TM7,
The thread is on muslims killing each other, not on a comparison of violence rates between religions. As a mod I try to lead by example and stick with the thread. If you start a thread on comparison of violence rates, then my posts there will be different.
I am an Arabist, and an Islamicist, with a lot of experience in tribalism across the globe. I have not devoted the same amount of time to the Jewish/Talmudic perspective, as that was not my aim. I am more knowledgeable than some on the interaction between Judaism and Islam, specifically Israel and the ME, but claim no expertise. In fact most of the sources of my knowledge about Israel are biased, either from the Islamic view or the Christian view, so rather than disseminating bias, I refrain.
My posts aren't to make Islam look better because someone else does it too, or make Islam look worse because I failed to point out that someone else did it too. In fact, my posts in this thread were to illustrate that the violence in the Islamic world often has little to do with Islam, as in the case of Iraq, even when its against other Muslims. And furthermore, I think anyone who does any digging will discover that tribalism, which predates Islam by millenia, is actually the largest contributor to violence in Islam, to include honor killings, vendettas, and power struggles. What is often done in the name of Islam has little to do with Islam or one's faith in it. Its just that most Muslims are from tribal cultures. Islam has become a banner for many to justify things they might've lacked the courage to do otherwise, as it draws a large crowd, and we always feel cocky when we have our posse around us. (This may also be an entre into a comparative discussion, but I'm not going there.)
How about we put Gobachev in another thread? Good topic.
