An Open Message to the Muslim World

I would like to take this opportunity to address the Muslim community around the world, especially in the wake of the horrific events that took place on American soil on September 11th, 2001.

As untold millions of Americans stare in horror at the images of the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, we feel an emptiness in the pit of our collective stomach. We now feel the agony of mindless violence visited upon innocents within our nation's borders. We are stunned, we are nauseous, and ultimately...............we are increasingly angry.

To compound this anger, we see images from Palestinian communities, Egypt, and elsewhere of you gleefully celebrating the senseless deaths of tens of thousands of non-combatants. You fire weapons, you hand out candy, you ululate, you clap, you flash "V for Victory" signs. Your hatred for All Things American is no longer even slightly hidden; it is bared for all the world to see.

Yet, we are told that we don't appreciate the reasons why you hate us so. We hear that you have such good reasons to despise us. We hear that we must understand why you harbor and now openly exhibit such deep-seeded hatred for our culture, our Government, and our country's citizens.

Well, Muslim folk, I am hereby telling you, from the bottom of our collective American heart, that we don't care. Not a whit.

You claim to be followers of Muhammed. Devotees of Islam. Lovers of all things Muslim. Well, you people had best study your own religion more thoroughly. Christians, Jews (yes, your much-hated Jews), and Muslims all worship the SAME God. This is why we're all often referred to as "Children of the Book". To you, this doesn't seem to matter. You claim to follow Islamic laws and dictates, yet we just saw some of your own commit suicide in the commission of these terrible acts, even though suicide is expressly forbidden by your faith.

Your "leaders" use the Koran the way some charlatans in our country like Jesse Jackson use the Bible. It is worn as a decoration; used as a yard sign; borne as a righteous shield for hypocritical, destructive acts.

We Americans aren't really as ignorant as you have been told. We know that you despise Israel and, by default, the U.S. for our undying support of Israel. You seem to trumpet your devotion to your faith and murder us for seemingly failing to understand that faith. Yet.....you do exactly the same thing to us. You know nothing of our Bible. You know nothing of our Judeo-Christian heritage. That heritage has taught us that the Jews are God's chosen people (we didn't choose them; God did..........yes, the same you call "Allah"). They thereby deserve and will receive, according to our faith, our neverending, to-the-death support as a nation. However, your chest-beating over failure to recognize your faith-based motivations rings hollow in our ears.............for you have never, ever understood ours.

What Americans see is this: We have given and given and given and given and GIVEN to the world. Repeatedly. This isn't "government money". This isn't oil money usurped by some fat, lazy "royal" family (as in your world). No, this is money earned by the sweat of the collective American brow. It is the citizens of this country who work, and work hard, to earn enough to house, feed, clothe, transport, and otherwise care for their families. NO one gives us what we have; we've fought, clawed, educated, sacrificed, struggled, and hauled ourselves up to the level we enjoy as a nation today. We can do this, for we are a nation devoted to God in His Heaven and to the concepts of individual freedom.

Your countries aren't, and that is precisely why you struggle in eternal mediocrity. You envy our money, our lifestyles..................all the while cursing us for same. We know, though. We know that it's envy.

It isn't our place on this earth to succor you, to pay you, to clothe you, to feed you indefinitely. You must grow up as a culture. Your immaturity is a never-ending source of disdain to us, for we know you for what you are.

You cheer as we die.......but you also know that you won't cheer for long. Unless you are far stupider than some claim, you know our history. You know that we are a nation of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. You know that we squabble and fight like brothers. You know that we have endless arguments among ourselves and constantly struggle with the meaning of the word "freedom". You know that we have Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Wiccans, and those of every other faith you can name, making us a roiling mass of contradictory and often violently opposing factions, colors, religions, and beliefs.

You must, therefore, also know what has happened when an enemy manages to cross that terrible line and unite Americans. They have paid terrible prices.

I must now tell you that your world must now pay that terrible price for the actions of few..............but the attitudes of your multitudes.

You have spat upon us, stolen from us, gouged us, kicked us, cursed us, railed against us.........and murdered us.

An open letter to a terrorist:

Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America. You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.

Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue Happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)

Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain." This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech. But you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.

If you're free enough.

Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.

No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?

So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did. Better start sleeping with one eye open.

There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores, was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big PITA then (especially in south Florida), but you're only the newest PITA, not the first.

You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.

Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time. Sleep tight, if you can. We're coming.

"It wrong to paint all muslims or arabs with a single brush, and I know that was not your intent. But we are about to find out which arabs are our friends, and which ones intend to be martyrs."

You are correct.

There are many Muslims who do not share in the glee over our losses. There are many Muslims who are as heart-sick and disgusted at these cowardly, murderous acts as we are. One of my best friends is a Muslim from .........guess where?................Afghanistan. He is THOROUGHLY disgusted by what has happened to HIS country (yes, I mean the U S of A). We all know this. It is the actions of the few, prodded by the many, that will rain Hell upon the Muslim world. It may not be fair, but neither was the death of tens of thousands of New Yorkers and folks at the Pentagon. Such is war. It's terribly sad, but inevitable.

I also cannot help but picture those in the Middle East publicly decrying these cowardly acts, but secretly giggling over their apparent success.

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