Nine Years After: Not Long Enough to Heal Our Festered Wounds

It's funny you should say this, in that this is exactly the kind of hate America does not need, particularly upon a hallowed day that should be used for healing some very deep, jagged wounds. As for why we never see protests from the Muslims against their own countrymen, it's called propaganda, my friend. Nobody wants to believe that we blew up any amount of innocent, sane people. The media is not an accurate judge of anything, no matter what you read or what channel you watch. How often does the news you see report acts of kindness and good in our very own country, let alone overseas? I'd say less than 20% of American news that I have seen in my 21 years of life has made me smile. When somebody picks up your fallen wallet off of the street and hands it to you with all of its contents intact, do you immediately ask if they are Muslim or not? Good people are good people, regardless of race or religion. Good Muslims reside here, and bad Americans reside elsewhere, not just the other way around. Before you talk about reasons for contempt, don't forget that we imposed upon and tore an entire country of innocent people apart looking for maybe 10 individuals of an extremist group, to only our own ends. Have we so soon forgotten about the first time we screwed Afghanistan over, promising to rebuild their country and then just leaving them as soon as we armed and trained them to kill the invading Russians? Many families had just begun to rebuild their lives after that when we burst in looking for Al Qaeda. Can you blame them for being wary of us coming in a second time and blowing their homeland to pieces, leaving thousands of people with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the belongings they can carry, promising to rebuild their country someday when George W. Bush himself said that our efforts to help them would not start until we got what we came for? It has been nine long years, Bin Laden is nowhere in sight, and there are still refugees displaced by our bombings. However, you said yourself "the wounded of course don't count for much", as long as they are still alive, who cares what happens to them, right? Also remember that citizens of Afghanistan and like countries are usually executed for speaking up about how they feel about their own government; the women can be severely beaten or executed for speaking out against any man, let alone one in a position of power. We are shaking up their very foundations of everything they have ever known; no matter how horrible their pasts are, they will not immediately accept or acknowledge our help, the same way a hurt animal (or human, for that matter) does not immediately trust those who approach with even the best of intentions. Also, imposing our way of life upon them is not "helping" them. They do not accept Christian beliefs any more than the non-Muslim Americans accept their faith when it is forced upon them. If waves upon waves of soldiers came into your hometown promising salvation if only you read and believe in a book, would you believe them? Hell no you wouldn't, you'd say "What's wrong with my book and my beliefs?" Why would their response be so different? Then, don't forget that we have people here in this country who dare call themselves Christian and spread the very same hate and intolerance people of other religions have practiced against us. A true American does not act like that, and a real Christian would realize that acting out of hate is not what Jesus would do; Jesus would not cry for blood and vengeance, he would forgive and pity those who hate the great country we have built. These "Americans" are exactly why the Muslims and many others around the world have come to call us the "devil Americans". Tell me, what is the difference between them demonizing us over our batsh*t-insane religious fanatics, and us demonizing them for their batsh*t-insane religious fanatics? And then, remember that our very own Christian fanatics have killed other Americans before. Before 9/11, the most fatal terrorist attack ever committed in America was the Oklahoma City Bombing, and that was carried out by no Muslim. Timothy McVeigh and company killed 168 people, 19 of which were mere children, no more than 6 years old. He was actually a Christian extremist, yet I see no cries for blood and revenge against other Christians based solely upon his religion. Before him, look at the incident in Waco; 76 people, more than 20 of them children, were killed - more Christian fanatics. There were more before these. Murder, is murder, is murder - no matter what religion you are. Don't pin violence against Americans solely on Muslims.

(Read my other comment first. I could not fit all my thoughts into one.) I'm not saying we should turn our back on what happened on 9/11, drop the charges against Al Qaeda, and be on our merry way. I'm saying that after nine long years of rising bitterness against the Muslims, we need to be the bigger people - indeed, the better country - and find a better reason to kill, maim, and scar people than their religion, the color of their skin, or whatever. Muslims have just as much place here as the other people who have come here in our mere 325-summat years of existence. I myself am proud to be an American of no religious denomination despite the ignorance of some people in our country, but that in itself is part of what makes America so beautiful - anyone of any opinion is allowed to speak their mind and believe what they believe, without direct government repercussions. We are believed to be a safe haven for those who have been discriminated against and ostracized by their homelands for their beliefs; indeed, our nation was founded by outcasts. It is against our very moral code to look down upon people on the sole basis of their religion; the first article of our Bill of Rights specifically mentions freedom of religion. How can you, as an American, have forgotten about this? It sickens me that all 9/11 has become is another reason to launch a crusade of blind, selfish hate upon the world, instead of remembering that like life, our country will go on, no matter how dismal things may seem at one time and that time will heal all wounds, if only we will let it. There were innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11 as well, whose families mourn for their lost loved ones like the rest of us. It appalls me that anyone could spew such disrespect against those families and the dead by speaking out against their religion like that, when they have suffered just as much as we, or perhaps even more at the hands of people like yourself who ridicule them for what they believe in, and blame them for what happened nine or more years ago, while you so conveniently forget that people of other religious denominations murder Americans. I request of you one simple thing, perhaps two. Let go of religion and blame for what happened so long ago. We all have suffered pain, loss, and confusion at the hands of those 19 terrorists and their cohorts, in one way or another. Since you essentially wasted yesterday on hate, spend today like you should have spent 9/11; celebrate that our nation still stands as strong as ever, celebrate that we have people virtuous enough to risk or give their lives in efforts to save others, much like those who did on 9/11, or our military who still is out there this very moment; or use it to celebrate the fact that you and many, if not all of your loved ones survived one of the most devastating events in American history and had the strength to go on and live your lives. Almost 3,000 people were not allowed that privilege. "But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can do that. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the greatest threat we are facing?...The only thing that can really destroy us is us." - Colin Powell, 2007 (from an interview with GQ)

Wrong. We gave Iraq freedom to govern themselves. Destroying Iraq, would have only taken a few minutes. :o)

Agreed. I like reading her articles. :o)