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Originally Posted by Edward64
Mac Howard,Please take my question on its own merit, ignore the perceived bias. How would you resolve/lessen this conflict?
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My apologies, Edward64, I wasn't referring specifically to your question but to the tendancy of our western world, whenever we perceive actions in the Islamic world that impinge negatively on ourselves, to argue that it is extreme Islam that is the problem. Often the problem is Islam itself and this will not be resolved until that is admitted and the real problem tackled. You cannot solve problems if you refuse to acknowledge the real cause.
As for solving that specific problem, I wouldn't care to say. I suspect the Islamic world would argue that a culture that elevates 'service to God" above "individual human rights" does not need 'solving".
But I would suggest that our reliance on oil is why the problem is so acute for us and I'm disappointed that too little effort is being made to reduce that quickly. Had we spent the 400 billion dollars spent on Afghanistan and Iraq on the development of alternative fuels we may well have been able to allow the Islamic world to develop at its own pace and have worried little about what the likes of bin laden, Iran etc thought about us.
It's not too late to do somthing about that even now particularly as the developments in China, India etc are making that reliance ever more acute each succeeding day, but I don't yet see it. Perhaps with a president less involved in the oil industry the move will eventually come
But that's a long term solution and, as some have suggested elsewhere, the middle east may not be the worst problem for us in years to come.