Representative Press Blog

<< I've done my homework and have determined that the roots of Islamic extremism >>
thanks for putting some info together. But I must point out that what I have been arguing is not the roots of Islamic extremism but rather why are the terrorists targeting us. Fair enough? The topic is "Hate for the U.S."

From an interview found on Al Jazzeera website taken by reporter Taysir Alouni, following the WTC attack:
(From what you quoted I searched and the next paragraph is:)
"The proof came when the U.S. government pressured the media not to run our statements that are not longer than very few minutes. They felt that the truth started to reach the American people, the truth that we are not terrorists as they understand it but because we are being attacked in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia, Kashmir, the Philippines and everywhere else."

<< has far less to do with US policies than it does with religion and oppression of the region which has fostered a rage -a rage that has been turned away from the real source to a common enemy that appeals to the religious themselves -western culture, values and governments.
>>

The terrorists (for example the 19 men from 9/11 and the shoe bomber) clearing are reacting to U.S. policies and actions. bin Laden wants to set up a very fundamentalist version of Islam. bin Laden gains support for the terrorism campaign by pointing out the abused of U.S. policies. Many people, MANY that would never resort to terrorism, don't like the U.S. policies. Others that join his jihad against the U.S. don't share the same religions convictions. (for example 9/11 hijackers were video taped getting lap dances from strippers and drinking alcohol).

bin Laden wants to make it a religious campaign. Yet we know that the U.S. has supported and worked with the world's most fundamentalist regimes.

Clearly what stands between ANYONE making changes in the region is the U.S. and the West. Many would want societies very different from what bin Laden wants.
It should be pointed out that many that wanted modernization have been killed with the help of the U.S. The U.S. funded with BILLIONS of dollars the same fundamentalist Islam that bin Laden supports, in the process killing many that wanted modern and progressive government.

The governments that bin Laden (and others that hate terrorism) hate are propped up by the U.S. the motive? Greed.
"U.S. support for almost any ruler [often against the wishes of his people] willing to protect U.S. interests, routinely identified in Washington as oil and Israel... It is dangerous to divorce terrorism from politics, yet the U.S. media continue to talk about an abstract war against terrorism without mention of the issues or context that lie behind them. ... Democratization "is not on the American agenda" in the Middle East. The reason? Because Washington finds it more efficient to support a range of dictators across the Arab world as long as they conform to U.S. foreign policy needs."- Graham E. Fuller former CIA 8/24/98

You can go back 40 years and find President Eisenhower talking about the campaign of hatred against us in the Middle East and youÕll find the National Security council giving the reasons. People in the region perceive the United States, rightly they say, as supporting oppressive harsh governments which block democracy and development and doing it because we want control of their oil resources.

No one likes to be manipulated by foreign powers. That is why people that may not want bin Laden's ultimate goal of very fundamentalist Islamic governments still admire someone that strikes back at the foreign interference. Yes most people don't like the oppressive harsh governments which block democracy and it is the U.S. that is propping them up. bin Laden wants the Saudi Arabia government toppled. It is the U.S. that props that government up. (Most people in Suadi Arabia want more rights for women, so if it was a democracy it would be an improvement. U.S. businessmen don't give a damn about human rights in the region. They don't want the oil pie divided up with the general population. They PREFER to deal with undemocratic rulers.
After the Gulf War, the U.S. could have established a democracy in Kuwait if they really cared about the people there. They didn't.
You can look at case after case. The U.S. ousted a democratically elected leader in Iran and installed the Shah! Motive? Greed.