Actually, imagining you being a "soldier" is what I don't believe...

...that, and a certain detail you mentioned that makes it all seem a little, say, far-fetched.

I'll leave it at that. The reader can decide.

PS: Getting bored with this back and forth. You can have the last word (which I'm sure you delude yourself into thinking that somehow you've "won" something).

Personally, I believe that anyone saying that our military is a "bunch of screwups" is lying when they say that they were in the military. That, and a certain little detail...

Subchases12 and Aramike, you both really need to take a break and walk away from the computer a bit. This back and forth between you two is getting old.

HunterICX

Good, good ... you're bringing up facts to base your debate upon.Violence isn't a "Christian" or "Muslim" issue.

But, mathematically speaking, in Iraq Muslims outnumber Christians FAR MORE than 10 to 1. So, if proportionate, the argument would be "how many Christians is a Muslim worth?".

Furthermore, if we wish to be honest with ourselves as to why the violence is occurring, we must first isolate the violent events and then identify the causes. Within the framework of this discussion regarding Christianity in Iraq, one must identify what precipitated the violance against Christians. While two million Muslims may have left simply because they wanted to be in a safer place generally, did the 200K Christians leave for the same reason? Or, perhaps did they leave because the violence perpetuated upon them was a direct result of religious persecution?

Think about it: if bombs going off in Iraqi markets are killing 100 people, 95 of them may be Muslim. That would be demographically consistant. However, if a bomb goes off in a Christian church killing 100 people, 100 of the victims will likely be Christian - demographically inconsistant.

Personally, I believe that ANY violence against someone based upon their belief system is bigotted, and unneeded. I just don't see Christians attacking Muslims based on their faith. However, I do see the Jihad declared, the other way around.

Why do people find it easier to blame Christians than Muslim extremists?

Crusade or not, I would not be wearing the red Santa suit.....easy target:o

Mikhayl, good post. Now that's the kind of stuff I like to read ... anything that makes me think is awesome in my book.That's very true. I agree with it completely.

However, Sunni vs. Shi'ite is similar to Catholic vs. Protestant in a sense. In any case, such a vast majority of the violence in Iraq is perpetrated in an untargetted fashion that one must conclude that it occurs in service to itself. In other words, bombers are blowing sh*t up because they want to blow sh*t up. Yet, the fact that Muslims have left the country demographically disproportionate to Christians would seem to suggest the violence against Christians was more direct and targetted.I've gotta say, this is anecdotal at best. There's probably 100s of people from all different political perspectives here, and I would bet that only a small percentage of them actually post. So it would be impossible to make any inference one way or the other.

Honestly, while I haven't been here nearly as long as you, I can make two observations. The first is that I haven't seen a single Muslim-hating comment. Instead, I've seen Muslim-extremist hating comments.

Secondly, I've seen comments hating Christianity ... not Christian-extremist, but Christianity in general.

Its odd what is tolerated and what is scorned.

I agree. That's why I care about both groups and took exception to the argument of "how many Christians...".

It ultimately comes to the question of whether or not one believes in universal human rights (which I do).

"Good kids dress up as elves, naughty kids get water torture."

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/WO...candle.cnn.jpg

Man, what a freaky looking Santa. Looks like a gimp from some s/m-party. Not that I have personal knowledge of such things.

I'm not sure that both positions are mutually exclusive.

I'm curious. If Germany doesn't get enough Muslim Iraqi immigrants does that mean they'll turn Christian Iraqis away?

Probably Santa knows the location of baaaaddd and eeevvviiilllll Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction?