Guest SP-1 Report post Posted June 24, 2004 No. Planes crashing into the twin towers on September 11, 2001, the bombing of the USS Cole: that is at the core of the problem. Extremists, not mere fundamentalists, beheading innocent Korean civillians: that is the core of the problem. An American public blinded by the word "religion" and without a base knowledge of the different belief systems and the very definitions of the word "God" being used: a problem just as big and just as important. I don't believe Bush went to war for Jesus. If he did then he missed the point. If he's calling all Americans "God's people" in a blanket statement, he's forgotten a few things. We went to Iraq because intelligence provded pointed to Saddam Hussein acting with militant terrorist intent. The President of the United States has fallen back on his personal beliefs to shape his worldview (as all of us do), and to strengthen himself in the midst of the enormous stress that running a country at war deals out. If Bush's personal beliefs were, "War is stupid and we should do nothing," then most people wouldn't have a problem with him (until their neighborhood is bombed or a loved one dies on a plane-bomb sometime or is beheaded while doing civillian work overseas trying to help restore an oil pipeline necessary to the region's economic growth and survival). How terrible it is to have a President with convictions. Who is not a milksop. Who is busy trying to protect our country and help other countries and maintaining his marriage and family instead of buckling under stress and getting a blowjob from an intern. Personally, I think the biggest offensive blow in the war would be to just pull out and let them fend for themselves. Sometimes it's what you've got to do to let someone see the severity of their situation. Which is unfortunate but our forces can be concentrating on other things closer to home and in quieter things abroad: like directly going in and tearing Al Qaeda apart from the ground up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Agent of Oblivion Report post Posted June 24, 2004 These people would not be attacking us if they weren't psychotically religious. This isn't about national pride, or political statements, it's about whackjobs hopped up on Allah and their Christian and Jewish counterparts blowing each other up. Also, name one spot where I mentioned the words "president" or "bush" in my post...I don't even know where you were going with that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen Joseph 0 Report post Posted June 24, 2004 No. The core of the problem is that you have a region where governments can extract their 'rents' 'profits' 'operating incomes' without having to tax their populace. Historical theory and anecdotes indicate that when you have a monopolistically extractive resource, a government will co-opt, use it, and to hell with accountability. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest SP-1 Report post Posted June 24, 2004 It was more a general rant that grew out of your "core of the problem" comment, AoO. It wasn't entirely directed at you. My bad. To respond to you more directly though: there's still a difference between the extremist and the merely devout. The problem itself isn't religion (though, as a Christian I tend to dislike even religion itself) or beliefs. The problem is those who distort the message and take it to violent extremes. There are peaceful muslims in the world. There are alot of stupid people that do stupid things in the name of Christ who I'd like to soundly throttle. Then there are those of us with our head on straight with some degree of non-partisan education on our beleifs who are more concerned about the effect we have on the person next door and the world in positive ways. In a way, you're right: religion is the problem. But it depends on what you mean by religion. Your definition and mine might differ for fairly obvious reasons if it came out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Agent of Oblivion Report post Posted June 24, 2004 When the word "Allah" and scripture are quoted explaining an attack, it was religiously motivated. Same god, dumber person. Doesn't change the religion at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted June 24, 2004 When the word "Allah" and scripture are quoted explaining an attack, it was religiously motivated. Same god, dumber person. Doesn't change the religion at all. I'll still argue that they are subhuman monkey fucks who are simply dressing up evil in the cloak of religion to try and make people think what they're doing is even remotely acceptable. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
