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
This from a direct beneficiary of the Marshall Plan. Unreal. We should pull out of Germany now.
Oh boo hoo, they've been angry at us since 1776. (Except everytime we pull their chestnuts out of the fire)
Let me just say they can all go f--k themselves BUMP! Especially today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FU world. Not today. I hate (most of) the media.
Dear rest of the world,
We don't give a crap....
Why do people go into mental vapor-lock whenever Europe is mentioned?
To many people in "old Europe" don't have a clue. They are doomed to repeated failures because they can't learn from history.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
Yes, leftist's and Europe only love us when we are dying.
Fighting back their way is not allowed, therefore their "love" turns to hate in an instance.
Well we're pretty PO'd at whole lot of people too. Such as those who cannot seem to bring themselves to get behind those of us who are fighting the terrorists, especially the French.
The fact is, they never really liked us at all anytime. The world's irrational hatred of a basically decent country like the US simply justifies the US position that no UN or International Criminal Court should sit in judgment of the US -- they are biased and non-objective and we can never trust them.
barf bump
Is anybody else really cheered and encouraged that this monkey is specifically threatening us in the Persian Gulf and Israel? Like they're not hitting those places as hard as they can already.
Now, if he were up on his hind legs talking about Chicago or Boston...
Well said! BTTT
"Many" can go take a flying leap, for all I care.
Hey, come on! This day is when 19 terrorists were killed by inadequate airport security and incompetent aircrews.
/sarc...
Ask me if I care!
America stands alone...
Because she can.
"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."
If the ends is submission, and the means is cowardice and appeasement, I can certainly agree with that sentiment!
If the ends do not justify the means, then what does?
Why did we launch D-Day and expend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people fighting the Nazis?
Because the "end" was stopping the Nazis and the "means" were sending thousands and thousands to their graves.
Nothing - nothing - can justify the means used in even the most trivial endeavor except the end.
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