A Little Perspective...
A guest at my bar brought something to my attention that I had not considered.
The beauty of the restaurant is the people. I learn perspectives that I would never be able to fathom, mainly due to generational differences, but it helps me understand where the world is, where it's been, and often where it's going.
Our conversation began with sports, which brought us to Mohammed Ali, then to Islam, and slowly matriculated into politics and the war in the Middle East.
He vicariously identified himself as a Republican (or at least a person not opposed to Bush's policy) and proceeded to tell me how his father was a 25-year-old Captain working for a shipping company out of the New York area. He would frequently make trips to the Middle East, and over time, became accustomed to the attitudes Muslims have characteristically shown to the United States and Israel.
In 1970, back before world-wide information was as accessible as it is today, his father told him that there was a perpetual disdain by the Muslims for the Jewish & Christian community, and he believed that in the lifetime of his son, or grandson, that blood would be shed on U.S. soil.
Of course, 9-11 has since happened, and we're all very aware that there is an extremist point of view sitting in power within many terrorist and government organizations.
Many people (not necessarily Democrats) blame Bush for the hatred Middle Easterners have for people living within the United States. It's generally agreed to be his fault that the U.S., Israel, and England are the target of terrorists plots and extremist activities.
The point he was trying to make (or the perspective I gained) was that the anti-Christian and anti-Judaism sentiment that has been bred is an old story -- and very old, indeed. It's been festering for thousands of years, and shown its ugly face in the form of crusades, wars, and now terrorist activity.
The uneducated in this country and abroad want to label Bush as a war-hungry fascist trying to conquer as much territory, in the name of Christianity, that he can.
I'm not attempting to paint Bush as a saint, or even a good policy-maker; thats a discussion for a different time. But I would like for there to be a bit more perspective when talking about this war.
Iraq was sanctioned by the United Nations after the first Gulf War. For more than 10 years, since those sanctions were put into place, Saddam had blatantly disregarded them. Because the United Nations did nothing (never mind the human rights violations by Saddam, his sons, and the government), Colin Powell spoke to the world about how to remedy the situation, and (without getting too complex) made it known that if nothing was done to solve the problem, the United States would handle it ourselves.
Thats where we stand today -- handling it. Is it going the way we'd like it? Are there problems with our policy? Maybe, but that's not the discussion. I have many questions and concerns regarding our plan, but I do not question why we need to be in Iraq, nor am I naïve enough to believe that oil has nothing to do with it. We have an economic stake in Middle Eastern politics; our country would not survive without the resources they produce.
Think about that when you want to blame our current government for the ruinous relationship between Islam and Christianity & Judaism. It's not as simple as our often-narrow minds will allow us to realize.
