Confronting Islamic terrorism in the long term (moral, America, recall)

[Mr Spinkles]

Originally Posted by Gerani1248

Arabs? as in arabians? as in saudi arabia?

Sorry, I wasn't very specific--instead of Arabs I should have said people in the Middle East.

[LittleNipper]

Originally Posted by civilcynic

I saw an interesting piece on tv last night where reporters were in an Arab community in Great Britain. They were asking individuals about their views of dmocracy for the Arab world. I was very surprised at their responses. Not one individual was supportive of democracy. All of them viewed it as a part of western civilization which they felt was in direct conflict with Islam. Each of the people interviewed basically said the same thing....(paraphrased) 'all we need is Islam...we do not need democracy. Islam provides us with our way of life including how to govern ourselves.'

Well, see this is just the thing. They don't want democracy for the "HOMELAND"
because it's "contrary" to their religious persuasion, yet they are eager enough to move to the West in order to reap all the benifits that a democratic society offers. I would call that HYPOCRICY. If Islam is all that it is suppose to be, then its adherents are committing a grave error by moving to the West. Here I can listen to a man speak against Christianity. Just go to an Arab nation and try to speak out against the faults of Islam. The simple fact is that as a Christian I know GOD will deal with "the infidels" He doesn't need me to beat them up. The fact is that most Moslems don't believe that way or they'd either simply listen or turn a deaf ear... But that's HYPOCRICY for you. Oh,
I don't believe that the Roman Catholic church represented Christianity at all.
What that did represent was man's attempt to control what everyone else believed, in order to CONTROL THE MASSES...

[Ardhanariswar]

i sorta agree. if england was entirely ruled by a church and there was no democracy, arabs would not be allowed to speak their mind. well, they would probably be kicked out or converted.

im all for democracy. freedom is good. but hello! the majority of the people in the middle east are... middle eatern! so there barely would be any conflict if the country was ruled by islam. BUT if the US was ruled by a church, that would be bad, cuz there are several several non christians. plus, christians have no right to rule that land anyways.

[trishtrish10]

u all need to research other sources on iraq. not all media sources portray reality there. the curds in the north are the most industrious and ingenious and the majority group. after wwl, the curds in southern turkey, western iran, and nothern iraq wanted their own sovereign nation but were denied that. the bath party in the middle of iraq headed by saddam used torture and fear to rule the shiites in the south and curds in the north. the shiites are the second largest group. all three now must be represented in government and the oppressed now rule. hopefully they won't repeat saddams cruelty, especially since all are fairly represented now. woodrow wilson foiled the curds desire for their own country.

[trishtrish10]

the american indians used torture and terrified settlers. terrorism has existed for centuries. i terrorized a terrorist once on the internet by thretening to turn him into the fbi. he left the chat room in a hurry.

[trishtrish10]

what exactly is terrorism

[Ardhanariswar]

the american indians used torture and terrified settlers. terrorism has existed for centuries.

that may be true, but the majority of them were provoked. it was more like the white people terrorize the peaceful native americans. and they still do. its very sad. forcing them on *reservations* the worst piece of dead land in the americas. read the book bury my heart at wounded knee. you see a repetive pattern of how whites promised them everything, but broke thme and tortured and kill the indians.

you have been watching way to many cowboy westerns. lol.

and now bush wants to fight terrorism? i laugh, this country was made by hypocrites.

[Feathers in Hair]

One thing I love, that I learned when I began sacred drumming, is that one of the drum-beats most often heard in Westerns, traditionally played as the 'natives are preparing to attack' part, is that that particular drum-beat is most often used in worship ceremonies. So, here they are, trying to potray these people as viscious, and what you're hearing in the background is 'honor to the creator, love to the universe'.

Maybe not on-topic, but it made me laugh.

And terrorism is being a bully. What you make of that depends on your own personality.

[anders]

As always, discussions on Islam tends to centre on Arab countries and the Middle East. Let's make a list of the nations with most Muslim adherents. How many of you can name the top four? Where on the list would the first Arab country be? Try not to peek.





Country Number
of Muslims
1. Indonesia‎ 170,310,000‎
2. Pakistan 136,000,000‎
3. Bangladesh 106,050,000‎
4. India ‎ 103,000,000‎
5. Turkey ‎ 62,410,000‎
6. Iran ‎ 60,790,000‎
7. Egypt ‎ 53,730,000‎
8. Nigeria ‎ 47,720,000‎
9. China ‎ 37,108,000‎

[Mr Spinkles]

Hmmm, good point anders. Perhaps I should have said "Confronting Middle East terrorism in the long term"...

Then again, Islamic terrorism is definitely linked to the Middle East, even though incidents of Islamic terrorism occur in many other countries. International Islamic terrorism feeds off of Muslim frustration with affairs in the Middle East (especially the Israeli Palestinian conflict) and a sense of historical humiliation for which the West is deemed responsible.

So, when talking about Islamic terrorism around the world, I do think it is appropriate to talk about problems in the Middle East, as the problems in the Middle East are the main causes of most international Islamic terrorism.