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| EA Sports Cup |
| Gent, Belgium |
| 2008/11/15 |
Teams attending
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One man's freedom fighter, is another Man's terrorist.
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| posted by: Splatski on 2008-01-15, 16:35 |
| viewed: 1470 times |
| comments: 43 |
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page 1: OpFor and Terrorism
One mans freedom fighter is another mans 'Opfor'
Activision's latest foray into First Person shooters, has taken them into the hypothetical world of Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Four. In the past, Activision had focused on events during the Second World War, with American, British and Russian forces, versus the German. Or, as the multiplayer scoreboard showed, Allies Vs Axis. Now, however, American, British and Russian forces fight the ‘Opfor’, which stands for opposing force. Something that has troubled me for sometime, and even more so after the research I have carried out, by reading, watching TV programmes and abusing the Universities Journal Library is the west’s seeming misunderstanding, not only of the middle east, but also, of the aim of the mythical ‘Al Qaeda’. One of these books, ‘The true story of Radical Islam’ shows that no organisation called Al Qaeda has ever existed; it is a fabrication of events by both the west’s governments, media and fear, shaped by social hysteria. The Author, Jason Burke argues that the only evidence found to support anything related to Al Qaeda appeared in a CIA report compiled during 1996, it mentions Al Qaeda once. Al Qaeda actually means base, or foundation. Abdallah Azzam, chief advocate for the Mujahideen and an early spiritual mentor of Bin Laden, said:
'Every principle needs a vanguard to carry it forward and to put up with heavy tasks and enormous sacrifices. There is no ideology, neither earthly nor heavenly, that does not require a vanguard that gives everything it possesses in order to achieve victory...It carries the flag all along the sheer, endless and difficult path until it reaches its destination in the reality of life, since Allah has destined that it should make it and manifest itself. This vanguard constitutes the strong foundation (Al Qaeda) for the expected society'
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| #1 |
 justlee |
2008-01-15 16:38:52 |
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nice read, quite true. |
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| #2 |
 tek9.VulcanO |
2008-01-15 16:39:55 |
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very nice column ! |
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| #3 |
team.MDjoefroobs |
2008-01-15 16:43:20 |
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inspirational reading |
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| #4 |
 tek9.KNALLER |
2008-01-15 17:34:08 |
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nice |
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| #5 |
tek9.dfb |
2008-01-15 17:46:52 |
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very nice read once more - keep them coming! |
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| #6 |
SHADZAJ |
2008-01-15 18:22:47 |
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nice read, well done |
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| #7 |
vdesire`slAAI |
2008-01-15 18:34:29 |
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great read m8.
seeing something from a different angle for once :) |
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| #8 |
tek9.sCARFACEEe |
2008-01-15 18:53:49 |
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Great read, very different and original for a column. Good stuff Splatski, valid points in there. |
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| #9 |
 tek9.con |
2008-01-15 20:21:07 |
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great read |
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| #10 |
k46pennywise |
2008-01-15 21:27:30 |
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I had a nice debate written here but it turned out to be silly and had no real basis, so I'll just write the key words and hopefully someone else will write something about them:
- British Imperialism
- Creation of the Jewish State (Israel)
- The Six-Day War, and the interference of western countries
- Islamic Radicalism, suicide bombers and the ideology that surrounds it
I forgot the other stuff.
I do agree about the "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" bit, and for people like me, you don't have to look far from home to see evidence of this ideology. However, some people are just complete terrorist scumbags, out for nothing other than their own gain, whether that be notoriety, profit, or something else.
edited 2008-01-15 21:29:14
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| #11 |
tek9.Sam |
2008-01-15 22:05:01 |
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thats just nice dude, had a nice read and i think you're totally right |
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| #12 |
 Aaron. |
2008-01-15 22:47:11 |
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Damn terrorists!
I partially agree.
But the killing of innocent people when you claim to be a 'feedom fighter' is inexcusable. That would be a huge and ignorant generalization if you were to kill civilians because of their governments mistakes. There are to many variables to take into account on a forum, so I'll leave it at that. |
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| #13 |
 sn1kzZe |
2008-01-15 23:41:14 |
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there are rules and ethics in waging war, you are missing the whole action points.
