Thoughts on last post, sudan, and terrorism.

Thanks for your response to my message. It is a known fact that significant terrorist activities have originated from locales in the Middle East/Arab World. As a muslim it is not something that i am particularly proud of. However, i also feel that what falls under the classification of terrorism is very subjective. While bombing a cafe with innocent people is terrorism, it is my opinion that bulldozing houses with people inside, tearing down hundred year old olive trees i.e. sustenance for many many Palestinians, and firing missiles into crowds and ignoring civilian casualties is also terrorism.

Consider if you will a common American response to terrorism, especially by the Bush Administration, I am not talking about a military response but more of a theoretical one. It is said repeatedly that Iraq is ready for a Democracy and so are many other countries in the Arab World. This is a weak argument because our closest allies in the middle east are not democracies, they are kingdoms. Saudi Arabia is a prime example...17 of the hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Why haven't Geoge Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld pressed with the same fever pitch for democracy in Saudi Arabia? Its because if a democracy were pushed for, let alone established in Saudi Arabia, our relations with the Saudi Kingdom would be severely injured, thus jeapordizing the largest oil reserves in the world and exacerbating our energy crisis. This is hypocracy for sake of national gain.

Lastly in Sudan the fighting between muslims and non muslims extends beyond religion and to class, as southerners who are typically less priveledged and Christian have been revolting against the power wielding northerners who also happen to be Muslim for two decades. In any case Muslim fanatics in any country have little tolerance for non-Muslims....However, the same is said for some Jews in Israel and certain Christian denominations in Ireland. Intolerance is not uniquely a Muslim problem or an inter- Muslim problem, its a human problem. However the more recent events have made it seem as such.

Anyways, sorry for this admittedly long and perhaps tedious response, hope it gave my opinion clearly and potentially informed some people. I realize this is a tennis website, with that being said, i feel pretty good because in my first post i said Florian Mayer was my spoiler for the tourney and he just upset Gonzalez...