The Middle East Looked Nice and Cozy

[Wakie]

George Bush just said that prior to 9/11 "the Middle East looked nice and cozy".  Umm ... WTF!?!

[MODU]

George Bush just said that prior to 9/11 "the Middle East looked nice and cozy".  Umm ... WTF!?!

Link to the discussion (so we can see it in context)?

[Wakie]

George Bush just said that prior to 9/11 "the Middle East looked nice and cozy".  Umm ... WTF!?!

Link to the discussion (so we can see it in context)?

Looking for a link.  It was on this afternoon's press conference.

[Hash]

Nice and cozy? What the  is in his head?

Of course it wasn't. Did numbuts hear about the State of Israel, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia prior to 9/11?

I assume not.

[MODU]

Found it:  "Press Conference by the President"

(skipping)

The Middle East looked nice and cozy for awhile. Everything looked fine on the surface, but beneath the surface, there was a lot of resentment, there was a lot of frustration, such that 19 kids got on airplanes and killed 3,000 Americans. It's in the long-term interest of this country to address the root causes of these extremists and radicals exploiting people that cause them to kill themselves and kill Americans and others.

(cont...)

In context, the statement makes sense. 

[Wakie]

In context, the statement makes sense. 

I disagree.  The Middle East has been far from "nice and cozy" for a long time.  First you have the Israel-Palestine situation.  Then you have Iraq-Kuwait.  Or, for even more fun, you can look at Iran, Lebanon, or Syria.  I don't think anything looked fine on the surface.

I do agree that it is in the long-term interest of this country to address the root causes of these extremists killing people.  But I don't think the current Bush strategy IS addressing the root causes.

[minionofmidas]

Found it:  "Press Conference by the President"

(skipping)

The Middle East looked nice and cozy for awhile. Everything looked fine on the surface, but beneath the surface, there was a lot of resentment, there was a lot of frustration, such that 19 kids got on airplanes and killed 3,000 Americans. It's in the long-term interest of this country to address the root causes of these extremists and radicals exploiting people that cause them to kill themselves and kill Americans and others.

(cont...)

In context, the statement makes sense. 

Not really.

[Gustaf]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

[??????????]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science were clearly a disaster for Mankind.

Now, if you were talking about Europe c. 472-1400 we might be getting somewhere.

[??????????]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

That's at least 300 years of history.. certainly until 1400 or so the Middle East had a far more advanced civilisation than Europe. That's about 750 years since Mohammed's death.

750 years ago America really was on a dogs ass. Or it would have been, had historical writing been invented\imported there yet.

[Ban my account ffs!]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

That's at least 300 years of history.. certainly until 1400 or so the Middle East had a far more advanced civilisation than Europe. That's about 750 years since Mohammed's death.

750 years ago America really was on a dogs ass. Or it would have been, had historical writing been invented\imported there yet.

Uhh.. I have two words for you:

Potato famine

[Tetro Kornbluth]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

That's at least 300 years of history.. certainly until 1400 or so the Middle East had a far more advanced civilisation than Europe. That's about 750 years since Mohammed's death.

750 years ago America really was on a dogs ass. Or it would have been, had historical writing been invented\imported there yet.

Uhh.. I have two words for you:

Potato famine

Uhh... yeah. What about it?

[??????????]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

That's at least 300 years of history.. certainly until 1400 or so the Middle East had a far more advanced civilisation than Europe. That's about 750 years since Mohammed's death.

750 years ago America really was on a dogs ass. Or it would have been, had historical writing been invented\imported there yet.

I've always given them credit for their contributions, however, that does not mean that they weren't warlike and very intolerant of other faiths and belief sets. How do you think Mohammed and his ilk conquered the whole of the M.E. plus N. Africa? It surely wasn't through peace, love and diplomatic negotiations.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

"For awhile" seems to indicate that it is actually true. Compared to previous years the Middle-East wa relatively calm just before the 9/11 attacks occurred. Nice and cozy are obviously not the best chosen words, but I've heard worse statements from politicians than this one.

That place has been a disaster since Mohammed, most Americans simply couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Clearly the invention of Algebra, Modern Trigonometry and Numerals, massive advancements in Medieval science are clearly disaster for Mankind.

Its been all backwards since that point. And like they say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again.

That's at least 300 years of history.. certainly until 1400 or so the Middle East had a far more advanced civilisation than Europe. That's about 750 years since Mohammed's death.

750 years ago America really was on a dogs ass. Or it would have been, had historical writing been invented\imported there yet.

I've always given them credit for their contributions, however, that does not mean that they weren't warlike and very intolerant of other faiths and belief sets. How do you think Mohammed and his ilk conquered the whole of the M.E. plus N. Africa? It surely wasn't through peace, love and diplomatic negotiations.

And America "liberated" Iraq via Peace, love and Diplomatic negotations, no?

Or, if we wish to bring history into, the Phillipines, Cuba, Vietnam, Mexico and of course, all the Indian nations.

Most major civilisations have had a history of this sh**t.. (And I wouldn't count Ireland as a major civilisation.. despite an unusually large - for our size - contribution to the arts.)

[??????????]

Comparing Muslim empires and their treatment of the conquered to what the US has done in its pretty miniscule 225 paltry years is like comparing apples and oranges.

[Gustaf]

Muslims started out as pretty tolerant (though not very creative- their major controbution is really preserving knowledge from the Greek)

[??????????]

Muslims started out as pretty tolerant (though not very creative- their major controbution is really preserving knowledge from the Greek)

They allowed other faiths in their empires but those other faiths were completely repressed and not able to practice in the open.

[minionofmidas]

Muslims started out as pretty tolerant (though not very creative- their major controbution is really preserving knowledge from the Greek)

They allowed other faiths in their empires but those other faiths were completely repressed and not able to practice in the open.

Uh, no.