AndrewC said:
I know that terrorists were the target and not the village. However villagers were harmed none the less. This is unacceptable to me.
What is acceptable to you? A sniper rifle positioned on a satellite so that individuals can be pin pointed? Maybe placing some Snipers in Pakistan to take him out (Who cares if it risks their lives?) Send the Pakistani Police to arrest him and have a good old fashion trial?
What you have not woken up to is that this is a war in which the goal is to kill and destroy the enemy. Those "villagers" (As if that gives them a poor little victim status) were the enemy. As I have said, Terrorists surround themselves with Radical Islamists. Radical Islamists do not change. They do not simply decide that "Allah" and the Qu'ran is wrong and turn from what they have been indoctrinated into from birth. This is a war on attrition. As this civilization removes the Radical element from within and roll up their sleeves, Islamic Radicalism will fall to the way side as every great Religion has had to do. Every religion has seen fanatics withdraw into a fortress of intolerance to defend their religions and condemn "non-believers." Every Religion has allowed for their religion to change to suit the needs for the society to progress. Every great religion has had to accept that their core beliefs might be wrong and is in need of a change. Islam has not done any of this and their "holy book" forbids it. Imagine the Bible with no "New Testament." Now imagine what our civilization would be like today if we held tightly to passed down traditions that do not work with today's sciences, discoveries, and technologies. Our civilization would have stagnated too.
AndrewC said:
Radicalism isn't a disease. Much can be done to change the conditions that cause radical Islam. It takes compasion and uderstanding to change people. Radical Islam isn't much different than the social issues our nation faces. The main difference is that our discontented population has yet to find a way to export their violence.
This is just pathetic. Allow me to lay out a few definitions for you.
1) Radical Islam is a precursor to terrorism. It lays the ideological and religious foundation for Islamic-inspired violence and, as such, represents a long-term threat to the national security of the United States of America. The ongoing Global War on Terrorism targets the current generation of terrorists; however, unless the ideology that spawned them is also countered the long-term threat to the U.S. will exponentially grow with time.
Some Characteristics:
a) Primary objective of reforming all of Islam in its image, and spreading that vision of reformed Islam throughout the world.
b) Ideologically opposed to non-Muslim states of the West and the US in particular.
c) Supports the imposition of universal Islamic law (Sha’ria).
d) Believes in the subordinate position of women.
e) Demonstrates intolerance towards moderate Islamic sects.
f) Believes that Jihad comprises violent acts committed against infidels, and that this version of Jihad is in accordance with Gods’ desires.
g) Goes under many names: Wahhabi/Deobandi, Salafi, Muslim Brotherhood…etc……
2) The
disease is Radical Islam. The cancer of Radical Islam grows where socio-economic conditions are poor; governments are repressive and unable to provide essential social services, such as providing adequate oversight of their educational system….or have allowed / sanctioned Radical Islamic curricula. Radical Islam is an intentional religious insurgency spread through a variety of means.
3) The
symptoms of this disease is terrorism. People see the acts of 9/11 and people like Bin laden as a rogue element of Islam - an anomaly. They would be wrong. Islamic Terrorism has risen in many forms, from many different people within this civilization, many different organized groups, and from everywhere in the Middle East for four decades.
The diseased culture of our enemy suffers from deep flaws which condemns them to failure in the modern world…
1) Restrictions on the free flow of information.
2) The subjugation of women.
3) Inability to accept responsibility for individual or collective failure.
4) The extended family or clan as the basic unit of social organization.
5) Domination by a restrictive religion.
6) A low valuation of education.
7) Low prestige assigned to work.
It's really difficult to exactly delineate who our enemies are, but they number in millions. They're Arab and Muslim, but not every Arab is among them, and most Muslims are not. While we must deal with fanatical, soulless killers in the present, Islam’s future is undecided. Our fight is with the few, but our struggle must be with the many. Millions of Muslims are willing to keep that door open to a brighter and truer Islam, despite the threats of a legion of fanatics. A struggle of immense proportions and immeasurable importance has been under way for the soul of Islam, a mighty contest to decide between a humane, tolerant, and progressive faith, and a hangman’s vision of a punitive God and a humankind defined by prohibitions. The U.S. military has been screaming this to deaf ears since the mid 80’s. Still, the majority of the world refuses to see it or even notice it and our own Government refuses to really deal with it.
AndrewC said:
I think they deserve a day in court. If the government is so sure they are terrorists, why not prove it in court? If they are guilty, they should be detained.
Prove what? An attack that hasn't occurred yet? What you fail to understand is that these are not citizens that are scooped up for no reason. These are not people who might shoplift or kill someone, because they have anger issues. These people are on a mission. These are people that have attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan, Sudan, and Bosnia. These are Radicals who board airplanes and fly to other countries and meet up with fellow Radicals where we gather more intel into plots and discover more terrorists. They are followed all over the world and this is what greatly makes up our anti-terrorist network. You think "Bush spying" on citizens was an act to destroy civil liberties? What a joke. This program as well as many programs in many other coutries were all in corporation with this effort. These Radicals are busted and sent to prisons during a time of war from a multiple of host countries. They are prevented from carrying out any attacks and from infecting other futureless youth from seeing terrorism as the only way to change their political, social, economic, and religiuous environments. Your answer to this is to "give them their day in court?" And after they are freed to carry on with their business, because we can't hold them under civil laws, they will continue their work for "Allah." If there is a lack of information, they are released. They are detained because they are guilty. Clearly you completely miss the nature of who these animals are. Maybe, because you've never faced them or their environments. Maybe it's because you haven't done the study. Maybe it's because you don't want the problem to be as big as it is. Maybe you just don't want to accept that it is possible for a civilization to fail in today's world and that from that their are symptoms of terror as revenge.
