Posted on 02/26/2003 1:29:58 PM PST by trussell
This was sent to my email box. I thought it deserved to be seen.
No matter what your views on President Bush's statement of upcoming
war, this, from an English journalist, is very interesting. Just a
word of background, for those of you who aren't familiar with the
UK's Daily Mirror.
This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not
supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic.
**********************************
Tony Parsons Daily Mirror September 11, 2002
One year ago, 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 Europeans-but it has become an epidemic. And it seems
incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally.
We are 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, wives, and children,
some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame
for their meticulously planned slaughter?
These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in
Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury 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 mum.
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 semiautomatics 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 will have 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, 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 One!
Remember, remember, September 11 -
One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed
against America.
No, do more than remember; never forget!
The issue of war with Iraq is something I've waffled around on day after day. Until I read Thomas Sowell's column today in Military Magazine.
One thing I think many FReepers would like to see is for President Bush to tell the United Nations to get lost. Move! Leave! Go freeload someplace else!
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.
Here here! Excellent article, trussell.
No more UN for US-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
The wheel is turning???????????Again.
And tell it to the children of those mothers and fathers who died on September 11. Can you picture their little faces asking where's Mommy or where's Daddy? Can you hear them?
No, we will never forget. We cannot forget.
Thanks for the ping.
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