Arabian Degeneration
There are those people that do not realize that war has been declared on the Western World. It has, we are at war whether we chose it or not. Those that believe in free-markets, in personal freedom (as opposed to government sanctions and approval for all behaviors, beliefs, activities and hobbies) and especially those that believe in religious freedom are under attack by a small, well-financed group of fanatics that believe they are sent to cleanse the world of those that are different from them.
To help make al-Qaeda accountable in the eyes of my readers, I offer several things.
- First, here is a sequential list of terrorist attacks on innocent people KNOWN to have been carried out by al-Qaeda and its various branches. (Sources are Associated Press, Reuters and USA Today.) Note that this list is incomplete, and only goes back to 1998. As I get more confirmed data, I will add it to the list. I suspect that the first attack on the World Trade Center in the early 1990's has also been traced back to them.
- Second, here is a list of the wonderful things that the Arab culture has given the world over the centuries. I list these to show you the difference between the heights achieved by the Muslim world at one point and the tremendous collapse of civility and the Arab Culture over the last 200 or more years. This is a tribute, not to the current Arab world, but to their past and to the future they could rise to again, should they grow up.
- Third some facts about that part of the world, which show how their problems are caused by how they react to the world, not by how the world reacts to them. I hope that like other cultures, they will reach toward their potential instead of further decline.
Major Terrorist Attacks
by al-Qaeda or affiliated groups (since 1998)
For a list of Arab attacks on the West that came before al-Qaeda, see www.achievebalance.com/data/Sept11/americawakeup.htm
- August 7, 1998: The U. S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were attacked in nearly simultaneous can bombings, killing 231 people (only 12 of which were Americans) and injuring over 5,000 others.
- October 12, 2000: The USS Cole is attacked while refueling off the coast of Yemen, killing 17 sailors.
- September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center in New York, and The Pentagon in Washington DC were crashed into by airliners full of people and fuel. A fourth airplane was unable to reach its target and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
- April 11, 2002: El Ghriba synagogue on Djerba Island off Tunisia was rammed into by a truck, killing 21 people, mostly Germans.
- June 14, 2002: The American Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan was rammed by a truck, killing 14 Pakistanis and injuring another 45.
- October 12, 2002: A Nightclub in Bali, Indonesia was destroyed by a car bomb, killing 202 people, mostly Australians, and injuring hundreds.
- November 28, 2002: A Resort Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya is hit by suicide attackers, 2 missiles miss jetliners as 14 people are killed, and 80 are injured.
- May 12, 2003: A workers complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is attacked by 4 car bombs, killing 26 while injuring 190.
- May 16, 2003: Five sites in Casablanca, Morocco are attacked in multiple attacks, killing 28 people and injuring over 100.
- August 5, 2003: JW Marriott in Jakarta, Indonesia is attacked by a suicide terrorist, killing 12 people and injuring another 150.
- November 8, 2003: A workers complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is attacked by a car terrorist, killing 17 and injuring 122.
- November 15, 2003: 2 synagogues in Istanbul are hit by car terrorists, killing 23 and injuring over 300.
- November 20, 2003: The British Consulate and a London-based bank, both in Istanbul are attacked with trucks full of explosives, killing at least 27 and injuring another 450.
- If you know of others, please email me and I will gladly add it upon confirmation!
Arab gifts to the Western World
- The triangular sail. Europeans ship makers only used square sails, until contact with the Arab world showed them the wisdom and flexibility of the triangular sail.
- Arabic numerals long ago replaced Roman Numerals, and ever since then, the children (and the adults!) of the Western World have been grateful.
- If you know of others, please email me and I will gladly add it upon confirmation!
Arabian Self-Induced Problems
- They have left the free-market of the ancient past and developed government-run economies. Despite having tremendous natural resources, they are among the poorest people and the most illiterate. There literacy rate is among the lowest in the world. It is against the law in most Arab countries, for example, to teach girls or women to read, and boys are rarely taught marketable skills which would make them competitive on a global scale.
- If not for the oil, even the rich in Arab lands would be poor. There is little Arabian industry or interest in providing for their descendants or for the rest of the world.
- Virtually no "moderate" Arab country has condemned the terrorists to which they have given shelter. While many have formally stated sorrow over 9-11, very few are helping us at their own initiative. We must "persuade" them to do what is right, since it runs contrary to their belief system.
- They condemn women much worse than any Western World does today. We in the West may have a bad track-record, yet we try to change it and to improve. They do not.
- They are racial prejudiced to the extreme. While there in racial prejudice in the West, it has not yet escalated to the fervor in the Arab world. There Arabs have a Zero Tolerance policy for anything and anyone non-Arabic.
- They have no freedom of religion. In the Muslim world, government and religion is not separated as in the West. They are treated as one. (Our own time of government and religion entwinement was called the Dark Ages, or the Middle Ages.) While the West has its arguments and discussions over creation and evolution, as well as other religious themes, it is the only place where Arabs are free to worship as they want alongside others free to worship as they want. In all Arab countries, there is only one religion, and that is theirs.
- While many claim that Israel is not tolerant of Palestinians, the other Arab countries have killed thousands more Palestinians than has Israel. The hiding of this fact does not reflect positively on the honesty or goals of the Arab World. Also, while Palestinians are allowed to live in Israel, no Jew is allowed to live and prosper in the Arab World.
- There were 2 non-Muslim countries in the middle east, one was Lebanon (mostly Christian government, tolerant of Christians, Arabs and Jews) and the other is Israel (mostly Jewish government, tolerant of Christians, Arabs and Jews). The Arab extremists and terrorists have vowed to destroy both countries. They have succeeded in destroying one, and now focus on the other.
- While the West still struggles with its past mistakes and evils regarding slavery, at least it has ended the practice. The Arab world also had a vigorous slave trade in Africa, and still has a slave trade and has denied both of these to the West all along. You can't cure what you don't admit exists!