[richlevy]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Understanding why a group might act as they do is not the same as condoning their actions. I think Rich has a point. Certain words are a trigger to either side. A Muslim leader can make a two hour speech and use the word "Jihad" exactly once, and the Western press will fall all over themselves reporting this "new Islamic threat." The same thing is true in reverse of a word like "crusade." Certainly, the animosity between Muslim and Christian has deep roots, but leaders on both sides do the cause of peace no favors by throwing out incenduary words.

Thanks Mari, that's what I was trying to point out. In order to be effective at curing or killing, you really have to understand the people who will be on the receiving end. And one thing is that we cannot begin to get a perspective on how the 'crusade' remark was recieved because GW is our president. From the rest of the world's point of view he is a guy in control of the worlds largest military and WMD's who could deliberately or inadvertantly destroy the world. So when he talks about a 'crusade', people will notice and will probably not forget it.

I'm sure that there are people in Iran making excuses for Ahmadinejad. However, it is impossible to unmake a statement like that.