[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

And they don't oppress their own? They kill other Muslims for not following their version of Islam. The Talban weren't oppressive? How about Saddam, was he oppressive?

I said above that they do, and al Qaeda would argue that the West enables oppresive Islamic leaders.

Bin Laden has executed a brilliant marketing campaign, and marketing rarely makes an objective statement. You wouldn't have much success inciting a global insurgency if you started off by listing the bad things done in the name if Islam would you?

You asked why they attacked us on 9/11 and I've told you, but you still can't seem to process it.

So we should cave in to Bin Laden and do what he wants us to do? Everyone knows how to sprinkle some truths into an arguement to sound like your correct. Thats what I do.

Not at all, we shoud do everything to eliminate Bin Laden and his ilk. But we should also focus on addressing the very issues that have allowed his message to fester within the moderate Islamic world.

Bush's policy has made this challenge even more difficult as our global standing has been so diminished under his leadership.

These people have nothing else and that is why they join with the terrorist. Just like the gangs in America. Most of them just do what their told. For 72 virgins, real rational..

I think the real evidence out there would indicate just the opposite. Bin Laden left a family of limitless wealth. Most of the 9/11 hijackers came from a middle class background. Many Palestenian suicide bombers are from more successful families and many are not even fundamentalist Muslims.

Again it goes back to the characterization of terrorists as crazy which is a dangerous position to take. If you believe they are not rational, then how would you predict their actions? Terrorisim is in fact quite predictable if you're able to understand what motivates them.

Quite often, it's simply rage.

-spence