Yes, its unfortunate. The truth is that most Americans could give a shit about what happens outside of this country or in othere parts of this country for that matter. We do, however, give a shit about arabs flying planes into buildings. That scares us. That makes us mad and makes us want to bomb folks. Is it a cycle? Probably. I wonder how many Americans could even identify Afganistan on a map pre 9/11? The same is probably not true of the radical muslims who grow up hating western culture / America.

So your saying both cultures are like little children? To dull and dimwitted to understand that their fighting back and forth accomplishes nothing?

No, what I'm saying is that if someone punches you in the face, you would punch back if you had any sense.

Yes punch back, then have the other person hit you in the gut, then you kick them back and they jump on-top of you and begin to pummel you, you roll them over and pummel them back and what do we have now to badly damaged peoples who now have a permanent disdain for one another.

Giving into primal urges isn't a good enough excuse. It's not what makes us human, what makes us human is our ability to think and most importantly rationalize which to many people aren't doing anymore.

gj ninty, couldnt have said it better myself.
Thats exactly wat Im saying.

A more reasonable thing to do would be to figure out wtf the guy punched you in the first place. If you punch him back you will automatically fuel a hatred between you and the other person, which can result in a fight in the current situation, and more fights in the future. On the other hand, you can try to put the fire out by diffusing the situation. Id pick the second option...wouldnt you?

BTW, its rumored Al-Zarqawi has been killed. If he indeed has, well lets see if the insurgents will A) Give up because the lost their leader, or B)Continue fighting with even more hatred and ferocity. That should give us a pretty good idea of what would happen if Osama was killed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051120/ap_ ... MlJVRPUCUl

It's a fact that he is behind murderous acts. He deserves justice just like every other murderer.

When someone randomly carjacks and kills a member of your family, are you going to want justice, or will you contemplate how society has failed this individual? The fact is, there is no reasoning with these people. Just ask the Israelis. They've been unsuccessful for years at trying to qwell terrorism. Additionally, if they blow up our buildings and we do not retaliate, but rather offer some concession to their demands, do we not open the door for other terrorists to use this tactic? I'm guessing we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I do know one thing, in the days after 9/11, (I remember it vividly as I worked at USA Today at the time and could see the pentagon from my office) Bush would have been run out of Washington if he didn't retaliate.

Ok, it's like Osama is punching the US in the face. You want us to be like, hey don't do that, that hurt. Then he does it again, then when we get back up, we say, stop it you jerk and he kicks us in the balls....

You can't reason with mad men, you have to punch them in the face and kick them in the balls. That's why he came back after previous presidents did nothing about him.

Keep in mind the formation of Israel was a kick in the balls to the middle east. Most of the Arab hostility comes from our aid to Israel.

Zionism is a bad thing.

I disagree. Giving into our urges (and temptations) is exactly what makes us human.

No, it's what makes us monkeys.

PS: What do you think the point of higher brain functions are exactly? A mistake of evolution (or of Gods flawless design).

I understand that a moment like that would have been heart wrenching, and I completely agree with you that we needed to reatliate. But how we retaliate is another question.

by hunting and killing the leader

*deep sigh* I ve failed. I give up. *hoists up white flag*

what other way is there to retaliate. If you have an idea, go for it. Just don't say be passive because that didn't work already.