"...what motivates the Taliban" "Apparently, when we drop bombs on Muslim countries"

[laststeamtrain]

Sunday Oct. 18, 2009 10:19 EDT
David Rohde's insights into what motivates the Taliban

The New York Times' David Rohde writes about the seven months he was held hostage by a group of extremist Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan and conveys this observation about what motivates them:

"My captors harbored many delusions about Westerners. But I also saw how some of the consequences of Washington’s antiterrorism policies had galvanized the Taliban. Commanders fixated on the deaths of Afghan, Iraqi and Palestinian civilians in military airstrikes, as well as the American detention of Muslim prisoners who had been held for years without being charged."

Apparently, when we drop bombs on Muslim countries -- or when Israel attacks Palestinians -- that fuels anti-American hatred and militarism among Muslims. The same outcomes occur when we imprison Muslims without charges in places like Guantanamo and Bagram. Imagine that...http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/18/rohde/index.html

[gratuitous]

1. Once again, what if . . .

What if the United States was bombed with impunity by a foreign occupier day after day? A handful of citizens, or a dozen, or a hundred killed each day. And the leaders of the occupying nation talks about a "crusade" against Christian terrorists? What would our response be? Welcome! I don't think so. And considering how out there some folks are already, it would be a very short trip to Fundy Cloud Cuckoo Land. We might also be a bit surprised (or not) by how much support our very own terrorists would enjoy from the general population.

But peaceful resolution takes sooooo long! War is so much quicker and efficient.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Thre is a price we pay for empire.

Empire brings up the comfortable life style we all enjoy, but that ocmes at a cost. When we assert our will on other countires, it creates ill will in those countries.

The US should divest itself of empire.

But we should recognize that another country will rise to take our place, exert its will on other countires, perhaps our own, and create ill will. That is part of the human condition.

[laststeamtrain]

5. I disagree.

I think we're taught these things. Authoritarianism is not built-in.

If by 'comfortable life style' you mean American society as it is now, then I'll pass. People are drowning in trivial poop.

Humans are bound for a better condition & may make it if they don't lack the will.

Fewer people would help & less authoritarian child-rearing practices & for goodness sake turn off the TV.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. I am not arguing for consumerism, the real economic system that brings us our lifestyle.

I am opposed to empire. I appologize for being unclear.

We have an empire in effect, if not in name, and have pursued Imperial designs since the Breton Woods Agreement and the end of WWII. There are benefits to that pursuit, but there are many draw backs. Having all oil priced in dollars and the US dollar as the reserve currancy allows the US to pursue excesses that noone else can. The price in the animosity of people in other nations.

I don't think that thumans are necessarly headed for a better condition. Global warming and peak oil threatens our oil based civilization. Without some strong ledership somewhere, the cataclysmic effect to those two processes could shatter our civilizaton and change the way we live forever, and not for the better.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

3. To Which, Of Course, They Respond By

bombing Muslim civilians in crowded market places, throwing acid in the faces of Muslim girls for attending school, putting bullets in the back of the heads of Muslim school teachers. Forgive me if I doubt the sincerity of the tears they shed for dead Muslims.

[Orsino]

4. Imagine that.

Violence turns out to beget violence, and bombing for peace is revealed as an incomplete (at least) prescription.