Steve at BachTalk.net makes a great point in this recent post from his blog.
I heard the director of public relations at the Saudi Arabian Embassy speak today.
…
He then pointed out that there are/were only two countries in the world in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions: Iraq and Israel. The U.S. invaded Iraq for being in violation of 16 Security Council resolutions, yet we provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and relentless support for Israel.
You know, I really wish more people would listen to what Arabs from the middle east, or even the terrorists themselves list as the reasons that they hate us. Our unrelenting support for Israel, their not-so-innocent mortal enemy, always seems to be at the top of the list. Other reasons, provided by Bin Laden, include US troops being stationed on their holy soil, and UN sanctions that had been imposed on Iraq, resulting in the death of thousands.
Funny, “our freedoms” never even make the top 10.
The foreign policy decisions of the United States government for the past 30+ years is the reason that we are losing our freedoms to this “war on terrorism” today. Every time we provide foreign or military aid, we are choosing a side, potentially creating an enemy. Every time our military kills an innocent Arab, we are creating new terrorists.
Our foreign policy of interventionalism is fueling this worldwide hatred of our country! How many terrorist attacks occur in Switzerland??
Stopping our aid to Israel would be a great start to reducing terrorism. Fighting terror with war only plays into the hands of our enemies, delivering them more recruits and guaranteeing that this “war on terror” will never end.
We are often told they hate our freedoms, but I think it is because they don’t like us forcing freedoms on them. I think 9/11 should be considered a crime, and the people behind it brought to justice but our foreign policy must be changed.
Comment by Jake — July 6, 2005 @ 5:29 pm
Jake,
I agree that 9/11 should be considered a crime, and we should do in our power to find those responsible. It seems that we have broadened our sights a little, however.
I would have imagined that after such an attack, we would have heard more people at least questioning what brought on such an attack. It seems that no one is asking that. The entire 9/11 commission spent god knows how much time and money analyzing the situation, and yet “why do they hate us?” is never brought up? Do you think that many people actually buy this “freedom” excuse?
Comment by Danny — July 7, 2005 @ 12:15 am
I tried to trackback to this page but I couldn’t get it to work for some reason. I just posted on my own blog on a similar topic. I was going to comment here but it turned into a full post. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think.
http://foranewliberty.blogspot.com/2005/07/what-exactly-is-terrorism.html
Comment by Aaron SIngleton — July 16, 2005 @ 10:14 pm
The country of Israel has far too much power on our own govt. We have gone from being protectors to being hired thugs in my opinion. Unfortunately anyone being critical of Israel gets an anti semite label, a form of reverse bigotry and manipulation at best. Several sources within the military and elsewhere point to an attack on Iran by Israel in the very near future with support by the US and others. There are far too many people in power in the US who want an all-out war in the middle east and elsewhere, the public must make it clear to our leaders we will not support thie course of action no matter what kind of govt. sponsored terrorism they apply.
Comment by stopthenwo — July 22, 2005 @ 10:33 am
No one is asking what brought on the 9/11 attacks because after those attacks, the reason doesn’t matter anymore. If they honestly expected the world to sit back to ponder the supposed plight of Muslims after 9/11 then they are more foolish then we thought. Perhaps when they capitulate to our unrelenting pressure, we can discuss a treaty that addresses the concerns of all parties involved. But they should receive no sympathy until then. Furthermore, our response should serve as a lesson, as it did to Japan and England, that attacking the US is a very unwise and fruitless action.
Comment by JackPatrick — July 28, 2005 @ 5:24 pm