Quote from a_person:
A whole lot of humans did lose their lives and the US not only allowed it, they participated from time to time (Gulf war I, etc).
Are you insane? Israel invades Lebanon and it's the US's fault? You people whine every day that you don't want the US to be the world's policeman and 5 min later you whine that the US is not policing Israel good enough for your taste.
Where did Israel get the intelligence and the weapons from? At the time this happened, Israel was somewhat a client state of the US (Actually I would rather argue it was and is the other way around though). Ever since the creation of the state of Israel, the US has been its enabler, giving her all kinds of support with the tax money of the american people. and without the role of the US in this conflict, Israel would not have had the great odds they had. Thats the facts. Now saying that the US was completely innocent in what happened is like saying the Soviet Union was completely innocent in what happened in North Vietnam, North Korea, etcetera.
Quote from a_person:
Do you know how it feels like to have a child teared apart by bombs?
As you said before in a very callous manner the chances of it happening are way below the chances of being hit by a lightning. It was your point, not mine though, my point is that in most cases it is the fault of their own governments, their own mullahs, their own terrorist organizations...
Yes, for you the chances of it happening are indeed virtually non-existent, and thats good. However, it seems like you missed the point I was trying to make. My point is, allot of people in the middle east did experience this; they did lose family members, they did lose their homes and they did get their lives teared apart. And the US did have a role in all of this. This is what makes people want to blow up the enemy. Now whether the US was actually an enemy or not is not interesting; what's relevant when we are discussing why terrorists have become terrorists is how they perceive the reality, and according to them, the US did fuck them up.
In other words, if the US really truly want peace with these people, this is what needs to be fixed; the US needs to show that they are in fact not the enemy. Bombing some ten thousand arabs in Iraq in 2003 clearly does not show that. So what happens when more people experiences little blown up babies? More terrorists are born. This is obviously known to the US government; I wouldn't think I'm a better analyst then them. So tell me, why are they still doing it? Why are they saying that they are fighting terrorists, while the fighting takes place in a way that creates ten times as many terrorists? Where's the logic? Is it really that unthinkable for you that your government does all of this because of your desperate need for oil?
Quote from a_person:
What we're discussing here is why the terrorists are doing what they're doing,
No that's not what we are discussing, we're in complete agreement on why they are doing what they are doing. We know perfectly well that they don't want our presence in the middle east
No, we are not in agreement on why they are doing what they are doing. You seem to think they are doing it simply because they don't like the presence of the US in their lands. This is wrong, the mere presence of americans have never been an issue. It's the wars, the support of corrupt governments, the bombings, the enabling of Israel and the blowing up of babies that makes them hate you. As I've said too many times now, whether you agree that the US has in fact hurt the arabs or not is not an issue here, the issue when talking about why they attacked you is how they perceive the course of history.
Obviously when we're discussing the broader picture and what needs to be done to stop terrorism, we have to take into account what the americans have actually done.
Quote from a_person:
What we're discussing is what can be done about it.
Thats the bigger picture. In this particular thread of exchange we were discussing why terrorists are terrorists. To get the bigger picture right, we need to get the facts right. As long as your government keeps saying the terrorists hates you ONLY because you love freedom and democracy, there will be no less terrorists, and you will keep sending your young men to fight and die for something far worse than nothing. Tell me, why do you think Bush insists on using this false rethoric? Why is McCain saying the same things?
Quote from a_person:
I believe that their demands are absurd, you maintain that they are reasonable, I believe that we need to fight back and destroy the terrorists, you think that we need to bend over backwards to satisfy their "demands", I believe that we have every right to conduct our foreign policy any way we see fit (as long as it's legal), you insist that every action we take, every treaty we sign, every agreement we consider, every ally we support should be approved by every terrorist that may have a stake in that specific development. And if they don't approve our legal and legitimate actions whatever happens next is our own fault as according to you we don't take the wishes of the people into account.
Is it possible that my arguments are so difficult to respond to, that you actually have to make up artificial opinions for me in order to say anything at all? Or is this some kind of trick you use to make it seem for other readers like your crushing me? Because even if english is not my first language, I feel fairly certain that my message cannot be that unclear.
It is utterly bullshit from beginning to end, and you know it. Please, stick to what I'm saying. If something is unclear or if something seems unreasonable, just ask me to clarify it.
Quote from a_person:
I am still waiting for you to respond to the following question: "Is it going to change anything if I do? In what way exactly?"
That depends on what it is you have to say but one thing will certainly change - your credibility. After you claimed to have a list of American violations of international laws in the Middle East before 2001 and that Americans were doing 99% of killing and failed to come up with even a shred of evidence you can't expect to be taken seriously, can you? [/B]
Well, then tell me what information needs to be put forward in order for you to see that the US have in fact done stuff to the arabs which if done to the americans, you too would react with an anger great enough to fight back.
Americas involvements in the middle east are extremely broad and compex, and the effects they have had on the peoples differs from country to country, from region to region and in some cases even from town to town. There has literally been written hundreds of books on the issue, so simply stating some facts and backing it up by wikipedia articles is not going to cover more than a few details of the entire picture. Because of this, I am trying to find out exactly how I can say what needs to be said in less than 10 000 words, which is not very easy. My chances will be best if you give me some sort of criteria, some frame or some particular kind of act that might make you understand. But since you obviously are not going to be helpful in this, allow me to make a suggestion. Let's take the palestinians; if I show you that the palestinians have experianced something that if done to americans or any other people for that matter, they would react mostly the same, will you then allow yourself to understand that the US might have done some wrongs and that Islam is not the real drive behind their anger?
In my 99% of the killing-comment I did not make account for killing in between arabs, only killings between arabs and americans. If you take the war on terror meaning terrorist attacks and the US vs. Al Qaida, the US vs. Iraq and the US vs. Aghanistan), if you take all the fatalities in these things and add them up, the US will account for 99% of the fatalities. That's without taking into account the fact that most of the killing between arabs and kurds in Iraq today would not have taken place if not the US had invaded the country.
No responds to my comments about your government shitting all over you by the way? You disagree? You believe their acts are constitutional and patriotic?