🚀 go-pugleaf

Monte <montep@about.com> wrote:
> Steve, first things first, ggod research. BUT...
> Although Saudi government is based upon Muslim teachings, notice they
> are carefully worded to say 'are governed by'.  It is not what is
> accepted in Islam as an Islamic Law state.  Islamic Law states are run
> by the clergy.  Iran and Afghanistan are two such.  I believe the only
> two at this time.

I've got to disagree with two things there.  First, "governed by
Islamic Law" pretty much means an Islamic Law state to me.  I'm not
sure how else you would define that, but your comments lead me to
believe that it's simply not "fundamentalist enough" for you.  But
this is a line of circular reasoning that we need to avoid.  This all
started off by some people saying, essentially, "Islam is the enemy,"
followed by challenges to the notion that the teachings of Islam do
not allow these acts of terrorism.  There are many examples of the
fact that Islamic nations do NOT endorse such actions, and in fact
punish them quite severely.  When this is pointed out, you say that
the only ones you are going to consider are the most extreme -- which
actually backs MY point that it's the radical few that are the
problem, not the vast majority.

Saudi Arabia is about as Muslim as you can get.  And they clearly
don't tolerate or condone terrorist activity.  Don't try to re-define
Islam to match your preconceived notions.

The second thing I'll disagree with is about Iran.  Iran is a pretty
radically different place now than it was 20 years ago.  Iran is NOT
run by the clergy -- it has democratically elected officials
(president, prime minister, etc.).  The latest president (Khatami?) is
really very moderate.  There are extremists in Iran -- in fact, a lot
of them -- but the country is moving to a more moderate position.  The
current moderate president was overwhelmingly elected 70%?  80%?
Something very clear...

> This is why fundamentalists in Egypt and Saudi actually are trying to
> overthrow those.  Sadat was assassinated and several attempts on
> Mubarak have been by Egyptian Jihad and other fundamentalists who wish
> to make it an Islamic Law state.

Actually, from what I've seen, the Egyptian Jihad group is one of the
most ruthless around, at least in a "civilized country."  Hopefully
Egypt will be one to sign on to the US plan, and work to eradicate
these people.

And with that, I think I'll stop posting.  I've made the main points I
wanted to make, and the discussion doesn't seem to be going very far
from there.  You've obviously looked into these issues some.  PLEASE,
keep reading and learning, and keep a good focus on who is the enemy,
and who is not (and Islam is not).

-- 
Steve Tate --- srt[At]cs.unt.edu | Gratuitously stolen quote:
Dept. of Computer Sciences       | "The box said 'Requires Windows 95, NT, 
University of North Texas        |  or better,' so I installed Linux."
Denton, TX  76201                |