“I don’t see the present day conflict as being between Judeo-Christian values versus Islamic values. Rather, it is between the right to have individual freedoms versus submitting to some medieval autocratic ideal.”
I guess it is a real intellectuals war then. That does surprise me. I do agree that the conflict is not over Christian values from our point of view,although a little chauvinistic motivation never hurts, perhaps the other side feels a little more righteous indignation over interference to their freedom of religion and autodetermination(for better or for worse). Beyond that my uneducated guess is that it is about power, economies and resources(fossil fuels this time).
In my opinion our president has superceeded all other autocrats quite effectively(with help of course). As for ideals I just don’t see us taking any exceptional ideals to the forefront of this occupation. Does the mere envolvement of our superior(western) culture suffice as a reason for the continuation of decades or even centuries of oppression and death? By comparision Japan , Germany and Russia would have ruled us outright in various recent times .Look at the treatment given them. We are simply not giving Justice to the Middle East.
Less cravings for “bread and circuses” and we might realize that.
