I just wanted to write down a few thoughts about the embassy attacks that are occurring.
The first is that I find it completely despicable that Romney has used the events to score political points. That was a very stupid move which all the pundits pointed out the day after he made it. I just heard on the news this morning that some are starting to agree with him as the attacks continue to spread.
They say that the Obama policy has made America weak and these attacks are proof of that.
How completely idiotic can we get? The reason that the USA is unpopular in Muslim countries is due to the support of Israel and the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Those are the two principal reasons (bar none!) and even though they are 100% apparent it is something you will not hear much on the news here.
And guess who started the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?
George W. Bush – Republican
Who has supported Israel? – Well every single administration has so no blame there. Obama has in fact taken steps to stand up to the Israeli lobby unlike most of his predecessors.
After reading the above, a Republican would think me an apologetic liberal. Keep reading and you will see this is not the case.
My second thought is how far the Muslim world has fallen from their days of glory with the Ottoman Empire and occupation of Spain. Spain is what I know and I know that the Muslims brought science, math and much learning to the rather uncivilized Christians of the time.
My how things have changed.
I try hard to come up with reasons for these attacks and can only guess that they may be related to the following.
1. Unstable Governments – These countries really have no or very rule of law at the moment
2. Thugs and terrorist groups have more leeway now that the dictators are gone and can run amok.
3. Due to the dictators, their societies have really not progressed in the past 40 years or so and have actually digressed.
On one hand I understand that a society needs time to adjust and terrorist groups would take advantage during time of weak government.
But in the end, these reasons and excuses have to stop. Much of the Muslim world needs to take a hard look at themselves and yank their societies into the 21st century.
To put this into very blunt perspective let us look at this example.
The most notable achievement of one society is that it has just put a robot on Mars to conduct scientific analysis. The most notable achievement of a few other societies are that they go berserk at something offensive on the internet (imagine that!), burn buildings and kill people while screaming about God.
The people (young people especially) of those countries are going to have to fight their own terrorists in order to drag their societies into the 21st century.
The internet is full of offensive material. I can assure you it is not just Muslims for those of you who have never used the internet before.
Just had a thought pop into my head. I wonder if the TV reporter in Egypt was just being careless with this story and didn’t realize how much havoc it would create or if it was done on purpose.
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*9.29.2012 – Update – Well, had some issues with the blog and this post got erased. Trying to put it back as it was but the story in Libya also keeps changing. Apparently it was a terrorist attack by various religious zealots. So, as of 9.29.2012 I only have two comments.
1. It looks like regular Libyans are grateful to the USA for helping them get rid of Gaddafi. I was highly encouraged by these two articles.
1. Hundreds of Libyans hand over their weapons – USA Today
2. After Quaddafi – Foreign Affairs
And finally, I still find this extremely funny:
Following Cultural Awareness Class, Marines Burn Down Own Embassy
