reprisal to radical Islam

Submitted by Bryan Jackson (Canada), Jan 10, 2007 at 12:44

It seems many here are not exactly thinking very moderately when it comes to Islam.

Hard-core Islamists are 20% of the world's Muslims? That's a crock, I would wager they aren't even 2%, and not all Islamists are Taliban-types. Moderate Islam is not a myth, it is the form of Islam preached in places like India, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey - the form of Islam that accepts that they can only convert people if they wish to, and if they don't wish to it cannot be done.

Self-hatred and pacifism causing undue casualties? Possible access to WMD? The Israelis already have drawn up plans to blast Iran's nuclear program into the stone age, Iran tests a bomb and Israel flattens every nuclear facility in Iran they can find, putting them back to square one. What do you all suggest we do other than Pacifism? Kill Muslim civilians every time some jackoff terrorist with no brain thinking he'll get a hundred virgins for killing an "infidel" blows himself up in a nightclub or shoots up a resturant? That'll do absolutely nothing. People who are convinced of extremist beliefs will stay convinced. The task for the West is to stop these people from becoming hooked on these ideals, and to spread peaceful Islam, like how peaceful Christianity kicked aside radical Christianity in the 1600s.

There is no military solution to Israel and Palestine, that has to be settled between the Israelis and the Palestinians and neither side's leadership gives a darn about the other. Put Ismail Haniyeh and Ehud Olmert in a room and only one of them would walk out. But in parts of Israel and Palestine, Arabs and Jews live together in peace, as they had for decades before the Stern Gang, the Israeli war of independence and the radicals took over the way of creating a Palestinian state.

The Israelis could have sealed their fate forever in 1967 by after taking back the West Bank from Jordan handing it to the Palestinians and saying "You wanted your own nation, now you have it, good luck and use it wisely." That's gonna happen eventually, there will one day be a nation of Palestine and don't think Israel doesn't know it.

The Radicals have to be stopped - the fueled the fires in Lebanon and Iran and they are fueling them in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Indonesia right now. But that will not be done with bombs and guns. That will be done with better standards of living, an end to idiotic war-mongering foreign policies (of which the US and Israel are guilty of but they are far from the only ones) and cultivating better leadership than the narrow-minded idiots that led the US into the mess in Iraq that they are in now. Arafat was a crook, Abbas is hardly any better and the Palestinians did not vote for Hamas because they hated Israel they voted for Hamas because they do a far better job of actually delivering services than the corrupt, self-aggrandizing Palestinian Authority, which thanks the Israelis didn't have any credibility anyways.

Hire Moderate Muslims to run schools for students that teach moderate, forward-thinking values in Muslim nations. Shove every one of the hardheaded autocratic Arab regimes - including "friendly" nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Morocco - towards better democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of association. Where Islamists manage to hold power, make it as tough for them do so as possible. Strikes like the AC-130 hits in Somalia are the best way to make a point.

Make the world a better place for them and radical Islam will die off. If a man sees American money build a school for his children and provide a job for him to support his family and make something of himself, is he gonna hate Americans? No. If the US forced Israel to give the West Bank to the Palestinians and then built infrastructrure to make Palestine a state on par economically with Israel would the Palestinians hate Israel so much? Not likely. Is the US created a nation of Palestine in the West Bank today American flags would be flying in Amman tommorrow.

Radical Islam cannot be defeated on the battlefield - it is defeated in the mind. Our support along with the visionary Muslims who believe in democracy and freedom will be our reprisal to radical Islam.

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