I went back and reviewed the you tube video you linked to.
While I understand the points Scheuer and Paul were trying to make, their premise is fundamentally flawed.
If we had pulled up stakes and left Saudi prior to 9/11, that action would have still occurred.
Both Scheuer and Paul are stating that the radical Islamists are doing what they are doing b/c of “occupation.” While that may be have some basis in history, it fails to explain why people like Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg were beheaded. It fails to explain the forced conversion of newsmen like Steve Centanni of Fox News.
There is no justification for such acts, just as there was no justification for both attacks on the WTC and other places.
Why all the trashing of cars etc. last year by the Muslim youths? What has France occupied lately?
There are countless other examples and American “occupation” of other countries does not begin to explain it. To insist that and that alone is the reason for Islamist actions is to severly underestimate the enemy. Paul and Scheuer do a disservice to the country by putting that forward as the sole reason.
Quite simply, the Islamist position to non-Islamists is “Submit or Die.” They wish to establish a Caliphate. I believe that Zawahiri has stated so.
******While I understand the points Scheuer and Paul were trying to make, their premise is fundamentally flawed.
If we had pulled up stakes and left Saudi prior to 9/11, that action would have still occurred.*****
That may be true, but earlier events could have cause the reaction. Heck, a lot of Irish people still hate the English people and that goes back to Cromwell and the potato famine. Of course the English people don’t have a high opinion of the Irish. I think it was back in the 80’s when a member of the British royal family called the Irish “a bunch of pigs.”
****Both Scheuer and Paul are stating that the radical Islamists are doing what they are doing b/c of “occupation.” While that may be have some basis in history, it fails to explain why people like Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg were beheaded. It fails to explain the forced conversion of newsmen like Steve Centanni of Fox News.
There is no justification for such acts, just as there was no justification for both attacks on the WTC and other places.******
That may be true in your mind, but when M. Albright said that the death of all the Iraqi children because of our bombings and sanctions was justified for the greater good, that might have upset some people in the middle east.
****Why all the trashing of cars etc. last year by the Muslim youths? What has France occupied lately?****
Why did the blacks in this country torch cities in the 60’s?
*****There are countless other examples and American “occupation” of other countries does not begin to explain it. To insist that and that alone is the reason for Islamist actions is to severely underestimate the enemy. Paul and Scheuer do a disservice to the country by putting that forward as the sole reason.****
They did not insist that and that alone was the cause, but that it was one of the factors.
*****Quite simply, the Islamist position to non-Islamists is “Submit or Die.” They wish to establish a Caliphate. I believe that Zawahiri has stated so.*****
Yeah, well we have seen that before. Think back to Rome before one of the emperors converted to Catholicism, or the crusades, or the Spanish Inquisition, or Nazi Germany against the Jews, or the Turks against the Armenians, or the US against the indians, or the genocide in Africa today, or the slave trade in the 1700’s and early 1800’s, etc. The world is a big place and we can’t right every wrong, so we should stick to those things that affect us directly.
The western hemisphere, with its low population density has not had any of the major wars as we have seen in the eastern hemisphere with its high population density. The eastern hemisphere has been in an almost constant state of war for several thousand years. Why would we want to get mixed up in that situation?
I see nothing wrong with “fortress America”. We keep ourselves strong so that no enemy dare attack us. We live in peace and prosperity and the eastern hemisphere continues its self destructive behavior. In the late 1800’s, and even today, if we had the will, we could easily conquer Mexico and most if not all of South America and Canada, but we choose not too. Europe has defeated radical Islam before. Spain beat them and the were stopped in the Balkans. Our excursion into Bosnia has increased radical Islam in Europe.
There is no justification for such acts, just as there was no justification for both attacks on the WTC and other places.
No one is saying there is, including Dr. Paul.
Why all the trashing of cars etc. last year by the Muslim youths? What has France occupied lately?
As I recall, that didn't have much to do with Islam, although some people tried to portray it that way. I'd have to look up my sources again, though. It's been awhile.
There are countless other examples and American “occupation” of other countries does not begin to explain it. To insist that and that alone is the reason for Islamist actions is to severly underestimate the enemy. Paul and Scheuer do a disservice to the country by putting that forward as the sole reason.
They aren't claiming that's the sole reason. It's just that that was the subject under discussion when Giuliani made his attack, so that's what they responded to.
It's interesting to note that one of the people who agrees with Dr. Paul on this is Paul Wolfowitz. Check it out:
During his interview with Vanity Fair in early May, Wolfowitz cited several payoffs from the war, including removing the need for American forces in Saudi Arabia.Those troops were sent to protect the desert kingdom against Saddam, whose forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. But their presence in the country that is home to Islam's holiest sites enraged many Muslims, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Within two weeks of the fall of Baghdad, the United States announced it was removing most of its 5,000 troops from Saudi Arabia.
"Their presence there over the last 12 years has been a source of enormous difficulty for a friendly government," Wolfowitz said. "It's been a huge recruiting device for al-Qaeda."