Reply #98: Speaking of "sheesh"...

[IrateCitizen]

That's the whole reason radical Islam hates the secularism so represented in the cultures of the West.

This blanket statement alone demonstrates your need for further reading on this subject.

Radical Islam does not necessarily "hate the West". Rather, Radical Islam is engaged primarily in an internal struggle within predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East. Radical Islam is against MODERNIZATION, which is a process that the majority of the ME is currently going through. They also hate the hypocrisy of the Saudi ruling class, but that's another matter entirely.

Now, a large portion of the Arab world, which does not particularly care for these fringe elements in Islam, also has a great deal of distrust for the United States. And why not? Simply do a search for Mohammed Mossadeq, Shah Reza Palavi, or look at the way in which we supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran (and domestic brutality against Iraqi people as well), and it's pretty easy to see how this came about.

Furthermore, much of the power and influence gained by radical Islam can be traced back to the United States, particularly in regards to the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan. When asked about the "morality" about arming Fundamentalist Muslims in Afghanistan, former Nat'l Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski said, "That helped us win the Cold War. So what if we created a few stirred up Moslems in the process?"

Radical Islam doesn't hate the secular cultures of the West, although I'm certain that it doesn't like them either. What it does hate, however, is modernization. And it sees the best way to attack modernization as trying to get the more moderate Muslims on their side. Since a lot of Muslims view the United States as causing them a lot of problems over the years, and since the US props up most of the regimes in the Muslim world (i.e. Egypt and Saudi Arabia), then attacking the US could be seen as a rallying cry to the rest of the Muslim world.

Actually, much of this movement was in disarray prior to 9/11. It was steadily losing in the Middle East, because modernization was a force they were powerless to hold back. In that light, the attack on the WTC and Pentagon could be seen as an act of desperation. Had the United States approached this problem in the way the rest of the world was urging -- as a "criminal matter" accompanied by economic development aid (without meddling) to the Middle East -- it is likely that the movement of Radical Islam could have been largely neutralized. But by invading Afghanistan and then Iraq, we played right into the hands of OBL. Now, radicals can point at the US and tell the Arab world about how we're a source of many of their problems, and many people will feel that there is a good bit of validity in this assessment.

My advice to you is to read up on this before you start making such smug pronouncements. And I'm talking about BOOKS and information that exists OUTSIDE the mainstream, not Newsweek articles and whatever they're saying on television.