ORACLE OF ROXBOROUGH
The War on Terror:
This is actually a misnomer. A more accurate term would be the resumption of Western Civilization's struggle with Islam that has merely been on hold since Sept 12, 1683. See Siege of Vienna, 1683. To those on the chic Left, the thought that we are in a religious war is too absurd for words! That went out 100's of years ago! Therefore, they cling to a more familiar tried and true model of Marxist economic causality.
It goes like this: rich America, poor Middle East. Since we have been reluctant to liquidate our economy and make the whole world equally impoverished, (and equality IS the Left's definition of "justice") we "deserve what we get"! This position ignores the following facts:
1. The writings of Abu Al Zarkawi and Osama Bin Laden, in which they clearly state their goals.
2. The fact is that billions of petro-dollars from Western Democracies have flowed to the Middle East over the last century. If there is still poverty in the Middle East, it is owing to the mal-distribution of the oil revenues by the corrupt and in some cases the virtually medieval governments that still exist in the Middle East, not to our stinginess..
3. That Saudi Arabia spends most of its petro-dollars to train Imams and build Mosques in Western Europe and North America to spread Wahabbism, (which is the heart and soul of Al Qaeda philosophy) and NOT on infrastructure and education that would bring Saudi Arabia and its people into the 21st Century.
4. That most of the Saudi suicide bombers on the Sept 11, 2001 attack were from well off middle class families. They were familiar with Western culture, but rejected it. Mohammed Atta's writings found afterwards were strongly religious in nature.