Bomb hits church in Egypt at New Year's Mass, killing 21

Runwithscissors, just one comment of yours above needs tweaking. You say it is supposedly Christians who are flying the drones. This statement is just as dangerous to the uneducated as to say that Muslims are being targeted. Some people not only believe and spout this crap, but they feed off it and actually use it as justification for more violence.

The people controlling the drones can be any sex, race, religion or political persuasion. The people being targeted can be any sex, race, religion or political persuasion. What they have in common is they are enemies of each other and locked in a war of attrition. The Taliban may be predominantly Pashtun and radically Islamist to the point where they kill off other Muslims quite happily, but if you want stereotype, that's about the best stereotypical generalization we will get out of it.

Islamic terrorists are enemies of the Islam...

runwithscizssors: No matter what you do, stuff happens.

OK, thanks.

Sailwind, great post!

No,they want political power

Some want that too. But they all crave killing. Some want the power to do more of it.

The real people behind all this just want death.

No,they want political power and their ideology is so radical for even their own native populations to accept them as rulers that they resort to terrorizing the population to force them to accept them as a legitimate alternative to their present Governments. The bodies they kill are nothing but bloody human posters for their political cause. It isn't stuff happens, it is radical politics taken to a level that the cause is more important than anything else even to the point of being able to target and killed the defenseless and the innocent and justify it as not murder but as a necessary some sort of twisted act of nobility to further the political cause.

A terrorist is nothing more than an Ideologue who has left his humanity at the door and has lied to himself that the cause is so important that it justifies murdering shoppers in a market,or worshippers in a church.

From the islamic point of view, Christians and Jews are not "innocent". They are guilty of rejecting the prophet.

And if it were not that it would be some other schlock. But its all schlock. People who think that way are just haters and denied that excuse will find another whether its racism, sexism, communism, gay hate, whatever. People who act on it violently are just nutbars.

I am no neo-con. I actually want to keep terror to a minimum, and I mean terror of the heart as well as terror of the bombs. Stuff happens and you have to live with that. Going out and making more stuff happen in an attempt to prevent all stuff happening is immensely stupid. No matter what you do, stuff happens.

elbudomexicano:

" Very sad news. Why do these fools have to kill innocent people? Innocent Christians? "

I think you misunderstand something. From the islamic point of view, Christians and Jews are not "innocent". They are guilty of rejecting the prophet. And it is not about Egypt; similar attacks happen all over the islamic world.

As far as the global increase in terror attacks, he is correct. Bush proved terrorists can get massive over-reactions, something they sought for.

If the terror is global and all done in the name of jihad you don't implicate "Bush", you basically vindicate him.

If Mohammedans in Nigeria and Eegypt are blowing themselves up because militant Islamists killing for a Caliphate in faraway Afghanistan get killed by US soldiers well then the global threat is indeed real.

Ergo . Runwithscissors is a neo con.

All because of the Bush years, eh? If you say so.

As far as the global increase in terror attacks, he is correct. Bush proved terrorists can get massive over-reactions, something they sought for.

And perhaps you can tell me why the vast majority of victims are Muslim.

When you explain to us why the U.S. attacked Afghanistan and the Taliban after 9/11 you will begin to understand that it generally always is the wrong people who get attacked when evil men do evil things.

Al-Quaida recently went to great lengths to kill a Muslim police chief. When nutbars who fancy killing cannot get the one they say they want, any proxy will do. That proxy supported the U.S. backed Iraq government. The real people behind all this just want death. All else is talk to confuse people. And you, Super, seem to revel in confusion, just as murderers revel in chaos. Every time we have a state of more confusion, it provides more excuses for killing. Iraq sparked a lot of chaos, and unrelated people get it because blood-thirsty people will target anyone they can make enough excuses to kill.

Madverts: Egyptian terrorist groups are associated with those in Iraq.

The article clearly states a long history of violence between Christians and Muslims in Egypt. The Al Queda angle is even questioned in the article itself:

It was not clear, however, if Labib had firm evidence, and he may have intended more to deny any homegrown Muslim-Christian tensions in Egypt.

Not really great supporting evidence for your position.

I care cause this is on my doorstep and the Bush years have become the equivilant of clobbering the hornets nest.

I don't think you consider Egyptian violence to be "on your doorstep." And neither is violence in Iraq. You've taken a complete 180 degree turn from the "no threat to me" days and jumped into the debate with both feet simply because of your growing obsession with Bush. In the past you'd chalk up terrorism to loonies but now you're going out of your way to create a series of very weak links to Bush/Iraq with alarming frequency. WilliB does that with Muslims, Sushi does it with Republicans, Sabi does it with Israel, and it looks like you're becoming the "Iraq guy" very quickly.

If you fancy it you're welcome to slap me with evidence to the contrary of Islamic suicide bombings increasing exponetiialy since March 2003, or that the fire of Islamic extremism hasn't been stoked because of the carnage caused by your invasion....

Perhaps you can tell me about the status of the war on terror when the WTC attacks happened, or who was in power in Iraq. Perhaps you can explain why countries that didn't participate in Iraq are also the victims of terrorist bombings. And perhaps you can tell me why the vast majority of victims are Muslim. All because of the Bush years, eh? If you say so.

