[Professor S]

KG, I think your views on terrorism and why we were attacked show a general lack of understanding that many have when it comes to the Middle East.

We've been attacked by middle eastern terrorists since the late 60's, not just since the original Gulf War. The main contention between the West and the Middle East is not oil or Americans on some sand dune somewhere... its that they feel their culture is under assault from Western culture. They feel that our culture was and is slowly attracting more and more away from the word of Allah and towards that of a more moderate/progressive view of islam. This is why those organizations tend to hate the Saudi's and Jordan almost as much as they hate us. To them the song "I Kissed a Girl (and I liked it)", is just as devastating as a tomohawk missile, if not moreso.

We're talking about a group of people who have no areas of compromise. They believe that the US and Israel are to be destroyed, not negotiated with. Israel attempted for YEARS to negotiate, and every time they gave a little they were rewarded by esclalated attacks.

Fundamentalist terorrists find honor and salvation in death. Their view of their religion is one where death is held higher than life, and the only true path to glory is dying while killing the heretics. They strap bombs to the mentally handicapped and pregnant women and target people waiting for a bus, not military or political targets. There is no objective, there is only the continued fight to the death.

Now you could just ignore everything I've written here as racism, but know that my opinion does not come from ignorance, but an accute observation and study of this situation over many years. my opinions have only become more harsh and polar the more I've learned.

I'm always saddened when I hear equivocating arguments like yours, failing to see issues that are simple as they are, and instead complicating them with ethnocentric opinion based on an assumption that the cause must be something a Western mind can relate to. Sometimes understanding is irrelevant, inconsequential and impossible, and there is only the recognition of the enemy and the need to defeat that enemy.

If you want a clear definition of terrorism, here it is: When the specific target of the action is not military or polticial, but instead simply meant to cause fear (hence, terrorism). Using this definition, 9/11 was an obvious terrorist attack. The insurgency in Iraq is not, as it is specifically aimed at our military for a specific outcome aimed at the target party. That doesn't make them right, it just means they're not terrorists, just as the Nazi's were not terrorists.