TheRealMafoo said:
DrStephenTColbert said:
TheRealMafoo said:
im_sneaky said:
He said the U.S. killed more innocent muslims than Al-qaeda, and he is right. American foreign policy armed Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, so it could be said that they caused 9/11.
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That's like saying whoever invented the gun, caused the death of everyone who was shot and killed by one.
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Not exactly. The speech was given in 2005, after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was estimated that in 2003, there were more than 70000 Iraqi civilian casualties. http://www.cdi.org/PDFs/CRS on Civilian Casualties 2007.pdf
If you look at Rauf's speech in context, it's pretty clear that he's talking about the comparatively higher cost that Iraqi citizens had paid at the hands of U.S. forces. Then again, when comments are examined in context, they seem a lot more sensible, and far less hate-filled, so forget that!
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I was talking about the "American foreign policy armed Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, so it could be said that they caused 9/11." line.
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That's certainly fair enough. And that's a very good point you bring up. I agree that the logic behind im_sneaky's statement is shaky at best. In fact, a lack of American leadership in stepping in and preventing Al Qaeda from brutalising Afghani civilians when they ruled Afghanistan was likely the result of not wanting to be perceived as being hostile towards a Muslim nation and further fuelling radical extremism. I think that American foreign policy may have been the impetus for 9/11, but to say that it was responsible for 9/11 is overreaching at best.
That being said, the imam never said that USA was responsible for 9/11. That was PizzaFaceGamer distorting the facts, which helps no one.
