gtZip wrote:pffft...
While your at it, go back and read some history of the middle east and European relations, starting, oh I dunno... about a thousand years ago and forward.
They attacked us, because they see us as the figurehead, or the strongest pillar, of the 'great satan'.
Then again some people would have you believe that we attacked our selves.
If that ever turns out to be true, then just diregard anything I've ever typed.
I have looked at the history, Zip.
For nearly 2 centuries, they left us alone, probably due to the promise that Geo. Washington made to them in 1789, in which he stated that in no way is the USA a "christian nation," & he promised we would not to meddle in their affairs.
Shortly after the oil wells sprang up in the 30's, however, our policy of non-meddlement seemed to change.
Jump to 1946...we, with the UK & the USSR, decided to establish the new country of Israel. Prior to this, the state of Palestine was run mostly by moslems, while Jews were not only in residence there, but also held some gov't offices. At this point, however, we decided to oust the gov't, install Jews who had never seen their historic holy land, & hadn't even held office in any gov't before, & declared it a good thing to do.
Of course, the newer Jewish ppl only had their "history" to go by, & the two religions had had many prob's in the not-so-distant past, although in the years just prior to 1946, there were far fewer troubles than there had been for many years. The new gov't switched things, as they are wont to do, & made the Palestinians into 2nd class citizens, stripping them of their ancesteral properties & turning them over to the transplants, who were angry, had been ousted from their own countries & after some horrid stuff had been done to them. They were very eager to rule, to control their destiny, & they didn't care much about who got hurt outside of their own ppl.
Jump a decade or two later, & you'll find the USA removing the gov't that was in place in Iran, & placing the Shah, our own puppet ruler, at the head of their gov't. A decade or two later, of course, they had had quite enough of this, took over the USA embassy, & ousted the Shah, because of his outrageous maltreatment of the ppl.
There is plenty for them to be angry about. We broke our treaty with them. They look at our actions as an attack, not on particular countries, but as an attack on the "Nation Of Isalm," because we were meddling in the entire area. Our actions have actually banded tribes who have been enemies for hundreds of years to work together against us. The two examples above are the smallest part of what we have done to the countries in this area. Add into this the "economic sanctions" ( they find it difficult, &, in some cases, impossible to get MEDICINE, food, building supplies, etc etc etc ), the two wars on Iran ( after we backed them in their war with Iraq - another act of meddlism ), our bombing of their capitals, etc (in retalliation, I'll admit, in some cases), & you have the entire area against the USA, with truly good reason.
There are still ppl alive who remember Palestine. Their hatred has been passed on to their children, & their children's children, who now wish to rule the land that was stolen from them by outsiders, & made them into the bastard children of Islam, a ppl without a country. And all during this process, we have meddled ever more in their affairs, with various excuses for our reasons. Still, they know it comes down to the fact that we want to control the black gold they sit upon, & we also want our armed forces in that area, which is a good strategy for a country that meddles so much in world affairs.
Yes, to them, we ARE a satanic country - one that does not embrace their values, their ways, their rules of conduct & law, yet will continually stir up troubles between them at every opportunity, to try to keep them disunited, to remove them from power at every opportunity, & to keep them from becoming world powers in their own right.
Yes, DO look at the history. When was the last time the Islamic faith grouped together & try to convert other ppl at sword-point? It's been quite awhile. They have fractured into many different sects. Left to their own devices, it is extremely unlikely that they would band together against any country or culture.
Yet here we are. Our actions have caused 9/11, even if we didn't have anything to do with it directly, as conspiracy ppl believe. Not only are WE in their gunsights, but so are our allies, because, as sans is so fond of saying - "the friend of my enemy is my enemy." Extremely diverse tribes who have been enemies for 2 centuries or more have banded together against us & our allies because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
The answer to this problem would involve removing our entire group of armed forces from the area & rewriting the original treaty that our first president made with them, & make it all-inclusive to all countries of the Islamic faith, as was intended at the beginning of our existence.
Then, we should follow that up with all-out attack on any country that attacks us, with no consideration for collateral damage, but ONLY the counry involved, NOT its allies. Once we establish the nonintervention policies, we will be left alone, I'll wager, but the iron fist in the velvet glove will certainly dissuade anyone from breaking a treaty with us in an attack.
We must handle things in ways that THEY understand, to earn their respect, and THAT, for some stupid reason, we seem unwilling to do.
Last edited by philbymon on Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SMILE - it's the safest way to spread your cheeks!