Posted on 09/11/2006 8:00:48 AM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
PARIS - The nations of the world joined Monday in solemn remembrance of Sept. 11 — but for many, resentment of the United States flowed as readily as tears.
Critics say Americans have squandered the goodwill that prompted France's Le Monde newspaper to proclaim "We are all Americans" that somber day after the attacks, and that the Iraq war and other U.S. policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.
Heads bowed in moments of silence in tribute to the 3,000 killed in the attacks on New York and Washington — while a top al-Qaida leader issued new warnings in a videotape that appeared to be fresh. And dissident voices brushed the portrait of a planet that has traded in civil liberties and other democratic rights in its war on terror.
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel — an advocate of closer ties with Washington — had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means."
"In the fight against international terror ... respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for other cultures must be the maxim of our actions, along with decisiveness and international cooperation," she said.
The international landscape has changed irreversibly since terrorists hijacked four airliners in 2001, crashing two into New York's World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another into a Pennsylvania field.
Allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism that the attacks unleashed renewed their resolve Monday to fight fanaticism, while militants blasted Washington's response as ineffective and pledged continued resistance.
In a video broadcast Monday, al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets and he called on Muslims to step up their resistance against the United States.
"You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you," al-Zawahri said, addressing the U.S. in the video, which appeared to be new. "You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel."
He also accused the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia of supporting Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Other video posted on the Internet, purportedly by al-Qaida, showed previously unseen footage of a smiling bin Laden and other commanders in a mountain camp apparently planning the Sept. 11 attacks.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: "No, we're not more secure since 9/11."
Clark said more should be done to reach out to moderate states and leaders in the Islamic world to encourage understanding between different peoples, and to help end the sense of alienation and exclusion among some young Muslims that fuels extremism.
In Europe, whose own soil has been struck three times since Sept. 11 by terrorist attacks, commemorations touched each nation.
Bells tolled in Rome's city hall square. In London, bouquets of white roses and yellow carnations were piled in a memorial garden where the names of 67 Britons killed in the New York attacks are inscribed — and where a steel girder from the wreckage of the World Trade Center is buried.
At a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit in Helsinki, Finland, leaders stood in silence in a circle. The stock exchanges in Nordic and Baltic countries were observing two minutes of silence to honor the victims of the world's worst terror attacks.
"9/11 will be in our memory forever," said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni during a ceremony in the a downtown piazza designed by Michelangelo. "We all remember where we were, what we were doing, what our first reaction was.
France's President Jacques Chirac, in Helsinki, reiterated in a written message to President Bush of his nation's "friendship" in the fight against terrorism.
A week after the Sept. 11 attacks, Chirac flew over the World Trade Center site — the first foreign leader to pay personal condolences. That solidarity quickly dissipated into rancor in the buildup to the Iraq war, when Chirac led opposition to Bush's plans.
Israel's Haaretz daily expressed disappointment and cynicism in an op-ed piece that said: "This is Sept. 11 five years later: a political tool in the hands of the Bush administration."
In Southeast Asia, U.S. and Philippine troops fighting Islamic extremists in the jungles prayed for peace and safety, as other remembrances took place in Japan, Australia, Finland, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who won the country's first post-Taliban election in 2004, expressed the appreciation of the Afghan people to the U.S. for the "sacrifices of your sons and daughters" in rebuilding his country. But on the streets in the capital, Kabul, many Afghans grumbled that they had not seen much improvement.
Despite about 20,000 U.S. forces fighting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and about the same number of NATO troops, and billions in aid, a resurgent Taliban resistance has shaken the country, while corruption has stymied development.
In neighboring Pakistan, considered a major ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, newspapers ran bleak-toned opinion columns and editorials criticizing Western anti-terror policies and attitudes
You explained it at the end of your sentence.
Plus, that would make everyone else upset, poor widdle babies.
Oh, dateline Paris. Got it.
Don't worry. Merkel is being diplomatic and saying what, in fact, is true: the ends don't justify the means.
But that in no way means, on its face, that she concludes the means undertaken by the U.S. to prosecute the war against Islamofascism are not justified.
It's like saying: "It's never appropriate for one to beat his wife." That's not the same thing as accusing one of wife-beating.
Yes, I'm very encouraged. As I posted on another thread, this basically shows that the Islamofascists know they can't hit us again, at least without triggering a massive retaliation.
At least so long as Bush as in office. Maybe they are waiting out the game in the big ring until after the prez election. Then they will reevaluate.
I contend that we should have left the rubble as a stark reminder. Next time you guys need some Lebensraum, do France first. OK?
I hear you.
But know that we are winning. We are a good people and a good nation and we are winning.
Success is the greatest revenge.
But I hear you, friend.
More like Germany accusing the US of genocide and human rights abuses. They do not have a spotless record regarding Poles and Jews and genocide/human rights, by the way.
"Why do people go into mental vapor-lock whenever Europe is mentioned?"
Because many there have turned into Globalist crapweasels and hate us because aside from the RAT party we are not following suit?
Dear France and Germany,
We have held you in cultural and linguistic servitude for a lifetime. Since you're not happy we're not heartbroken to turn your skinny white a$$es over to your new Muslim overlords. Enjoy your new dhimmitude you whiney, garlic breathed punks!
And keep your stupid tourists and cultural pilgrims out of my country!
Yep!! Ignorance is friggin' BLISS!!
Anyway, 2 sentences of Merkels speech are 'veiled critizism' of the US' unilateral politics approach of the last years. The rest is about compassion for the victims and the need for Democracies to stand together against this threat and also to use military force if necessary. But of course all of FR do their Tarzan routine again.
I don't care what "they" think. "They" are in for a big surprise when one morning they wake up and find out they are all in the Islamic Republic of Eurabia.......
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In a video broadcast Monday, al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets
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Good! Rally all the Gulf States to the side of the USA!
H.G. Wells said it best.
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
Wow, then the world must be INTENSELY jealous of the Nazis.
I'll vote for you.
Man, I just wish there was some way he could be selective in whose asses he saves...I hate having their rights trod upon.
"Oderint dum metuant" - Let them hate so long as they fear.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course. I tend to see it more as our MSM trying to drive a wedge between us (here on FR) and our potential allies overseas. Even before Sept. 11th, 2001, they (and it) played into the "Bush is a rube" theme. The MSM continues to do so because it works, as evidenced by this thread.
Some humor on the subject ...
Political Science
by Randy Newman
No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens
We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them
Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us
We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too
Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me
They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now
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