[aclug-L] Re: Richard Reid

[lowell <lowell@xxxxxxxxx>]

Very well-said; ever read "The Ugly American"?

Lars von dem Ast wrote:

>Nate Bargmann wrote:
>
>  
>
>>This quote comes from:
>>
>>http://europe.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/30/shoebomber.sentencing/
>>
>>[Reid] believed bombing the plane was necessary to "prevent the destruction 
>>of Islam." In court he described himself as a "soldier."
>>
>>Young responded, "You are not a soldier in any war -- you are a
>>terrorist."
>>
>>Calling the sentence Reid will face "a fair and just sentence, a
>>righteous sentence," Young said, "We do not sign documents with
>>terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. ...
>>You're big, but you're not that big. You are no warrior. I know
>>warriors. You are a terrorist.
>>
>>"You hate our freedom -- our individual freedom to live as we choose, to
>>come and go as we choose, and to believe or not believe as we
>>individually choose. ... See that flag, Mr. Reid? That is the flag of
>>the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this
>>is forgotten. And it still stands for freedom."
>>
>>- Nate >>
>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>After reading this for a while, I thought I'd attempt to say something.
>
>My sister married an Iranian back in the early '80s. I got to know 
>Mohammed very well over the next 13 years. (They later divorced.) He was 
>a Shiite Fundamentalist Khomeni supporter--the full 9-yards. We talked 
>and talked over that space of time. What he said, coupled with my own 7 
>years experiences in Europe and my military intelligence experiences 
>(ASA), gave me a very complete but uncomfortable picture of my homeland.
>
>Make no mistake about it, we, the U.S. of A, are running an empire. And 
>in case you slept through your history lessons, empires rise, dominate, 
>then fall due to a build-up of fanatical hatred of them, exhausted, 
>sucked-dry clients, and internal decay and collapse. The Roman empire 
>fell hard. So will we probably--not like the 19th century European 
>empires who snuck out the back doors and went home. And many, many 
>millions will celebrate. You can tell yourself pretty lies like "You 
>hate our freedom" when describing our enemies, but at some point our 
>domination will end just like all fat, greasy, obnoxious empires end. 
>We're now somewhere between Jim Jones and Captain Ahab.
>
>What! You may scream. The U.S. is a mean old empire just like Rome? Oh 
>yes! Sure, I would also call the terrorists just a bunch of lunatics. 
>But I guarantee you there are many millions of young men throughout the 
>world who envy the "heroics" of those terrorists. The actual terrorists 
>are just the tip of a huge pyramid of anti-American sentiment. That's 
>why this is so significant. The fact that you only see radical Muslims 
>attacking us is that only the wildest hatred spills over into such 
>action, while the vast sea of hatred towards us isn't translated into 
>such actions, and the cooler, more rational heads who would make good 
>dialog with us are pushed aside, unheard. This only fuels the fire....
>
>The vast majority of anti-Americanism I have encountered in my life 
>abroad came from decent, level-headed sincere people. Most of these 
>people understood that a certain amount of "pushiness" on our part 
>simply comes with the superpower territory. The world by and large has 
>been very tolerant of us. But we're a machine. We're a mindless growth 
>machine pushing our global economic agenda to every corner of the world, 
>always trying to dress it up as "aid" or "development" or "stability" or 
>"progress". And now we've got enemies like you've never heard of before. 
>Just like Rome. Of course a Frenchman turning up his nose at an American 
>tourist putting ketchup on an omlette is different from a terrorist, but 
>there is a huge sea of negativity towards us--and now it's coming at us.
>
>Once my brother-in-law was confronted by some typical American who 
>shouted at him, "Why you hate us? Why you call us 'the Great Satan.?" 
>Mohammed said God works through the spirit and Satan through the 
>material. So what place on earth is the most materialistic? What place 
>pushes materialism on the rest of the world?
>
>When the 9/11 attack happened there was a very big soccer match just 
>beginning in Iran, their version of the Super Bowl. At the Teheran 
>stadium they asked for a minute of silence in the memory of the WTC 
>victims, likewise, on the TV broadcast of the game. Dead silence. Do you 
>think some tragedy in Iran would have had our Super Bowl audience silent 
>for 60 seconds? What would those slobs have done but cheered for dead 
>Iranians? For a brief moment, even those who hated us the most 
>sympathized with us. For once, I totally agree with the Mennonites peace 
>and reconcilliation approach. Can you imagine where we'd be today had 
>Bush taken the Mennonite approach? The world's collective jaw would have 
>dropped and a great reconcilliation would have begun. But I know very 
>well why he didn't. Because the world would TELL us what they didn't 
>like about us. Bush and his handlers know already and don't want to 
>hear. That's why we follow the insanity of total revenge.
>
>Mark my words, Bush is taking us down the road to ruin. Historically we 
>can be compared to Rome right about when they sacked Jerusalem ca. 60 
>AD. i.e., big and powerful...and beginning to have to use that power 
>more and more. We're on our way out with Bush....
>
>Beating up pathetic wannabes like this Reid character might feel good, 
>but the huge sea of anti-Americanism out there won't go away just 
>because we do self-righteous "feel-good" Perry Mason theater and lock 
>him up forever.
>
>One parting thought: Let's look at 1930's Germany. The Germans were 
>blustery and jingoistic and nationalistic and talked about how wounded 
>they were and how they weren't gunna take it anymore and had a big 
>military and a loud-talking leader--lots of anxieties fueled even more 
>by a weak economy. Sound familiar?
>
>Lb
>
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