This was just sent to me via email from one of my loving students:
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. Well written.
******************************************************
London Daily Mirror
Tony Parsons
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 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.
Locahontas says: "Whaddya Think Bout This?"
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. Well written.
******************************************************
London Daily Mirror
Tony Parsons
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 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.
Locahontas says: "Whaddya Think Bout This?"
