What I also found interesting was the different circumstances that it takes for most women to become suicide bombers. Shame, social pressure etc, depression, where as with the men its the cognitive dissonance, a mutation of group warfare by religion and of course the call of paradise and how it get themselves into paradise and their families.

Excellent lecture.

Because... it's not shocking?  I mean, isn't that the cover of a Time Magzine cover?  I don't know anybody who hasn't seen that picture before... at least in the US.

He's right. USA is awful and they obviously staged 9/11 and bombed their own towers

/100% sarcasm 0% truth

oh and you forgot the insurance policy that was taken out weeks before the attacks.

http://911research.wtc7.net/mirrors/guardian2/september-eleven/insurance-scam.htm

http://infowars.net/articles/march2007/140307Silverstein.htm

9/11 conspiracy guys need to read this:

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons

I don't particularly want to get into the idiocy of either commentator.  I was merely trying to point out that many of these right-wing talking points used to denigrate this imam are identical to the positions taken by right-wing commentators.  While I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to find hypocrisy on the left, I don't think that is central to this debate.  I just find it hard to believe that an imam who was used by the Bush government to build bridges between the government and  the Muslim community is being called extremist by the fringe, especially given that the supposedly extremist sentiments he espouses have been echoed by Glenn Beck, whom I think we can all agree is passionate about promoting American values.  While I might disagree with his politics, I certainly appreciate the passion that he brings to issues.  This brings me back to my central concern: why is it that Glenn Beck can call America's foreign policies a causative agent behind 9/11, but an imam can not suggest the same thing without being demonized?  

Calling Keith Olbermann a drama queen, no matter how accurate, does nothing to answer my question.

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. 

It's too bad that you feel that way.  Part of the problem is the way the debate was framed by PizzaFaceGamer.  It was designed to incite, which is never a healthy way to frame a debate.  I believe that having an Islamic community center a couple of blocks away from Ground Zero is a great way for America to say "This is why we're the best country in the world."  I understand why the families of victims would be upset, but I think that not to build the community center near Ground Zero is to ignore the Muslim victims.  I fail to understand why a community center at 51Park is somehow worse than the mosques that are already in the area, the mosque prayer space inside the Pentagon, the Shinto temple near Pearl Harbour, etc., etc.

In addition, I fail to see what the "Muslim community" has done wrong.  Castigating a religion of more than 1 billion based on the actions of 20 assholes is a real mistake.  When asked about how he felt about the 'Ground Zero Mosque' Ron Paul said that not allowing a mosque to be built would be the same as not allowing a soccer stadium to be built on that site because the terrorists liked to play soccer.  The comment is not without merit, as the terrorists would have been just as likely to do their planning on a soccer pitch as inside a mosque.

Finally, the idea that there are heated relations between the U.S. and the Muslim community as a whole does nothing for the millions of American Muslims who must feel like they are forced to pick a flag, so to speak.  I would say that the U.S. is viewed in a positive light by a majority of Muslims worldwide.  Currently, I am living in Malaysia, and people have received me warmly, without exception.  I think that there is a portion of Americans that are angry, or scared of Islam, but this is really no different than the portion of Americans who felt the same way about the Irish, Catholics, Jews, blacks, etc. over the past 200 hundred years.   In time , we will realise that we were wrong about Islam the same way we were wrong about Catholicism or Judaism.

Amazing find.  If all of those "9/11 conspiracy guys" were really right, they would have all been killed.  But wait, that would prove to the world that they were right.

I've spent thousands of hours researching this topic and even conducted a few interviews as well.  I've read countless rebuttles only to find them all laughable as I was easily able to prove them wrong. 

I realize a very small percentage of Muslims are at fault here. The issue with relations between the US and the Muslim Community as a whole, is that the percentage of Muslims that stand up and denounce the crimes against the US, is also small.

Most are silent on the issue. It's just like when a Catholic Priest rapes a boy. While the rape is bad for the boy and his family, the fact that the church does nothing at best, and covers it up at worse, is bad for all Catholics.

If I do something bad in front of 20 people, and 18 walk away while the other 2 chastise me for it, I am going to think 90% of the people who saw me do it, are OK with what I did. There are probably many other reasons why they walked away, but that's human nature to think they are OK with my act.

And as far as this debate about the center, as it's described by many, it has nothing to do with a the Center, and everything to do with the people who are building it.

In the US, we see one Islam, all the same. This however, is not true. It would be the same as if Hitlers Youth wanted to build a Nazi park to celibate everything they stand for in the middle of a Jewish community, and when the Jews protest it, everyone says they must hate white people.

There is Islam, and there is the Islam Political movement. This Center is to advance and promote Political Islam, at least that's what the people who want to stop it think, right or wrong.

If that's truly what it is, a small advancement towards building a US in the image of the Middle East, then I have no problems with the blockade of this center. If it's really being funded and built my moderate Muslims that love the US and want to do nothing more then practice there faith here freely, then it should be allowed to be built.

Right now, I am leaning towards the former more then the later, because many Muslims are finally taking a stand on something, and there stand is to protest this Center.

Most Muslims from other country's understand the destruction Political Islam causes, and it's why they are here in the first place.