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Nice timeline, Fred. While this is a great account of Islam's most recent history, it is just as important to note that this is the norm and not the exception. What's perhaps most disgusting about the Left and their excuses for Muslim anger...including their anger at Israel, is that they have no historical perspective about these so-called Muslim grievances.

Islam's anger with the West didn't just start in the last century...and it certainly didn't have anything to do with oil, or even Israel for that matter. From its founding, Islam has been an expansionist ideology. For all the whining we hear about the humiliation that Muslims have suffered over their deconstructed terroritories--especially with regards to the Ottoman Empire, it was Muslims who were most responsible for their loss of so-called soverignty.

The Ottoman empire was already crumbling because of tribal warfare...but to make things worse, it was the Ottoman Turks who decided to side with Germany in WWI. What eventually became of this Muslim empire was no different than what became of the empires of Germany and Austria/Hungary, as these territories were also carved up because of their aggression. To the victors goes the spoils...something that Islam had been intimately familiar with for centuries.

While the League of Nations and the victors of WWI did take special interest in the failing Ottoman Empire...instituting mandates to be governed by Britain and France, the Muslims of this region have no one to blame but themselves. This was a group of people who were engaged in the worst holocaust against indigenous people outside of that which occurred in Germany during WWII (surprise...many Muslims sided with Hitler).

From the Christian Assyrians to the Armenians to the Greeks, Slavs and Jews...Muslims had been ethnically cleansing Asia Minor of non-Muslims for centuries. As this threat encroached further into the "soft underbelly of Europe," the victors of WWI decided it was finally time to put a stop to this 2nd Jihad, which had not only killed millions of people, but was continuing to threaten Europe...again. And I say again because this had been a theme with Islam as they have continually threatened Europe over the centuries.

Yes, Muslims can bitch and moan, and play the perpetual victim of so-called European and American colonization--and Leftists can defend them and help make excuses for their hatred and anger; but remember that it was Islam who initiated this reaction by their own aggressions that went unchecked for centuries. This was a religion, that within its first 100 years, conquered more land and people than the Romans did in their storied history.

Amazingly, liberals seem to have a short historical memory when it comes to Muslim aggression and retribution. It wasn't long after the death of Mohammad (632AD) that the first Caliphates stated as their goal "to conquer the world in the name of Islam." And so began a long series of Conquests as Muslims marched through Christian lands, laying seige to previous held territories. From the multiple seiges of Byzantine (670, 717-718) to the eventual sacking in 1453, Islam has been an expansionist regime...reaching as far as Spain and S. France as early as 732AD.

At its peak (16th Century) the Ottoman Empire had conquered all of Asia Minor, the Mid-East, North Africa, the Balkan Peninsula and parts of Russia. Looking to expand further, they again invaded portions of Europe, trying to conquer Vienna before being stopped in 1683. Contrary to Muslim and liberal revisionism, the Crusades were a reaction to Muslim aggression into previously held Christian territories--most specifically, their occupation of the Holy Lands and the attacks on the Byzantine Empire. As Pope Urban II declared, "the goal of the Crusades was to liberate the land formerly held by the Christians...and the liberation of oppressed Christians in the MidEast."

While WWI and its aftermath may have brought a temporary cessation to some of this Muslim aggression, it was only a couple decades later that many Muslims were again siding with Hitler and the Axis Powers. The same Anti-Semitism that is prevelant today, was rampant back then as Muslims joined with Hitler to form their own Muslim brigades to exterminate Jews, Gypsys, Slavs, etc...especially within the Balkans. Ironically, just as the aftermath of WWI and the League of Nations saw new allignments within Europe and the MidEast, WWII and the United Nations would see more of the same.

Which brings us to the ultimate hypocrisy with regards to Islam...and those liberals (especially of the European variety) who blame America for all the ME's problems: The MidEast is...and always has been, a creation of Europe. From the League of Nations and Britian and France's Mandates...to the Balfour Declaration, Peel and San Remo, to the UN and various partition plans, Europe has always been the primary architect for Mid-East reorganization.

Perhaps even more ironic is that for all the abuse America takes from these ingrates, it was America who led the way in pressuring Europe to recognize Arab independence after WWII. While this took time, it was specifically American political pressure which forced the major European powers to relinquish their colonial holdings.

From the Muslim secessionist movement in India (Pakistan) to financial and military aid during the Cold War and support in the Gulf War, Americans have stood with Muslims and defended them against aggressor nations and persons. In our own naivety and ignorance, we have even supported Muslims against Christians, whether it was the Muslim secessionist movement in Kosovo and the Balkans or still lending support to countries like Indonesia/E. Timor, were Christians were being murdered by the thousands.

The sad truth is, Muslims not only have a problem living with non-Muslims--they have a problem living amongst themselves. The number-one killer of Muslims, are Muslims...and Saddam was right up there at the top. The very reason for the creation of some of these artifical boundaries in the Mid-East, was to help protect Muslims from other Muslims (i.e the Sunnis and Shi'ites).

From a historical perspective, America has a very short history with the Mid-East. And on many of those occasions, this relationship was one of support--whether it was our leadership in their independence, support for them against Soviet encroachment and aggression...or even against other Muslims like Saddam. Yet, today, we are not only called the Great Satan by these same people, we are blamed for the origins of much of these problems by those who were the original architects--Europe.