A Message to President Bush & All Presidential Candidates

A Message to President Bush and All Presidential Candidates

Everyone needs to read the article “Most Muslims agree with Qaeda’s goals” posted in Kuwait Times on the 25^th of April 2007. I’ve pasted the article below in the event you are unable to read the post for yourselves. Open your minds and listen to the people for whom it is about.

We citizens of the United States of America feel that our freedoms are the just way of life. We feel that everyone chooses to be free over a government run by tyranny. But who among us is to say that the people of another country wants the same freedoms we share. Who among us can honestly walk in the shoes of the every day Muslims saying without a doubt, they wish to be free and they want to live as we do.

Do we not forget those were the reason we sought a life in the new world - America in the first place. We wanted to choose what religion we coveted. Who is to say that a man or woman who chooses to be a Muslim would rather live in our nation as apposed to Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Jordan, Turkey or any other Muslim nation.

Why is it hard for us to believe that a person choosing to be a Muslim wouldn’t want to reside in a country where the majority of its inhabitants also enjoy the same faith? I have no knowledge of the Muslim religion, but we cannot forget our own heritage and what brought us to America as we refused to let a King tell us what religion we wanted to practice.

With that being the case, we must leave Iraq and our evacuation will not be soon enough. We have lost enough brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, husbands and wives. Our intent has been murkier at best and our soul is no longer in the job. Our country is divided by the strife and our goals shift almost as easily as the sand flies through the air driven by wind.

I greatly sympathies with President Bush, who knows that the Iraqi Government is far too volatile to move forward on its own, however, they are requesting – yet demanding that we give them a time frame of our impending departure. We need to oblige with their request graciously and not belabor their country from moving forward at its own pace. We came to the region in hopes of peace for all humanity and we are now the cause of the greatest unrest. We don’t have the resources or the ability to keep the country of Iraq from becoming a Muslim controlled country and it should not be our intentions to do otherwise. Let the Iraqi Government get assistance from its neighboring countries that are very wealthy and can help develop the country in a manner they don’t object too. By doing so does not concede to an enemy unless we make it one. If we wish to gain ground with a developing country, allowing them to start making their own choices just as a parent allows their teenage child to start making his/her own decisions is a natural part of development. We must do what is right for the greater good in that region and open a peaceful doorway as we exit with pride.

If we are to have a good relationship with the Muslim parts of the world, we need to make strides to understand their faith. If we wish to have opened dialog with all Muslim run governments, we need to know where they derive their power from their religion just as 90% of North Americans do from theirs. There can only be discourse if the United States Government continues to push its agenda, beliefs and strategies onto a people who obviously don’t desire it. We tried this same tactic once before with the American Indians thinking that we can control them – we can make them disappear over time and we were wrong. Let’s not make the same mistakes with our Muslim neighbors. If we want to have better relationships with an opened dialog, them we must learn to love, honor and respect our differences. We can do so without impeding vulnerability and allow a more peaceful end to the last several years of strife.

Bring our troops home now!!!

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MjY5NTk4NTQ0/

Most Muslims agree with Qaeda's goals

Published Date: April 25, 2007

WASHINGTON: Most Muslims want US military forces out of the Middle East and Islamic countries, and many agree with Al-Qaeda's goals, if not its tactics, according to a public opinion poll conducted in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia. "Most respondents have mixed feelings about Al-Qaeda," said a statement of the study's findings, conducted by the Washington-based nonprofit group WorldPublicOpinion.org and the University of Maryland.

"Large majorities agree with many of its goals, but believe that terrorist attacks on civilians are contrary to Islam." An average of 74 per cent of all those polled agreed with the goal of "push(ing) the US to remove its bases and military forces from all Islamic countries," said the poll. A full 91 per cent of Egyptians and 69 per cent of Moroccans said they approved of attacks against US soldiers in Iraq, while 61 per cent of Indonesians disapproved.

Pakistanis appeared divided on the matter, with 31 per cent for such attacks and 33 per cent against. The survey found similar responses with regard to US forces in Afghanistan and the Gulf. At least 70 per cent or more in all countries supported the goals of "stand(ing) up to Americans and affirm(ing) the dignity of the Islamic people," and "pressur(ing) the United States not to favor Israel," it said.

Those polled were asked whether they thought certain ideas were the goals of Al-Qaeda or groups inspired by the Osama bin Laden-led militant network, and then were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with those goals. Most agreed that Al-Qaeda goals included requiring a strict application of Islamic, or sharia, law in every Islamic country, pushing US military forces out of all Islamic countries, and keeping Western values out of Islamic countries-and most were supportive of those aims.

Asked about Al-Qaeda's attitudes and tactics in general, 25 per cent of Egyptians and 15 per cent of Indonesians said they "support Al-Qaeda's attacks on Americans and share its attitudes toward the US," along with nine per cent of Moroccans and 10 per cent of Pakistanis. Nearly one third of those polled in Egypt and Morocco said they agreed with "many of" Al-Qaeda's attitudes toward the United States but "oppose Al-Qaeda's attacks on Americans."

Less than one third, however, said they disagreed with both Al-Qaeda's attitudes and its attacks on Americans, with 31 per cent of Egyptians, 29 per cent of Indonesians, 26 per cent of Moroccans and 16 per cent in Pakistan. A large number of Pakistanis chose not to answer the question, with 68 per cent saying they refuse or do not know. Significant sections of the other groups also declined to answer, including 35 per cent of Moroccans, 32 per cent of Indonesians and 14 per cent of Egyptians.

A wider range of opinions was found regarding the question of suicide bombers and whether their actions could be justified often, sometimes, rarely or never. Forty-one per cent of Egyptians said "an attack in which a Muslim blows himself up while attacking an enemy" is often justified, while 19 per cent said "sometimes" and 28 per cent said "never." However, 68 per cent of Indonesians and 60 per cent of Pakistanis were strongly opposed to suicide tactics.

Most Egyptians, Indonesians and Moroccans said establishing a Palestinian state was not a US goal, and sweeping majorities in all countries-including 89 per cent in Egypt and 63 per cent in Morocco - responded that the United States was controlling most or nearly all of what happens in the world today. The poll was conducted from December to February through in-home interviews by native Arabic, Indonesian and Urdu language speakers with around 1,000 people in each country. The margin of error was between three and four per cent. - AFP