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It was 9/11; the
world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting -- the
mass murder of thousands, live on television.
As a lesson in the
pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up
there, with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or
the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi
concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so
calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the
world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this
fate.
Surely there could be
consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the
perpetrators truly evil.
But to the world's
eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's
comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased
over the last year. There has always been a simmering
resentment to the USA in this country - too loud, too
rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than
people in other lands
- but it has become an epidemic. And it seems
incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
America is every
country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. Some
bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A
little over half a century ago, around half a million
Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own.
Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago,
thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just
Americans, but from dozens of countries, were butchered
by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick
to betray them?
What touched the heart about those who died in the twin
towers and on the planes was that we recognized them.
Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's
daughter, husbands and wives, and children, some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves?
And their nation is to
blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?
These days it seems you
don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or
Karachi or Fins bury Park to see America as the Great
Satan.
The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing
liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the
Third World, and conservatives suffering from
power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can
do what it likes without having to ask permission.
The truth is that America
has behaved with enormous restraint since September
11.
Remember, remember. Remember the gut-wrenching
tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I
love you," before they were burned alive.
Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the
top of burning skyscrapers. Remember the hundreds
of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face
of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the
planes with her mom.
Remember, remember and realize that America has
never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it
could have. So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked
without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the
Kleenex So some Afghan wedding receptions were
shot up after they merrily fired their semi- automatics
in a sky full of American planes?
A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to
confetti.
AMERICA could have
turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot.
That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices
are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's
what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world
will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered
innocents of 9/11?
How many Islamic leaders have had the guts to say
that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?
When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those
freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street.
America watched all of that - and didn't push the
button.
We
should thank the stars that America is the most powerful
nation in the world. I still find it incredible that
9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on
terrorism." A real war.
The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening
the gates of hell," if America attacks Iraq. Well,
America could have opened the gates of hell like you
wouldn't believe.
The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever
strode the face of the earth. The campaign in
Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the
planned war on Iraq may be misconceived. But don't blame
America for not bringing peace and light to these
wretched countries. How many democracies are there in
the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count
them on the fingers of one hand -assuming you haven't
had any chopped off for minor shoplifting
I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes
me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New
York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is
hated because it is what every country wants to be -
rich, free, strong, open, and optimistic. Not ground
down by the past, or religion, or some caste system.
America is the best
friend this country ever had and we should start
remembering that. Or do you really think the USA is the
root of all evil?
Tell it to the loved ones
of the men and women who leaped to their death from the
burning towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose
husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were
ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to
the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for
the New York Fire Department.
To our shame, George Bush
gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were
told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own
people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told
he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange
center, oh mighty on.
Remember, remember, September 11.
One of the greatest
atrocities in human history was committed against
America. No, do more than remember. NEVER FORGET!
Have a great weekend
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