Europeans fear a bolder Bush

"But on the other side, I think that he needs to convince Europeans. And so far as military action (in Iraq) is concerned, he has not convinced the Germans -- yet."

No Mr. Voigt, you don't seem to understand. He's the AMERICAN president. He's convinced the AMERICAN people and that's all he really needs to do. The German people are YOUR problem. Please refer to the speech President Bush gave in September of '01. "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists". Go ahead, make up your minds.......we're waiting.

I have lived in Europe, and worked with Europeans for a few decades. We are are Americans, and they are not. Don't expect them to be like us.

Very few Europeans can speak or understand "Texican" as spoken by people with MBAs from Harvard.

Finally, I don't take direction on matter concerning Israel, from Germans.

Read this and be proud.

Article from London's Daily Mirror

Surprise! Surprise! When one of the world's most liberal left wing newspapers writes a great article like this, there is hope for everyone. A thoughtfully written piece in one of the most left wing newspapers in the UK. Just a word of background for those of you who aren't familiar with the UK's Daily Mirror. This is one of the most notorious Left wing, anti-American dailies in the UK. Hard to believe that the Daily Mirror actually published it, but it did.

Begin article:

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 Nazi 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 [deserved reprimand or punishment].

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 and wives. And children. Some unborn.

And these people brought it on themselves? And 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 realise that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.

So, a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked up 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 centre, 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. >>

hey europe here comes the big stick so get on board of get the F##k out of the way

"It has to be said that in large parts of Europe they simply do not get George Bush. They do not understand his appeal. They do not see him, as much of the U.S. seems to see him, as a charismatic politician.

We heard much of this same sort of reporting from the liberal press before Bush's first trip to Europe...and then the positive reports started coming back from Europe, that they found Bush much more impressive, and personally appealing than the liberal press had portrayed him.

And these reports were quite numerous. ( much to Daschle's and the liberal media's dismay)

Now they're back to reporting that Europe doesn't understand his appeal.

Did you happen to catch Oprah's show yesterday on "how the world perceives us"? Granted, there is a huge ignorance of what is "out there" by a number of our citizens -- heck, a lot of them don't know what's "in here" or they wouldn't have voted Dem for so long (and they'd know where Alaska and Florida are on a map). I was pretty irritated by the tone -- "they don't like us" and "what are we going to do about it". That we need to understand them -- but what about them understanding us? The true American culture and spirit? They've bought into stereotypes and the media/entertainment promoted visions of America and don't begin to understand the depth and scope of the American spirit and culture.

"They were making it seem like everyone outside America was in favour of Clinton."

CNN was trying to make it seem like everyone inside America was in favor of Clinton (except, of course, those of us who make up the VRWC and just hated him because his nose is ugly).

Headline should read: Bush Victory Sparks Global Bedwetting Epidemic

Remind me to never make you angry.....

Wow, incredible article.

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

Could have... and still can.

WOW! What an article! Is Satan playing ice hockey downstairs?

Europeans Fear a Bolder ___________________. (Please fill in the blank with whatever you can whimsically conjure.)