Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

[HeardOnTheHill]

Run time: 00:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9tD-PPCNJg   Posted on YouTube: July 30, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 31, 2008 By DU Member: HeardOnTheHill Views on DU: 690

 
A friend of mine just sent me this video. I am interested to check out the movie itself -- hadn't heard about it until now, but appears to have been out since 2005 IMDB Obsession.

Watching this trailer, I was struck: As liberals, we are in a rather challenging situation. We are against the war and we are also in favor of tolerating and embracing other countries, cultures and religions. At the same time, we have to face the reality that there are zealot and radical Islamists that are mercilessly killing innocent people. I don't want to live with fear. I also don't want to live with hate.

What are your thoughts on this quandary?

[One Sweet World]

1. Voting in November

Anyone know of progressive candidates who balance the safety/prejudice issue that seems to come up anytime Islam is brought up?

[trthnd4jstc]

2. The Answers Are Act In Truth, Behave with Justice, and Plan with Love of All.

We are in a challenged position:

The World does not trutst the US.
The World wishes to see the US lose power.
We have real enemies, and the numbers of our enemies have increased because of BushCo's policies.
We have Radical Murderers in our own land. Radicalism is brought about, in part, by having an unjust situation.
Then, we have an economic malaise, created, in part, by outsourcing, deregulation, downsizing, mergers, easy credit,and off-shoring of jobs.

Solutions:

1. End American Imperialism.

2. Place the BushCo leadership under arrest for many violations of the law.

3. Prosecute Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle and others for International War Crimes.

4. Apologize to the world.

5. After conviction of BushCo, take their money, placing some into the US Treasury, and VA, give the rest to Iraq, and Afghanistan.

6. Have an International Peace Conference to seek a lasting peace in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. We need to bring peace to the Mid-East.

7. Get involved politically so that we can hold our government accountable.

8. Create and/or Inforce Laws that prevent political partisanship from dominating the Executive Branch.

9. Separate the Justice Department from the Executive Branch, and place it into the Judicial Branch.

10. Hear of the saying, "Be as Wise as Serpents, but Gentle as Sheep." We must be diligent and act, when necessary, against terroristic threats.

11. The War on Terrorism should be more a police action, instead of a military action. We left a big, dirty footprint in Iraq, and we need to pay for BushCo's War, once again, taking BushCo's money to help the Iraqis because of BushCo's Crimes Against Humanity in Iraq.

12. When the War on Terrorism needs to have an invasion, go in, and get out. No more nation building. And, we need solid UN, or at least NATO, approval.

13. Terrorism is partly brought about by faulty reasoning. Desparation drives many to perform desparate acts. Many Terrorist are pawns of strong willed Zealots, or Tyrants, willing to sacrifice others lives for their own causes. When a person performs a terroristic act, they reason the ends justify the means. Innocents never should be killed. There is no such thing as Necessary Evil. One must live by the high virtues of Honesty, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence. If our nation acted with these virtues, we can help take the steam out of many terrorists' minds.

14. Hate is a choice. One of the things about being Human is our Free Will.

I hope this helps.

[HeardOnTheHill]

6. wow, awesome response!

I cannot believe the time you put into this @trthnd4jstc, I'm touched -- many thanks and props as well. I really like #6: "Have an International Peace Conference to seek a lasting peace in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. We need to bring peace to the Mid-East."

As for some of the tactical suggestions such as "police action, instead of a military action," I think that is a really interesting angle. Would the police be privatized, or still public servants? I know after Blackwater everyone was anti-private sector, but wanted to see what the feelings were these days.

Thanks again, looking forward to hearing from others some more too.

[whatchamacallit]

3. Zealots and religious radicals mercilessly killing innocent people?

You must be referring to the Bush administration.

[The Liberal Thinker]

4. This post is a breath of fresh air.

Coming from a very radically liberal college, I can say for myself that at home I am on the liberal side of issues, but at college I am far to the right of most of the politically-minded folk.

I don't think the two beliefs are irreconcilable. I kind of view myself as a Roosevelt Democrat. I believe in a very strong foreign policy while maintaining very progressive policies on the domestic front. A lot of us liberals discount the threat of terror - I'm a huge fan of Michael Moore, but in one of his books, he had an entire chapter saying "There is no terrorist threat."

