Have you ever seen something like this?

[Charger Aficionado]

  No politics here...  But have you ever?  Me no...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184333,00.html

[Orange_Crush]

  No politics here...  But have you ever?  Me no...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184333,00.html

Not really sure what you're getting at.  DO you mean the act of injuring onesself as an act of religious significance?  That can be found in just about every religion.  I know I've personally seen pilgrims make a five-or-so mile trip to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe on their knees.  I've also seen men in india pierce themselves with long rods and pull carts. 

[Orange_Crush]

And don't forget the phillippines where, every good Friday, men get crucified (nails and all) as an act of mourning.

[Lowprofile]

I just find it amazing that people believe so deeply that they are willing to do that to themselves. Maybe things like this seen in the west, will now convince people that these people [Muslems] & their strong believes in their God are for real. Makes you wonder, Have we bitten off more than we can chew in Iraq?  I wonder if their was any real long term plan for the Middle East. Or as Americans, did we all think this was just going to be a quick fix?  Shame on us if that is true.


God Bless us All.

[Ponch ®]

i just wrote about something related to that in my blog...see the link in my sig.

[Charger_Fan]

I wonder if their was any real long term plan for the Middle East. Or as Americans, did we all think this was just going to be a quick fix?  Shame on us if that is true.

Bush has stated from the beginning that this wasn't gonna be a quick, get in & out thing. So far, that's how it's playing out too, so I'm not surprised.

As far as that link goes...yeesh. Friggin' idiots. If there was ever a question as to whether or not lemmings exist, there's the proof!

[nh_mopar_fan]

Remember, it's a religion of peace!

['CUDA360]

My Momma always said "stupid is as stupid does"

[Telvis]

My Momma always said "stupid is as stupid does"

Yep

[The Ghoul]

not trying to offend or any thing ... but where is the line between religion and cult?

[Mike DC]

It's tough to decide any of this stuff.  America doesn't really know what to think about the Middle East because it's so unlike what we're used to dealing with in foreign countries. 

Germany was a total nighmare under Hitler, but yanking the gov't made the entire place normal again in just a few years.  The percentage of extremists in the population was still basically tiny in Germany the whole time, and all we had to do was remove a few of them from power to calm things down.

So in the middle East, does the job boil down to "remove faulty governments & install democratic units"?
Or is it truly a culture war like some have been saying?

I don't know.  I think the U.S. has a vested interest (both sides of the aisle, for different reasons) in believing that we don't have a massive cultural divide at work.  But maybe we really do.

.