Quote Originally Posted by Dobry
The difference is this...the deaths of innocents caused during the bombing campaigns were not intentional (absolutely accidental) ...the deaths today of innocent civilians were intentional and not accidental.
I agree with Pioner

If your brother, father or child has just been blown apart by a stray US missile, you're not going to be concerned about whether it was intentional or accidental, you're going to be angry and in a mood for revenge, particulary if you're a young male. Some fundamentalist comes to your village looking for fighters, there's a good chance you'll join up. In ordinary circumstances, you might never even dream of having anything to do with the al-Qaeda movement, but brutal experiences like that can change people. The murderous maniacs like al-Zarqawi love this, it provides them with a steady stream of recruits. I'm not saying that because of this you can never undertake military action, but it really has to be the last resort because this type of situation can develop.

I accept the US army, more than most armies, really does try to minimise casualties, but at the end of the day, it's an army, and civilians will always die in military engagements in populated areas. The terrorists know this too and will deliberately choose these areas to fight, thus making the problem worse.

Quote Originally Posted by Dobry
Unfortunately I must agree with DDT. We could be the kindest, most benevolent, sweetest people on earth...and it would make no difference to the militant terrorists.
I'm not saying that by being nice and kind and sweet to people like Bin Laden or the bombers today, you're going to stop them from doing what they do. That would be ridiculous. They're too far gone down that road to insanity, but you have to address intelligently the issues that will lead the children and teenagers of today into joining the movement and becoming the next wave of suicide bombers. Just describing them as evil and leaving it there doesn't advance things much. It might make you feel better, for having such a nice simple explanation but it doesn't even come close to really dealing with the problem.

Quote Originally Posted by DDT
It is already known that terrorists operate within the local muslim community. This is why agencies such as FBI place high proirity on recruiting people who speak Arabic. So far the local muslim community has done little to report these bad apples among them to proper athorities. There needs to be some incentive given to those who may see suspicious activity or hear of plots to kill innocent people in our country. To do nothing and just hope that someone will do the right thing is just nuts.
I don't think I ever said we should do nothing and just hope someone does the right thing. That's where I think the real effort and cooperation among governments has to go - into intelligence gathering and tracking down the terrorist cells. I just think it's better to have the majority of the Muslim community on your side, if you can. But you seem quite suspicious and distrustful of the entire Muslim population. I suppose that attitude is, perhaps, understandable given what's happening but I believe there is no basis in reality to justify it.