Syria

**Ice** · 08-12-2006, 17:16

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Many countries there want to get rid of Israel, they've been bullying the rest of the middle east for too long.

If you mean getting attacked multiple times by multiple countries is bullying, sure I agree they are being bullied.

**Don Corleone** · 08-12-2006, 17:28

Why is there this belief that 'Muslim rage' and the 'anger on the Arab street' is a force more deadly than all the rest of the world combined, and all efforts must be made to appease it?

I mean really, the following cause this 'rage'

-Cartoons
-Beauty pagents
-Israel defending itself
-Israel not defending itself
-People suggesting publicly that they are loose cannons (this one really gets them angry)
-Pork products
-Western televison
-Christianity
-Judiasm
-Buddhism
-Hindusim
-Secularism (yes, you boys are screwed too)
-Historical perspectives on Mohammed
-A whole lot else...

At the end of the day, what DOESN'T make them angry? Your and my khafir existence seems to make the Arab street angry, as Bin Laden has stated many times, in his mind, this is all about rebuilding and extending the caliphate.

Are you just going to convert to keep them happy when it comes to that?

As for Syria itself, it's impossible for them to become involved, they already are. Where do you think Hezbollah is getting their weapons from? Where do you think Al-Queda in Iraq is getting their weapons from, for that matter? Good grief folks, Syria is up to their I-teeth in all of this.

**Strike For The South** · 08-12-2006, 17:30

So we are pretty much back were we started. 1000 people died for nothing just to return to the status quo? Hezzbollah is still there. Its times like these Im glad we have yhen UN

**Ice** · 08-13-2006, 03:09

Originally Posted by Strike For The South

So we are pretty much back were we started. 1000 people died for nothing just to return to the status quo? Hezzbollah is still there. Its times like these Im glad we have yhen UN

Why do you think the UN acted, strike? No Israeli attack= no new UN Resolution.

**Divinus Arma** · 08-13-2006, 05:39

Here is what I want to know: Why don't we just racially profile? It's not like we don't know who is going to blow us up. All of this "no water bottles" junk is a waste of time. Muslims are blowing up our planes. Does this mean that all Muslims are evil? NO. But the ones that are doing this are freaking Muslim. So take a closer look at the Middle eastern folks just to be sure. And the moderate muslims might just get fed up with the extremists if their rights were infringed upon. I know that if the government started bugging me, if I knew something I would be pointing fingers left and right. Why is this so taboo? It isn't a reduction of rights, its just plain obvious police work. This politically correct crap has just got to go. GAH!

**Aenlic** · 08-13-2006, 06:31

Originally Posted by Eclectic

Here is what I want to know: Why don't we just racially profile? It's not like we don't know who is going to blow us up. All of this "no water bottles" junk is a waste of time. Muslims are blowing up our planes. Does this mean that all Muslims are evil? NO. But the ones that are doing this are freaking Muslim. So take a closer look at the Middle eastern folks just to be sure. And the moderate muslims might just get fed up with the extremists if their rights were infringed upon. I know that if the government started bugging me, if I knew something I would be pointing fingers left and right. Why is this so taboo? It isn't a reduction of rights, its just plain obvious police work. This politically correct crap has just got to go. GAH!

The problem with that Eclectic is how do you profile someone by their relgious fundamentalism? Only check the baggage of Arabs? How will that prevent an Islamist fundamentalist from Indonesia, the country with the largest population of Muslims in the world, from bringing a bomb on a plane? What if it's a Shining Path terrorist from South America? Timothy McVeigh blew up several hundred people. He didn't even remotely look Middle Eastern to me. Do you see the problem? Terrorists can't be identified by what's on the outside. If our solution is to simply profile everyone of Middle Eastern descent, then what would stop Al Qaeda from using terrorists recruited from Indonesia or Sudan or somewhere else?

