Psst, little word from the wise, the attacks were done by madmen, not the muslim religion is total. They believe in the same God Christians do, albeit under a different name, the same way also, that Jewish people also believe in the same God.

Whether by religion, or nationality, the blame is mislaid. Look towards politics and greed for your answers. The problems is with a small group of crazy people with a perverted view on what they believe it right. Why persecute an entire way of life for the insanity of the few.

Bear in mind I have no religion. I believe my own actions are something I both take the blame for, as well as enjoy the fruits of their success. While I'm in a position to thumb my nose at any belief I want, it's not to say I don't have beliefs of my own. The last thing I would ever do however is persecute the religion of another through the actions of a few.

The american people are angry, with good reason. The rest of the civilized world is behind them right to the hilt. It's cannot be allowed, and will be stopped, whether peacefully, or through force. My fiance and daughter live in the US so this does strike close to home for me.

However, the world stands on the brink. Cool heads, and common sense are important. In the past 24 hours I've seen news reports of firebombings on mosques in Australia. Common sense would dictate the fellowship of those places of worship had nothing to do with the events of Washington and New York. In a few other cases Christian churches were defaced because people mistook them for mosques. :rolleyes:

Billy Joe and Bubba, packing heat 'down south' may not know better, and might 'go a'shootin!', but the people reading this should know better. Online we live within an international community, regardless of race color, or creed. International borders are crossed in milliseconds, and unless stated, no-one knows where anyone is, much less their racial background. I can assure you some of your 'friends' on this forum are probably of the same religion that is currently being vilified as the new third riecht.

As much of the anger seems to have been based on religion I find myself an outsider and unable to 'connect' with the arguments at hand in many places. However, as a member of the human race, I feel disgusted, and appalled that a small group of people can find it in themselves to treat their fellow man with such total disregard. I've felt this before, and ,sadly, I know I'll feel this again as these acts will continue in some part of the world. It's a sad fact of life some will terrorize others to further their own ideals, however misplaced.

Such a graphic display of aggression is horrific, and should never have been witnessed by anyone. 10 000 miles away on the other side of the world I witnessed though my monitor the first tower go down. From there on I can assailed with the constant, repeating images of this tradgedy, from every angle possible for days on end, from the beginning to the present. Did I turn it off? No... I watched it for days on end, hour after hour, to remind myself that there are trully evil people in the world, and that no matter how safe I feel, life can be torn from me in a heartbeat. I could die and never even know it happened.

So, four days into this what do I feel....

I cherish life even more than I did. Seeing thousands of people die right in front of me on national television has reminded me how fragile existance is. I wake up in the mornings with more purpose than I did, knowing that if I am to make anything of myself, I need to live for today and make the most of my time. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday - she's 2 years old now. The recent events on the other side of her country have now shaped the world she'll grow up in.

Am I angry? Sure as hell. I've been guilty as most people in the western world of assuming we were safe and that war only affected those people 'somewhere else'. The past few days have bought home to all of us, that which many in eastern europe and the middle east have felt for decades.

What I won't be doing is blaming a nation for the sins of a few madmen, whatever their 'motivation'.

Greg Moore

I'll add my voice to your's Greg. Any action extending beyond those individuals directly involved in this chaos will invite another act to even the score. The roots of hatred dig deeply, let the world not sink into it.

When will the world wake up and realise that wars do not win battles? Take the war on drugs, how long has that gone on for? Its only made things worse.. most people will find this post pointless, however im sure a few will see the point.

thank you very much for that. We really need to realize that killing a bunch of people isn't going to solve the problem or stop terrorism!

The problem with the pacifist viewpoint here is quite simple. The multi-millionaire funding what he has described as a Jihad, or Holy War, against the U.S. is not going to be satisfied until he destroys the U.S..

He does not want peace. He wants us dead. It's not ambiguous to him.

