Pearl beheaded "twice" (sick rascals)

The News (of Pakistan) ^ | Saturday May 18, 2002 | Kamran Khan

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...I have seen quite a few posts dealing with The West's need to deal by any means necessary with the effects of mass brainwashing of scores of millions of people in the Middle East by Islamism, and I certainly agree with those posts....

...and how's that gonna work? More troops and garrisons (=targets) in the Middle East, and keeping everyone there at gunpoint?

What about showing Middle East citizens the advantages of our way of life, economically, politically, and yes religiously- First hand? By regional example? In the same way Hong Kong showed that to China, or Singapore to Indonesia? Fair dinkum, for a forum where we're supposed to bounce fresh ideas off each other, it's amazing how many prefer to chant the time-worn formulas of failure.

[Chunga]

"Fair dinkum, for a forum where we're supposed to bounce fresh ideas off each other, it's amazing how many prefer to chant the time-worn formulas of failure."

The are no time-worn formulas of failure when it comes to the U.S. and its dealings with Middle-Eastern terrorism. In fact, it's impossible to know how successful we've been in preventing terrorist attacks as so much of that information is classified.

"What about showing Middle East citizens the advantages of our way of life, economically, politically, and yes religiously- First hand?"

Israel is a daily reminder to the Muslim world that democracy is an economically and politically superior model to their Fascist and Theocratic regimes. They aren't interested.

Your brand of political correctness leaves me cold. You pop off when Islamism is regarded by some here as a cult, and you'd smear anyone displaying a proper lack of respect for said cult as a "racist."

For my money, you contribute nothing but noise.

[Savage Beast]

But remember how close the presidential election was. The balance between sanity and insanity, between "Liberalism" and the Spirit the of the World War II Defense, is that precarious in the contemporary U.S.

"Liberals" are as powerful and determined as they are asinine. They control the media, academia, and Hollywood.

They would love to destroy George Bush and the effectiveness of his Administration. Bush knows this. Political pragmatism is imperative. He would love to throw the "Liberals" out of office and eradicate "Liberalism" once and for all, and he would if he could, but he must be politically realistic.

I expect that if Bush wins this War on Terrorism and finds his countenance adorning Mount Rushmore, he will use the resulting power and glory to broadside "Liberalism" and send it to the garbage can of history where it belongs--along with Naziism, Bolshevism, the Inquisition, and all the other odious notions that came, did their destructive worst, and went.

[Quila]

Amazingly, it was a history professor at a public university who shook me awake concerning the coming clash between Islam and Western Civilization.

For me too, although he put it as a clash between fundamentalism and modern society. Dangerous fundamentalists aren't reserved only for the Muslims, although they are definitely outnumbering all others these days.

[Aquinasfan]

Hang on a minute. I want to see a link for that.

See #167.

[Frances_Marion]

Tis true, Byron. Most of the Islam bashing here is based on emotion, not on rationale. I don't know about Oz, but here in the states, the problem is that the majority of muslims are silenced because the fanatical extremists like the Wahhabis and the extremists have hijacked all the mouthpieces for American Muslims, and the media treats these groups seriously, instead of as the terrorist supporters with ulterior motives that they are. These extremist bedpartners like AMC and CAIR do all they can to silence the moderate and peaceful voices from the Muslim community, like that of Sheikh Muhammed Kabbani, a muslim sufi that represents the ISCA (Islamic Supreme Council of America). They also have success in silencing critics OUTSIDE of the muslim community, such as Daniel Pipes of MEMRI.

Those like Kabbani, who actively denounce these supporters of terrorists end up having to keep a low-profile, as their lives often come under threat. Who knows how things got this way, but the media here shares a large part of the responsibility for not researching these groups that always claim to "speak for the islamic community", and the U.S. government shares a large part of the responsibility for its ongoing love affair with the Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia who use their wealth to export their backwards view of islam. Because these groups hold so much power and sway here, it is my opinion that many american muslims are afraid to say anything for fear of their lives.

[Frances_Marion]

"In matters political Islam is a system of despotism at home and aggression abroad. The Prophet commanded absolute submission to the imâm. In no case was the sword to be raised against him. The rights of non-Moslem subjects are of the vaguest and most limited kind, and a religious war is a sacred duty whenever there is a chance of success against the "Infidel". Medieval and modern Mohammedan, especially Turkish, persecutions of both Jews and Christians are perhaps the best illustration of this fanatical religious and political spirit."

To be fair, the catholics also don't have the best record either regarding persecutions of Jews...

[Aquinasfan]

To be fair, the catholics also don't have the best record either regarding persecutions of Jews...

Specifics please.