[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Reuters', '
')
The New York Times this week quoted an unnamed military- affairs expert who was briefed at the White House last month as saying senior administration officials acknowledged that they are "considering alternatives other than democracy" in Iraq, which the White House denied.

"These young democracies are still fragile, and the forces of terror are seeking to stop liberty's advance and steer newly free nations to the path of radicalism," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

[azreal60]

Here I thought this was going to be insulting. Thank you lighthouse for actually fostering debate and intelligent thought.

Hip hip HORAAY!

Oh, and I know you wheren't asking me, but everytime someone says "unamed defense department offical" , I think, in otherwords, your making it up.

[Lighthouse]

I am usually not insulting anyone. Actually I'm more in agreement with Miki than in disagreement. One of the points where we have a different opinion is Hizbollah. But I value and I love to hear what she has to say and enjoy debating her.

However I think Bush has completely lost his touch with realty. In his Saturday Radio address he said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Geroge W. Bush, President of the free world', 'I')t is no coincidence that two nations that are building free societies in the heart of the Middle East, Lebanon and Iraq, are also the scenes of the most violent terrorist activity. We will defeat the terrorists by strengthening young democracies across the broader Middle East.

[rogerhb]

Yes, this democracy lark is uncharted territory for American foreign policy.

They normally prefer people like the Shah, Saddam or Pinochet.

As Rumsfeld pointed out, freedom is untidy, not the sort of environments you want as suppliers of hydrocarbons....

[Miki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('azreal60', 'H')ere I thought this was going to be insulting. Thank you lighthouse for actually fostering debate and intelligent thought.

[Miki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lighthouse', 'I') am usually not insulting anyone. Actually I'm more in agreement with Miki than in disagreement. One of the points where we have a different opinion is Hizbollah. But I value and I love to hear what she has to say and enjoy debating her.

However I think Bush has completely lost his touch with realty. In his Saturday Radio address he said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Geroge W. Bush, President of the free world', 'I')t is no coincidence that two nations that are building free societies in the heart of the Middle East, Lebanon and Iraq, are also the scenes of the most violent terrorist activity. We will defeat the terrorists by strengthening young democracies across the broader Middle East.

[da23]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Miki', '[') We've been enduring American terrorism for decades, and we were never as paranoid as Americans and Brits are now.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('da23', 'M')ost of your posts are good miki but i disagree with this small excerpt, my paranoia isn't radical Islam it's the governments foreign policy after all.
My worry is P.O, the majority are not prepared to cope (inc. me)

[Miki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('da23', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Miki', '[') We've been enduring American terrorism for decades, and we were never as paranoid as Americans and Brits are now.

[Miki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lighthouse', 'H')owever Miki, I think democracy in America is still alive and kicking at a local community level. But I also think the federal government is more fascist than democratic.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')nfortunately the average American is not interested at all what happened in other parts of their own country nor in the rest of the world. The average American on the street would not be able to point at Lebanon if you hand them a globe.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Miki', 'Y')et, many seem to have very rigid views about other cultures, in spite of not having any meaningful exposure to them. I'm always amazed at the people in this forum who are convinced that they know a lot about Islam, in spite of the fact that they've never been the ME, and they don't have many Muslim friends.

One of the most effective ways of dispelling your own stereotypes/prejudism is exposing yourself to different groups of people. I have the feeling that most Americans don't have that chance, or simply don't seek it. New Yorkers and "San Franciscans" certainly do, but most cities in the US do not have that level of exposure to other cultures. Even where they do (eg, Arizona, Texas), most of the interactions are limited by segregation or involve a differential of status, and those kinds of interactions only help to confirm their stereotypes.

[Miki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lighthouse', 'I')'ve also a Muslim friend who would not shake my wife's hand nor allow me to shake his wife's hand. I don't have a problem with that, because I respect his believes. I also do not have a problem with my Catholic friend in Bavaria who does not et meat on a Friday and so on ...