Investment

» doctorj2 - Islam - Religion of Blood

It does not seem likely to me that either bombs, peace talks, or democracy are going to stop the Sunnis, Shites, and other Muslim sects from killing each other. About the only thing the vast majority of Muslims all can agree on is that Israel has no right to exist and so all the Jews need to leave or be killed. It is that hatred that binds them together.

So why do they hate Israel and the West? Perhaps because their leaders blame the economic and social problems in their countries on the West (which is better than blaming themselves from their perspective). Another problem is the the religious leaders teach that the Koran makes all non-Muslims infidels. Infidels are the enemy and must be shown the light (convert to Islam) or eliminated. Now if the Israelis and the West could be eliminated it would be a lot easier for the leaders in these countries to continue to control their constituents in order to enrich themselves.

So put me in the skeptical camp when it comes to either going to war or having peace talks with Muslim countries of the ME because the citizens are for the most part so brainwashed that they are not interested in reason or reality. Their faith trumps both.

Perhaps no one can come up with a solution to the ME problems because there is no rational road to peace. Am I wrong?

-- posted by doctorj2

» stocktiger - Islam - Religion of Blood

There was a US General around the early 1900's faced with similar issues in the Phillipines. The details elude me but I have heard he rounded up a bunch of radicals, killed them, and buried them in pigskins. This quelled hostilites for quite awhile.

What many of you fail to understand is you cannot bargain with terrorists, extremists, or religious fanatics. Albert Einstein once said the definiton of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Of course I hate WAR, killing and all of it but sometimes there is no choice.

Peace talks have done wonders for the Israelis. Get a freakin clue already.

-- posted by stocktiger

» Normxxx - Islam - Religion of Blood

There was a US General around the early 1900's faced with similar issues in the Phillipines. The details elude me but I have heard he rounded up a bunch of radicals, killed them, and buried them in pigskins

You have it about right! The war with the "civil insurectionists" in the Phillipines, following the Spanish-American war (after which Spain ceded the Phillipines to us) was mostly fought by our Marines and Army versus these muslim "terrorists." Like the ancient berserkers, they would bind themselves up to control any large loss of blood from a single wound and burst into a Phillipine village square, shooting everyone in sight, until they were killed. This "martyrdom" then assured them a place in Paradise, just as our present day terrists believe. However, the muslims (at least of that day) also assumed that (all parts of) their bodies had to receive proper religious burial.

The raids stopped when the Marines and Army hit on the solution of decapitating the corpses, and burying the body and head in separate, secret locations, with the mouths of the head stuffed with pork!

What possible good can Arab-Israeli peace talks do? The Palestinians insist on at least a seperate state, but to date have demonstrated that they are NOT capable of running a state. They are solely organized for war- and their sole motivation is for war; and if they manage to annihilate Israel, will simply turn on each other and/or Europe.

The so-called 'good' Lebanese and Palestinians, i.e., the ones that are not consumed with blood lust, are overwhemingly Christian. In the past, this has led:

1. The muslim Palestinians to periodically attacking and slaughtering the Christian Palestinian villages (like the pogroms in Eastern Europe).

2. To periodic bloody civil war in Lebanon.

-- posted by Normxxx

» javelin - Islam - Religion of Blood

Their is no easy solution to the problems in the ME, maybe I'm just sick of war, the waste of life and children suffering. I may be naive but I still have faith in humanity and have found that know matter how much we are different we are all the same. When we were kids and had a disagreement on the playground what option was more successful in resolving it, a punch in the nose or a discussion? On Thanksgiving Day I found out that my older sister's only son my nephew (more like my younger brother) will be deployed to Iraq on 2/04/07.Yes, I'm sick of WAR.

-- posted by javelin

» stocktiger - Islam - Religion of Blood

Hey Jav, You are not naive and in a perfect world all disagreements could be talked out. Perfect world were the 2 key words!

When I was a kid there was no talking it over, it was punch or be punched and the strong ruled. Fortunately karma got the best of most of the bullies in the long run. I found a strong kick to the groin was pretty good anti-bully warfare back in the day.

I feel deeply for your nephew going to Iraq, many of my neighbors children are there now and my nieces all serve in the Israeli IDF (of course they are tougher than most Americans).

Big thanks to Norm for clarifying the Philippines story. Now to the present. The only way to deal with the ME issue is to quit screwing around and send a strong message they can understand. Perhaps some strategically placed Neutron bombs would do. Talking won't as they consider this weakness.

Blessings to the soldiers and veterans out there. I pray for peace everywhere but am realistic as to the uphill battle.

-- posted by stocktiger

» permabear - Islam - Religion of Blood

No matter what the terms, no 'peace' is possible with the Arabs.

As a strong supporter of Israel, I feel the same frustration as everyone else on this board. And I blame Arafat and the Palestinians for the endless conflict. But to say that negotiations and peace are hopeless I think is also wrong. The fact is that Israel has negotiated and maintained a successful peace for decades with Egypt and Jordan, amongst other Muslim and Arab nations. If the Palestinians had a leader such as Abbas in power during the Oslo period and Camp David, perhaps a lasting peace could have been negotiated with the Palestinians. As Blair and other world leaders have emphasized, solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is key to getting the Middle East on the path to a peaceful period. We can see how successful going in with military might is to solving these problems with our disaster in Iraq. I believe that Syria could have been brought in years ago if we had made the attempt. Syria has wanted recognition from the U.S. for years. That's why they supported us in Gulf War I. Iran is a more challenging problem. The point is that a combination of diplomacy and carrying the big stick is the best approach to these problems. Unfortunately Bush has so badly botched Middle Eastern policy that the mess will be very hard to repair.

-- posted by permabear

» stocktiger - Islam - Religion of Blood

Nice point Kirk but there is major crucial differences between Ireland and the ME. How many factions were involved in Ireland? What is the average educational background in Ireland?

My previous post about neutron bombs was a joke and wouldn't work. Much better to covertly engineer a nuclear accident that appeared to be internal.

I agree with everyone that solving the Israeli issue would be a key turning point but Abbas cannot control the multitude of factions there. Who can?

Maybe we will see peace in our lifetime and an end to this religiously driven nonsense.

-- posted by stocktiger

» Normxxx - Islam - Religion of Blood

What lead to a truce in Northern Ireland? It seems the same sort of troubles.
Could it apply in the ME?

No; for several reasons.

1. "Palestine" has no history of local or "national" government that works- only local and regional 'gangs.' As the recent 'truce' demonstrated, who would you negotiate with? Two 'local' Palestinian groups 'opted out' of the truce.

2. NI has no recent history of "vendetta;" if anything, the IRA was 'socialistic' based on the Soviet model- certainly far more civilized than the Arabs. Even the other muslims are (more or less more civilized). Remember, you are dealing with a 14th century mentality.

There were a lot of reasons for peace in NI, including the drying up of support, the 'exhaustion' of the Catholic population, etc. But, NI had no history of 80 year old grandmothers strapping HE to their bodies and blowing themselves up just to take out a few Israelis (as happened recently) or 14 year old, mentally defective boys being instructed to do the same (as happened less recently).

-- posted by Normxxx

» rasputin - Islam - Religion of Blood

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The "Palestinian issue" is a red herring.

-- posted by rasputin

» rasputin - Top ten rules in the Quran that oppress women

-- posted by rasputin