A Look into the Mirror
A look in the mirror for America
by Derrick Z. Jackson
Boston Globe
July 8, 2005
IN HIS INITIAL reaction yesterday to the London transit bombings, President Bush decried ”people killing innocent people.” He said: ”The contrast couldn’t be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty and those who kill — those who have got such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks.”
This came a week and a half after Bush invoked the innocent in his Fort Bragg, N.C., speech in an attempt to shore up sagging American support for his invasion and occupation of Iraq. Doggedly tying 9/11 to Saddam Hussein even though no tie existed, Bush said of global terrorists: ”There is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad, including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.”
Bush also said the enemy will fail. ”The terrorists can kill the innocent, but they cannot stop the advance of freedom,” he said. Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair said the ‘’slaughter of innocent people” will fail to cower the British people, and Canada’s Prime Minister Paul Martin called the attack an ”unspeakable attack on the innocent.”
It was all appropriate in the moment. In a greater context, there is a tragic hollowness. The world, of course, shares the sympathies of Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, who said the London bombings were a ”despicable, cowardly act.” Yet every invoking of the innocents also reminds us of our despicable, cowardly killing of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Or perhaps you forgot about them. That was by design. We have rightfully mourned the loss of nearly 3,000 people on 9/11. We have begun mourning the loss of about 40 people in London. We have mourned the loss of 1,751 US soldiers, who, bless them, were following orders of their commander in chief. But to this day, there has been no major acknowledgement, let alone apology, by Bush or Blair for the massive amounts of carnage we created in a war waged over what turned out to be a lie, the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.
These innocents never existed, either in Iraq or Afghanistan. ”We don’t do body counts,” said both General Tommy Franks, former Iraqi commander, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. When Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt was asked about the images of American soldiers killing innocent civilians on Arab television, Kimmitt said: ”My solution is quite simple: Change the channel. Change the channel to a legitimate, authoritative, honest news station. The stations that are showing Americans intentionally killing women and children are not legitimate news sources. That is propaganda. And that is lies.”
The United States waged its own war of propaganda by refusing to conduct a legitimate, authoritative, honest accounting of the deaths of innocent civilians. As it urged people to change the channel, the Bush administration cut off all channels to finding out what we did to women, men, and children who were shopping, working, or leaving their mosques. In an invasion based on falsehoods, the truth of the civilian carnage might have been too hard for Americans to take, and support for the war might have ended in the first few weeks.
The propaganda of an invasion with invisible innocents surely allowed Bush to seamlessly switch his stated reason from the unique horrors of WMD to liberating an oppressed people. It is a lot easier to tell the world you are their great liberator if you do not have to own up to the thousands of dead people who will never get the chance to vote in that free election. It sounds a little bit like people who say African-Americans should be thankful for slavery because they are no longer in Africa.
Worse, this denial of death, in a war that did not have to happen, is sure to fuel the very terrorism we say we will defeat. The innocents in the so-called war on terror are always ”our” citizens or the citizens of our allies. The only innocent Iraqis are those killed by ”insurgents.” Our soldiers clearly did not intend to kill innocents. But this posturing of America as the great innocent, when everyone knows we kill innocents ourselves, is likely only to make us look more like the devil in the eyes of a suicide bomber.
To end this commentary I wish to put the following as afoot note
if you follow the link I pray to God you are as outraged as I am,
We are idiots! I’m not even going to be “diplomatic”
or “politically correct” about it.
Hell, anything we can give terrorists, to make their job easier,
you can bet we wlll!!!!!
Don’t worry, though….I’m sure the government will also take some
more of our Constitutional rights, to make up for it.
http://www.visualit.co.uk/Tube2-london.htm
Before you judge my comments go follow the link
do we as Americans think we are the only people who feel pain?
Have any of you taken the time to look at the images of the people in
London after the bombings? The same broken faces as in America
after 9/11 the same photos with the words “have you seen this person?”
The same flowers all over the street, the same pain, Have we as Americans
become so hardened that we think only us have the right to feel pain.
I shall never forget the words one person wrote on this site about me
after I published the Reply from Europe. When I wrote I had a friend
In the United Kingdom tThis person wrote that I was a traitor to my country.
I say, that person is a trator to God, to the entire Earth.
I have become sick of the events of the world
My heart cries for all the pain we as a country have caused
all around the world
I am not a Moderate Wordy Wacko Drama Queen,
Sorry, I am a human with a heart with feelings and with a soul
I do not any more understand this world, it has gone mad.
I care not what any of you think about me.
It is only myself that must live with me, and I can look into
my eyes and know I am clean of all of the evil
Suzanne
A citizen of the world
A child of God
who visited Laugh at Liberals but only For a Reason and For a Season
but not For a Lifetime
Suzanne Says: July 17th, 2005 at 3:05 am
Last week’s terror bombings in London should be seen as a reminder not just that Mr. Bush’s war was a hideous diversion of focus and resources from the essential battle against terror, but that it has actually increased the danger of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and its allies.
The C.I.A. warned the administration in a classified report in May that Iraq - since the American invasion in 2003 - had become a training ground in which novice terrorists were schooled in assassinations, kidnappings, car bombings and other terror techniques. The report said Iraq could prove to be more effective than Afghanistan in the early days of Al Qaeda as a place to train terrorists who could then disperse to other parts of the world, including the United States.
Suzanne
Circe Says: July 17th, 2005 at 1:22 pm
Two comments. First, the London bombings were horrible. Unfortunately, they resemble all too much the conditions of everyday life in Iraq where over 128,000 Iraqis have died in similar circumstances over the past 2 years.
