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I saw this posted on another board.
>Interesting that this comes from the UK's Daily Mirror.
>
>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 ****
>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.
>Interesting that this comes from the UK's Daily Mirror.
>
>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 ****
>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.
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