10 things we need to understand about the Middle East.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, "Oh shit another Paulite"; and yes, this is really a big point of his. Unfortunately he does a shitty job of explaining it. Not to mention his domestic opinions irk me more than enough.
Either way, if we are ever going to understand this fucking mess in the Middle East (and hopefully someday get out of it) we need to think outside what people on TV tell you.

1. First and foremost; Islam is not a violent, evil, or radical religion:
The similarities between Christianity and Islam are many. Most Muslims do not want your family dead, in fact, most Muslims are far more peaceful and dedicated to their religion than most Christians.

2. We've done the same shit before:
It's called the Crusades. Yes we've changed, but you have to understand that we were calling them infidels 900 years ago. We've been fucking with their territories for less than well intentioned reasons since Alexander the Great. (Although they did start that one.. sort of) Religious fervor has always been a problem, and to not see how these images of God, glory, riches and revenge drive people to do terrible things is to live blindly.

3. We're the cause of it:
To take a page right out of Paul's book, how would we feel if China decided that Bush was dangerous, had weapons of mass destruction and committed terrible crimes against humanity (Which you could argue for) and invaded this country just to take him from power. As said, we've been fucking with the Middle East for ages. The last time somebody fucked with us on a similar level was at the birth of this country; and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe we rebelled. You have to think from their perspective (as the Bible tells you to).

4. They have oil, and we want it:
It's quite simple, to think that oil was not a factor in any of our involvement with the Middle East is completely naive. The Saudi royals are filthy fucking rich because of it, and it is this that gave birth to our public enemy number 1. People who live in repression and poverty because of our exploitation are looking for a way to fight back; and men screaming at them to kill to solve the problem give them a way.

5. The Iraqi death toll in the past 20 years outweighs 9/11 by hundreds.
It's not just Bush either, UN sanctions against Iraq during the Clinton years caused the death of somewhere around 500,000 Iraqis. Add that to an estimate of 650,000 killed in the Iraq war (and some argue much more than that) and you have nothing short of genocide. A tiny fraction of these people are the type that want us dead, a huge majority are civilians, people that wanted nothing to do with Saddam, nothing to do with Osama, nothing to with America.

6. We're fucking up their next generation.
How is a child supposed to grow up decently in an environment like Iraq. Not to mention a large number of the decent parents have fled the country. Not to mention some never even get the chance when they're caught in the crossfire. Not to mention some couldn't grow up healthy anywhere because of depleted uranium shells. America puts so much love and faith in their own children, what about theirs?

7. They want us out, period.
Practically the only Iraqis that want us there are the ones making money or gaining power off of the war. Many would even prefer Saddam. We're in a land that we don't understand, with people who don't want us there.

8. The views of the governments and radicals there do not reflect the common people.

9. We've been giving them the weapons they used against us.
Afghanistan, Iraq, both were previously armed and funded by us. We decided that arming radicals and highly militant groups would never come back to haunt us. The foresight is painfully lacking. What's more, we're now selling billions of dollars to the Saudis, an area constantly growing with unrest, I'm sure that'll never come back to bite us in the ass.

10. There's a lot of sand there.
...... I couldn't think of a number 10, but seriously, shittons of sand.