Moslem Attitudes

COL Gene

Join Date 09/2004

Moslem Attitudes

Today Rush Limbaugh went on a diatribe about how humane treatment of prisoners and our actions in Iraq have no impact on the way the radical Muslims look at the United States. He is correct. It is not the radical Muslim terrorists but how our actions will impact the majority of Muslims.

When stories of mistreatment of prisoners or the continued occupation of Iraq hit the news, radical Muslims use that to recruit more Muslims to join their cause. That is something that Rush Limbaugh and people like him ignore. There are 1.2 billion Muslims in this world and the very last thing the United States needs is to add more terrorists that are willing to conduct another 9/11 or worse. We have handed the radical Muslims a perfect recruiting tool by our invasion of Iraq and by the stories of prisoner mistreatment.

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It is not the radical Muslim terrorists but how our actions will impact the majority of Muslims. You're so right. Somehow we have to start communicating our understanding of the good side, yet not accept their treatment of women, of Islam as Bush himself acknowledges. I'm not against all talk radio but I wouldn't mind if Rush were rushed away from the mike.

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I may be remembering incorrectly, but wasn't part of the reason that the crusades aimed to liberate the holy lands due to the fact that when the Muslims took control of that area they were denying access to Europeans, or something along those lines?

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but wasn't part of the reason that the crusades aimed to liberate the holy lands due to the fact that when the Muslims took control of that area they were denying access to Europeans, or something along those lines?

--DemLocke

Yes, I believe so. I think European Christians were disallowed from visiting Jerusalem, or something like that.

And let's not forget the Muslim invasion of Southern Europe after the fall of Rome. They moved out from the Arabian Penninsula, swept across North Africa and eventually invaded Europe through Italy and Spain. They were only stopped at the Battle of Poitier in France. This was well before the Crusades. It was also, apparently, when France still knew how to do something besides surrender. Of course, it wasn't "France" yet then, either. It was, I believe, part of the Carolingian Empire, under Charles "the Warhammer" Martel, at the time.
The Muslim conquerors of Olde, however, though often cruel and barbaric in war, were a little more lenient toward the people they conquered than perhaps they would be today.
They required no conversion to Islam, for example, and imposed taxes that were often lower than those imposed under Rome.
Perhaps this difference results because Osama and his lot are of a purer breed?

My point is that I have often heard some people say that The Crusades bred, in the Middle Eastern people, such a strong and longstanding hatred for the Christian West that anything they do now is somehow justified by it. What of the Muslim invasions of Europe that pre-dated them? No one seems to mention them.

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cactoblasta

Join Date 04/2004

+48

There are moderates and zealots of any faith or belief system, political, social or religious. It's simply the nature of things. My question is simply.....where are they? Where are these masses of moderate Muslims that live in Michigan, for example? The ones who draped American flags over their shoulders at services on and after 9-11. Where are they?

You have a point. It is very hard to find them in the west, and frankly I have no idea how many if any exist in the Middle-East - I've never been there and only know a handful of Middle-Eastern Muslims, all fairly westernised, so can't judge on that. And the news has a nasty habit of reshaping reality to suit the viewing public. But I have trouble equating the old woman who cleans my house with Azahari, or the family I spent Idul Fitri with for that matter.

In Indonesia you hear moderate opinions all the time, in the mainstream press, on tv, on the street - hardline views are very difficult to actually find. And I know - I've kept an eye for them the whole time I've been here. You really have to go into the smallest, most isolated villages with the most uninformed, least educated peoples to find them. So sure there are muslims who hate, but here at least it doesn't seem to be so bad.

But, I stand by my firm, if un-PC, belief that they worship a false god. Do they think differently of me and those of my faith or another? No.

Hey I'm not about to disagree with that . After 18 years of Catholic education I still instinctively consider anyone not Catholic to be a stupid heretic. You're not alone, everyone's like that, including all those self-indulgent atheists. Muslims are people too - they're not going to be any different, it's just it seems that some have trouble finding reasons not to act on such prejudices. Sort of reminds me of all those good Christians who slaughtered the aborigines in Australia. Intolerance always seems to leave a stain on the carpet. It's just a shame it always seems to be blood.

You've got to love the story out of moderate Indonesia where moderate moslems beheaded a couple Christian schoolgirls as they walkd down the road.

I think we have drastically different ideas of a moderate person. Spelling and punctuation too, but on the moderate idea I'd probably describe those guys as nutjobs rather than ordinary folk. Certainly the streets don't run with blood here, which you'd expect if all Muslims were just bursting for the opportunity to behead Christians. But I imagine your experience is more extensive than mine, presumably including a longer stint in the city in which I live, so I bow before your limitless wisdom.

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Once again Col Gene has spoken out against the brutal and illegal occupation of Iraq. Saddam had nothing to do whatsoever with Al Qaeda, but by launching an illegal and brutal assault against Iraq, a new recruiting region has been created. In fact George Bush II is just the person AL qaeda would love to haVE AROUND FOR YEARS, BECAUSE IT WILL result in added membership for the organizatio.

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