Originally posted by dotslashfuture
keep it up traderfut, you are gaining converts to the side of reason and logic. Too bad for you that isn't your side. By the way, keep up calling your oponents blind, stupid, naive, racist, etc. it really helps your argument....LOL
I have disagreed with Dotslash, but not here. He is right. I give some credence to
some but not all of Traderfut's arguments. However it seems Traderfut is at fault for name calling and letting his emotions into what should be well thought out disagreement. And then the disagreement he expresses without his emotions are primarily just quotes selected to conform to his views. Quoting editorials proves absolutely nothing. Just opinions. For every opinion Traderfut has quoted, an equally compelling qoute can be found elsewhere in the worlds' press.
Traderfut has said to me that he believes me to be impartial and objective. I think "open minded" would be a better way to describe how I feel. I haven't all the answers, I haven't all the information to make really informed judgements. I too could editorialize and actually make an argument for each side. Because there are arguments for both sides.
But Traderfut, although obviously very bright and thoughtful, seems to have a black and white view of many things. We have debated the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts, and to him, Israel is the evil power, and the Palestinians are victims. Well, again, Israel has much to be ashamed of. But the Palestinians that continue to provoke violence are beneath contemp. They rejoice at the death of innocents. The Israelis and their govenment do not.
So Traderfut sees only the evil perpetrated by the US, and Israel (perceived). Arafat is a hero and Sharon is a war criminal.
But the truth, as any right thinking person should clearly see is that neither of these leaders are to be admired. They are both bad guys. But Sharon would never have been elected if the Israeli people had not reached such a level of fear that they felt they needed a leader as ruthless as the leader of their enemy, Arafat. No good can come of this until they are both gone.
If the Palestinians stopped their terrorist tactics and accepted peace, Sharon would be out of office the same day.
So what does all this have to do with Iraq? Quite a bit.
Our "war" with Al Qada is a war with an enemy that uses religion as a basis for determining who is evil and who deserves death.
Iraq is not a theocratic state. The Palestinians are not fighting in the name of Allah either. Both the Iraqi's and the Palestinians (their leadership) are fighting only for power, money, resources and ancient grudges.
I said this before: If the Arab world would put down their arms, there would be no more war in the Middle East. If the Israelis were to put down their arms, there would be no more Israel.
Likewise, if the US does not stay vigilant in regards to fanatical Islamic terror threats, or to a madman like Saddam, then the US too would be in great peril to even exist. If Saddam did have nuclear capabilities, and he believed that swift retaliation would not be in the cards, he wouldn't hesitate for a second to deploy his weapons.
What is scary now about the contemplated attack on Iraq is that this time around, Israel is less likely to show restraint. This could set off the end of the world, literally. Israel right now has become a place in which the people want peace, but the opponents won't consider it. And so, their existence depends on defense. They will not surrender. They would rather perish than to be "driven into the sea" as is the stated Arab doctrine, and has been since the inception of the state.
There are no easy answers. But Traderfut seems to think that things are clear. They are not. The Arab world is today's greatest threat to the world. This cannot be disputed. This does not mean that Arab people are evil. This only means that the dictatorships, and royal families and the incredible lack of civil liberties and education and economic opportunity keeps the people under the strong-arm leaderships in these countries ignorant and easily manipulated to believe their enemies are whoever their leaders tell them they are. They end up supporting and idolizing those that in truth, are thier own worst enemies. They are so oppressed and brainwashed that they end up fighting for those who use them as disposable pawns.
So sad!
Peace!
