Mosque raid doesn't go down well with some Muslims

[Wombat]

But since there are no prominent muftis or clerics getting up and saying so... it's empty rhetoric.

There are no prominent moftis or clerics period. Islam is very decentralized. The only "prominence" is the same outlandish crap that makes anything a headline: sensationalism.

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Slougi
So someone being a little weird is enough to make you suspicious? My math teacher is a little weird, he might blow up the school. So is my chemistry teacher actually. Maybe it's a conspiracy! I quote this to show where the bias lies.

Depends on how weird they are and in what way. My chemistry teacher was weird in a "let's teach the high school kids how to make thermite" way. The only harm caused was to the walkway outside the school (there's still a crater out there). But nowadays he'd be locked up.

The 7-11 guy is weird in a "thank you, come again - you damn infidel DOGS!" kind of way. Not sure if he's joking or not. He never smiles, so it's hard to tell.

Again, I question your sources. Where do you get this info? Have you ever lived in some arabic/islamic country?

Well, lessee... I read the newswires, I keep informed on world news, and I've talked to people who HAVE lived in those countries. As for the situation in SA, it's highly verifiable. Go to Time, Newsweek, BBC, or Reuters. They all say the same thing - royal family losing control of the country to rabid mobs led by outrageous clerics who demand the blood of baby-killing Americans.

Just because radicals get all the media coverage, it does not mean that they are "winning". Most people in the middle east are sick of war by now, and are praying for peace, not flying airplains into buildings or blowing up busses.

Define "most". I question YOUR sources. It's amazing, because there seem to be two sorts of people. The sort (me) that read the news and find out that the Arab Muslims are CRAZY, and the sort (you) that find out (through sources they won't, or can't, mention) that Arab Muslims are peace loving individuals who are misunderstood and sensationalized by the American Press.

It's not really THAT amazing, because I'm not READING the American Press. Not that our press is particularly biased towards us. It's amusing that Europeans think that American Media is somehow FOR the president and FOR our off-the-wall politics. They aren't. Our press is the president's biggest detractors - no matter WHO the president is.

But I read foreign press. And I know people in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Tehran. And guess what? They all say that it's CRAZY there, and the craziness is coming from Radical Muslims, and that the majority of the population is caught up in it - willingly or not.

I have lived in arab countries, most recently in Lebanon, and I have witnessed first hand that most arabs do _not_ want all Americans dead. This is especially true for Lebanon, which is a very international country, with many people who have lived abroad and/or have one parent from somewhere else.

Uh-huh. Lebanon. This is the SAME Lebanon that's still a "can't visit" zone for anyone with ties to the government because of how many Americans were killed while there? Ooooookay.

I haven't lived in Saudi Arabia, but I do have a few relatives there. They do not want you dead either. Same goes for Jordan and Quwait.

Of course the Kuwaitis don't want us dead... who would protect them from Saddam? As for the Jordanians, I do understand them to be quite moderate and nice individuals (my parents are there buying jewelry today, IIRC).

But c'mon. This is the Saudis we're talking about. All the people I have known have echoed the sentiment expressed so succinctly by my friend Saqib, who was a devout Muslim but a very moderate one...

"Those Saudis, they are SOOO CRAAAAAAAZZZZZZYYYYY!"

- Gurm

[dZeus]

I think this thread has gone far enough now...