I've Got Friends in Low Places

Where the redneck clowns
Vote Bush and chase
The Dems away
But I feel ok!

Well, it's all over. I was certainly quite surprised with the outcome of the election but that may be because I don't have many American friends here in Japan that support ol' Shrubya.

I could be pouty and whiny about the whole thing but bin Laden, that devil we love to hate, made a good point when he said something along the lines of, "It doesn't matter which candidate you elect - it is up to the American people to change the policies of your country."

I want to share with you an article that was written not long after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on September 11, 2001.

September 14, 2001
Why Are We So Hated? Looking Beyond Osama Bin Laden
By: William O. Beeman PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Providence, Rhode Island — The United States risks a severe miscalculation in dealing with the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon on Tuesday. This event is not an isolated instance of violence. This is not an "act of war." It is one symptom of a cancer that threatens to metastasize.

The root cause is not terrorist activity, as has been widely stated. It is the relationship between the United States and the Islamic world. Until this central cancerous problem is treated, Americans will never be free from fear.

Merely locating and hunting down a single "guilty party" in this case will not stop future violence: such an action will not destroy the organization of terrorist cells already established throughout the world. Of greater importance, it will do nothing to alleviate the residual enmity against America.

The perpetrators of the original attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 were caught and convicted. This did not stop the attack on Tuesday.

The chief suspect is the Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden, or his surrogates. He has been mischaracterized as an anti-American terrorist. He should rather be thought of as someone who would do anything to protect Islam.

Bin Laden began his career fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, when he was 22 years old. He has not only resisted the Soviets, but also the Serbians in Yugoslavia. His anger was directed against the United States primarily because of the U.S. presence in the Gulf region, more particularly in Saudi Arabia itself—the site of the most sacred Islamic religious sites.

According to bin Laden, during the Gulf War America co-opted the rulers of Saudi Arabia to establish a military presence in order to kill Muslims in Iraq. In a religious decree issued in 1998, he gave religious legitimacy to attacks on Americans in order to stop the United States from "occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places." His decree also extends to Jerusalem, home of the sacred Muslim site the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Bin Laden will not cease his opposition until the United States leaves the region. Paradoxically, his strategy for convincing the United States to do so seems drawn from the American foreign policy play-book. When the United States disapproves of the behavior of another nation, it "turns up the heat" on that nation through embargoes, economic sanctions or withdrawal of diplomatic representation. In the case of Iraq following the Gulf War, America employed military action, resulting in the loss of civilian life.

The State Department has theorized that if the people of a rogue nation experience enough suffering, they will overthrow their rulers, or compel them to adopt more sensible behavior.

The terrorist actions in New York and Washington are a clear and ironic implementation of this strategy against the United States.

Bin Laden takes no credit for actions emanating from his training camps in Afghanistan. A true ideologue, he believes that his mission is sacred, and he wants only to see clear results. For this reason, the structure of his organization is essentially tribal, or cellular, in modern political terms. His followers are as fervent and intense in their belief as he is. They carry out their actions because they believe in the rightness of their cause, not because of bin Laden's orders or approval.

Groups are trained in Afghanistan, and then establish their own centers in places as far-flung as Canada, Africa and Europe. Each cell is technologically sophisticated, and may have a different set of motivations for attacking the United States.

Palestinian members of his group see Americans as supporters of Israel in the current conflict between the two nations. In the Palestinian view, Ariel Sharon's ascendancy to leadership of Israel has triggered a new era, with U.S. government officials failing to pressure the Israeli government to end violence against Palestinians. Palestinian cell members will not cease their opposition until the United States changes its relationship with the Israeli state.

Above all, Americans need to remember that the rest of the world has an absolute right to self-determination that is as defensible as our own. A despicable act of terror such as that committed in New York and Washington is a measure of the revulsion that others feel at U.S. actions that seemingly limit those rights. If we perpetuate a cycle of hate and revenge, this conflict will escalate into a war that our great-grandchildren will be fighting.

William O. Beeman is a specialist on Middle East culture at Brown University who has written extensively on Iran, where the Islamic Revolution began in November, 1978. Beeman has worked for the past four years in Tajikistan, where he has monitored developments in Afghanistan.

A few days ago, I read about the most recent videotaped message from Osama bin Laden to the United States people and I immediately thought of the article above. Here are excerpts from a CNN report on bin Laden's message:

“Although we are ushering the fourth year after 9/11, Bush is still exercising confusion and misleading you and not telling you the true reason. Therefore, the motivations are still there for what happened to be repeated,” bin Laden said.

…Bin Laden said the message was being delivered directly to the American people, saying the attacks of September 11th, 2001 were the result of U.S. foreign policy in Arab lands, specifically referring to Lebanon and the Palestinians.

…At one point, he mentioned both President Bush and Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry. “Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be attacked,” bin Laden said in the video.

…He underscored that it was U.S. foreign policy that led to the 9/11 attacks, saying, “Bush says and claims, that we hate freedom, let him tell us then, ‘Why did we not attack Sweden?’”

Mr. Beeman, of course, was spot on with his analysis of the methods of al Qaeda and their reasons for the attacks of September 11th, 2001. If it was so clear to him, and many others, just a few days after the attacks then why isn't it clear now, years later, to the American public?

Bush has riled everybody he can into a gung-ho, let's roll, fight 'em, take 'em out and make 'em pay kind of attitude. He uses the attacks as a reason to go after these people, telling the public that if we hunt the terrorists down and destroy them, then we will be safe again. Yep, that's all we have to do!

Gosh, how can we be so dumb to believe that guy? Why doesn't someone take a look at the real situation here? Americans need to start educating themselves because we sure ain't gettin' any education from our government.

Things are looking up, I suppose. Well, that's if words mean anything these days. Today, according to CNN, Secretary of State Colin Powell made a statement to 200 Muslim guests gathered at a State Department feast celebrating the end of Ramadan.

"President Bush in his four years in office will be aggressively moving forward to deal with the concerns that are in your hearts and on your minds with the respect to the Middle East peace process, with respect to reform and modernization, with respect to solidifying democracy in places that never known democracy before and with respect fighting terrorism," Powell said.

President Bush would ensure that America "remains an open land," Powell said.

I'm going to try my best not to make a cynical remark about that last line.













Whew! I did it! I mean, I didn't do it!