Lueyen wrote:As far as the religious question, Christians have close ties to Judaism, remember Christ was a Jew. Jews see him as a prophet, and don't recognize his divinity as Christians do. In essence Jews are still waiting for the fist coming if you will. While this means a major philosophical difference, at the core Jews and Christians still worship the same god.
Islam is closer to Christianity than Judaism.
Personally the biggest difference I see would be in the advancement of faiths if you will. Radical Islam is very predominant in modern times and by radical I mean the mindset that everyone else is not only wrong, but must either convert (by force if necessary) or be destroyed. Frankly this is not far removed from Christianity (at least in the more medieval times and the past Roman Catholic brand of it) during the time of the Crusades.
I think what you reference is Sharia Law. Islam is both a religion and a state at the heart of it's teaching. However, despite being a democracy, Israel is the same thing. It is a Jewish state. It's whole interest is in promoting state sponsored religion, albeit in different ways, a la utilizing Jewish cash and American aid which is leveraged from heavy Jewish-American lobbying.
The difference in modern day is that there isn't a cohesive influential movement in Christianity or Judaism that actively seeks to destroy other religions and the practitioners of them.
The Palestinians and Lebanese have a different view of this. Their lands were taken from them, their countries have been torn apart, without support while Israels country prospers. Lebanon is a beautiful land, called the Jewel of the Middle East. However, it's been war torn on and off for decades.
Basically acceptance of peoples of different beliefs and faith to the extent that you don't feel the need to kill them on religious principal is something that Judaism and Christianity have evolved into... this is not the case for at least a portion and very influential one at that of modern day Islam.
But... Islam was living in peace hundreds of years ago with Christians and Jews, when both those religions were antagonistic to it. We cheer and applaud the Jihadi's when they fight the godless communists, but when we dump a Jewish state in the middle of their lands, we wonder why they are upset? Then we finance that states existence and the displacement of the 90% of that area's poulation for our own ends.
While I'm sure there are isolated cases, for the norm the vast majority of Jews and Christians are not out to kill differing faiths or "wipe them off the face of the earth". With Islam however this does exist in a measurable extent.
How many countries have those evil Muslims invaded? Saddam rolled into Kuwait due to issues with land and a desire for oil to be 35 dollars a barrel. Since Iraq was a secular dictatorship and not an Islamic state you can't use it as an example. Show me Islamic aggression. What you can show me is retaliation via terror for imperialistic acts of arrogance which is vastly different.
The adage "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" holds true here. Jews and Christians have learned to peacefully coexist, radical Islamists have not. Until Islam realizes an evolution into a religion that completely shuns the radical ideals of the destruction of other peoples of differing faiths there will always be strife. The problem that stops this from happening is the mixture of the Islamic faith into government and politics.
Except the Muslims are not our enemies. Islam will change over time and go through different iterations, but given we have displaced large populations from their homes, a better analogy would be to compare the Palestinians to the Native Americans. Now, we can argue they should learn to be docile and accept imperialism and the West telling them what to do, but again what makes us right?
Honestly Radical Islam is a glaring example of a reason for separation of church and state. To the radical Islamist the two are completely inseparable, man is in the end governed by god, and there for government by the faith and the leadership of that faith is by extension a natural and necessary arrangement.
Again, you have stated a generalization without supporting facts. Radical Islam has not invaded other countries or been an aggressive super power.
Sharia is part of Middle Eastern culture, and is implemented in vastly different ways from Indonesia to Iran to Turkey. Your decision to say it's bad is probably comical in countries where their crime rate is next to zero, and people live in harmony without fear or need for vast law enforcement networks, such as are implented in the US. To them, we are a fascist government populated with criminals. Which society has it right?
Western culture to these radicals is on the surface a obscenity, in that man is not directly governed by God, and much deeper a threat to the power and esteem of the religious organizations. The grip that Islam has now in government and politics is that children are raised and taught radical hatred in many Arab countries. To give an example there was a person on a radio talk show I was listening to today that called in and described a part of his childhood schooling in Iran, where on a daily basis students were expected to stand and shout out "death to America".
Children are not taught radical hatred in any country. That is a misnomer. What they are shown is their news and what has occured to many people there.
You'd be surprised to know that most Iranians have a GOOD image of America. Sure, you get some Revolutionary Guard groups with PR campaigns to show they are tough and can stand up to us, but at the end of the day people are people, and what separates them is simply politics, and there is a lot less hatred than gets shown by our dirty laundry airing media.
Be it through fear, or a sense of brotherhood, more rational Muslims often do not speak out or oppose the radical side. "You fight one, you fight us all" is the mentality that results. Frankly it's not that dissimilar to our support of Israel in that aspect, save for the difference that Israel if left alone would not actively seek to destroy. It is both a testament to the Muslim mindset of a strong sense of brotherhood, but also it's greatest downfall. Allegiance to your brother is commendable, but it becomes a problem when it is absolute despite your brothers deplorable actions.
