The Most Ancient Enemy. “They have no faces...”

A real good post Tar, kudos on you.

Tarantulas- Wonderful article. Thanks. Should be required reading in history classes!

On A2K too

Damn, and I thought it WAS posted on A2K!

It is difficult to compare this war with any previous, apart from perhaps Vietnam. Our enemies do in fact have faces, and that is what makes them so dangerous. The US government should be able to understand the needs of a struggling rebel nation, but alienated by violence, it supposes it cannot.

We cannot fear a nation, nor hate it, when it is so volatile and helpless; Images from the middle east fuel a daily roller coaster of first pity and sympathy for Palestinian children alone on the streets, then fear and hatred for suicide bombings and attacks. Understanding may not bring peace, but giving our empathy, rather than our sympathy, will earn us friends instead of wary netruals

I think it is foolhardy to think that we can fight the entire arab world endlessly. I also think using words such as "barbarism" is telling.

To paraphrase a familar saying:

What will it matter if we secure all Americans if we loose America's soul?

No one said anything about fighting the entire Arab world. All we need to destroy is Islamofascism. That's the realm of the barbarians.

I found the article very interesting and scholarly, and yes, there was no mention of fighting the entire Arab world endlessly.

I suggest everyone should pay attention to the last paragraph and particularly the last sentence.

Good job for finding and posting that piece.

I think the first true civilization will be the one that can change human nature.

Tarantulas
Tarantulas, provocative article that makes one stop and think. Thanks for posting it.

BBB

Thank you for an excellent article.

Over the past generation or two, much of racism has been purged from American society. And while one cannot go too far in purging all racism, there is a real danger in continuing this type of thought to cultures. While I firmly believe that all people are equal, I most firmly do not believe that all cultures and belief systems are equal. A practical example of this is that more people are trying to get into the USA than into North Korea.

Western Civilization isn't perfect, but I haven't seen anything better yet. In fact, I'll even go one step further. I believe that Western Civilization deserves to improve and to survive. We're the culture that in the past erradicated slavery, established universal education and universal suffrage. These are unheard of and alien concepts to other cultures. And today, we're the culture that takes sadistic guards, puts them on trial, and locks them up if found guilty. I've yet to read that members of the Al-Qaeda culture are disciplining their adherents for any excesses they commit.

Living in Saudi Arabia for the past 12 years has made me aware of the fundamental differences between Western Civilization and other cultures in ways that I never would have known had I not come here to work. And while there will certainly be some who disagree with me, I do not believe it is "hate mongering" to point out that unlike people, all cultures and belief systems are not equal and are not the same. There are basic bedrock fundamental differences between what the body of Western Civilization believes and what others believe.

It is right and proper to point out when and where we make mistakes. Otherwise Western Civilization will stagnate and die. But I believe it is equally wrong to take the attitude that we are the sole source of problems in the world, and that there is no moral difference between us and those who want to see us all die.

Western civilization iss in a state of decay and is dying; whether or not it is obvious to everybody. OK, the Western powers are not the sole source of problems in the world...they are however, most of the problem.

Philosophically, I agree that the USA is much like the Roman Empire in it's decline. However, I would say that Imperialism is the biggest source of the problem, not the Western powers themselves. There is a huge difference between blaming a nation and a philosophy for the troubles in the world today.

If people only fight without trying to find solutions on both sides then that this all you will end up doing. I did go too far in saying the entire Arabic world, however most of the Arabs are Muslims in Islamic states that have large populations that are at least in sympathy with Islamic terrorist if not actually terrorist themselves. Some of the issues that some terrorist have are legitmate and can be considered. They are not going to give up, so we will be fighting a large part of the Arabic world for a long time to come with a lot of losses on all sides.

When you see Arabs/Muslims on the street celebrating a dead body, it would do good to remember that a lot of those in the street are poor and have been oppressed with corrupt regemes that we may have even help set up. (saddam)

(I am not talking those that carried out 9/11 or those that did Nic berg beheading. I am talking about all the many that might sympathize a little with those acts which would make them seem barbaric in our judgemental eyes.

I disagree with this statement. There's too much of this breast-beating going on these days. Repeat after me... "I am a GOOD person. I am a GOOD person."

Great post Tarantulas!

This statement is ridiculous. The problems in the ME are older than this country for crying out loud. The rest of the "West" has even younger systems of government than ours.

Revel, you need to reread the this part over and over again until you get it:

"The rest of the "West" has even younger systems of government than ours."

Huh? England? France? Switzerland...just for starters...

Wasn't de Gaulle the first President of France in like 1968? I don't remember the major change points for England and Switzerland and I'm to lazy to look them up right now. I'm pretty sure our present system of government has outlasted theirs though. Hasn't France been through like six or seven already? Setanta! Help!

I think the candidates all stood in a line shoulder to shoulder and the volunteer for the job was suppose to step forward, but alas everyone but Gaulle stepped back.