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"Kudos to you though for being sane, intelligent and honest."

My sanity and intelligence might be judged differently by others, but I will always strive to stay honest throughout.

There are times when the world, not just FR depresses me. I'd make myself a liar if I were to say Islam did not trouble me deeply. I want more than anything for people everywhere to live in a just peace with freedom.

By my very nature, which I never asked to have engraved in me, I stand opposed to those that seek to force themselves upon others unjustly. I would intercede physically if I witnessed a child being abused, a woman being attacked, or a neighbor's home being burglarized. I even worry myself at times because if I were on the scene of a store or bank robbery, I might not have the sense to let the robber take the money and run, but might place my life and the lives of others in jeopardy by physically confronting the robber.

Long before 9-11 I sought knowledge and solutions surrounding what was then primarily regarded an Israeli-Arab conflict. In that quest I looked beyond the immediate area of conflict for peaceful solutions. I was greatly disappointed learning wherever Islam, not necessarily individual Muslims, came into contact with non-Muslim populations, conflict ensued. Too often these were very brutal conflicts.

Maybe the must disturbing memory I ever had of Islamic violence involved only Muslims. It was during the Iran-Iraq War. Iraqi engineers had installed powerful generators in the marsh lands along the borders. At night the generators were powered up. Lacking the military equipment Iraq possessed, the Iranians threw large numbers of land forces against Iraq, many were young boys, worked into a frenzy, armed with nothing more than a knife and Koran, then thrown against the well-armed Iraqi land forces. They would try to attack the Iraqi forces under the stealth of night across the marsh lands that acted as a natural barrier between the two warring factions. It was the marshes that kept Iraqi tanks and heavy equipment from penetrating deep into Iran.

When daylight broke across the marshes, the Iraqi engineers would turn-off the generators and Iraqi soldiers would trudge through the marshes seeking Iranians electrocuted during the night. They collected the bodies. The bodies were used as the base road making material across the marshes that allowed Iraqi equipment deeper penetration into Iran. The Ayatollah never stopped sending young boys to their death, and the Iraqis never stopped using their bodies as road making material.

That image, couple with actual news accounts of Muslim parents sending their young children as suicide bombers, Muslim women being executed, and thousands of Muslims being trampled under hordes of Muslims during Muslim "celebrations" have left a lasting impression on me. Often I find myself reflecting upon the similarity of the use of children as soldiers by Nazi Germany, and the Imperial Japanese using teenage boys as Kamikaze pilots.

I wish there were easy solutions. I just don't see any against a religious ideology that has so little regard for life. We are all in for a rough ride whatever ones personal religious conviction. Despite what we face, I refuse to learn hate and thus cloud what might be good judgment.