Who has an ALIBI???

[Karenina]

Hmmmm... it would seem that patience is growing VERY thin.

Omar Barghouti: 'Americans, you've lost your alibi!'
An Open Letter to Most Americans

Omar Barghouti, CounterPunch

Dear Americans (I am here addressing only those of you who are rationally choosing to prolong the suffering of the human race for 4 more years):

Just this past week, Iraqis had the equivalent death toll of 9/11. In fact, they have one every week or two, on average, thanks to your sickening and utterly irrational support for the neo-con gang at the helm of power in Washington.

I, and I bet most people around the earth, cannot take it any more! The pictures from Iraq are gruesomely clear: your armed forces are committing awful war crimes, killing Iraqis in a wedding party (1); killing Iraqis dancing around a burnt out Bradley (2); killing Iraqis in custody by beating them to death (3); killing Iraqis sitting in their homes, sleeping on their roofs to escape the heat, or walking down the streets; just killing, butchering with impunity, brutality and nauseating repetitiveness.

<snip>

Despite that, moral consistency necessitates distinguishing between you, the voters for and enablers of empire, whether conscious or not, and the significant minority of Americans who have opposed it. And pragmatically speaking, this is not any minority. This is the only remaining hope that empire will one day be defeated. We all know that our chances of success in our resistance to empire are slim without the courageous support of progressive Americans.

<snip>

The world ought to exact a just, legal and morally sound punishment against you. That's how hoodwinked, obedient subjects of empires learn to question authority, to challenge arrogant xenophobia, to reject relative humanization of the rest of the world, and to jealously guard their rights in harmony with international law and universal moral principles. It is a cold shower of sorts, if you will.

http://www.counterpunch.org/barghouti09252004.html

[Mikimouse]

1. Sickening state of affairs, this...

I have seen similar things posted here from time to time, and very often the messenger was flamed for saying these same things. I cannot say that I thoroughly disagree with much of what he has written, though I am wary of the one line: " We all know that our chances of success in our resistance to empire are slim without the courageous support of progressive Americans." This part of the essay bothers me, but only in terms of how it could be used against progressives in this country (giving aid and comfort to the enemy?).

[Karenina]

2. Mikimouse,

Your wariness made me so sad because it read like a battered woman or abused child. :cry: Correct me if I err, it sounds were you expressing greater fear of being associated with those appalled by the horror being perpetuated in the name of American citizens than you are of the prospect of a concerted unified effort by the ROTW to subdue the rabid hyena the U.S. gubmint has become.

[Mikimouse]

3. Karenina, I should have been clearer in my post and apologize

Far from being fearful of being associated with those appalled by the horror, I meant, with all due respect, that I have become wary of some of the other members of this board. Having said that, I am not willing to give in to the abrasiveness of those members, but am, at times, reluctant to join in the obvious flamefests.
Our nation has become something alien to me, a farce of what it once had the promise to be. The author is correct; we are due something of a national 'spanking' for letting our arrogance and greed become our national trademark, instead of living up to our claims of compassion and understanding. Tocqueville said, in 1834: "America is great because it is good, when it ceases to be good..."
We have ceased to be good. We now rely on the shrieking of RW radio non-achievers to happily trumpet our greatness to the unbelieving international community, for whom the proof is not found in words, but actions. Our actions do not reflect our words, not anymore. Does this make me unpatriotic? Hardly, but it will probably be taken as such by some. I have become convinced that little short of international intervention will have any influence on affecting the alteration of mindset that we so deperately need (I do not mean that an international war is necessary, but economic sanctions and a decrease in trade treaties would probably ne sufficient).
I want to live in a ntion that I can be proud of again, not one that is known as a 'loose cannon', whose economic interests overshadow international law, and human rights. In other words, I am extremely disappointed in what we have become.

[Karenina]

5. Dear one, thank you

for such a thoughtful post! :hug:

I left the U.S. a decade ago feeling TOTALLY BETRAYED by the values with which I was brought up. Looking through an acculturated lens at a distance, I am in turns apoplectic, flabbergasted and so very, very outraged, sometimes I just have to take my glasses to rest my eyes ;-).

[Mikimouse]

6. You are most welcome...I share your feelings!

I had the opportunity to return to my ancestral home country in 1992, as did many of my family members from all over the world. I chose not to do so, even though I was raised with all of the customs and traditions of that culture (born in the US, by the way). I have always thought that we had the potential for being truly great, but had to get through our 'growing pains' to do so. I am not sorry that I stayed, and perhaps selfishly so, I think that my grandfathers (both of whom served in the Austro-Hungarian Cavalry during World War I) would be proud of my decision to stay and try to make a difference. 'Mindeg legylel a pelda' (family motto: Always be the example)
I grieve for our seeming inability, or unwillingness, to accept the fact that tehre are many much older societies in the world, most of whom have experienced their own 'growing pains' during their climb to international stature. We seem to think that their experiences are irrelevant to contemporary thinking. Our loss.

[supercrash]

4. Fuck this...

Americans WILL reap what they sow

And I have no problem with that at all

[Karenina]

7. Stating the obvious.

No harm, no foul.

[Karenina]

8. Are you now

or have you ever been a... :freak:

[BeFree]

9. Alibi? Here's your Alibi

September 11th, 2001.

It is that day which is the given reason for our ensuing massacres.

Unfortunately, America set out with a lynch-mob mindset seeking revenge for 9/11, and what we see happening in Iraq is the consequence of that lynch-mob.

9/11. The facts are not yet known, even three years later. But the leaders have used the event to incite the masses instead of seeking justice.

Therefore, one must conclude that since the leaders have misled, that the leaders designed the event to be used to mislead.

The root of all this evil is 9/11.

Once the truth be told, things will fall into place and America can return to a position of setting a good example for the rest of the world. Once the truth be told.

[Karenina]

10. Actually, the WTC demolition

was just a catalyst. The "plan" has been in place for decades.

[DemBones DemBones]

11. Thanks for posting this, Karenina.

I think it goes well with a map drawn by a DUer, as seen here:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


I thought of Barghoutti's article right away but couldn't find it on my first look at CounterPunch, so I was especially happy to find that you had linked it here.

[Karenina]

12. It's very sad

that so many Americans are oblivious to the incredible level of anger around the world the *misadministration has produced.