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
They did the same thing with Reagan.
The Leftists of the world (Marxists for those in Rio Linda) believe in a single world government run from the UN. Anything that opposes them will get the treatment.
To control the media is to control civilization. Which of course explains why the left hate the alternative media.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/11/europe/EU_GEN_Germany_Sept_11.php
A good number of the criticisms on FR of our European allies...well, friends...acquaintances...counterparts...whatever, are in actuality criticisms of the visible part of European political culture, their media. One might expect a disconnect between media and customer there based on the unquestionable disconnect between media and customer here. That is an assumption, not a proven case, but it seems to me not unreasonable.
Nevertheless, this particular story stinks, and I'd advise readers to approach it with tongs and a respirator.
I have one question: What would the Roman Empire have done, in response to an attack like 9/11? Certainly Rome has been the most successful empire down through the ages - what could we learn from them?
The unjust and undue criticism of the "Many" is a disguised compliment: It shows that we have aroused jealousy, envy and resentment.
Does this make the comments and criticism of the USA on this day justified? Where is the criticism of the countries that yielded these evil people? Specifically Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon, and Egypt. Bastions of freedom, democracy, and human rights for sure. Merkel almost forgot to interject that we deserved it.
The Associated Press reminds us that America has determined enemies, and that they're on the list...
That was the rest of her speech.
Maybe she's exhorting us to "do the right thing?" I do not read German well enough to determine one way or the other.
It's only AP via Yahoo that packages this as a "veiled criticism of the United States." What Merkl actually said--- "Respect for human rights" and so forth --- could have been said by George Bush himself.
IMHO, the MSM frames Merkel's statement as "criticism of the USA" because they have an anti-USA agenda...
Yes, she is doing that, and she is also satisfying a part of the voters. Additionally this whole morale debate is probably also about the Future of a political Western Block whose balance of Power and diplomatic influence has been destroyed by the Fall of Russia. Oh, that was cynical.
And what would "the right thing" be? Tolerance? Embracing Diversity? Going on a quixotic quest to find the mythical moderate Muslim?
Not to allow the ends to justify the means? Wild guess.
Don't be such a cynic. :)
If you truly wish to begin from the premise that Chancellor Merkel is engaged in a veiled attack on Administration policy, feel free. If that is the case, however, I'll point out that President Bush appears to be following her advice. (Not to suggest that he is somehow beholden to her, but merely another observation).
My premise is that our allies are our allies only for as long as their voters allow. Heads of State in democracies are politicians after all and need to curry the favor of the majority of voters.
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