Bruno, you can say that Christendom has a noble past and you can say that Christendom should be an example for all the world. At its heart is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Linking to questionable scholarship on the internet about the Crusades, Inquisition, and other holy conflicts of Christendom does not constitute an argument otherwise. This subject spans continents, cultures, and centuries and warrants more than such a simple analysis. I will gladly discuss this further in a more appropriate place.

Wildtim, you would want to win the hearts and minds of these people because they are people! The Catholic Church has not been at war with these people for a thousand years because of this. My Pope is vehemently opposed to your war in Iraq. Understand that! They are men, made in the image of God; they are our equals. The foreign and domestic policies of the United States do not reflect that, at all. Instead you wage proxy, economic, and real war against nations which pose no threat to your territorial integrity nor the safety of your citizens. They are not at your beaches or borders and are saints compared to your genocidal highways. Yes, your highways. Why not bomb them instead? Or your hospitals? Their 200,000 preventable deaths each year put terrorists to shame.

I spent a year and a half of my short life in the developing world, in Belize. What I saw there did not endear me to Americans. Or even my own people. But, I will fight them here and you, you can fight there.

America could usher in a golden age, the Pax Americana, for which it would remembered forevermore. Instead you are sending the West towards economic disaster, ensuring conservative movements in allied nations will be kept from the halls of power, and drawing this unfortunate conflict on even longer. Muslim aggression is not inherited from the Arab conquests; is it political and it is reactionary. They will continue to react.

Hoglahoo, if my neighbour offered me a gift with such strings attached, I would refuse it. Wouldn't you? And if he ever reminded me of it I'd throw it in his face so hard he'd cry.