Shame on you American-hating Liberals (a truly great article from England)

Daily Mirror (United Kingdom) ^ | 9/11/02 | Tony Parsons

[Wolfstar]

A friend of mine, brought this article to my attention, and I thought it was worth posting for fellow FReepers. Wish I could see an article like this in the American Press!

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.

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 recognised 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 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.

[potlatch]

Quite a few pinned scraps of paper or business cards bearing their names to their clothes before they jumped.

Dear Lord, I never heard that before!

[Kira-USA]

Great Post!!! I had missed the original too. Thanks!!!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Bump That!

[ChadGore]

NOTE: List of countries who suffered casualties on 9/11

Antigua & Barbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belarus
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Czech Republic
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Ethiopia
France
The Gambia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Lebanon
Liberia
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad & Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Yemen
Zimbabwe

[xp38]

An interesting list. About 10 are Islamic countries although not Saudi Arabia so I assume the perps weren't included in this suffering of casualites. There must have been some non hijacking Egyptians who died as well.

[ladyinred]

I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism". A real war.

So do I.

Wonderful article, I am really grateful to the author for his sympathy and clear understanding of what Sept 11th meant to us. Sadly, part of the reason for all of this hatred and blaming America for the attack was started right here in our own country, and then spread across the seas to infect citizens of other countries.

It continues when our former President tours other nations and blames us and degrades our current President. It spreads even more when some of our Congressmen go into Iraq and call our President a liar.

It is hard to blame the other nations for this when it was perpetuated by our own traitors.

[bjcintennessee]

This is the first time I have seen this article, so thanks for posting it.

Bookmarked!!

[Otta B Sleepin]

I missed this the first time around, too - thank you for posting it.

In fact, this article impressed me so much that I finally retired from lurker status after two years, so I could post this note to say thanks!

[VOA]

ChadGore, got a citation (or Website URL) for that list?
(I'm not doubting it...just want documentation for future reference.)

[SerpentDove]

Excellent post. Thanks!

[Wolfstar]

Thanks, "Otta." That you decided to retire from lurker status makes posting the article very worthwhile, even if it was an accidental repost. The article has been making the email rounds at the company where I work, which means it's also making the email rounds elsewhere. I posted it along with the link to the original article, because I agree with those emailers that it deserves the widest possible circulation here in the U.S.

[Wolfstar]

I didn't know the detail about the pinned scraps of paper or business cards. Heart-rending. Sometimes all I can do is shake my head in sorrow and wonder as I learn more and more of these details. You are absolutely right that we owe it to these people — and to those of us left behind, as well as future generations — to utterly destroy radical Islam.

[betty boop]

Thank you, Wolfstar. This is powerful stuff.

[Wolfstar]

Isn't Clinton just about the worst scumbag we've ever had the misfortune to have accorded the title of president. I don't know how I could despise the man more. Almost every time he opens his mouth since 9/11/01, it's like a punch in the stomach to me.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Sadly, I think the reason this detail hasn't been widely circulated is that their heart-breaking attempt to identify themselves this way was futile. Given the conditions that their bodies endured on the way down, and then crushed under tons of rubble, I doubt that any of the makeshift "name-tags" were still legible and attached to a body or body-part when found. I heard about this on the 12th, when the shock was very fresh (and when there was still hope of finding some survivors in the rubble), and I won't ever forget it.

[freedom4me]

This is a great article. Right after 9/11 there was an article written by a Canadian journalist. It too, scolded those who would bash the USA. Anybody have a link to that article?

[sibb1213]

Thanks for a great post. I too missed it the first time around so a repost is great. Makes me so proud to be an American when I read such great praise from another country and makes me so sad when I hear our own countrymen/women bash us when they are abroad. They just don't get it!!
Thanks again.

[freesia2]

CG, I'd love to have a source for that listing. Can you tell me where to find it?

[tamikamaria]

Excellent article. Thank you for posting it.

Isn't Tony Parsons a buddy of George Michael? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just thought George and his pals were anti-American.

[potlatch]

I won't forget it either, now!