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Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

I didn't mean to imply that we Americans, Christians, etc. do not find fascination with violence, car accidents, etc. But there's a big difference between the kind of violence we watch (e.g., Jerry Bruckheimer films or Cops) and the kind of violence large segments of the Iraqi populace indulge in (e.g., an innocent journalist's head is slowly sawed off with a knife). It's a matter of degree; watching "The Terminator" is different from watching what amounts to a snuff film from Baghdad.

*I obviously am not saying that all Iraqis, Muslims, Middle Easterners, etc. indulge in such sadistic stuff. I am positive that the majority of Iraqis, Muslims, etc. do not agree with such violence, want to live in peace, and raise nice families just like you and I.

As for the news reporting, I don't understand how you say that news agencies do report positive stories about Iraq and then turn around and say that positive stories don't sell papers and that positive stories are not as easy to report as bad ones since progress occurs over time.

I don't think that a large populace of Iraqis indulge in watching this kind of violence and would think that its a smaller number as in the ones doing the violence. A friend of mine who was over there a year or so back said that when they are attacked and you see these people jumping up and down mostly happens when the news shows up in most cases. He told me of a bombing and about these 8 or 9 Iraq guys in their 20's were helping them and when the news showed up they stoped and started doing that stuff. They still fear for their lives for two reasons. One he said is that they still have the fear of the Sadam type and people coming to kill them and their famile. He said this is a fear that they have lived with all their life and have not yet learned how to live without it. The other is a real fear of armed gangs coming to kill them for helping the Iraq goverment and the Americans. He said this is a real fear but is not as common as one would think from the news reports we get which he said was way over blown.