The New Crusade?

In the fifth year in the War on Terror, a tipping point may have been reached. The critical event for the USA public has been the "Port Deal" which would give commerical control of major American ports to the the UAE, a tiny Arab federation on the Persian Gulf. The "Port Deal" has united many Democrats and Republicans in opposition. The key reason seems to be simply because the UAE is a Muslim nation, as Port security would still be handled by Homeland Security as it was in the past when a British company had the contract.

However, the American public, like that in European public that was recently shocked by the Mohammad Cartoon Affair and the resulting world wide Muslim demonstrations and riots, seems to have come the conclusion that no Muslims anywhere in the world can be trusted. If this is the outcome of these recent events then the stage is set for a much more brutal war -- a contest between civilizations not seen since the Crusades of a thousand years ago.

In the end Osama bin Laden may get the war he worked and prayed for so many years. The outcome of such a war very likely will go against the Muslims in the same way the outcome of World War II was the agent of so much misery to the German people.


http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/02/the_reverse_cru.html

"The Reverse Crusades" That's what some of my friends still in the Special Ops community have been calling the War on Terror since 9/11 (and maybe since Khobar - I just may not have been paying attention). We're fighting the crusaders this time - crusaders that want us either converted to their religion or dead. And our fear and unwillingness to fight in various ways may be our undoing. Osama and his murderers want to drive a wedge between the West and Islam, and guess what? It's working.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11399600/#060226

A tipping point on Islam? February 26 2006 6:34 PM ET

With the Cartoon Wars giving way to the ports imbroglio, Jim Geraghty, blogging from Turkey, wonders if we're seeing a tipping point in Western attitudes toward Islam. Geraghty collects a lot of quotes, and writes of "my sense that in recent weeks, a large chunk of Americans just decided that they no longer have any faith in the good sense or non-hostile nature of the Muslim world. If subsequent polls find similar results, the port deal is dead."

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