Quote:
Originally Posted by Mavdog
we're pretty much in agreement, the extemely observant in israel have way too much sway, and have hindered the peace efforts imo.
as you point out, hussein was our friend long into the 1980s, and the afganis in the 1970s as well, which is where the 9/11 attackers came from, and of course the 1970s and 1980s were both decades after the formation of the state of israel.
it is the extremism that bin laden later embraced, and that extremism was a rejection of western civilization as a whole, that brought us where we are now. it wasn't until after 9/11 that bin laden found it convenient to talk about the palestinians and how he was fighting for them.
|
Questions and comments to add to this conversation:
Do most Americans understand the full relationship we have had with Hussein and Bin Liden? I think this is an issue that we all should know about in order to start understand the working of the hate towards the West.
For the most part, we can all say that the United States put Hussein in power. We choose him, gave him weapons and mustard gas and all the weapons he wanted in order to defeat Iran. After Hussein used the mustard gas to defeat Iran, he kept the extras and used it to keep law and order in Iraq. He ruled Iraq with a heavy hand, and for the most part that tactic worked in keeping piece in Iraq, and it also kept the terrorists out of Iraq because they feared Hussein. This also meant that Hussein controled the central oil flow, so that made him a very rich and powerful man in the world. Once the United Stated turned their back on Hussein, he was labeled a terriorist. Could there be more reasons on why they labled him a terrorist? Dont know, but I do know we backed him and put him in power.
As far as Bin Liden:
Bin Liden was one of the leaders of the Taliban, which was an ally to the United States. Once Russian invaded Afgan area, we trained, funded and provided weapons to the Taliban to help defeat Russian. Once that war was over, Russian left and Afgan area was destroyed due to the war. What happened afterwards? I dont know, but some people say the United States just walked away, while the Taliban and the Afgan area was left to rebuild on its own. So, since they were so poor, only thing to do to get money was to cultivate even more Opium, which means they became one of the biggest producers of Opium. In turn, Taliban was upset the US left them, so they became angry at the west. Is there more to this story? I am pretty sure.