Opinion: American Foreign Policy

[Shrapnel]

I did not write this but I read this on yahoo:

"American foreign policy
by: rohan11au 09/13/01 11:07 pm
Msg: 32 of 40

What happened two days ago was indeed a tragedy. It was an unneccesary loss of life. Having read a lot of (obvious) American citizens responses, it seems that they're bent on the destruction of the world, if it has to come to that. I have this to say to them:
Firstly, abusively criticizing all muslims in the manner that many of you have makes you just as evil, and unworthy of life as those who steered the planes into the buildings. The majority of muslims are peace loving people, as are the followers of most religions. In any given religion there are inevitably some individuals who come up with their own "interpretation", such as some catholics and protestants of northern Ireland, who feel that God wishes them to destroy one another.

Another issue I feel most Americans are wrong about is what should (or shouldn't) be done in retaliation. I do feel that those responsible for this need to be punished. You can go after all of the terrorists in the world if you wish to, but so long as there is anti-American sentiment felt there will always be more terrorists. Your nation needs to look at what is causing these feelings to arise. I know for a fact that the terrorists don't hate America because it is "peace and freedom loving", or whatever that BS rhetoric coming out of Washington is. The real reason for their hatred is the American foreign policy that they and their people have had thrust upon them for decades. Throughout history and currently there are countless examples in which the American government has either directly or through support of a regime killed millions of innocent civilians. A few examples: The Vietnam war (millions of civilians killed at the hand of Americans there), In Eastern Timor the weapons used to kill the hundreds of thousands there were all more than willingly exported by America, knowing what the Indonesians intended to use them for, the last example I'll use (though there are countless others), is that millions have died in Iraq due to the brutal sanctions levied by the USA. The real issue that therefore needs to be changed to eradicate terrorism is US foreign policy. When your government stops killing and supporting the killing of civilians in other countries, then and only then will terrorism have been defeated.

One final point: good luck finding Osama bin-Laden to the Americans. If a full acale invasion of Afghanistan is launched, then just bear in mind that 20 years ago the Soviets with all their high tech weapons did the same, and ended up being defeated by ill equipped goat herders.

I hope Americans will ultimately choose the right path.

(By the way I'm a non-religious Canadian)
"

Link here
here

[fourchinnigan]

People who like to think that the Islamic religion is inherently evil because of the liberties some of its followers take should take a minute to remember the Spanish Inquisition and the conquering of the Americas which were supported by the Catholic church. The Islamic faith does not support the actions of the terrorists.

In response to the hunting down of Bin Laden if necessary:
I think the government is hoping that Afghanistan or wherever he may be at the moment will assist in his capture. They don't want to invade, although some of the shortsighted imbecilic citizens do want to.

[LaserBeamBandit]

My point exactly. It seems that a whole lot of people wants to gather Muslims in a room and shoot the bunch. That is a quote. People try or think that Islam is a puny religion even thought that it is the second largest religion in the world with 1 out of 5 people Muslims.

[Shrapnel]

At 9/14/01 09:50 AM, fourchinnigan wrote:

In response to the hunting down of Bin Laden if necessary:
I think the government is hoping that Afghanistan or wherever he may be at the moment will assist in his capture. They don't want to invade, although some of the shortsighted imbecilic citizens do want to.

Does anybody remember the cruise missiles that hit buildings that bin Laden was in?
He wasn't in those buildings and his support rose after that....

Anyways... I hope the authorities find the parties responsible for the WTC attack.

[Slizor]

Does anybody remember the cruise missiles that hit buildings that bin Laden was in?

Was this in Sudan?

[Shrapnel]

At 9/14/01 06:24 PM, Slizor wrote:

Does anybody remember the cruise missiles that hit buildings that bin Laden was in?

Was this in Sudan?

Yes- but bin Laden wasn't in the buildings.
They also hit Afghanistan.

I meant to put 'supposedly' in my original post.

"On August 20, 1998, the United States attempted to retaliate against Osama bin Laden for his alleged role in the East Africa U.S. embassy bombings. On that day the U.S. launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles against two targets--several bin Laden training camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in the Sudan"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/bombings/retaliation.html

[Slizor]

I checked that site out and I found this
Days later, in the streets of Khartoum, Sudanese President al-Bashir led an anti-US march. Suddenly it seemed America was transformed from a victim of terrorism to an aggressor nation. And in the days following the bombing, the President's National Security Advisor Samuel Berger faced a barrage of questions--especially on the Sudan attack. Reports quickly circulated that the Sudanese missile strike had hit a working pharmaceutical plant with no easily-proven link to bin Laden
This could be the reason why America is playing the plane incident up so much, they may be trying for international acceptance.

Tangent: Ohhh, shrapnel has turned into a light.

[Freakapotimus]

At 9/14/01 04:38 PM, Shrapnel wrote: Anyways... I hope the authorities find the parties responsible for the WTC attack.

Bin Laden is still a suspect, unless something has changed since I last saw the news. Suspect, meaning that nothing has been proven yet. Bin Laden is denying involvement.

I would hate to see a war start over this, if it turns out the Bin Laden really did have nothing to do with this, and we've been fighting over the wrong guy.