[Azure]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Oh right. I'm sorry I didn't give President Bush the respect he deserves. As usual though, your clever placement of an eye-roll showed me the error of my ways.

I probably agree with you on the majority of his policies, but I still respect him, not for who he is, but for the office he holds.

I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of evidence that the Afghani people think the NATO led force (I thought we were talking about how the average Afghani would view Canada, but whatever) is a Christian occupation force. I thought I made that clear in my last post when I said I don't think it's far-fetched and gave my reason for believing so.

Well the "Christian" occupation force was mentioned, so I assume that refers to the NATO led force.

I think the extremist will view the force as a "Christian" army, but I think the moderate Muslim would understand who is there, and why they are there. Especially if that moderate Afghani appreciates what Canada and the rest of the troops in Afghanistan are trying to do.

Do you think my reason was wrong?

I think your reason, if we're both referring to the comments made by President Bush, talks about the extremists view on Western influence in the ME.

Better yet, if your area of the world had several thousand foreign soldiers, the majority of them Muslim, marching around and killing some of the locals and whatnot, would it cross your mind that it might have something to do with religion?

Good point.

Comparison though? I assume it would be a known 'fact' that the majority of the foreign soldiers are Muslim. I don't think the NATO led force has any religious connotation.

Some may be Christian, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Buddhist, and some may also be atheist.