Quote: (03-16-2014 03:00 PM)bojangles Wrote:
Weird conversation. By the way Christian terrorists? The UK has suffered at the hands of those. Roman Catholic they were, and yes that was in the last 50 years.
I disagree there. The IRA were not Christian terrorists. They were just a group of people who wanted the British to leave Northern Ireland.
They happened to be mainly Catholic. But they were not fighting in the name of Christianity - unlike the Islamic jihadists. Although to be fair - Bin Laden doesn't really hate the West. He just wanted US troops to leave Saudi Arabia (which they did do after 9/11). And ideally - for the US to stop supporting Israel as well.
But funnily enough - having US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia was the main point of anger for Bin Laden. Although even today - most people are unaware of that.
In the run up to the first Iraq war - Bin Laden approached the Saudi Arabian government and offered to offer military support for the country.
Iraq had just invaded Kuwait - and Kuwait (along with Iraq) borders Saudi Arabia. And since Iraq was looking to conquer Kuwait for it's oil - it made sense for Saudi Arabia to be concerned as well.
Anyway - Bin Laden had managed to organise a group of fighters who beat the Soviet Union in the Afghanistan war (of the 1980s). So Bin Laden was in a position to make a serious offer of providing security for the country.
It was not to be. Saudi Arabia told him to take his religious fanatics to Sudan and fuck off. And even offered to fund al Qaeda - as long as Bin Laden never kept all the Islamic radicals together and fighting anybody but Saudi Arabia.
Instead - Saudi Arabia agreed to an American request to have US troops on the Saudi Arabia border.
Having US infidals stationed in Saudi Arabia (the Holy Land according to Islam) enraged Bin Laden. And was the main grudge he had against America.
He couldn't give a fuck about western culture since he was a soccer fan, his favourite TV show was 'The Wonder Years' (as is mine - by the way!) and he loved the music of Whitney Houston. And even talked of kidnapping her and marrying her.
Anyway - it is little known that having US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia was the main reason behind 9/11. But on top of that - the US troops left Saudi Arabia in 2003. So - Bin Laden did manage to achieve one of his aims.
And not only that - it is probably the case that the US only felt comfortable leaving Saudi Arabia - once Saddam Hussain had been removed from power.
Which means that - in a roundabout way - the Iraq war was arranged in order to ultimately give Bin Laden what he wanted.
So - in a strange sort of way - we had to go to war with Iraq in order to prevent another 9/11. Not because Saddam Hussain was a threat to America.
But because Saddam Hussain was a threat to Saudi Arabia. And the only way to safely withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia (and fulfill Bin Laden's demands) was to first invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussain from power.
Sorry for the ramble. But I guess the point I am getting to is that neither the IRA or al Qaeda were religious terrorists killing in the name of their religion.
Instead - they were terrorists who shared the same religion who wanted an occupying force to leave a country.
With Britain in Northern Ireland - it was for Irish nationalist reasons.
With the US in Saudi Arabia - it was for Islamic religious reasons.
But ultimately - they were coming from a very similar place.