(Folks: This recent article from the Oct. 20th issue of the London Mirror was sent to me by my buddy Bob. He's not British, but his upper lip is decidedly stiff.
)
SHAME ON YOU AMERICAN HATING LIBERALS by 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
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 9/11 in anything like the
way it could have.
So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without
a trial in Camp Xray ? 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.
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