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Why do they hate America? (part 1)
by: a_righteous_woman 09/17/01 07:25 am
Msg: 81331 of 81354

This msg was posted on Friday, September 14 @ 20:45:30 EDT (IslamWay.com)
By: Tariq Colvin* (IslamWay.com) - A glimpse of the horror that took place Tuesday morning. A day of fear, loss, grief and anger. A tragedy for our entire community Muslim and non-Muslim.
We found ourselves trying to understand, to reason, to come to grips with sights and sounds coming in over the airwaves. But how could a disaster so immense, so unexpected, so grave - be understood ?! ........
Who could have committed such evil? What kind of soul could perpetrate such hatred?
As news came out it was clear. The blame would be placed squarely at the feat of America's Great Satan: Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
Calls for restraint and care were drowned out by the lust, though understandable, for revenge. The bearded, sweaty terrorists of every Americans worst nightmare were brought to the fore. It was simple, the enemy was one, the enemy was us (Muslims).
But whoever the perpetrator, whoever is ultimately responsible, we must ask ourselves, "Where in the human soul lay the source of such hatred?" "What could produce such utter desperation and disregard for life?"
Without doubt. Tuesday's events didn't appear out of a vacuum. We can never justify or rationalize such a tragedy, but we must attempt to understand WHY !
Yesterday, I discussed this with a teacher. She also though that obscuring the lessons of this tragedy with labels and oversimplifications would only increase the loss.
The reality is that Tuesday's tragedy, a reprehensible crime against humanity, is an expressions of years of pent up frustration, despair, anger and resentment against the United States.
To call the attackers 'crazy', 'senseless', or 'mindless' is to miss the point. The attackers must have been anything but. To lost sight of the context out of which such hatred could flow is to only set the stage for greater tragedies.
If we allow ourselves the easy option of dehumanizing the attackers in our minds, as they must have dehumanized their victims before they ended their lives, then we aid and escalate the cycle of reciprocal violence and lead humanity to darkness beyond imagination.
Were the attackers really so much different than the average American? Retired General Norman Schwartzkopf seemed to think so.
In a recent televised interview he said, "In Iraq we went to great length to avoid civilian casualties .. but these bastards went after civilians. That's the difference between us and them."But is this the truth, or is this what we'd like be believe about ourselves? In a mid-nineteen nineties interview, CBS Reporter Lesley Stahl questioned the then US Ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright, on the post-war sanctions against Iraq :
"We have heard that a HALF MILLION CHILDREN HAVE DIED. I mean, That's more children that died in HIROSHIMA. And -and you know, is the price worth it?"
Albright's reply, "I think this is very hard choice, BUT THAT PRICE - WE THINK THE PRICE IS WORTH IT."