>> George Bush has stated publicly that terrorist
>> want to destroy our way of life, and in that,
>> he is absolutely correct.

Bush says this all the time, but did OBL?. I was of the impression that OBL's problem w/ the US is our foreign policy, namely....

(1) The U.S. government supports Israel and is indifferent to the Palestinians
(2) To force U.S. and western troops out of the Arabian Peninsula
(3) To end U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
(4) To end U.S. support of countries that oppress Muslims such as Russia, India and China
(5) To end U.S. pressure on Arabs to keep oil prices low; and
(6) To end U.S. support for tyrannical governments

(taken from http://www.theopiniongazette.net/2005/08/bush_returns_to_the_they_want.html)

The "destroy our way of life" stuff is a red herring. Dont get me wrong. I'm sure they want to kill americans, but not because they hate our way of life (except for maybe JLo, Britney, BackStreetBoys). Its our foreign policy. I guess its more difficult for the admin to discuss foreign policy matters and how those policies are received than it is to offer more marketable soundbites.


>SNIP
>>Just because America is powerfull and the terrorists want to convert the world to an muslim state? Sure >that is what the american government wants you to believe, but it would be ignorant to actually believe >that.
>
>Agreed that U.S. foreign policy is responsible for the world's ill opinion of our country. That needs to change now. I fear that it will never be a positive opinion again though because it is a catch22. When you are wealthy, everyone wants you to give their money to them and support their cause. If you do not, then you are greedy and many feel a just punishment is death. The opposite side of course wants to destroy you for taking sides (not theirs). Having written that, your statement above is wrong. It is indeed the goal of every believing muslim to transform all societies into a functionally Islamic community governed in accordance with Allah, the Almighty. It is meant to form societies that are committed to the Islamic way of thinking. It is not written like christian guidelines to spread the word of Jesus, but to actually transform the societies and governments around the world. George Bush has stated publicly that terrorist want to destroy our way of life, and in that,
>he is absolutely correct. They recite that goal themselves on a regular basis so it cannot be denied. No, that is not the only reason for 9/11 but it really is the goal of terrorists. It is naive to deny it.
>
>You might want to visit some sites (and a local mosque):
>http://mysite.verizon.net/rogmios/id57.html
>http://www.youngmuslims.ca/
>http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/to_be_a_muslim/part2/ii.htm
>
>One thing I learnt from reading the Qur'an is that it is filled with many contridictions (just like the Bible). There are rules for war and fighting which contracdict each other. Also living in peace and not interfering with religion and worship of non-believers is contradicted.