Well, there is a terrorist threat. It's not as much of one as the GOP has made it out to be, but it is there and it is dangerous still. I'm not actively afraid, and I go about my business feeling pretty safe, but I'll admit, when I get on a plane and I see a bunch of Arab guys, my alarm bells go off even though I know there's probably far more dangerous things than Muslim people flying on a plane with me. When I'm in New York City, I do think about 9/11 or the possibility of another terrorist attack far greater in magnitude. How hard would it be to pull another 9/11 off? George Bush has made us far less safe from terror -- should we not be afraid? In my mind, that's one of the worst things he's done, yet a lot of us liberals fail to acknowledge that -- and thereby empty our quiver of arrows that could perhaps be really useful in the fall or political discourse in general (This is why I'm glad Barack Obama is attacking John McCain on foreign policy instead of ignoring it).

So yes, I do hate the terrorists. We think that George Bush is bad... I haven't seen the videos of people being beheaded by Zarqawi or the photos of the aftermath of terrorist bombings in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I hear they're gruesome. I'm against the war, but I know we're the good guys. I embrace Islam, I embrace Christianity, I embrace atheism, but whenever someone uses their beliefs (or lack thereof) as justification for anything from bigotry to jihad, that's something I hate.

I find it absurd that anyone cannot hate the terrorists. I also find it horrible that anyone could be willing to transfer justified hatred of terrorism to bigotry against Islam or a neo-conservative foreign policy approach.

Yes, politically the Bush administration is the worst thing to happen to this country maybe ever. But I'd rather be on their side than on the side of Osama bin Laden.

[HeardOnTheHill]

7. your name is truly befitting

@The Liberal Thinker, your response is also a breath of fresh air. These are the kind of dialogs that we need to be fostering on the Left. Productive, thoughtful. What you say here is right to the point: "Well, there is a terrorist threat. It's not as much of one as the GOP has made it out to be, but it is there and it is dangerous still." Some people would rather just dismiss the threat as "fear mongering" by the Right, which, to borrow an odd phrase: 'throws the baby out with the bathwater.' We need to be less dismissive and more proactive when it comes to addressing the policies, procedures and leaders that will address these more complicated issues.

IMHO, a true liberal thinker is one who can be open to entertaining and investigating a variety of positions. You seem, as I said, befitting of this title. Some on the Left get so used to reproducing "talking points" (whatever those are) from the party as opposed to really thinking. Major props and thanks again for coming by to weigh in.

[Left Turn]

8. a fresh breath

of air indeed. I've seen this film and it really touches on these controversial subjects in a very informed, even-handed way. definitely worth watching.

[The Liberal Thinker]

11. Thanks very much.

I completely agree that a lot of people in our party completely dismiss any radical Islamic threat to our nation as a fearmongering. I often times get accused on this site of being a "Puke" or a Freeper in disguise because of some realist observations I've made. In fact I've become so accustomed to having my name mocked, when I saw your post's subject line and before I saw who posted it, I anticipated reading some snide, sarcastic comment from some jerk who thinks I'm a fascist-enabler (actually been called that one). Thankfully, it wasn't.

[windoe]

5. The international radical right is in the business of war, their propaganda

films and mainstream personalities (they are not journalists) sell hate and prejudice in order to further their agenda of selling arms, drugs, oil and lives. This 'quandary' as you put it is the contrast between this imposed reality and the world peaceful people wish to live in.

Unfortunately most radical fundamentalist groups have been artificially created by covert operations--simply violence feeds more violence, a 'war on terror' is a 'war on war' --which in and of itself is perpetual violence, permanent war, without end.

The antithesis of war is to REFUSE to fight, REFUSE to hate, REFUSE to believe these lies, and be a part of the solution. Unplug from this crazymaking reality and do not attempt to 'figure it out'--it is a waste of brain power.

[trthnd4jstc]

9. Yep. n.t.

[DRex]

10. Don't live with fear or hate.

Do you walk around fearing lightening? Or cancer? I hope not. So why fear terrorism, odds-wise?

Of course terrorism is awful, and we were all afraid on 9-11. But 9-11 was caused as much by criminal negligence as by terrorists. We need to vote for someone who does not have a vested interest in our fear of terrorism and who would rather prevent attacks than profit from them, and we need to be unafraid.

And we need to love each other enough to talk to people, and not bomb families to pieces, leaving the fragments to align themselves to terrorist ideals. We need a balanced policy in the middle east, not a policy of the infallibility of one state and the evil of another.

We need working democracies in our own western nations, ones that truly reflect the will of the people and have their best interests at heart, before we can hope to spread them elsewhere.

[SuperWonk]

12. agreed.

I too feel strongly about the idea of fostering a world in which we can spend our time learning and not living in fear. In terms of the odds, I think it is more about consciousness-raising, and less about being paranoid.

I also agree that we have much to improve here at home before we go trying to show others how to live democratically. Then again, can we really just standby knowing that our sisters and brothers are being killed for being women, for being religious, racial or sexual minorities? This is where it gets complicated -- foreign policy colliding with humanity.