This morning during our golf game we discussed the current Middle Eastern conflicts. I attempted to explain the significance of the history of Islamic/Christian conflict and the fact that some Muslims hate us because they feel deeply ashamed and dishonored by the Crusades.
Yes, I said the Crusades that happened several hundred years ago. Because the Western Christians defeated the Muslim armies these people are driven compulsively and unthinkably to destroy every vestige of Christian life on earth. For them, it is the only way they can restore their honor, dignity and self respect.
Many current media types and politicians are so ignorant they think the Islamic attacks are due to our current policies and desire for oil. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is shame from hundreds of years ago. Read this story for some key insights.
Christopher Hitchens Guardian Unlimited Wednesday October 3, 2001
The search continues for the numinous or hieroglyphic significance of the date September 11. Often, it is a date that only meant something to a very limited or arcane circle until its true value was unveiled to a stunned world.
I can provide a ... Persuasive explanation... It was on September 11, 1683 that the conquering armies of Islam were met, held, and thrown back at the gates of Vienna. Now this, of course, is not a date that has only obscure or sectarian significance. It can rightly, if tritely, be called a hinge-event in human history.
The Ottoman empire never recovered from the defeat; from then on it was more likely that Christian or western powers would dominate the Muslim world than the other way.
In our culture, the episode is often forgotten or downplayed, except by Catholic propagandists like Hilaire Belloc and GK Chesterton. But in the Islamic world, and especially among the extremists, it is remembered as a humiliation in itself and a prelude to later ones. (The forces of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza once published a statement saying that they could not be satisfied until all of Spanish Andalusia had been restored to the faithful as well.)
Ben Ladin and the current Hezbollah leaders are getting themselves all juiced up over a humiliating defeat that occurred in 1683; 318 years a before the twin towers were attacked.
posted by Gary Sweeten @ Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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