Comments on: Diplomacy, Not Deadlines Says Iraq Panel

Meanwhile, Report Says U.S. May Abandon Effort To Bring Sunni Insurgents Into Fold

[patriotic9]

Intolerance is not only a part of Radical Islam but it's the part of all religious extremism.We face the same problem by RADICAL CHRISTIANS in our country who are very intolerant to people of different lifestyles specially HOMOSEXUALS.Most of the European countries have legalized HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES but in United States,it's still illegal which is a discrimination on the basis of SEXUAL ORIENTATION.Samething with other issues like PROSTITUTION,WOMEN'S EQUAL RIGHT(In United States a man is legally allowed to run and jog on the street completely TOPLESS but if a woman comits the same action,she may get arrested on the name of INDECENT EXPOSURE.Same action completely decent for a man is so indecent for a woman that she may be thrown into jail which is a DISCRIMINATION on the basis of GENDER).I know RADICAL ISLAM is a little more intolerant compare to other religions,but if you look at any religion,it's foundation is based on INTOLERANCE and VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.One problem with the religious people of any faith is that when they get a command from their religious book,they don't use common sense at all and fully submit to their religious ideology irrespective of how NON-SENSE that ideology may be.

[patriotic9]

Democracy means govt of the people.Do you think bringing democracy to Middle Eastern countries like Iraq,Saudi Arabia,Egypt,etc is good and benificial for United States or bad.We have already seen the election results in Iraq in the form of Maliki and in Palestine in the form of Hamas.

[inarguable]

Patriotic9-I only have 1500 words here, so i am not going to get into the explanation of the ideological differences between the two primary branches of the Islamic faith here, as that can be (and should be) easily looked up online by everyone here. As to WHY people who voice absolutist viewpoints regarding the Iraq conflict should have that knowledge BEFORE forming a concrete opinion on the subject comes down to being able to appreciate and understand the enemy we face. Having spent years studying fundamentalist Islam and having lived in the Middle East for 6 months, what continues to amaze me is that the average person in our western society simply does not bother to understand the radical, theologically driven mindset that allows people to religiously justify to themselves the mass murder of others who hold a different ideological viewpoint. The sectarian strife in Iraq today is a clear-cut example of what happens when ignorance and fundamentalism combine to create an environment that breeds intolerance, and it would be foolish to imagine that we can ever have a hope of defeating or nullifying this threat if we don%u2019t appreciate why and how they are able to justify the use of extreme violence as their primary method of conflict resolution. Everyone in the free world should read the Holy Quran, the Hadiths, and Sharia to gain a basic knowledge of what drives the followers of fundamentalist Islam, as the P/C media will not even broach the subject out of fear of offending.

[inarguable]

BlondMadison - Your comments exhibit an obvious ignorance of the incredible threat potential radical Islam presents to the free world, as well as a clear misunderstanding of the long-term purpose behind the invasion of Iraq. You do little else besides vehemently attack President Bush, but fail to demonstrate even the slightest appreciation of the nuance and complexities involved in this LONG-TERM struggle. We are facing an enemy today in radical Islam that is FAR more threatening than that which the "Evil Empire", the USSR, presented us during the Cold War, and myopic thinkers (non-thinkers actually) like you who lack the foundational base of knowledge of the subject matter and of the enemy we face love to demand immediate solutions to hyper-complex issues that CANNOT be simplified just to match your lack of understanding. Even your statements about nations like North Korea or Iran exhibits a total ignorance of those dictatorial nation states, the ideology fuelling their leadership, and the historical precedents involved. This is an evil and hyper-complex world, and not everyone lives on safe little black-and-white planet Alec-Baldwinia where you seem to reside. You should keep an open mind, do some homework, and actually learn about what you are talking about BEFORE forming and voicing hard and fast emotionally-based opinions that lack even the slightest ounce of pragmatism to support them. Knowledge is power, and ignorance is most certainly not bliss.