you cant compare the too since both speak about 2 different things, they maybe sound the same but their thoughts (Al Qaeda) are different and wrong in so many ways. |
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| #14 |
tek9.Splatski |
2008-01-15 23:55:00 |
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Sn1kzZe, i agree with you that there are rules and ethics in waging war, but, the way i see it; America seems to follow these 'rules' when they feel like it. I mean, Guantanamo bay is one example. I would disagree with you when you say they talk about different things. Firstly because, both Churchill and Azzam were fighting invaders, Churchill Germany and Azzam the Soviets. Secondly, and maybe most importantly, they both refer to a foundation, or rearguard from which the fight must begin. But, it is just my opinion, and i respect what you have to say. |
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| #15 |
 Framp |
2008-01-16 08:57:36 |
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nice |
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| #16 |
 eskape`SMGzjEh |
2008-01-16 15:23:30 |
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nice |
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| #17 |
 tek9.dmice |
2008-01-17 09:52:37 |
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Soldier of 21th century :) |
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| #18 |
team.MDjoefroobs |
2008-01-17 20:28:24 |
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#17 seriously, you cannot parade splatski's mother on these forums. It's just not nice. |
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| #19 |
 MiB'qbarca |
2008-01-18 07:30:43 |
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nice read |
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| #20 |
tek9.dmice |
2008-01-18 11:28:19 |
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#18 how did you know its his mother? :/ its so obvious? |
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| #21 |
 lennox |
2008-01-18 19:43:44 |
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really nice read
edited 2008-01-18 19:44:02
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| #22 |
tek9.sCARFACEEe |
2008-01-18 22:37:04 |
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Thanks for the banner dmice, good work! :D |
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| #23 |
chenson |
2008-01-18 22:44:03 |
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Nice read and some interesting points. I personally however believe, despite the media hype, Islamic fundamentalists with extreme right wing views and exceptionally backward views on society are a colossal threat to our civilization, media hype or not.
Whatever reasons they have to attack our countries, the killing of innocent civilians in the 21st century is unacceptable.
edited 2008-01-18 22:44:24
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| #24 |
poker*pain |
2008-01-19 00:48:41 |
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The quote function won't work for me, but I feel people are still ignorant to what is going on in the world. People are very quick to use terms such as "innocent people", in my eyes almost everyone in the military are still innocent people, many in fact are possibly more "innocent" than others as it's quite true that most of them probably don't vote. I think "eve of destruction" kind of gets it right:
Youâre old enough to kill, but not for votinâ
You donât believe in war, but whatâs that gun youâre totinâ
The reality is, western governments kill a lot more innocent people than any "islamic fundamentalist" will. I don't proclaim to know every detail of the history behind this type of topic, but it you only need to scratch the surface to realise that in many ways, the so called jihad is in many ways more noble than any of the missions the western world takes on against muslims.
The ONLY solution to the problem, is to withdrawn from the region, we have never done any good there and never will. We need to stop supporting the arab nations, as well as israel. We need to stop fearing so called terrorists and stop hatred towards muslims. If you have a better solution then please tell me. |
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| #25 |
samjazzy |
2008-01-19 01:14:46 |
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Likening Churchill to a terrorist is very extreme and bit naive if you ask me. He was a fantastic war-time prime-minister and helped combat the most evil regime in history. He was a inspirational leader, and even predicted the iron curtain that would descend over Europe during the Cold War. Without him, (and alot of other leading figures of course) Hitler would have gone along way to world domnination and we'd all be saluting the swastika today.
As for so called terrorists, the problem is not Islam, but with the fundamentalists who grossly interpret Islam. I've read the Koran, be it an English translation and yes it has ambiguities like the Bible but all in all, its a religion that teaches peace. And from what I read, Allah condemns all types of suicide and people who are guilty are sent straight to hell.
It's impossible to judge whether western governments kill alot more, because we simply don't and will never hear what really goes on behind the scenes. But it is fair to say Islamic states like Iran have barbaric laws (women who are raped are executed??, homosexuals hung etc) and our Western societies are far more civilised in comparison.
There is scope for change in Western societies, democratic influence in America will/would serve the world alot better than the George Bush years. Where as the twisted interpretation of Islam in parts of Iran, Saudia Arabia etc, which gives rise to horrible treatment of women and Jihad will probably never go away as they are passed down from generation to generation culture to culture.
Finally, the reason there is a hatred to Muslims in Britain is simple. The average joe, the average working class bloke gets in from work and will switch on the news and will see "another suicide bombing in Iraq etc" or will pick up the Sun paper and read a similar story. They aren't interested / aren't exposed to the other side of the arguments, and they don't intend on educating themselves by watching documentaries etc along the lines of zeitgeistmovie.
