It is not necessary to point out the defects of the other side, merely to promote ours as the best, which is what he has done. Those who want to hear the President ranting about the defects of Islam (evident to anyone with an IQ above turnip stage) are going to be waiting a long time.
There are salient reasons why the President shouldn't rant about Islam, and I've never suggested he should. There's no point in him inflaming and uniting the entire Islamic world against us. We want to take out the terror states one at a time.
I have stated that I believe this is ultimately a Clash of Civilizations between Islam and the West, and I'm rather certain the President doesn't share that view. However, my disagreement here is moot for the foreseeable future, because I'd largely pursue the same strategy as the President in the near-term, and what I percieve to be the mid-term (I'd handle "palestine" a little differently, still recognizing the need to keep a lid on that powder-keg). My endgame would be different, but we're quite a ways away from that... and much could change in the interim that would affect either my views or the President's.
OTH, can we not agree that having President Bush pose for photo ops with known terrorist sympathizers, saying "Islam means peace," was perhaps, imprudent?
OTH, can we not agree that having President Bush pose for photo ops with known terrorist sympathizers, saying "Islam means peace," was perhaps, imprudent? I'm wouldn't call it "imprudent." I'd call it "wishful thinking."
The fact is that Islam can co-exist peacefully with other religions. So, ideally, that's what Bush and everyone else should want. But the reality is that in most places on this planet, Islam is anything but peaceful, and it is completely intolerant of other religions. Hell, even within Islam we can see where Sunnis kill Shi'ites, and the Taliban killed everyone who didn't adopt their particular brand of Islam.
I understand what Bush was trying to do. He was trying to characterize the struggle as America versus people who engage in bad behavior. And certainly not every moslem is a terrorist.
Islam could be a peaceful religion theoretically, but it wasn't a theoretical plane that flew into the World Trade Center.
Islam, the religion teaches hostility to non-Moslem is no different from any other religion teaching of superiority of their way of thinking or believing. The difference are 1) most other religions started to deemphasize the hate to others, and Islam failed to do so, and 2)most religions do not have the luxury of state support with billions of dollars budgeted to teach hate as well as networking of militants to force that religion down the throat of others. Now these two fundamental reasons are why the Islamists became a world-wide terror to be contended with.
If the US fails to recognize that, and starts to waste time and effort on changing dictatorship in Iraq, then we have people in charge who fail to understand the big picture.
First, we must recognize that all the Moslem fanatic nations are authoritarian dictatorship of one sort or another. For Example Mr. Mubarak of Egypt can sear all day that he has democracy, but he has been in office for more than 20 years, and keep getting 99% of the votes during the charade game they call election. Therefore, all these dictators who are able to govern with an iron fist, and forbid criticism of their government should also be able to FORBID CRITISM OF THE US, AND ISRAEL! Second, We should disregard the concept of “interfering in internal affairs of other nations”, if the internal affairs of these nations is to incite hate against us.
To conclude, the US was given a tremendous sympathy, and sense of support from most of the world after 9/11. We needed that to help close the flow of funds that support the terrorist Islamic cells. Less than a year later, with the cells still operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Philippine, as well as the marathon fundraising in Saudi Arabia, we are disregarding our main mission, and focusing on “changing the government of Iraq”. The world that was 100% behind us in combating the terrorists is now 100% against us! How inept can you get in wasting worldwide goodwill into a worldwide hate?
Again, the US should focus on Islamic terrorist groups and the venomous hate from the Moslem clerics. We must dictate to these dictators: “You employ these clerics, you are responsible for their hate preaching”--- if that continue, we will make you pay! JUST AS SIMPLE AS THAT!!