Just curious
Reader comment on item: "We Free Them or They Destroy Us"
in response to reader comment: I would say

Submitted by Stephen D Oliver (United States), Sep 28, 2006 at 12:30

Why would "our support" push anyone into any extreme camp? What "support" for Saudi Arabia have we offered other than recognizing their government diplomatically (as countless other nations have), containing Saddam (a multinational effort) and buying Saudi oil (which other nations have)? Shouldn't their extremism be directed at the "oppressive regimes" that they labor under? It makes no sense whatsoever to me to immediately blame the West for what "educated" young Muslims experience under their own governments. I'm not questioning you; I'm literally asking the question because if that's the extremists' real reason, I don't see the evidence behind it.

I think the President's goal in invading Iraq was 1. to defuse a potential threat and 2. to hopefully plant a "free" government in Iraq with the very common sense thinking that in looking at the world generally, most "free" nations tend to be less of a threat to the world around them. When people are free and pursuing personal happiness, they tend to be lousy candidates for dangerous, radical movements. They also tend to be less accommodating to those in their midst who are advocating radicalism of that nature. That makes it hard for such extremism to thrive. If the extremists have no real recruiting base nor refuge in the region, they tend to go elsewhere. Bush is trying to make "elsewhere" so small that the Islamists eventually lose or cease becoming such a monstrous threat.

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