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| #26 |
tek9.Splatski |
2008-01-19 01:41:22 |
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I agree with alot of what you have to say Samjazzy, and i agree with Pain. Although, i feel that if we withdrew from the middle east now, we could possibly cause more problems. Your point about the west killing more people than the terrorists is true enough.
Samjazzy, Churchill was a fantastic wartime Prime Minister and a inspirational leader, but, he was also a womanizer and a drunk. I didn't mean to draw to much of a comparison between Churchill and Azzam, just that the things that had to say were similar. Azzam, was in fact talking about a Russian invasion into Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989, in that way i don't know if calling him a terrorist is fair. However, i totally agree with you when you talk about the average Joe bit, that is the impression that people have in this country, which is a great shame. |
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| #27 |
bluey |
2008-01-19 12:59:05 |
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nice |
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| #28 |
baskEy |
2008-01-19 19:24:11 |
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Splat, what had Churchill's private life got to do with his great leadership. Invalid point imo, yes he was an alcoholic and a reported Womanizer but thats hardly an argument to justify your comparison. :P
I did enjoy reading your post, was very interesting. But the argument of a violent islam, and a peaceful islam is not so prominant. Something that has worried me is that they are taught that dying for a religious cause takes them to a heavenly place (with the virgins etc), therefore justifying extremist views (aka suicide bombings). That combined with their progressive intentions of world domination, and that all people of other Religions shouldbe 'Removed' from society, I find it hard, as a person to come to terms with an argument made to see them as peaceful.
maybe its just my western schooling that has warped my views.
edited 2008-01-19 19:30:16
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| #29 |
chenson |
2008-01-19 23:06:32 |
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samjazz is rite imo. and i agree with pains point about certain individuals who are more innocent than others however i feel the solution is not in our hands.
walking in and enforcing a democratic western style state (as has been done in iraq) is impossible and in iraq it has been a complete disaster. The people of the middle east need to take the situation into their own hands.
Their level of society and civility is about 300 years behind ours and their lies the problems. Their countrys (for the most part) are ruled by what are essentially dictators and are used to supremacy in all areas of life within their own countrys, but in a globalised world where America and western culture rains supreme (for the moment), jealousy and envy of that is what causes the hatred. People like Osama Bin Laden are extremely important and powerful within their own society and they use religion as moral reason to get the average people to do their dirty work.
I hope for the sake of the poor people that live in terrible social conditions in that part of the world that something is done. |
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| #30 |
poker*pain |
2008-01-20 01:17:29 |
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actually we as westerners are regressing, when the usa was create with the constitution, the bill of rights and the declaration of independence, it was the HIGH point of society. America is so powerful today because of that foundation, but they are drifting dangerously away from those documents. Things like entangling alliances, interventionalism and the so called "Patriot Act" are a huge step backwards.
the fact is, the people of the middle east do want to control their own countries, but it is us who stop them. the western world isn't concerned if the middle east is run by a dictator or a democracy, its only worried about whether it submit to our western orders and obey everything.
"jealousy and envy of that is what causes the hatred" that is 99% untrue, you need to actually understand why they hate us, this is why we buy into the wars. they hate us because we occupy, or help occupy their lands. the holiest sites in islam are situated in saudi arabia and israel. islam is a very tolerant religion (tolerant of other religions), but due to opression and occupation it has indeed been taken too far by some people.
democracy in itself is also flawed, america is not set up to be a democracy in the way you think. democracy basically means that 51% of the population can control 49% of the population, this is not compassionate. the only way we can ever have true freedom is to never give up freedom in order to gain security, because you lose both. we should be heading for small governments, free markets, etc as this is the only true compassionate system.
edited 2008-01-20 01:24:55
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| #31 |
tek9.dfb |
2008-01-20 03:06:48 |
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holy crap - just revisited this article to see this kind of discussion! nice guys keep it up, some very good points out there |
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| #32 |
backstabbed |
2008-01-20 03:57:18 |
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Hitler > Churchill |
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| #33 |
tek9.YRN |
2008-01-20 10:29:51 |
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nice read |
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| #34 |
NEDERHOPkenzo |
2008-01-21 04:01:23 |
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couldn't have said it any better |
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| #35 |
ephixzenr |
2008-01-22 11:57:27 |
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Nuke. |
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| #36 |
TmG^Geepak |
2008-01-23 15:36:05 |
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As Pain said the only option is to pull out and leave them to run their own countries. The Middle East has been unstable and in conflict for over 1000 years. Jew against Christian, Muslim against Jew, Christian against Muslim.
The "Good Guys" being over is pointless, we cannot force our western views, principles and government structures on countries which do not wish it.
