Sacred Rage by Robin Wright

I'm almost done with the original 1986 version. Click on the book for an article the author co-wrote in 1997. I hope Hillary Clinton has read it.

What I find so distressing is that the reasons for the pull to embrace Islamic fundamentalist militancy have not been ameliorated. The grinding poverty and low literacy rates, the high unemployment,the westernized leadership's disparity of wealth in majority Islamic countries are still there. The push for independence from the globalized world-wide economy is something that leaders in majority Muslim countries must deal with.

So the cheapest short-term strategies for the US and Saudi Arabia have not worked is what I'm trying to say. It didn't work in Iran in 1953, either, and guess what? It still ain't working.

And if you read any of the links so far, this is not some right-wing hate spew blaming the religion of Islam. Yeah, I personally believe that some of the problems lie in the way that fundamentalist whack-jobs interpret the Q'uran and the same goes for the Torah and the Bible. (See my religion sucks posts, they're some of my most popular.) Western countries histories of colonization are coming home to roost.

A great lady used to tell me "Nothing changes if nothing changes." Well duh.

Hassan al-Turabi in Sudan, is covered in the book.

Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz is in the book.

And 30 years later here: "Though Bin Baz is now dead, his fanatical fatwas continue to be treated as authoritative by the Saudi government." (literally, here in San Diego mosques)

The Saudi hate spew disseminated in the US and UK has only been adressed in Saudi Arabia in the last month.

A woman appointed to the head of girls education, and some variety in your Sunni Islam indoctrination. Guess they exported enough hatred of non-Wahhabis that the birds came home to roost. They have, however had years to spread the Wahhabi love all over the world.

The Egyptian blind sheikh has been fomenting Islamic fundamentalist hatred since the 70's. He's in jail in S. Carolina after being convicted in the 1993 WTC bombing. He's in the book. So is Hosni Mubarak.

Jew hatred looks like it's still alive and well in Iran today as Kerry visits Gaza. That's a pretty good indication to me that support for (terrorists or) the oppressed Shia's is still strong in Iran. I don't see it written that leaders in the Muslim world use the suffering of the Palestinians to divert attention from their own failures, but I've wondered about it. It's a theory of mine.

We in America voted for hope and change. People are people. My guess is that people in the majority Muslim nations would too, if given the opportunity. How about we quit bombing the shit out of them, And listen to their greivances .

I didn't say self- flagellate, I said listen.