Natasa Tucev wrote:
Dear Western friends, please don't behave the same way. To say that Arabs are cruel and prone to kill non-combatants because they are not Westernized is total nonsense. In the last century the governments of the civilized Western world have commited numerous crimes, killed appaling number of people and used weapons of devastating power over innocent civilians.
Oh, Natasa, if I sounded like I meant that we Westerners never kill civilians, that is certainly not what I meant. But I believe most USAns, at least who are outside the military, do *believe* that it shouldn't be done (though I admit to being in two minds about it myself). I was simply trying to demonstrate that bin Laden could have different *beliefs* about what are appropriate methods of conducting war without being insane. I'm very sorry if my inability to communicate as clearly as I would like has hurt or upset you.
Mistral