Well, I don't really understand the point of Super's bringing Mexico into this except that, as usual, he just loves to throw sand in our eyes. But if you think the violence there is not also primarily driven by nutbars I think you got another thing coming. Whatever cause you come up with, the violence is still made possible mostly by nutbars who enjoy killing. Most of them just enjoy killing. They hardly need a reason. The "reasons" are just thrown out there for people like us to waste our time debating.

sailwind said: Don't recall the fundies hitting Christians in Eygpt during the "Bush" years,

Don't recall? You read al-Jazeera a lot then? I don't recall either, but I know precisely why I don't recall; its because the only Egypt news I hear is what I am spoonfed or what I go researching because some dolt assumed he knew something despite not bothering to check his facts.

I can't say anything specifically about Egypt, but violence in the ME has continued unabated just as it has everywhere else in the world, just different reasons have been assigned for it.

And while people go blaming the Mohammedians, they forget about the drones supposedly flown by Christians killing people on random intel in Afghanistan just a couple articles away from this one. I mean, come on, those things are not even being used in battle!

Madverts I think it was the extremists that clobbered the hornets nest. I believe this is exactly what they wanted to do. And now the whole world is suffering for it.

Deaths in Mexico are gang related.

C'mon super you can see the difference between that and families being blown up indiscriminantely..like here. Egyptian terrorist groups are associated with thoise in Iraq.

I care cause this is on my doorstep and the Bush years have become the equivilant of clobbering the hornets nest.

If you fancy it you're welcome to slap me with evidence to the contrary of Islamic suicide bombings increasing exponetiialy since March 2003, or that the fire of Islamic extremism hasn't been stoked because of the carnage caused by your invasion....

A sad story of the realities of life in the Middle East for Christians. Islamic extremists murdering innocent Christians, persecuting them in both Iraq and Egypt and also other "Islamist" countries around the world. Yet these same Islamists have entered Western countries in their hundreds of thousands in recent years and expect Western nations to give them peace, and the right to practice their beliefs without hindrance. They also want to impose their Shariah Laws on us. Im sorry, but something stinks very badly here.

Superlib, you have your facts all wrong, try to live in Egypt etc..as a Christian and then say IT IS NOT ANY THREAT TO YOU? So why should you care? Then throw in your idiotic comment about Mexico? In Mexico the mafia kills each other over drugs, not RELIGION you are comparing apples and oranges, or worse say apples and rocks.

Very sad news. Why do these fools have to kill innocent people? Innocent Christians? I would be funny if the entire Christian world and non Muslim world suddenly said, THE HELL WITH EGYPT, you know boycott that country and see how long it would take for their government to really clamp down on their Muslim terrorists. RIP innocent Christian Egyptians.

Madverts: Anyone denying Islamic fundies haven't had increased activity nor increased recruitment potential as a direct result of the Bush years simply have no credibility.

Here's how madverts reads the news...

The attack comes at a time of rising sectarian tension in Egypt and the broader region. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.

Yep, I see Iraq written all over that.

After the blast, enraged Christians emerging from the church clashed with police and stormed a nearby mosque, prompting fights and volleys of stone throwing with Muslims, police and witnesses said—a sign of the sectarian anger that has been arising with greater frequency in Egypt.

Yep, all because of Iraq.

Christians are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. There have been occasional attacks targeting Christians—most notably, in January 2009, seven Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on a church in southern Egypt during celebrations for the Orthodox Coptic Christmas. The Saints Church in Alexandria targeting early Saturday also came under attack in April 2006, when a man with a knife stabbed worshippers.

Yep, Iraq.

Madverts: The old enemy, Reality, and obviously the bodycount speak for themselves.

All of these places look like a peaceful oasis compared to the number of dead in Mexico over the last few years. I guess it depends on which reality you're fixed on and which ones get ignored.

And once again don't forget....this isn't any threat to you. Why should you care?

Anyone denying Islamic fundies haven't had increased activity nor increased recruitment potential as a direct result of the Bush years simply have no credibility.

Don't recall the fundies hitting Christians in Eygpt during the "Bush" years, seems to have increased since Obama is in charge. Your thoughts on this increased Obama activity against Christians now in the M.E?

Mike.

2 bombings, on average, every day in Iraq.

Anyone denying Islamic fundies haven't had increased activity nor increased recruitment potential as a direct result of the Bush years simply have no credibility.

The old enemy, Reality, and obviously the bodycount speak for themselves.

And the lefitst commentators will be hard-pressed to blame the US for this.

Pretty sure this is Bush's fault somehow.

Yeah guys I agree. We were told this over and over that all this violence started because of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. No it's always been there. It's just nowadays it's come to the forefront because of AQ's war on civilization. Oh where oh where is Smith.

Mohammedans are targeting Christians in Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Nigeria, Sudan and the Philipines,to name a few of the worst areas.

Not different from what is happening in Iraq.

And the lefitst commentators will be hard-pressed to blame the US for this.

Islam is a "religion of peace"? Hardly!

Sad.