Should the Iranian President be Allowed to Visit Ground Zero?

So Islamic "Crazies" represent Islam and what they do should mean we should discriminate against Islam...but if Christian "crazies" are less bad because ya know...they are not trying to convert everyone to Christianity. It's not like they send missionaries out to places and it's not like they have people trying to convert you on the subway or something


And I don't think you can say with a straight face that if Christian had flown a plane into the WTC in the name of Jesus Christ to avenge the oppression of Waco that the victims (CHristian themselves mostly) would oppose a church being build near (NOT AT) the site.

I'm sorry, but I don't think anyone will buy your logic there - I don't think I stand alone.

 

ATW,

This isn't particularly true. The reason for flying the planes into the building is viewed, by the terrorists, as a form of retaliation for past US policy.

As a frame of reference, these people believe that their countries are enslaved by the U.S. through bases and puppet governments and therefore justify the attacks as a form of trying to set themselves free.

This is why Bin Laden doesn't live in Saudi Arabia - not because he couldn't, but because he hates it there.

The assertion of superiority which you mentioned in your post is also probably one of the overarching objectives, but it is more like "foreign policy" than slavery.

They are wrong in all cases, but I think it's important that we understand these people if we are going to be resisting these people. Al Qaeda exists because of what they view to be the conditions imposed on the GCC countries by Western nations. One of the goals is certainly to make the 'Muslim world" (so to speak) practice his form of Sharia. However, his/their dream of Islam dominating the world existed before Al Qaeda existed and is more or less independent from the goals of the organization.

It's confusing because the media doesn't differentiate for when he is talking out of his own ass or out of the organization's ass. But in some strange twisted way, there is a difference between the two.

As the story goes, he was a freedom fighter (helping defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan) and when he returned and offered to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraq, he was turned down. His issue was that Saudi Arabia is apparently a holy entity in Islam and should maintain its own sovereignty whenever possible. This is when he flipped completely and it was shortly thereafter (early 90's) that his plans to blow up a NY skyscraper were discovered when one of his buddies was busted.

No one is arguing that he's not a lunatic, but let's not fool ourselves. There is a method to his madness, and by understanding that method we are better equipped to oppose him.

 

I am saying it with a straight face. You, on the other hand, are merely repeating your opinion on a very hypothetical situation and trying to reassure yourself that everyone would agree with you by re-stating what you have already said.