how about dropping a neutron bomb on Mecca and starting from scratch?
Name one thing that Muslims, one positive thing, that they have done to better this world.
Casloy, that challenge is to everybody.
First off, I am not an expert on Islam so I am not prepared to argue the Islamic faith is good or bad one way or another based on what the Quran teaches. However, I have spent a great deal of time in the Middle East and have been acquainted with many muslim families. I have never heard one of them ever suggest that the terrorism being done under the banner of the faith is in anyway justified. All of them tend to be the most gracious hosts you could ever imagine, sharing anything that is theirs with a guest, and available to lend help when help is needed, with no debt owed. They place a huge premium on family and morality and for the most part lived their philosophy. Charity is huge part of the religious faith and done with absolutely no sense that it should ever be talked about or be an element of pride. The vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists and do not support violence.
There are elements within the Muslim faith who have totally corrupted the faith by using it as an excuse to butcher thousands of people. Jim Jones did the same thing with Christianity, and the KKK used religion as a basis for their savagery. I don't recall anyone presuming this was anything but an aberration. My only argument with the Muslim faith is they are not doing enough to condemn the radical muslims or clean up their own house. You know, it's going to be Muslims who finally make the biggest sacrifices to clean up the mess in Iraq, and it is Muslims who are being butchered by other Muslims in Iraq (Sunni VS Shiite).
I don't know what the statistics are but I would guess that the actual number of Muslims who participate directly in acts of terror is probably about 1 percent. My own view is that as the Middle East continues to pay a huge price for the actions of that 1 percent they will begin to turn against against them. From my perspective that is what the war in Iraq is fundamentally about: creating a free and independent Iraq, where self rule and some form of Democracy can set the tone for the Middle East and give people in Syria, Iran, Egypt, and countless other countries hope for the future.
Right now, there is a growing movement in Iran that is very pro US and wants to get rid rule by theocracy. We need to feed that movement and give those who want freedom moral and even material support. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, animals like Zarqawi and UBL would love more than for us to destroy Mecca since it would play right into their propaganda that America is simply out to destroy the Islamic faith. You would turn every Muslim into an enemy in a matter of seconds. Do you think for one minute destroying Mecca would turn Muslims into cowering sheep? I would suggest that before you ever considered destroying Mecca you would have to evacuate every American from every Muslim country in the world or you would have a bloodbath. Furthermore, countries like Jordan who support us in many ways would suddenly become our bitter enemy.
There is no magic bullet for winning the war on terror and I suppose in 20 years we will look back and realize there were things we could have done to shorten it, and things we did that had results far beyond our expectations. Destroying religious shrines should not be one of those.
end soapbox
THANK YOU, Rambo!
We think alike. If every Muslim on the planet disappeared today- what would we lose? A few doctors( that I don't trust anyway)? Seriously- can someone make an argument that Islam and it's followers are GOOD for civilization?
Anyone? Anyone?
Bueller?