Re: Power Of Nightmares (was Re: FN-FORUM: OT: Hmm...)

date posted 22nd January 2005 15:38

On 22 Jan 2005 16:15:59 -0000, Luke Perman [EMAIL REMOVED] wrote:
>
> funnily enough, yes, but - IMHO - the early Jihad supporters had a
> point - fighting against western corruption in their countries.

Yes, they covered how corrupt Sadat was, for example.
>
> we *are* all incredibly corrupt in the west - whether we like to admit
> it or not.

If the powers that be, really want to 'fight' terrorism, they could
achieve that in the long term by changing our foreign policy. There is
so much bad history - the crusades, colonialism and then there's
Israel.

We - the west - took the Palestinians' land and gave it to the
Jews/Israelis because we were downright guilty about the we (and
history in general) had treated them over the past two thousand years
- especially in the view of the (then) very recent Holocaust. In
effect, we tried to correct one wrong by committing another.

So a good start would be for us to 'butt out' and stop fiddling around
in other people's affairs - especially when we don't understand the
cultural dynamics.

I saw a documentary some months ago that examined French foreign
policy in the Arab world. It seemed a more considered and pragmatic
approach.

>
> they just chose the wrongs tools to go about proving their point -
> terror and violence - thereby reinforcing the neo-con view.
>

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/

Lots of good material. A pity so many Americans do not use or support
PBS. There was one particular interview I read yesterday but don't
seem to be able to locate again on the PBS site.

--
http://www.m4mac.com
Help, Troubleshooting, Coaching for Mac Users
07958 773472