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Posted by Frank (Member # 6) on February 06, 2003, 09:02 AM:
Must Read -- Message from England
No matter what your views on President Bush's statement of upcoming war,
this, from an English journalist, is very interesting. Just a word of
background for those of you who aren't familiar with the UK's Daily
Mirror. This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not
supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic.
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 to 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 -- not just 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, wives, and children,
some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? 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 9/11 in 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 semi-automatics 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.
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.
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on February 06, 2003, 09:34 AM:
WOW! Never thought we'd see that from some rag like the Mirror. About time.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 06, 2003, 09:37 AM:
That's great, Frank. I forwarded it. LB
Posted by Dawgkilla (Member # 26) on February 06, 2003, 11:36 AM:
...and ANYONE living here who doesn't SEE that America was the VICTIM needs to get the F out.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 06, 2003, 01:14 PM:
Yeah, like Susan Sarandon, maybe? She deserves to spend some time kidnapped in a harem, she might see a few flaws in her political views. Liberals live on another planet. LB
Posted by Bob (Member # 59) on February 06, 2003, 08:00 PM:
good gawd i do love this country. America has shown great restraint, considering the global climate. didn't someone once say speak softly, but carry a big stick? Whack whack whack.
Posted by UTcaller (Member # 8) on February 08, 2003, 12:46 PM:
Great story.Everyone in this country and outside this country should read it.Most Liberals just don't get it."If we just ignore the problems in Iraq,and the rest of the muslim anti-American crap,it will all just go away.GIVE PEACE A CHANCE." HA! These problems will not go away if we don't take action now.I for one applaud President Bush and his Administration for the strength to stand up to these problems and take aggressive action.We can only be grateful that Clinton is gone and Gore isn't in there.GOOD HUNTING Chad....
[ February 08, 2003, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: UTcaller ]
Posted by Terry Hunter (Member # 58) on February 11, 2003, 05:24 PM:
Thanks for posting Frank.
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