jhay78 wrote:

ptown_trojans_1 wrote: I think John Brennan, president’s principal advisor on homeland security and counterterrorism, said in a speech at CSIS yesterday about the new National Security Strategy what I think is the right answer:

The president’s strategy is absolutely clear about the threat we face. Our enemy is not terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not terror because terror is a state of mind and, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear. Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself of one’s community.
And there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children. Indeed, characterizing our adversaries this way would actually be counterproductive. It would play into the false perception that they are religious leaders
defending a holy cause when in fact, they are nothing more than murderers, including the murder of thousands upon thousands of Muslims.
This is why Muslim leaders around the world have spoken out forcefully and often at great risk to their own lives to reject al-Qaida and violent extremism. And frankly, their condemnations often do not get the recognition they deserve, including from the media.Moreover, describing our enemy in religious terms would lend credence to the lie propagated by al-Qaida and its affiliates to justify terrorism, that the United States is somehow at war against Islam. The reality, of course, is that we have never been and will never be at war with Islam. After all, Islam, like so many faiths, is part of America.
Instead, the president’s strategy is clear and precise. Our enemy is al-Qaida and its terrorist affiliates. For it was al-Qaida who attacked us so viciously on 9/11 and whose desire to attack the United States, our allies and our partners remains undiminished. And it is its affiliates who have take up al-Qaida’s call to arms against the United States and other parts of the world.

pp.3-4.
http://csis.org/files/attachments/100526_csis-brennan.pdf

If "the president's strategy is absolutely clear" and our enemy is not "terrorism" or "terror", then who is our enemy? Who is it exactly that engages in terrorism and instills terror in innocent people?

cbus4life wrote:

jhay78 wrote:

ptown_trojans_1 wrote: I think John Brennan, president’s principal advisor on homeland security and counterterrorism, said in a speech at CSIS yesterday about the new National Security Strategy what I think is the right answer:

The president’s strategy is absolutely clear about the threat we face. Our enemy is not terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not terror because terror is a state of mind and, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear. Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself of one’s community.
And there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children. Indeed, characterizing our adversaries this way would actually be counterproductive. It would play into the false perception that they are religious leaders
defending a holy cause when in fact, they are nothing more than murderers, including the murder of thousands upon thousands of Muslims.
This is why Muslim leaders around the world have spoken out forcefully and often at great risk to their own lives to reject al-Qaida and violent extremism. And frankly, their condemnations often do not get the recognition they deserve, including from the media.Moreover, describing our enemy in religious terms would lend credence to the lie propagated by al-Qaida and its affiliates to justify terrorism, that the United States is somehow at war against Islam. The reality, of course, is that we have never been and will never be at war with Islam. After all, Islam, like so many faiths, is part of America.
Instead, the president’s strategy is clear and precise. Our enemy is al-Qaida and its terrorist affiliates. For it was al-Qaida who attacked us so viciously on 9/11 and whose desire to attack the United States, our allies and our partners remains undiminished. And it is its affiliates who have take up al-Qaida’s call to arms against the United States and other parts of the world.

pp.3-4.
http://csis.org/files/attachments/100526_csis-brennan.pdf

If "the president's strategy is absolutely clear" and our enemy is not "terrorism" or "terror", then who is our enemy? Who is it exactly that engages in terrorism and instills terror in innocent people?

Did you not read it?

jhay78 wrote:We can detach the religious element all we want, but that doesn't change the motivation behind terrorist acts, which seems to be (and the history of Islam seems to affirm this) religious.

FatHobbit wrote:There are plenty of examples of christian nut jobs, and a long history of christian violence. It's ignorant to judge all christians by the acts of some christians. It's equally ignorant to judge all muslims by the acts of some muslims.

isadore wrote: I have a cartoon published mocking Christ is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published mocking Buddha is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published mocking Joseph Smith is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published mocking L. Ron Hubbard ( I might get sued but) is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published mocking Abraham and Moses is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published mocking Bahá’u’lláh is my life in danger?
I have a cartoon published .....

believer wrote:

FatHobbit wrote:There are plenty of examples of christian nut jobs, and a long history of christian violence. It's ignorant to judge all christians by the acts of some christians. It's equally ignorant to judge all muslims by the acts of some muslims.

