So just WHO targets and kills civilians??

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

Well, you do hold the majority viewpoint. But, disingenous or regretable as it may seem to you, I think a lot of people feel there is way more to it.

Those MODERATE ISLAMIC LEADERS you refer to have now lived their adult lives seeing the well spoken tones of reasonable people approach as flawed, failed and fruitless.

When the UN issues a resolution condemning some Israeli action (whatever it may be), it always, always, gets voted 13-1. The U.S. always "rejects" the resolution. No questions asked. The Arab street does not differentiate between Israel and the U.S., which while not disingenuous or regretable, sure as heck is lamentable.

So, yeah, that along with the Palestinian issue has the moderate Arabs, leaders or otherwise, having very good reason to hold the West in distrust and this is where the appeal of the edgier and worse (you call it what you want, that's ok) Islamic factions gain traction.

You could likely go on at length about how none of this rationalizes terrroists or behavior that supports terrorist groups and you'd be right. That does not, however, change the game. The game gets changed by starting to understand and appreciate how and why adversaries act as they do.

The U.S. now is seen by Arabs as so strongly Pro-Israeli / Anti-Arab that there is not a chance in hell that America CAN be a mediating leader in the region.

pgardn, you told me to get real, so I will. Do you know how the Iraqis refer to U.S. soldiers? They refer to them as The Jews. I don't care for the connotation but I don't think that's the effect we were going for. That's as real as I can get.

I agree with you that this is indeed very, very serious.

regards,
-s2s

I guess at some point I have to ask..."so what?"
I agree that we must attempt to find peaceful solutions...every life lost is tragic but we cannot go around hanging our heads cause some folks don't like us! We have made plenty of mistakes...so what? The Israelis aren't perfect...so what? We must do the right thing regardless of how it plays in the Arab world...what is the alternative? Throw Israel to the wolves...stand back and allow the terrorists to wipe out every Jew in the Middle East? Enough of the hand-wringing and self-flagellation! The terrorists stop killing innocent folks or we wipe them out, countries stop supporting them or get more than their feelings hurt! I refuse to insert my head up my butt and pretend that the only bad people in the world are George Bush and the Israelis!