http://www.nst.com.my/z//Current_News/NST/Thursday/Letters/20011011083023
IT is an insult to our intelligence to say that what happened in New York and Washington was an attack on the "whole free world".
This reflects the attitude of some in the US that America is the entire-ty of the world's democracy.
The attack was against the US only but nationals of other countries lost their lives because they were, unfortunately, in America at the time.
To say that the attack was aimed at, say, Singapore because Singaporeans were killed, is specious nonsense.
And to regard the World Trade Center towers, as "icons of democratic freedom" is also absurd.
The Pentagon and World Trade Center were icons of American power and wealth and as such logical targets for those with a hatred for the US.
This has nothing to do with attempting to overthrow democracy and "replacing it with dictatorship and feudalism".
It is about people venting their rage on aspects of US foreign policy which have aroused hatred in the Third World, particularly in Muslim countries.
Considering itself as the sole superpower on the planet, the US has consistently refused to listen to world opinion on matters ranging from Kyoto and Palestine to missile defence and 11 years of sanctions against Iraq. And it is still continuing, resulting in the deaths of more than one million Iraqi children due to an acute shortage of medical supplies.
So people with enough grievances will believe this sort of atrocity is the only way to deal with this intransigence.
America tries to cloud this fight for dignity and freedom on terrorism and yet regard Israel's state terrorism as legitimate just because it is allied to Israel.
The rest of the world has been affected not because we are the targets, but because of the globalised nature of world trade and the power of the US economy.
America is the self-appointed champion of human rights which unilaterally imposes conditions on the human rights track record of any country in return for its acceptance.
But how can you say you are for democracy when you use your veto and overrule any decision approved by the international community of over 100 countries in the United Nations on issues such as sending "observers" to protect Palestinians against attacks by Israel? Of course, we feel sorry for the victims of the attacks, their families and friends. We want to see the perpetrators brought to justice, but stop telling people of other nations that they were the targets as well.
Failure to look at the long-term causes of this tragedy will mean these attacks will continue.
Datuk Zulkifli Ahmad President Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Movement
http://www.nst.com.my/z//Current_News/NST/Thursday/Letters/20011011083023
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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