I worked for a Middle East new company for a few years back in the early 2000's, focusing quite heavily on the state of affairs in Israel and Palestine. Some of the photo's, reports and video I have seen will live in my mind forever, notably a set of video and photo's i cataloged in 2003. A 12 year old boy was executed by Israeli soliders because he was the son of a known "militant sympathizer", the kid was playing in the street before being grabbed and shot in the head in front of about 50 people, before being dragged along the ground. I for one want nothing to do with an "ally" that allows its military to act in such archaic practise's.
The media portrays the Israeli army as the "good guys" and the Palestinian Militants as the "bad guys". The reality is the quite the contrary, another fictional element of Middle eastern "fact" twisted by the media (and governments) simply because we are allies with Israel. Just because they are friends with us, shouldn't mean their actions are just.
This discussion is as long as a piece of string, one thing we do know is the situation in the Middle east will most likely carry on for another millennium. |
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| #37 |
 lorenz00 |
2008-01-25 12:26:14 |
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'Every principle needs a vanguard to carry it forward and to put up with heavy tasks and enormous sacrifices. There is no ideology, neither earthly nor heavenly, that does not require a vanguard that gives everything it possesses in order to achieve victory...It carries the flag all along the sheer, endless and difficult path until it reaches its destination in the reality of life, since Allah has destined that it should make it and manifest itself. This vanguard constitutes the strong foundation (Al Qaeda) for the expected society'
you cant make out off this speech if abdullah yusuf azzam is a freedomfighter or a terrorist.
yes it makes him a freedomfighter if its applied to the invasion off russians against afghanistan, however if you apply this to his believes in jihad it makes him a terrorist.
his believes are basicly an important basic of the ideology to the islamic fundamentalism today.
the reason we are told that the middle-east is dangerous is not ungrounded can anyone remember the celebrations in muslim communities after 9/11?
there are allot off country's where the sharia (islamic law system) is applied, its a system wich makes non-muslims second-class citizens.
doesn't that confirm that allot off muslims sympathize with jihad asswel defensive and/or offensive?
i know that there are different types off jihad one off them is the defensive-jihad wich means to defend themself against oppression, if you look at the koran/sunnah it explains that war is only permitted against unjust caused by an attack, oppression or religion-prosecution(godsdienstvervolging) and all muslims are obligated too help.
the lines are verry blurry but in my eyes it looks like that it means that they have the right to defend themselfs against israel and all its allies.
this matter is far to complicated to tell what is is ethically right or wrong it is different for every person, but it makes the islam indeed verry dangerous.
personally i hate the islam with a passion, wich is wrong and costing energy at the same time.
PS: sorry for my poor english :)
edited 2008-01-25 12:26:35
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| #38 |
 [GU]Elm0 |
2008-01-26 15:54:10 |
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gj |
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| #39 |
 lance |
2008-01-29 15:46:28 |
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gj spalt |
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| #40 |
SEx |
2008-02-01 20:52:47 |
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You are all wrong. |
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| #41 |
 sun |
2008-02-05 13:36:52 |
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very nice article , and very , very true.
As of neutral point of view, i have not yet seen a true proof of Al Qaeida existence , except for some net news , Coalition government crap , and some weirdly dressed individuals each claiming to be it's leader. All the fact point that Al Qaeida is just a object of imagination meant to fear the already scared western population in order to bring huge budget for war machines (we all know who owns most of shares in those factories) , and of course an excuse to finally grab some (or all ) of that oil that is being held by muslim countries by so long. |
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| #42 |
sun |
2008-02-05 13:46:18 |
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Just to add , i see someone claiming here that Muslims are thought that suicide bomb brings them to heaven and virgins and bla bla. I am a muslim , i have read all of islam's holy books that mean something in islam , and have nowhere seen that . In fact i have seen an opposite , you kill a man - you go to hell , commit a suicide - you still go to hell. Islam approves no just cause for suicide or killing an innocent. I have heard that "Kill and you get virgins" crap only from US schoolars who told me that they are thought that in their schools. So there you have it , just another propaganda junk. |
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| #43 |
sCKryon |
2008-02-13 04:41:21 |
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so true sun :)
the dutch translation is literaly a "believe" and i dont think ppl (accept the brainwashed in the United States) belive in crap that if you kill or suacide youll go to heaven and get virgins. ppl choose to be islam, they aint forced. And honestly who would choose a relegion that makes you kill yourself.
im non religious btw i believe in myself
ps soz for bad spelling its 04.45
edited 2008-02-13 04:43:29
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