DDD
DP Veteran
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- Nov 26, 2012
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Fair point. But even then, it's one thing to say you are going to work with one another against a common foe, it's another thing to actually pull it off. Come to think about it, I think Saladin actually faced a similar situation. I believe he ended up murdering the guy and his family, and absorb their strength into his instead of working with them.
It is a hypothetical scenario, in which case they may cooperate instead.
Fair point I suppose, so let me be real then. We are going to consistently have a problem with democracies in the region as long as the majority of the population continues to support Islam, specifically the intolerant and oppressive strain that exists in the Middle East. Unless you see them hitting an Enlightenment Phase in the next few years, I doubt we'll ever see natural change.
Would like to enlighten you that the Renessaince period took ages to make enough people aware that there is life above religion in Europe. These things take time.
I can certainly understand from a Historical perspective why it would seem that way, and you know how I love History and love to use it, but this is one of the rare instances where I don't think it applies. For one thing, especially from a military perspective, it is far easier to target a destroy a single entity with a standing army. I mean, more so than nation building, our military was meant to engage in large scale combat against an organized foe who has a single command and control. You see, we would then be fighting a war that plays to our strengths instead of to our weaknesses, which is what trying to invade the Middle East right now would entail.
Very risky to allow a centralized ME power to grow first, only to break it down back to this current state. Would cost a lot and would be wasted for they are already divided as they are today. Why allow them to grow?
Also, there is something to be said for the shock value. Back in WW2, the MacArthur understood this very well and used the people's own belief system to make the transition much easier. This is why we kept the Emperor alive and never tried him for war crimes. He was a far more useful tool alive and dead. But more importantly, it did a lot to shock the Japanese people to be humbled. And more than anything, if Islam is to be contained, the people have to be humbled to the point where they no longer believe (as the majority of many Arab nations do) that it's okay to punish those that leave Islam and convert (or I suppose go Atheist). You wanna know the smartest thing MacArthur did during the entire war? This Photo:
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The image of MacArthur towering above the Emperor, a man who most Japanese had never seen before and most saw as a god-like figure, was very humbling. And regardless of if we end up having to deal with one enemy, or a dozen, the only way we end this scourge once and for all, is by breaking their will and making them know that violence will no longer be tolerated.
Different wars have different ways in dealing with them. There should be other ways to tackle the backward mentality that the religion supports over there.