In response to the essay ‘A Brutal Reminder’.
(originally printed in the Laconia Citizen 6/29/04)
Dear Sir or Madam:
Don’t delude yourself with visions of flying flags, hotdogs, and children holding their parents hands regarding your ‘Churchill-like’ view of the ‘war on terror’ (we will fight them on the land, on the sea…blah, blah, blah…). You, and everyone else seem to neglect to mention what the most important factor in this ‘war on terror’ is: Why are they so mad at us?
As far as I can tell there are two major reasons and a myriad of smaller ones. The first, the oldest, and the most discussed, is our support of Israel. I’m not condoning or condemning our support Israel, but the ‘A-number-one’ reason for middle eastern, or radical Islamic terrorists to even care about us at all is our support of Israel.
The second reason is far less complicated. It’s the same reason a Confederate soldier gave to a Union soldier when asked why he was fighting. ‘Because you’re here!’ We’ve been involved in the Middle East for decades, and I’m sure all our meddling has made some folks rather cranky.
We’re not innocents in this. We’re all Americans and are, by proxy, responsible for whatever shenanigans our government gets up to in order to keep the oil flowing for our new SUV’s. I too feel saddened by the execution/murder of Mr. Johnson and my condolences go to his family, and your right, none of us are safe anymore. But we will never have a solution to the problem of people willing to sacrifice their own lives, or the lives of innocents, to make a ‘political statement’ until we can provide some concrete solutions to the problems that have been festering in the Middle East for the last 90 years. That’s right 90 years! The west has been fooling about in that region at least since WWI. Remember thy history! Terrorism did not spring out of a vacuum, or start yesterday.
I am in no way condoning the actions of these people, but we should walk a mile in their shoes before trying to find a solution to our mutual problems.
What’s done is done. And some of what is done is concretely our fault. We can’t take back our support of Israel, we can’t take back our support for Saddam during the Iraq/Iran war (and after), we can’t take back our support/creation of Osama Bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (remember kids Afghani Freedom Fighters = Taliban! They were/are the same guys!), we can’t take back our support of the Shah of Iran and his tyrannical ‘democratic’ government, our British friends can’t take back their decades long occupation of Iraq, and we can’t take back our current occupation of Iraq. But what we can do is remember these things when trying to come to a solution and not act like our hands have never gotten dirty.
Dear Sir or Madam:
Don’t delude yourself with visions of flying flags, hotdogs, and children holding their parents hands regarding your ‘Churchill-like’ view of the ‘war on terror’ (we will fight them on the land, on the sea…blah, blah, blah…). You, and everyone else seem to neglect to mention what the most important factor in this ‘war on terror’ is: Why are they so mad at us?
As far as I can tell there are two major reasons and a myriad of smaller ones. The first, the oldest, and the most discussed, is our support of Israel. I’m not condoning or condemning our support Israel, but the ‘A-number-one’ reason for middle eastern, or radical Islamic terrorists to even care about us at all is our support of Israel.
The second reason is far less complicated. It’s the same reason a Confederate soldier gave to a Union soldier when asked why he was fighting. ‘Because you’re here!’ We’ve been involved in the Middle East for decades, and I’m sure all our meddling has made some folks rather cranky.
We’re not innocents in this. We’re all Americans and are, by proxy, responsible for whatever shenanigans our government gets up to in order to keep the oil flowing for our new SUV’s. I too feel saddened by the execution/murder of Mr. Johnson and my condolences go to his family, and your right, none of us are safe anymore. But we will never have a solution to the problem of people willing to sacrifice their own lives, or the lives of innocents, to make a ‘political statement’ until we can provide some concrete solutions to the problems that have been festering in the Middle East for the last 90 years. That’s right 90 years! The west has been fooling about in that region at least since WWI. Remember thy history! Terrorism did not spring out of a vacuum, or start yesterday.
I am in no way condoning the actions of these people, but we should walk a mile in their shoes before trying to find a solution to our mutual problems.
What’s done is done. And some of what is done is concretely our fault. We can’t take back our support of Israel, we can’t take back our support for Saddam during the Iraq/Iran war (and after), we can’t take back our support/creation of Osama Bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (remember kids Afghani Freedom Fighters = Taliban! They were/are the same guys!), we can’t take back our support of the Shah of Iran and his tyrannical ‘democratic’ government, our British friends can’t take back their decades long occupation of Iraq, and we can’t take back our current occupation of Iraq. But what we can do is remember these things when trying to come to a solution and not act like our hands have never gotten dirty.
posted by M.C. Steve | 10:25 AM
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