[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > There were a lot of Al Qaeda sightings in my own country and some people > who are not in the country where I am may dismiss it right away, but the > psychological terror is with us in the Asian region, even if we go on our > lives every day.
Yes, Bush's and his co-leaders' policies are dangerous to the entire world. Not everyone here supports his actions; there were lots of "no" votes regarding the resolution to use military force in Iraq. And there was enough pressure from some Congressional leaders that Bush didn't get what he wanted, which was the approval for him to use force anywhere he sees a threat. That was really scary, and at least in theory would allow Bush to see Indonesia as a bombing target now. Maybe the Philippines, too, as long as we could avoid harming the huge U.S. military base there. So, one of the small consolations about the resolution recently passed is that it's only about Iraq. (Yes, I know, big deal when the bombs start falling; anyone who manages to survive that will be finding their way posthaste to al Qaeda or some other terrorist organization.) It still blows my mind that the U.S. president thinks it's ok to go in and decide the leaders of another country, although it's not a new concept. The U.S. has often done that covertly. And some people wonder why Americans are seen as arrogant? I'd say the "we're going to have things OUR way, no matter what it takes, no matter what you want or need, no matter what the complex truth might be" makes the arrogance very clear. I doubt if a single dollar is ever given by the U.S. without lots of strings attached. The foreign aid the U.S. gives is the smallest percentage of any industrialized country. It's still a large amount since the U.S. GNP is so high, but to claim we're the most generous people in the world is inaccurate. I'm NOT saying I think violence is an appropriate way to express anti-American feeling or that there's any justification for killing hundreds, thousands of people or targeting 50,000 American workers. NONE AT ALL!!! THERE'S NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THAT!!! I've spent a year mourning and crying about what happened in NYC, and now I'm furious about what was done here! I don't have any instant solutions. But, acting like the U.S. has never done anything wrong is just going to prolong finding solutions. And focusing on bombing the problem away is not going to solve anything either. > And yes, Debra, I also was asking the same question you asked. Why bomb a > country not known to support the US? Is this a way of sowing fear to > people caught in the crossfire of the war they didn't have a hand in > creating, or is this a relentless fight against anyone who is white. Both > scenarios disgust me. Yes, me too. When I found out most of the people on Bali are Hindus, I then wondered if it was a religious conflict. There was the recent killing of Hindus by Muslims and vice versa in India, another sickening situation, and to read that that slaughter was over the use of a religious site made it even more disgusting. I don't think there's any scenario where the murder of hundreds of people would not be disgusting. Indonesian leaders themselves were saying rather quickly that the bombing in Bali was by al Qaeda (or at least that the bombers were connected somehow) and that the bombing was meant to express anti-American, or maybe it was anti-Western, feelings. I don't know why the Indonesians seemed so certain about that, and really hope it wasn't just to stay on the good side of the U.S., as in "see? we don't like al Qaeda either, so don't bomb us". Obviously, there's more to learn about what happened there. I was glad to read that investigators from many different countries will be looking into it because if it was only American investigators their findings wouldn't be trusted by lots of people. That's the way it is for now, with no signs that will change any time soon. Debra Shea in NYC