This is just flat wrong. If the Israeli's and us were not involved in the region, many of these groups would be fighting each other.
Hedge groups do not represent the whole, and there are many different parties and mindsets within the various Arab League countries. There is a small amount of Lebanese rooting for Israel because they want this to end. Likewise, the Sunni groups in Lebanon do not support the Shi'ite Hezbollah regime and it's ends.
Organizations like Hezbollah are worse imho then Al Qaeda. At least Al Qaeda has to operate below the surface and while it may enjoy the support of various governments unlike Hezbollah it is not an unconcealed political force. I see it as akin to the racial revolution this country experienced not long ago in our past. While previous generations were very bigoted, it has become less and less acceptable. Over time children are not being indoctrinated into the racial hate and bigotry mindset. While it still exists it will eventually fade away we will not convert if you will the entrenched bigot who has know and thought that way all of their lives, but we can isolate and prevent the passing of those beliefs generation to generation. Racism and bigotry will eventually fade, not because of government mandate, but because of a change in society’s mindset, and the eventual passing away of those who refuse to change.
Hezbollah is shi'ite and gets supplies and propaganda from Iran. Al Qaeda is sunni and gets its support and dollars from Saudi, Syria and other countries that are more legitimate and propose faux friendship to the west while being two faced. Hezbollah and Iran do not hide what they are about. Al Qaeda does.
Hamas and other groups are not going away, as well.
Unfortunately, once the British displaced Palestine and gave that territory to a small group of migrant jews, this firestorm was destined to happen, especially since no other country wants or will take the Palestinians. These conflicts are generally short term, and after this fight we'll again have a lull and a lot of worthless diplomacy. There is no end in sight, unless we choose to be the worlds police force, which many expect but are aghast when we actually do take action.
All that aside however, my current support and resolve to back Israel does not stem directly from religious ideal, but that of a common foe. From a national interest standpoint Israel is the most US friendly country in the region. Much deeper though is that we are opposing the same force that will not change regardless of ours or Israeli action (or inaction). That force will never be content to live and let live, they will always seek to wipe us out, and destroy what this country stands for. Do I see it conceivably possible for them to succeed? Not really but if someone was dead set on taking my life, even if they had no feasible way of touching me, I'm not going to ignore them and hope they go away. Failure to watch your back in a case like this can only result in the very least something detrimental to you. The history of this conflict has demonstrated that compromise and concession do not work, principally because in nature that route is flawed. There can be no compromise; no hope of peace if one side doesn't really want it, and any compromised reached is only given as a means to the end of the other sides destruction.
Your current view of the Middle East is based on American televion and it's very one sided coverage of events which occur there.
Do you even know why Hezbollah really initiated this? Do you know why Israel is levelling both Lebanon and the Palestinian territories?
I am very concerned at this point. I fear our support for Israel is starting to waiver. Talk of a cease fire, of at least a temporary conditional truce scare me, not because I see it as a bad thing innately, but because I do not believe a truce or ceasefire even temporarily should require any compromise on Israel’s part. If Israel chose to do so it could be completely and utterly victorious in its conflict with other countries in the region, in essence Israel is fully capable of the goals of its enemies, it could wipe them out... fortunately this is not true for the opposing side. From a military standpoint Israel is holding aces, and its opponents have little if anything to realistically work with. Israeli demands in the release of captured soldiers and the disarmament of the Hezbollah as provision of a cease fire/truce are both fair and facilitate at least a state of uneasy peace; there should be no compromise in this. While militarily they hold the upper hand, but I fear that politically they do not. It may come to pass that my greatest criticism of the Bush administration may very well be a failure to support Israel. I fear that our direction will not be one that's goal is working toward lasting peace in the region, but one of political pandering that will result in a short term uneasy false peace, and one that is only gained by again sacrificing Israel's position and defense capability.
W's support of Israel has been greater than any other President in the history of our land. When a quack like Bill Maher says he's proud of W's views and support of Israel, and when the entire Knesset says they support John Bolton it's pretty easy to see that we are in this hook, line, and sinker with them. Britain and the US are preventing any UN measures against Israel, which the world is pretty much unified to institute.
In regards to Israel, short of going Nuclear they could not wipe out Hezbollah. They have over a million people and are over multiple countries. They are not a ragtag group but a very organized large militia.
So, Israel will continue to attack and do billions of dollars of damage and kill hundreds in a faux attempt at reprisal and rescue of two soldiers which supposedly gives them authority to attack and destroy the infrastructure of a nation, which is trying desperately to give it's people hope, but cannot come to grips with the hundreds of millions of dollars of weapons Israel can unleash at it in a goal of, what again? Ah yes, destroying an Arab group.
And people wonder why every generation there hates us and Israel.
