Note that they also murder other Muslims. In fact... it's not the Muslim part of "Muslim Extremists" that bothers me.

Extremists in any regard are dangerous. Our was isn't against "Muslims." It's against Extremists.

It's very important to differentiate that and not take our agressions and personal emotions out on non-combatants just because they practice a different religion.

Show me where in the Quran it says to wage Jihad. In my studies I have not found anything that I consider directives to go out and "convert by the sword".

It does permit defense of religion: "To those against whom war is made, permission is given [to defend themselves], because they are wronged - and verily, Allah is Most Powerful to give them victory." (22:39)

In fact, it contains many moral statements similar to the Bible.

Take the time to study Islam before spouting "We are at war." and justifying your hatred based on stereotypes and generalizations.

One of the premises of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" speaks of knowing your enemy (and yourself) in order to best succeed on the battlefield. I often wonder if in this day and age of "isolationism" the United States knows either.

 

You read the Koran, I'll read the news papers and history books.

 

Then you are forever doomed to live your life by stereotypes and false premises. Even history is subjective.

 

remember that the history books are written by the victor, and dont usually give both sides of the story. and if you are so foolish to believe everything you read in the paper or magazines well then you need to take a long look in the mirror. pull your head out from under the covers.

the AP and reuters paint a nice picture of all the great things we do diplomatically, but if we really only have the best of intentions then why do so many people dislike us.

 

Believe what they say, but not what they do?

I cannot believe that people would rather form opinions about a nation, religion, people etc by swallowing their PR line instead of looking at their real world actions. This false belief that all cultures are just as valid as each other and the worship of political correctness are the reasons that we cannot win this clash of civilizations. They know who the enemy is, and are willing to die to kill us. We criticize each other for pointing out the obvious, and value the opinion of the enemy more than our own survival.

This is my last post on this topic. This is supposed to be an aviation board. sorry to take it so off topic.

 

I cannot believe that people will make generalizations about MILLIONS of people based on the actions of a few thousands of radicals.

 

The hard reality is that a large percentage, perhaps a majority, of muslims worldwide provide emotional support to the radicals. A somewhat smaller percentage provide financial and materiel support. This is not a secret to anyone who has been immersed in the arab world...there was dancing in streets on 9/11.

 

I don't know if it was a majority. I agree that there were those that were seen on TV in the streets celebrating. However, we really don't know how many people actually support radical groups. IF TV shows thousands of people in the streets, there are generally tens of thousands that didn't come out to celebrate. Shots of "mobs" of crowds can often be deceiving, especially with media spin and ratings always at the forefront.

There were many outraged Muslims that were pouring out emotion for the victims of 9/11.

All that I am saying is that it is dangerous to derive conclusions about an entire group of people or an entire religion based on the actions of small fractions of the population.

I know and have worked with many happy, outgoing, intelligent, friendly, and otherwise socially stable and society-contributing Muslims, and I'm proud to call them friends.

 

That may be true, but it's also the definition of the ideal sleeper cell member!

 

I have spent enough time over there to have a reasonable feel for it. Pre-9/11 I had more freedom and opportunity to experince arab society than most westerners have today due to security issues. There are lots of things I like about it, and I have some friends also who are firmly in the good-guy camp.

I also hate to stereotype, but a VERY large percentage of folks over there have sympathies of varying degrees to the WRONG side in this conflict. How many exactly? Hard to say...it's not easy to quantify something like that, but it has to be around 50%, with a wide margin of error. We are NOT simply confronting a tiny handful of radicals, we are confronting an entire culture and an inseparable religion.

Whatever the solution or solutions to the problem are, we will never find them by sticking our collective head in the sand in regards to the underlying realities of this conflict.