Second, I recommend that you go to juancole.com to read the post entitled ‘The Ghost of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan.’ To summarize, British intelligence was monitoring Khan closely last year and getting useful intelligence about terrorist operations being planned in Britain. The Bush administration wanted to be able to announce that they captured a terrorist during the DNC to eclipse Kerry during his own convention. Using three-year-old information, Tom Ridge strategically announced that Khan had been captured. This infuriated British intelligence because they lost their ability to monitor the plans of the terrorists. Well it was 4 of Khan’s associates who were being monitored who were responsible for the London attacks. So the Bush administration’s political tactics probably played a major part in permitting the London attacks.
Circe Says: July 17th, 2005 at 1:31 pm
Since the elections in Iraq, which were dominated by the Shia, it has been clear that a major threat to US strategy in Iraq would be the emergence of strong ties between Iran and Iraq. As feared, Iraq’s new leadership is much more interested in developing this relationship than US planners would have liked. Read this Washington Post article for more details (Sunday July 17, 2005 edition). Title: “Iran, Iraq Herald ‘New Chapter’ in Shiite-Led Alliance”
Suzanne Says: July 27th, 2005 at 4:55 am
Thought some of you might be interested if our Friends from across the Pond, (The United Kingdom - London to be specific) have altered or changed their normal daily routine, sense The Terror Attacks in London. Have the Londoners altered their transportation methods by driving their cars instead of riding the Subway, or catching a bus?
Should you think this might be the case, you do not know Londoners.
Now, of course I know first hand, or actually direct from my friend living in London.
(Yes, the one and only - author of “The Reply from Europe to The Open Letter to Europe”)
My dear friend living in London, The secret source and creator of delightful coded digital digits sent through cyberspace – destination – preprogrammed – Release of Coded digits – preprogrammed. (If I have lost you, just use the word “email”)
These digital digits arrive at the exact digit in cyberspace – I open my email each morning with anticipation, will there be - might there be - Did He – The shiver of expectation, such excitement as my eyes fall upon his special cyberspace digit. The internet the one predictable item (human and or non-human) in my life has delivered to me an email from Patrick
The beginning is personal - Next - the gossip - Actors, and Actress, Stage Performances. Lectures, book reviews, movies to see, and who did what to whom; more than enough to keep Suzanne’s mind busy for at least a week.
The opening performance on stage - “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, (Shakespeare); Directed by Patrick T. The cast, both experienced and novice though equal in their ability – Acting Shakespeare –students trained by Patrick T. Directed by Patrick. He informs me of each new Professional Stage Production he is about to attend.
Next - the political blunderings – Unexplainable actions, statements no one can understand, stupid decisions, stories about our beloved politicians in the UK and the USA.
Patrick writes with truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, just as the bible states it is the word of God. Therefore, if you believe the Bible, you must believe Patrick. Actually, I tend to believe the written words of Patrick – I doubt the supposed written words of G - Oops, no, will not go that road today.
Now, the amazing mind of Patrick, predicts with perfect accuracy the side stepping political dance with minimal toe stomping, the exact movements this idiot of an elected government facsimile will dance – The name of this dance – Change Truth to Lie_
Definition: - (words or motions used by politicians to take back their spoken words. The side stepping political dance - Truth to lie - lie to bigger lie - always effective, and the idiot ends up smelling like a rose.)
Now, I have received about four emails from Patrick since the London Bombing.
Other that some words I shall not put on this site, for fear they are actually true.
Patrick was very calm, collected, and acted as if this was a normal event in London.
Suzanne of course, being only a woman, wrote a desperate email begging Patrick Do not take the Subway, Please not the busses, drive your car, please. I even included as an attachment, a video, of myself, (excellent acting) with tears streaming down my checks, my blue eyes swollen from crying. My voice quivered as I again spoke the written words; please use your car, not the bus or Subway.
I think you would be quite amazed at his reply to my dramatic, heart rendering,
Sorrow within my voice, fear for his life, pleading, and these are two of his replies
_______________________________________________________
Dear Suzanne
I was passing the tube station where one of the failed explosions was.
I thought, “I bet fewer people are using this station now”
Therefore, I went in and caught the tube.
XXXX ‘XX
[Sorry that was x-rated].
___________________________________________
Two days later
______________________________________________
Dear Suzanne
Off again to travel the Tube, find plays,
And wonder how Karl Rove will get out of this one
(as he surely will).
Love
P
One must respect the character of a man such as Patrick
joy Says: July 28th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
As the stage continues to be set for the last war…I watched a video titled “To End All Wars”.
If you haven’t heard of it, seen it, or read the book by the same title, it’s worth checking out. The bottom line is surprisingly different than I expected and right in line with what I’ve continually found to be true in my own life, in spite of myself; that the most powerful ‘weapon’ will always triumph - even in hell on earth. It’s definitely one for the ‘book club’.
joy Says: July 28th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
Having lived in England and having family and friends there, it’s no surprise that the British carry on.
One point, off to the side of that subject but, right on the subject of the Iraq war raising up more terror in various other places around the world: the individuals and groups responsible for the terrorist attacks around the world are… the ones committing it. Is that so obvious that it’s being missed? The rhetoric from terrorists has always always always been that it is someone else’s fault that they are ‘forced’ to do what they do. It’s the same rhetoric used by abusers. No matter what else is said, the bottom line is that the terrorists will commit terrorist acts by their choosing, not because of what someone else has done…but because they’re in the kill and destroy mode. Those among them who turn away from that lifestyle are considered traitors and become a target for their attacks as well. We don’t read about them in the papers; is this because the U.S. couldn’t be blamed? There are hundreds of their own who are maimed and killed for refusing to be killers. If you know real terror and real terrorists, you know that even hinting America is in that category is a blatant lie. We are not perfect. We’ll always need improving, but we are a far far cry from terrorists. As are the British.