Let's Not Forget! (Mine)

greatestjeneration.com ^ | September 13, 2002 | Tony Parsons

[B4Ranch]

Just a word of background for those of you who are not familiar with the Daily Mirror newspaper which is published in England. It is a notorious left-wing daily and is usually very anti-American. It's hard to believe that they published this positive editorial about the USA. The author is 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 of 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 - notrust 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 and wives. And children. Some unborn. And these people brought it on themselves? And 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 9/11in anything like the way it could have.

So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked-up 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 chocolates. 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.

[B4Ranch]

Christmas is here and we are thinking about how good life is with our families. I saved this article because it says what I have been wanting to say to everyone much better than I ever could.

Never forget!

[alisasny]

AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.

THis is perhaps the most powerful statement in entire article and makes me so proud to be an American! When I think what we stand to lose if we keep pandering to despots I literally get sick in my stomach.

[B4Ranch]

Please, bump anyone you think would appreciate this article.

[Carry_Okie]

Of course!

[Grampa Dave]

Merry Christmas and this article has been bookmarked!

We will never forget!

[fporretto]

This is the sort of reminder that all of us in America need, now and then, that there are non-Americans who don't hate us. Their voices are frequently drowned out by the vicious, envy-driven anti-American chorus in the world media, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Let's hope they're more numerous than our foes, and that they may increase further.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://www.palaceofreason.com

[Squantos]

Must Read......Merry New Year to all !.........Stay Safe !

[MonroeDNA]

Thanks for the ping, Squantos. Merry Christmas to you!

[lorrainer]

Bump to the TOP !!

[Jeff Head]

Thanks for this article Dave, and Caylen for bumping me to it. I had missed it and it is very well written and said.

Even though we are celebrating the Prince of Peace and His wonderous, eternal and completely charitable gift to all mankind ... we cannot afford to forget, at least not until that day that He returns and ushers in Peace to all the earth ... that there is great evil in the world that would destroy everything that is lovely, of good report, praiseworthy, truly honorable and that nourishes the liberty of the spirit.

THE ATTACK ON AMERICA

Always Remember, Never Forget!

... and while I am at it, let me take this opportunity to wish each of you and yours the very best of this holiday season. May we all contemplate the pure act of charity that we celebrate this time of the year ... and that it is an act we can never repay except by learning of it, accepting it, by immulating it and then by passing it on to those around us ... in love ... in honor ... and in liberty!

God bless you each.

[FreedomFarmer]

Thank you for the ping sir, and from your ranch to yours,

Moooie Christmas!

[FairWitness]

Thanks for the ping; here's a "bump" back at you.

[McGavin999]

Funny, I've been watching the 9-11 tribute film the last couple of days. I had been attempting to explain to a German why we are so willing to "cause chaos in the world". No matter how much time goes by, I still remember those days as if it was yesterday.

Not much chance of our forgetting Jeff.

[sneakypete]

This is a amazing editorial to have been printed in the Daily Mirror. I'm curious about what the letters to the editor will have to say about it. I'm shocked to see anything this honest and pro-American printed there,you can imagine how shocked some of their subscribers must be. It looks like even the left may be getting tired of the Muslim fundie nutcases.

[AuntB]

Thanks for posting this!! I hope you and yours have a perfectly wonderful Christmas. I've enjoyed your "company" so much.

[AuntB]

Merry Christmas, McGavin!!! I hope you get everything you want this year!!

[Ligeia]

let me take this opportunity to wish each of you and yours the very best of this holiday season

Many thanks, and the same for you and yours. Merry Christmas!

[Jeff Head]

It looks like even the left may be getting tired of the Muslim fundie nutcases.

They fear them, understanding that the Islamic Fundamentalists, if anything, hate the left even more than others in the West. That fear and knowledge is beginning to sink in and some of them are realizing who it is that they can best count on to pull the ringer out of the fire if it goes real baIMHO, t.

[Jeff Head]

... pardon that first mixed up post at the end. Pulled the trigger on it too fast.

It looks like even the left may be getting tired of the Muslim fundie nutcases.

IMHO, they fear them, understanding that the Islamic Fundamentalists, if anything, hate the left even more than others in the West. That fear and knowledge is beginning to sink in and some of them are realizing who it is that they can best count on to pull the ringer out of the fire if it goes real bad.

[Jeff Head]

Thank you ... and the same again to you and yours.