Posted on 09/11/2006 8:00:48 AM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
PARIS - The nations of the world joined Monday in solemn remembrance of Sept. 11 — but for many, resentment of the United States flowed as readily as tears.
Critics say Americans have squandered the goodwill that prompted France's Le Monde newspaper to proclaim "We are all Americans" that somber day after the attacks, and that the Iraq war and other U.S. policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.
Heads bowed in moments of silence in tribute to the 3,000 killed in the attacks on New York and Washington — while a top al-Qaida leader issued new warnings in a videotape that appeared to be fresh. And dissident voices brushed the portrait of a planet that has traded in civil liberties and other democratic rights in its war on terror.
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel — an advocate of closer ties with Washington — had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means."
"In the fight against international terror ... respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for other cultures must be the maxim of our actions, along with decisiveness and international cooperation," she said.
The international landscape has changed irreversibly since terrorists hijacked four airliners in 2001, crashing two into New York's World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another into a Pennsylvania field.
Allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism that the attacks unleashed renewed their resolve Monday to fight fanaticism, while militants blasted Washington's response as ineffective and pledged continued resistance.
In a video broadcast Monday, al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets and he called on Muslims to step up their resistance against the United States.
"You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you," al-Zawahri said, addressing the U.S. in the video, which appeared to be new. "You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel."
He also accused the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia of supporting Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Other video posted on the Internet, purportedly by al-Qaida, showed previously unseen footage of a smiling bin Laden and other commanders in a mountain camp apparently planning the Sept. 11 attacks.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: "No, we're not more secure since 9/11."
Clark said more should be done to reach out to moderate states and leaders in the Islamic world to encourage understanding between different peoples, and to help end the sense of alienation and exclusion among some young Muslims that fuels extremism.
In Europe, whose own soil has been struck three times since Sept. 11 by terrorist attacks, commemorations touched each nation.
Bells tolled in Rome's city hall square. In London, bouquets of white roses and yellow carnations were piled in a memorial garden where the names of 67 Britons killed in the New York attacks are inscribed — and where a steel girder from the wreckage of the World Trade Center is buried.
At a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit in Helsinki, Finland, leaders stood in silence in a circle. The stock exchanges in Nordic and Baltic countries were observing two minutes of silence to honor the victims of the world's worst terror attacks.
"9/11 will be in our memory forever," said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni during a ceremony in the a downtown piazza designed by Michelangelo. "We all remember where we were, what we were doing, what our first reaction was.
France's President Jacques Chirac, in Helsinki, reiterated in a written message to President Bush of his nation's "friendship" in the fight against terrorism.
A week after the Sept. 11 attacks, Chirac flew over the World Trade Center site — the first foreign leader to pay personal condolences. That solidarity quickly dissipated into rancor in the buildup to the Iraq war, when Chirac led opposition to Bush's plans.
Israel's Haaretz daily expressed disappointment and cynicism in an op-ed piece that said: "This is Sept. 11 five years later: a political tool in the hands of the Bush administration."
In Southeast Asia, U.S. and Philippine troops fighting Islamic extremists in the jungles prayed for peace and safety, as other remembrances took place in Japan, Australia, Finland, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who won the country's first post-Taliban election in 2004, expressed the appreciation of the Afghan people to the U.S. for the "sacrifices of your sons and daughters" in rebuilding his country. But on the streets in the capital, Kabul, many Afghans grumbled that they had not seen much improvement.
Despite about 20,000 U.S. forces fighting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and about the same number of NATO troops, and billions in aid, a resurgent Taliban resistance has shaken the country, while corruption has stymied development.
In neighboring Pakistan, considered a major ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, newspapers ran bleak-toned opinion columns and editorials criticizing Western anti-terror policies and attitudes
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel — an advocate of closer ties with Washington — had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means."
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: "No, we're not more secure since 9/11."
Israel's Haaretz daily expressed disappointment and cynicism in an op-ed piece that said: "This is Sept. 11 five years later: a political tool in the hands of the Bush administration."
"You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you," al-Zawahri said, addressing the U.S. in the video, which appeared to be new. "You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel."
I am angry today. I want to board the first flight to any muslem country and vent my anger. I am tired of the way our government is dancing around punishing radical Islam. I am frustrated that America is being seen as a bully - when it is America that comes to the aid of every toilet bowl country on the planet and ultimately, more often than not, gets spit on by our hosts.
I refuse to feel any sensitivity toward followers of that bastard, mohammed.
I object to having to share an ounce of my air to arabs who refuse to stand up against the radical element within their own culture. In my mind they are as guilty as the killers - the cowards - the jokes that call themselves soldiers. The punks that hide behind women and children.
I am angry that our troops are not allowed to engage the enemy wholeheartedly, but they are forced to endure religious tolerance. They cannot destroy the mosques that harbor these cowards. They are arrested for making mistakes in smoke checking non-combatants ... something we didn't have to concern ourselves with in any other war.
I wish I were not too old and busted up ... because I would consider it an honor to be dropped off on a rooftop anywhere on Earth and be the tool that hands out justice to those radical islam [****]ers. If I were president for 24 hours - I'd bring home every soldier on the planet to go door to door, here in America for one reason ..... to boot out every illegal, every potential terrorist, secure our borders and give back the freedom our fathers died to preserve. While that operation was taking place I'd send every terrorist nation this warning - that while we were ridding our own country of its vermin ... if any of you islamist aholes so much as look at any of our friends across the world .. or try to harm any Americans anywhere .... we will nuke Mecca, Lebanon, Indonesia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and any known moslem shithole into the stone age.
I'm angry today....my spelling and punctuation bears witness to it and I think I'll stay that way for a while.
(shrugging the shoulders) Yeah, so?
bump
Stop the presses!! I'm not too pleased with the rest of the world either!!
B T T T
And Europe has squandered the goodwill of America. Screw you, Europe.
Five years later and many are angry at radical islamists.
There was never a second of goodwill. If you think there was you're a fool. That French quote was a ruse to hide their glee.
Because Europe today is so 30s.
And they do not remember the past.
Call is frustration and disappointment.
Check out some of the knee-jerk reactions on this thread. Priceless.
Don't forget guys....we took away France and Germany's CUSTOMER when we wiped out Saddam. Of course they don't like us.
If we have to have 3000 of our citizens murdered by cowardly terrorists in order to get the goodwill of the frenchies and the rest of Europe, then forget them anyway. Don't look to us to bail you out when the islamofacists try to take you over like Hitler did 66 years ago.
Maybe Pat Buchanan's got a point...
Couldn't have said it better myself!
But they still love our money.
It's a clear case of product liability. Somewhere John Edwards is channeling the ghost of a baby.
I used to care about MSM opinions and Europe's point of view... uh when was that..let me see...oh that's right NEVER!
All that goodwill brought down the Towers to begin with and was quite evident long before 9-11.
It's just another attempt to justify the miserable jealousy, envy, and hatred by people who can't get past the fact that if we did not take steps to defend ourselves, their oil, and their way of life, their cushy lives that don't think about where on earth the police are would be over.
Short memories. After Vietnam the UN, Time magazine, all of them decided that the US needed to be the world's policeman. It happened. Now they scream.
I would like very much for the US to announce the complete withdrawal from everything. Winner take all in the chaos and leave us alone.
Learn Farsi, Europe, because your oil is Iran's and Iran owns you. Your future is Islam and all the Sharia you can obey.
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