[patriotic9]

inarguable
Would you please tell us from your knowledge and experiences what are the basic differences between SHIA and SUNNI ISLAM and why we as Americans need to know those differences.

[inarguable]

It is stunning to me how myopically short-sighted many people are, and even worse, how ignorant the vast bulk of our society is to the level of threat we face from radical Islam. People seem to be amazed that Iraq did not immediately fall into a stable, Jeffersonian style democracy, and that exposes the fundamental ignorances the Western World has regarding the Arab/Islamic world. As a terrorism analyst for a major NGO global think-tank who has almost a full decade of studying the threat of radical Islam specifically, it never ceases to amaze me how many people rapidly form absolutist, concrete opinions about this subject without possessing or bothering to gain themselves a true foundational base of knowledge of the subject matter. These issues are so incredibly nuanced and complex, and maintaining an open-mind and thinking pragmatically rather than emotionally is the only way to truly understand and appreciate what we are up against. In my line of work i deal with people who will argue incessantly about sectarian violence in Iraq, but when i ask them to explain the ideological difference between a Sunni and a Shi'a Muslim, they cannot even answer that most BASIC of questions about the faith of Islam. People should LEARN the nuance and complexities BEFORE coming to hard and fast conclusions that they cannot back up. Unless you can adequately explain with facts how you achieved that POV, then you should keep an open mind and not be so absolutist in your conclusions.

[jn122736]

The dung pit this administration has dug us into in Iraq is virtually unsalvageable. Neither the republicans nor democrats have any idea what actually to do next (specified steps)?

Americans as a whole have an inexplicably optimistic nature. Why else do millions of us continue to buy lottery tickets with the odds against winning being what they are?

%u2026 Most of us have placed tall hopes on this commission finding the magic bullet to get us out of this mess when we really don%u2019t believe there is one.

The bottom line is, no matter how soon or late we accept Iraq as a loss and withdraw, Hugh costs will follow, not the least to our egos.
%u2026 The longer we take to decide, the more American servicemen and women will be sacrificed.

Just h much is our egos worth?

[blondmadison]

"THE MEDIA, AND OUR UNIVERSITIES ARE TO BLAME FOR IRAQ!"

I disagree. We can't blame the media or the universities. When Saddam was given a deadline--at the last hour, he honored the deadline. He held his hand out, offering to Dan Rather to tell George W that he wanted to talk.

George W decided he could take our troops lives in his hands and if we lost a few,well, "we all knew there would be casualties in a war."

That's not the media, that's not the universities. That's the mentality of a spoiled rich white boy who has lived with secret service protecting his -ss all of his life--a person who does not have to hold the lives of civilians as precious.

There will never be anyone else to blame for this other than George W. Bush. He acts the same with North Korea and he acts the same with Iran. He won't speak to them?

He has no right to not speak to another country. The huge stupid -ss is a world leader. IT'S HIS JOB TO SPEAK TO COUNTRIES HE DOES NOT LIKE. IT'S HIS JOB.

[trueprogress]

THE MEDIA, AND OUR UNIVERSITIES ARE TO BLAME FOR IRAQ !


IT is not our doing that the Iraqi nation is killing its own innocents.
It is our media and University fault for filling us up with "Multicultural" Blather, that "All cutures are the same", and "Who are we to Judge" crapola, so now we are shocked.
Hey ! Our culture is better. IT is like going to another planet of barbarians and fanatics.
We brought them a chance for Democracy . Remember, "power to the People." and Democracy NOw ! We are the most decent people on earth.

If the media had shown the real Arab PAlestinean barbarism ( targeting Isreali school buses, women and children, biologic germs in roadside bombs still, gauging eyes, killing ***, honor killing of young girls, still have slavery ! ) instead of the "Even handed" approach, we would have known. Ditto University. Ditto our State Dept.

[rsoxfan1123]

frankly6-very true.