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"Shame on you American-hating liberals"
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://www.mirror.co.uk/columnists/tonyparsons/tonyparsons/page.cfm?objectid=12188969&method=full&siteid=50143
Yeah, I know...
Y'all consider it a bad joke.
Still, there is hope for some of you...
SHAME ON YOU AMERICAN-HATING LIBERALS
Tony Parsons
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 recognised 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 realise that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.
So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked 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 centre, 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.
Yeah, I know...
Y'all consider it a bad joke.
Still, there is hope for some of you...
0
Comments
And before people open their mouths to speak of anti-Americanism they should do some thinking. Opposing a war for which people see no reason has nothing to do with liking or disliking the would-be aggressor. Not does having been the victim of a terrible terrorist attack makes it okay for anyone to embark in a dubious unrelated war free of scrutiny.
Disgusting how people use the Holocaust as an example, when opposing getting rid of Saddam.
Americans are butchers? We did not murder Kurds or Shiites in Iraq? We could have killed every Iraqi soldier in Iraq during the Gulf War but our President stopped.
We are taking Saddam out. Plain and simple. Anyone foolish to attack us in the process will be swept aside. We are not sitting back anymore.
A sleeping giant is awake and he is filled with a terrible resolve.
BEWARE!!!!
I think its pretty disgusting to compare Sept 11 with the Holocaust or Cambodian genocide. The sheer scope of the atrocities and the manner in which they were carried out precludes ANY comparison.
Is it just me, or does this make you more than a little mad to hear that slow deaths by torture, gassing, starvation, disease, etc can be compared to 9-11???
Can't compare those two either.
I can't speak for anyone else in Europe, but I take great pains to distinguish between the American people, who are broadly good eggs, and their government, who it seems get paid the big bucks to behave like total bastards on behalf of the people. If I ever do speak critically of 'America', it's only because there's just so many times you can type 'US admin/government'.
Besides, what happened in Cambodia and Germany/Poland took sustained effort. 911 was the work of a handful of nutters who got lucky. If things had turned out differently, Bush would still be looking for an excuse to move into Iraq.
LOL!
You keep dreaming hk, the world could survive well without us after a bit of a bumpy ride, but we'd be buggered economically if we isolated ourselves.
what do americans actualy make and export to the british? to europe? i'm curious now.
Duh! Americans buy only American products. I didn't say anything about export. Read for detail and comprehension before you reply.
i am curious now. is america, a closed little world all of it's own?
i do believe that america could invade south america and have more than enough of everything. you stay on that side of the world and we stay here. it would force the europeans to get off thier arses and build a fucking army of some size. would you actualy miss us? we'd miss you.
I think that is his point, MR.
i do think the europeans are a bit fucking slow becuase it's been very convenient to have american might on our side all through the cold war. if you did fuck off and leave us then the leaders of europe would rise to the task of building a more military industrial complex to defend us. but you realy are our cousins and brothers.
pitty theres so much bad blood around at the moment.
A group made up of the world's most brutal dictatorships has demanded that the US immediately ceases its bellicose threats against Iraq and stops its call for regime change as this could "seriously undermine the future of totalitarian dictators across the whole world".
Smart uniform and stylish cravat
he statement was made after the group attended a conference convened to discuss the reaction to a possible war with Iraq and suggest alternative measures. "It is clear that removing homicidal tyrants with violence is not the answer," claimed Robert Mugabe in his conference address. "If we start removing one maniacal despot by force, before you know it they'll be popping round and turfing all the rest of us out." Mr Mugabe pointed out that for many years dictators around the world had been ruling via the use of revolutionary justice and a large number of exceptionally big machetes and had received no complaints from anyone. "Now is not the time to rush into things and change all that," he claimed. "We could be throwing out years of hard-won experience of repression and best practice torture. What we need is a long and careful review of the situation and the widest possible discussion of options for change."
"smelly Palestinian"
Many of Iraq's neighbours also addressed the conference. Syria and Saudi Arabia in a joint speech pointed out that the removal of Saddam Hussein and subsequent installation of democracy could cause tremendous problems in their countries. "Before you know it, every smelly Palestinian refugee will be demanding the right to vote. Women will be moaning on about equal rights and all those disgusting peasants will want houses, education and clean water - the mind boggles. Is this really the sort of plutocratic state that me and my fellow despots have brutally suppressed our people for? I think not."
Peace protestors were also vocal in their opposition to regime change using violence. "It's time to see the good side of these dictatorships" claimed Jonathan Flowers, Professor of Cultural Change and Modern Languages at Camden University. "People always focus on the negative aspects, like torture and murder and chemical weapons. But what about the wonderful uniforms, the lack of litter and superb parades. And let's not forget that you don't hear Mickey Moaning, Cuthbert Complaint or Sidney Swear-Word in the local bars and cafes of a junta run capital."
"happy words"
Mr Flowers was promoting his solution to allow the "promulgation of peace" via the use of "happy words." "Language can be a powerful tool in overcoming negative forces and oppression," claimed Mr Flowers. "George Bush says Iraq is Evil. Well I say 'Evil' is very nearly an anagram of 'Love'. And it's definitely an anagram of 'Live' and that's what Saddam and his people should be allowed to do."
Which happens to be true.
So the point is: has America, after decades of selectively supporting some dictators whilst fighting others, decided that dictatorships have no place in today's world and it's going to get them all out? Can we look forward to that? Or will the US promptly forget about Mugabe or the Burma military (to name but two) as soon as the Iraq job is done?
And while we’re at it can we look forward to a public apology to the people of, say, Chile for America's assistance in the removal of a democratically elected government and the instalment in power of one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th Century?
A poor excuse for an argument or a valid point?
It is far to easy and too common place in recent times for any critic of the policy of the American govt to be branded an anti-American.
I have never seen a critic of TWAT or the war on Iraq argue from a point that the Americans are wrong simply because they are American and to th best of my knowledge no such thinking exists.
As one in the UK might say, "utter bollocks"! It just goes to show how narrow minded those who adopt that position truly are. They'd rather defend an administration which has already betrayed our Constitutional rights and freedoms with the USA Patriot Act, and the institution of the DHD (which is essentially above the law) whilst claiming to believe in attacking other nations (which pose no clear threat to the might of the US) in defence of those selfsame rights and liberties.
Basically the position of the right is so intent on violent means of conlfict resolution that they are too busy cheering those leaders who make militaristic overtures to see that these same leaders are undermining the very principles they were sworn to uphold in the first place.
Hmmm..the above could easily be used to describe someone defending certain Democratic administrations....:D
As usual, you don't bother to turn on your brain, just spout nonsense.
Can you figure out what Democratic administrations "betrayed our Constitutional rights and freedoms"? Have you bothered to read the Constitution recently?
Why dont you be specific then ol boy and simply name your supposedly guilty party instead of being habitually obtuse.
Until someone invents a time machine so we can go back to right all the wrongs in the past, we will have to deal with the world as it is TODAY. I will not agonize over the past. I will agonize over the safety of America today. So with Iraq we helped create a monster. Now we will fix the problem. Mistakes happen, the best intentions can prove to be wrong, but one must always correct mistakes if possible.