Theo van Gogh died for women's rights and artistic freedom.
You are not really familiar with his work, I guess.
He died because he was stabbed by a psycho, and made (often inferior) art meant to shock people (in which he succeeded). He was a hedonist and inherently self-destructive, not a Noble Warrior for the Freedom of Artists.
He can't be both? Was Mozart a hack because he couldn't manage his money? Ridiculous.
Saddam used american weapons given to him to fight Iran, against the Kurds and other people.
He used SOVIET weapons. Did you even read my reply before repeating your misinformed propaganda?
America's contribution to Iraq's arsenal was miniscule.
But the Russian situation does happen to be an interesting case study in the Strong Horse Theory: Russia's penchant for responding to terrorism with massively disproportionate force seems to be paying off. Nobody much talks about how the Soviets helped Iraq and kept the Middle East fighting, it's always what America did. That says something about Russian counter-terrorism strategy.
Saddam wasn't ousted until he nationalised the oil, and then tried to switch from dollars to euros.
Preposterous. Saddam was ousted after 9/11 because he wouldn't allow weapons inspectors in and kept shooting at our planes enforcing the Kurds' no-fly zone.
I'm not saying the switch to euros and subsequent orgy of corruption didn't have its role to play in the invasion, but it was an enabler, not a motive. The Oil-for-Food Scandal was a diplomatic boon at a critical time when we needed to convince allies to join a military coalition outside the U.N. The extravagance of Kojo and friends made the illegitimacy of the U.N. self-evident.
Theo van Gogh wasn't killed either for Iraqi arms sales or Saudi oil sales. He was killed for creating a film advocating women's rights for Muslims. You can't seriously be blaming American foreign policy for his murder?
Oh, I can.
And what's wrong with that is what's wrong with mainstream Muslims: they use grievances real or imagined against American foreign policy to excuse terrorist attacks, intolerance, violence, and murder. Those excuses provide the extremists with moral and social legitimacy.
But those grievances are not the real problem; they're excuses. "If only the Americans hadn't invaded Iraq Theo van Gogh would still be alive?"
Garbage.
It's the attitude of people who would pull out their list of grievances whenever there's a terrorist attack which is the real problem.
"Osama's propaganda"... There's a topic in this forum right now about conspiracy theories. Anything that doesn't fit your worldview is "propaganda from the enemy".
Well if it comes out of Osama bin Laden's mouth it's going to have a slant, isn't it?
Ayaan is a loudmouth, frustrated and damaged by her upbringing (which wouldn't have been better if she hadn't been born a muslim), and unable to constructively look at the bigger picture. I'm glad she's gone, and she probably won't come back since by now she makes most dutch puke as much as your Palin does to USians.
Your opinions of Ms. Hirsi-Ali thus expressed help me to calibrate what you've said about Mr. Wilders.
Your and Wilders' generalisation of 1.5 billion people is what creates evil in this world.
You don't even understand what that generalization
is. I don't deny that there is one, and perhaps that in itself is wrong, but you certainly don't understand it. If you did you wouldn't have said this:
Were I the same as you, I'd call all USians evil
I tried to keep kind of civil
You were much more successful with your previous message.