That's exactly the situation. A sympathetic United Nations may have given away something that wasn't theirs to give. And from there it just gets more and more complicated.

On the guy that got beheaded, does anyone know (has it been released?) why he was arrested by US forces and interogated by the CIA? This was mentioned on Sky news earlier.

One thing is apparent by the link I posted way earlier. It's not just Arabs/Muslims that can act like barbarians when they are doing it for something they believe in. The guys that killed the 2 Brit soldiers in N.Ireland were set free after 10 years, in the name of peace.

Thanks for the link glasgow

BRJ,
Some history reading regarding the last 30 years in Afghanistan may help you understand where some of the hate of modern terrorists (al-quaida) is rooted. Not the whole story, but ties it together for a better understanding of the current situation.
As to our support for Isreal, it helps to remember that there are more Jews in the US than Isreal. Others have provided you some good links.
I applaud your efforts to at least try and get a better understanding through history. Many forget that that is where the real answers lie, not in much of the rhetoric you are hearing (being attacked with).

I heard he was arrested because he wasn't employed by anyone .. he over there trying to get into some work.. but that is just chit -chat and I have no idea if that is true.. so I would really like to know what his business over there was as well.. anyone know...?

Here's a just-released profile/back-story to al-Zarqawi. This guy has got to go.

That actually makes a lot of sense.

Scweet...:D

Actually, I read something that suggested we were all Iraqi/Iranian, and that humankind more or less started in the "fertile crescent".

Since al-Zarqawi (a Jordanian) is to blame, does that leave the Iraqi people off the hook from being "glassified"?

Also, there is a lot of talk here about "how can people hate so much" (to paraphrase). Unfortunately, I don't know that it is unique in the world, and it isn't just Muslims...

For instance, a quick check of Africa:

- Muslims butchering Christians in retaliation for Christians butchering Muslims

- A reference back to the early 90s tribal/racial genocide in Rwanda

Or Asia:

- Bad things have been happening in the "rebel" province of Aceh in Indonesia

Or to put it another way - read with care (it isn't unbiased) - there are a lot of brutal areas in the world. Muslims are NOT ALONE in this brutality:

http://www.hrw.org/

For giggles (:(), when you're done, try child soldiers....

http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/voices.htm

I can't read all of this and blame a country, or a religion, or a people. I don't feel any desire to wipe anyone out.

Iraq is actually where paper (or parchment for writing) was invented.

Something to think about...

A friend of mine is a Palestinian of Jordanian lineage. He claims that the majority of Palestinians are people who were kicked out of Jordan years ago and lost their land, livelihood, etc... The media focuses on Israel and wants Israel to "give the Palestinian people their homeland back", but nobody asks Jordan to give the Palestinians their land back. Interesting, isn't it?

I haven't seen it and I don't want to see the video. It's bad enough to know it was done and filmed. Right or wrong we cannot walk away from this, it would only be storing up more trouble for the future (yet again). What to do?
How would Sharon and Israel react?

I'm not sure Sharon is someone we should be taking an example from...

As a human being perhaps not, as a national leader fighting terrorists I can think of worse examples.

I think the biggest difficulty is identifying the enemy from the "civilian", understanding their real motivations and then trying to find a way to live together. In the mean time there is a need for clearly aimed and hard decisive action as a lesson that such action will not be tolerated, forgotten or forgiven. Wanting to live in a world at peace should not come at the price of appeasement to terrorism regardless of whether they are a minority or not. Like others I am waiting to see Muslim religious leaders and Arab states condemning this action and acting in their spheres of influence to put an end to it. In the clear absence of this I would conclude that their sympathies are with the terrorists and that we should plan our actions accordingly.

excellent point.
The Muslim leaders didn't really condem WTC.. so why should they start now.

"ike others I am waiting to see Muslim religious leaders and Arab states condemning this action and acting in their spheres of influence to put an end to it. In the clear absence of this I would conclude that their sympathies are with the terrorists and that we should plan our actions accordingly."

How woudl you ever know? The news won't tell you.

I posted the response of Hezbollah here a couple of days ago. Did anyone read it? Did you hear about it on the "news"? They condemned the killing.

The news directors have decided you don't need to know, I guess.

I wonder what other groups have spoken?

Talk by itself can be just paying lip service, the other part is "acting in their sphere of influence", ie Actions speak louder than words.

But as techweenie rightly points out: We only get the news we are permitted to hear and some actions, quite properly, can not be broadcast publically.

This is classic middle east politics. In the past, Hezbollah has condemned terrorist attacks and later found to be the actual perpetrators. In the old days, both Israel (when Menachim Begin bombed the King David Hotel) and the PLO have been caught doing the same thing.

Words mean nothing. Until an Islamic nation takes meaningful actions to stop supporting and harboring terrorists and providing for their training, they are all de facto terrorists.

Moses: "This is classic middle east politics...."

Oh, I don't think we can limit it to the Middle East. We do the same thing.

They are only words, and that was the original question.

As far as something meaningful, well, the U.S. has played on both sides of the court there, too. Haiti, Somalia and Bosnia were actions. In Rwanda it was just words.