just allowed  
the opposition to champaign and stopped stuffing ballot boxes ....

A better understanding of the current situation, is as one of  
implicit cooperation between ultra-conservative Christian  
fundamentalists and their Muslim counterparts, the Wahabis - a  
puritanical Saudi Islamic sect. Since "Anyone who isn't with us is  
against us," the moderates on both sides are treated as traitors with  
the risk of being locked up indefinitely without trial, or simply  
finding their heads rolling - literally. Michael Moore's film,  
Fahrenheit 9/11, provides plenty of support for this view:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/


The number of terrorist attacks in the two years after the invasion  
of Iraq was the same as that which had occurred during the previous  
twenty years. You know the old saying that charity begins at home?  
Connect the dots ...


dss


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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