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• Friday, August 11, 2006 01:11 PM

  very interesting commentary, lots to think about ...

  Foremost, I wonder about the demographics of the British moslem community (and its constituent parts)? Are they hoping to return "home" some day? Are they "in exile", refugees, asylum seekers or more garden variety self-interested greener pasture seekers? What are the socioeconomic status correlates at work here both from whence they came and presently?

  America's been very stingy about granting asylum to anyone, very demanding about applicants showing "means" ... and I'm guessing our immigrant/first generation demographics are quite different and I'm guessing there are large number of "determinating factors"

  I think there's much truth in how factions and rivalries can be created, exploited by "society" designating "representatives", and how becoming "coopted" can then be the undoing (or corruption) those same individuals and groups. (Gangs, clans, mafia/syndicates, militia which arise "spontaneously" in many communities to meet community needs similarly become entrenched and parasitic long after their original purpose is gone.) Bin Laden was Reagan's "freedom fighter" and beneficiary of our "support" ...

  I need to go read up on the particulars of the 07/11 bombers ... it's very easy to lose sight of the fact that "terrorists" are people too, hopes and fears, put their trousers on one leg at a time, people who chose to make waging war their life's work -- why? yes, there are a million stories in the naked city ...

  —Susan
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