[Misterioso]

I don't want a holy war either, but it has already begun. Americans now have the regrettable responsibility of trying to clean up the mess their government has gotten them into. If we had properly defended our oil producer's rights when Mideastern and Arabic thugs held a gun to their heads, there would not have developed an Islamic mafia, empowered by sudden riches, which would become a threat to the American people.

As far as innocent civilians are concerned, their safety cannot be promised when they permit terrorists to live among them. To the extent that Muslim populations spawn and encourage terrorism against non-Muslims, innocence becomes an absurd refuge. As far as the innocence of my Muslim neighbors, of whom their are many, I would never hold against them the atrocities committed in the name of their religion. But not all Americans are able to think that rationally when they are scared and confused by the headlines and TV news footage of the devastation in New York.

In any case, I appreciate your concern for the safety of innocents and know that it comes from your benevolent sense of life. It is with some surprise that I discover Free Republic to be a forum read and responded to by freedom-lovers in other countries. Your contributions, while I may disagree with some of them, are definitely welcome and I look forward to more.

[bluester]

Well that's really nice to hear for a change, even though we may disagree on certain matters. Just as you, I wish there were no Bin Laden's in this world and that we wouldn't have to worry about such things. Unfortunately it is not so. All I hope is that people won't start hating people of a certain religion in general because of Islamic terrorists. They would not deserve that. That's what I wanted to say.