I'm convinced that if the U.S. were libertarian, even libertine, that many Muslims would think of us as corrupt...but I don't think much organized effort would be directed against us.
Exactly. You don't stress about the weirdos living at the end of the street if you can tune them out. Maybe it even boosts your self-righteousness to have such counterexamples.
Well, I'm also not sure I by the "Muslims are by nature fundamentalist" line of thought. Of course, I'll probably take some heat for this, but to a large extent a local population with its own culture, etc..., when under siege or the pressure of extermination, often revert to something akin to a "fundamentalism", in order to codify the rules of identity that are being nullified. It's possible that if the US had not maintained such a strong, interfering presence in the middle east for so long, the desirability of a Muslim form of fundamentalism might be greatly reduced (and for history buffs it should be noted that for most of its history, the Islamic world has not been particuarly fundamentalist). Note that Wahabism orignated in Saudi only mid-late 1800s, and probably didn't take a real firm root until the US start getting involved (hum....something to be said for Dave Emory's theory about the Wahabis being 'Islamo-Fascists'...)
I agree the above would be bullshit if it weren't on some occasions demonstrably true. After the US helped get the Taliban rolling (through providing them with stingers and other weapons as well as subversive opps training to knock out the soviets), Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto said to Bush I "You know you have created Frankenstein's Monster"...
SO if we hadn't been screwing around in the middle east for so long, perhaps the world would look entirely different.
As for our troops, qwell, on some level it must be acknowledged that every man is utlimately responsible for his actions. And in this case, it's pretty evident that Iraq hasn't attacked us. But then again, perhaps weak schools make good soldiers.
-TD
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