Then you have to consider our complete inability to distinguish between people effectively. Right after 911, who were the people most likely to be profiled as a threat and receive extra searching? Muslims? No. How? You can't tell a Muslim by appearance. The people most likely to get pulled aside in airports in the USA right after 911 were Sikhs and Hindus in traditional dress. That's right. We thought they looked like terrorists; so they were profiled as such. Meanwhile, an actual Islamist fundamentalist terrorist in a business suit with a passport naming him as Moshe Steinberg could have waltzed right past our security.

Unless and until we have the ability to read people's minds, we aren't going to be able to detemine who is or isn't a fundamentalist terrorist, or any other kind of terrorist. We certainly can't determine it based on race or national origin or the color of their tennis shoes.

**Divinus Arma** · 08-13-2006, 06:46

Originally Posted by Aenlic

The problem with that Eclectic is how do you profile someone by their relgious fundamentalism? Only check the baggage of Arabs? How will that prevent an Islamist fundamentalist from Indonesia, the country with the largest population of Muslims in the world, from bringing a bomb on a plane? What if it's a Shining Path terrorist from South America? Timothy McVeigh blew up several hundred people. He didn't even remotely look Middle Eastern to me. Do you see the problem? Terrorists can't be identified by what's on the outside. If our solution is to simply profile everyone of Middle Eastern descent, then what would stop Al Qaeda from using terrorists recruited from Indonesia or Sudan or somewhere else?

Then you have to consider our complete inability to distinguish between people effectively. Right after 911, who were the people most likely to be profiled as a threat and receive extra searching? Muslims? No. How? You can't tell a Muslim by appearance. The people most likely to get pulled aside in airports in the USA right after 911 were Sikhs and Hindus in traditional dress. That's right. We thought they looked like terrorists; so they were profiled as such. Meanwhile, an actual Islamist fundamentalist terrorist in a business suit with a passport naming him as Moshe Steinberg could have waltzed right past our security.

Unless and until we have the ability to read people's minds, we aren't going to be able to detemine who is or isn't a fundamentalist terrorist, or any other kind of terrorist. We certainly can't determine it based on race or national origin or the color of their tennis shoes.

I expected as much from the likes of you.

This doesn't surprise me at all.

Brown people who look Muslim. That's who we target. And if it means mexicans, Italians, Spaniards, Sikhs, Turkmen, Mongols, Native Americans, etc get a little extra attention, then so be it. I'm not talking about an anal probe here. Just extra attention. Why on earth are we pulling 50 yr old obese ladies to the side? HELLOOOOOO?

As for McVeigh and other domestic terrorists: I'm sorry but get real. That happens, but we don't have nearly the same problem with angry americans as we do with muslim jihadists.

I understand your whole perspective of "apparent" equality and civil rights, but the current policy is just stupid.

**JimBob** · 08-13-2006, 07:21

This is why. Clockwise tell me who is a Muslim, Jew, Christian. Who is Palestinian, Isreali, American. Who is Fatah, who will be joining the IDF in a year, and who is going to become a Rabbi.

Who here is a Muslim, Jew, Christian. A Palestinian, Isreali, American. Who is a member of 'the organizations' and has been arrested for it, who has friends who have commited unspeakable acts at checkpoints, who has had neighbor's houses bombed.

**Moros** · 08-12-2006, 17:31

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Why is there this belief that 'Muslim rage' and the 'anger on the Arab street' is a force more deadly than all the rest of the world combined.

They have camels.

**Don Corleone** · 08-12-2006, 17:35

Originally Posted by Gertgregoor

They have camels.

Pwned by camels AGAIN! Maybe we should start training some longbowmen... archers are usually the way I beat camel spam...

**doc_bean** · 08-12-2006, 18:48

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Why is there this belief that 'Muslim rage' and the 'anger on the Arab street' is a force more deadly than all the rest of the world combined, and all efforts must be made to appease it?

I said no such thing...

But... Israel's surrounding countries don't like it and if they would unite they could do a whole lot of damage before someone comes to the rescue, especially considering the guerilla tactics usually employed in the Middle East. It only takes one person with a decent bomb to do a hell of a lot of damage these days, and there are a lot of people willing to blow themselves up to hurt Israel. Imagine a government (or even a rogue official) giving one of these nuts a biological or chemical weapon...