I think it's fair to say most level-headed folks would agree to what you've said. Not many people are blaming the entire religion based on the cowardly terrorist acts of a few Muslims.

HOWEVER, it's equally ignorant to attempt to remove the religious aspects motivating the radicals to perform such cowardly acts. All?hu Akbar right?

isadore wrote:
and now you denoun d Iran for threatening the life of Rushdie
and all those Muslims who want to kill someone just for drawing a cartoon of Mohammed
and those untold number of fanatical Muslims commited to killing Americans.

isadore wrote: And they fight a despicable, diseased movement that is more than the small fringe you depict and dismiss.

isadore wrote: they extend their tentacles to kill those around the world practicing freedom of expression.

dwccrew wrote:

isadore wrote: And they fight a despicable, diseased movement that is more than the small fringe you depict and dismiss.

You're right, they do fight a despicable movement. Your attempt to smear me as someone who dismisses the radicals, which are a minority of muslims, is weak considering I have fought them and been closer to the real fight then you ever will. The closest you have gotten is your tv screen and talking about it with real vets on here.

isadore wrote: they extend their tentacles to kill those around the world practicing freedom of expression.

Agreed, the radicals do this and must be stopped. Hopefully our government quits fucking around and actually commits to this fight instead of nation building and propping up pupper governments.

isadore wrote:

dwccrew wrote:

isadore wrote: And they fight a despicable, diseased movement that is more than the small fringe you depict and dismiss.

You're right, they do fight a despicable movement. Your attempt to smear me as someone who dismisses the radicals, which are a minority of muslims, is weak considering I have fought them and been closer to the real fight then you ever will. The closest you have gotten is your tv screen and talking about it with real vets on here.

isadore wrote: they extend their tentacles to kill those around the world practicing freedom of expression.

Agreed, the radicals do this and must be stopped. Hopefully our government quits fucking around and actually commits to this fight instead of nation building and propping up pupper governments.

I dont have to go on the internet for vet opinion, I can get it from some alot nearer and dearer to me and still directly involved.

isadore wrote: Nobody outside the family has shot at me lately. Far from combat but Americans are seeing their public areas threatned by these radical practioners of the Islam, our speech and expression limited by them, our right to travel circumscribed by them, our well being threatened.

FatHobbit wrote:I've met some really goofy and fanatical christians. I don't think it was their belief in god that made them wacky. Their wackiness is independent of their religion even if they use religion to express it.

Maybe a decent example of this could be the people who blow up abortion clinics. They may proclaim to be christian, and I think it's safe to say that most christians don't support abortion, but I bet a fair amount of christians don't think they should be blowing up clinics.

believer wrote:

FatHobbit wrote:I've met some really goofy and fanatical christians. I don't think it was their belief in god that made them wacky. Their wackiness is independent of their religion even if they use religion to express it.

Maybe a decent example of this could be the people who blow up abortion clinics. They may proclaim to be christian, and I think it's safe to say that most christians don't support abortion, but I bet a fair amount of christians don't think they should be blowing up clinics.

I agree that most Christians are opposed to abortion AND blowing up clinics. But the fact remains these incredibly few wacky Christians who blow them up do it because they honestly believe it's an affront to God.

Not unlike a few extraordinarily wacky Muslims who believe Western culture is an affront to Allah. So much so that they are willing to plan, coordinate and implement the simultaneous hijacking of commercial airliners filled with innocent men, women, and children and commit suicide by flying them into skyscrapers full of innocent men, women, and children...all in the name of Allah.

But their deep faith in God or Allah has nothing to do with their wacky actions correct?

dwccrew wrote:

isadore wrote: Nobody outside the family has shot at me lately. Far from combat but Americans are seeing their public areas threatned by these radical practioners of the Islam, our speech and expression limited by them, our right to travel circumscribed by them, our well being threatened.

Fixed