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
Because they are part of the problem.
You beat me to it, so I'll just BTTT.
Who's "they?" The people that respond like dogs to red meat whenever Chancellor Merkel's opinion on the torture of prisoners is misrepresented?
Ralph Peters knows they are out there somewhere. That is why he is talking for them instead of us hearing from them ourselves...
A far more telling comment than the one mentioned. One wonders why any country believing what she proposes, would have an army, navy, or airforce.
These people are so hypocritical that it's enough to make me puke.
"solemn remembrance" my arse. They don't care. but it's good political theatre.
No, not sensitive at all. I'm simply in awe. Maybe you can elaborate on Chancellor Merkel's comments? This AP reporter appears to have conflated one of her comments on prisoner torture with another statement made separately . . . when a German citizen was kidnapped in Iraq. And it appears that nearly everyone on this thread is falling for it.
Wonder why we don't see this type of article:
Five years after 9/11, Americans are still angry with the French, irritated with Russia and China, thoroughly disgusted with the United Nations and no longer trust the biased MSM as reliable news sources?
Yep, things are really bad here, that must be why tens of thousands are willing to risk life and limb for the chance to live here. I guess if everyone hates this country so much they won't mind if we close our borders.
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
There was no substance to that supposed "goodwill" to "squander". The "goodwill" lasted only as long as we agreed to remain docile victims.
and that the Iraq war and other U.S. policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.
"made the world less safe" is one of those meaningless phrases spewed by people who think it will make them sound smart. Quick, lefty genius: what was the Global Safety Index of The World in 2001, and what is it today? How much has it declined? Surely there is some objective substance to this claim that we have "made the world less safe". Couldn't just be makin' up meaningless phrases, could you?
And dissident voices brushed the portrait of a planet that has traded in civil liberties and other democratic rights in its war on terror.
Yes, we've traded in so many "democratic rights". Like the "right" to speak to an Al Qaeda member in Pakistan on the phone secure in the knowledge that nobody from the government is recording the conversation to scan for keyword and, if any show up, to listen to later.
Oh no wait. That one was struck down by a judge. So then. Can any of the whiners about all of the supposed "civil liberties and other democratic rights" they have lost, give any real significant examples?
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."
Um, of course ends don't justify means. The fact that the AP reporter considers this "veiled criticism of the United States" says more about the AP reporter's opinion than about anyone else's.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: "No, we're not more secure since 9/11."
Thanks for your two cents, New Zealand's Prime Minister. So how many attacks has New Zealand suffered 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.
Brilliant. Yeah, that'll probably work.
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.
"Friendship" in the sense of, "Will try to prevent you from doing anything you want to do".
That solidarity quickly dissipated into rancor in the buildup to the Iraq war, when Chirac led opposition to Bush's plans.
Yes, it did, didn't it? The "solidarity" quickly dissipated. Funny how the reporter can write this sentence and not realize its import. When "solidarity" dissipates quickly, is that really a comment about us? Or about the strength of the supposed "solidarity" to begin with?
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."
It's just a good thing that Haaretz stayed above the fray and didn't attempt to use Sept. 11 as a political tool - you know, by taking potshots at Bush in the editorials they write, etc.
But on the streets in the capital, Kabul, many Afghans grumbled that they had not seen much improvement.
Our fault, surely. Let's bring back the Taliban.
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.
It's bad that Taliban are resurgent - therefore we shouldn't have invaded and toppled the Taliban. Meanwhile there is corruption amongst Afghan elites - which is our fault. Yes, I'm familiar with this sort of tune.
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.
And this is the last sentence of the article. Bizarre. Hey thanks Elaine Ganley for this stellar reporting about what kind of things newspapers in Pakistan are editorializing.
Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Holland and THE UK will have no choice but to become Muslim based on democracy and the ballot box. Churches will be turned into mosques; the free press will be history as will our Western take on modern culture.
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