"We are in the middle a Jihad. All Muslims must be dedicated to the total destruction of the United States at all costs. Allah will lead us to the ultimate victory." - Osama bin Laden

There is no bargaining with this man. There is only death. Death to those whom he has identified as the infidel who must be destroyed so that Islam may purify the world, and death to those who follow and support him as we rid the world of this insanity.

No peace without war I'm afraid. God save us all.

-t

Again religion is proving to be a menace to society. When will we learn?

They believe in the same God Christians do, albeit under a different name, the same way also, that Jewish people also believe in the same God.
No, this is completely incorrect. They do not worship the God of Abraham.
Whether by religion, or nationality, the blame is mislaid. Look towards politics and greed for your answers.
Absolutely correct. All I have to say is follow the money.

Originally posted by sbrad
[B]No, this is completely incorrect. They do not worship the God of Abraham.

While Christians and Jews share the Hebrew Scriptures, it's a little shady over whether they worship the same God. The Christians worship a trinitarian God (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), and Jews certainly do not share that belief. On the whole, Christians would certainly think they worship the same God as Jews, as they began as a sect of that religion, but I'm not sure of the Jews' stance on Christianity.

As for Muslims - Abraham, Moses and Jesus all feature the the Quran. From memory, I remember reading that the Muslims trace their ancestry through Abraham -> Isaac -> Esau rather than Abraham -> Isaac -> Jacob as the Jews do. I'm not entirely sure that that is correct, however.

So they all, in fact, trace back to Abraham. Whether they all believe in the same God is arguable either way, and basically comes down to a faith thing. I'm sure there's some papers on it somewhere.

Err, actually, maybe it was Abraham -> Ishmael vs Abraham -> Isaac. One of them!

Greg, Lawrence, Haze, Dogma,

I understand your point. I admire it. However I ask you one simple question -

"What is your solution?". Like so many who seem to want to post, you criticize or preach how the possible solution the US/World might take is wrong. That it proves nothing and only leads to eventual defeat. Fine. That is your opinion. However I challenge you to voice your solution. We have yet to hear it. We only hear how those who wish for retaliation are wrong.

If you wish to take the higher the road (as you think it to be), then do so with respect to those who did before you. The Gandhi's and Martin Luther King's for example. The ones who stepped up and made their actions known. The ones who voiced their solutions. They were not *Pontificators*.

I have spent many days on forums and newsgroups discussing what happened. I have heard views from around the world. I would love to hear yours.

Of course I am pretty certain, no one will reply.

I go along with thewitt.
It may not be right; but there is only one solution.

As for UmBillyCord . . . . . and your solution is???

Oh I'm not a pacifist by any stretch of the imagination. To borrow another religious dogma, I'm firmly for 'an eye for an eye'.

If it turns out that their prime suspect is indeed the one that needs punishing (along with his cronies) then they should be made to suffer as much as is humanly possible. Given the chance I'd probably throw in a few kicks myself. The point of my diatribe is, I hope that in getting to him, the world's not laid to waste during the process.

Greg Moore

Nor am I a pacifist, but my solution is simple - wait. That's it. At this stage there is too little basis for persecuting Muslims, too little basis for waging war with Afghanistan and too little basis to do anything but wait.

When the time is right, action can be taken, and that action would be based on a solid, objective grounding rather than a weak basis of hate. As for what that action would be, there is only basis enough to speculate on what is appropriate at this stage. Perhaps a strategic bombing of terrorist outposts across the middle east along with increased security for the United States. Perhaps a refinement of US foreign policy is in order.

It will take a long time to come up with an appropriate response. You seem to be after silver bullet solutions, and I regret that I cannot give you one. But I would say that doing absolutely nothing would be better than some of the possible solutions put forward.

Perhaps I'm preaching a mindset, not a solution. If we can get the mindset right, I'm sure the best possible solution will follow.

SoftWareRevue, simple. To put my trust in those we elected to make the hard decisions. If it involves nothing more then a trial. Then that is what it is. If it is missles and ground troops. Then that is what I support. This is why we elect our officals.

My personal solution - thewitt summed it up for me.

Thanks for asking. I guess you missed my other post.