By the way, since you seem interested in dialogue, what percentage of Muslims do you believe are 'moderates' ? Just curious.
I can't say... but where I live, in California, 99% of them love America, pay taxes, and even drink beer.
Thanks for responding.
I thought you might have abandoned the thread.
So you're of the opinion that 99% of Muslims residing in California love America, pay taxes and drink beer. I don't know how you came to this conclusion (I guess you mean the Muslims that you know), and I suppose that would make them 'moderate' by your standards.
OK, I'll accept that for the sake of dialogue (even though I don't believe it's accurate).
I'm pretty certain you don't believe 99% of Muslims around the world feel the same way about America (never mind Israel) or drink beer.
I too know some Muslims that profess to love America, they probably pay their taxes, and they've been known to have an alcoholic beverage. They don't even seem to hate Jews.
They're what I consider the 'cream of the crap'. And that's because by these narrow standards, they indeed could be considered 'moderate' -- but every single one of them was anti-Israel, and harbored some resentment against America for supposedly being supportive of Israel. (I even had one of these beer drinking moderates with a blonde girlfriend tell me he thought Khomeini was better than the Shah.)
But that's a tangential observation I've personally made and not really the crux of the matter.
No, the real issue is what percentage of Muslims worldwide could honestly be considered 'moderate' and what percentage could honestly be considered 'radical'.
I answer this question in a typical Jewish fashion, by asking another question.
And that question would be: If an election was held worldwide amongst Muslims today, asking them to choose a supreme leader of the Muslim world, which individual would be most likely to win ?
I think Osama Bin Laden would win hands down.
Now of course that's just my subjective opinion and I could never prove it, but I guarantee you, at the very least, Osama would be a very strong candidate.
That should give us a clue as to what percentage of Muslims worldwide could be considered 'moderate' even by the narrowest definition.
Of course, you're entitled to disagree with this (and I'm pretty sure you will), but I submit that in reality we've twisted and distorted the definition of moderate Muslim versus radical Muslim to meet our Western non-Mohammedan standards.
If by 'moderate' we mean mainstream or typical, then I make the case that Osama is a moderate and that Muslims that don't believe in employing jihad to achieve the goal of a totalitarian Islamic Caliphate are the 'radicals'.
I won't make the mistake of being arrogant enough to think I understand Islam better than Osama or the millions of Muslims that adore him.
That being said, I encourage you to continue to look for 'moderate' Muslims to assist you in the 'war on terror'. Good luck.