They hate us for our bombs

[bemildred]

A letter I received last year rebuked me for calling George Bush's explanation of 9/11 – They hate us for our freedoms – “doltish.” Its writer said leaders must speak concisely and simply. “What would you say?” he challenged. I've chewed on this and chosen: “They hate us for our bombs.” It came to me during the bombing of Gaza this week. I use “hate” to parallel the Bush usage. “Consider us their enemies,” would be better.

This is so in Kandahar, where Canadians keep dying, and “they,” or some of them, don't hate us for our good intentions, but for the bombs that land on wedding parties. It's so in Gaza, where people often show bomb remnants marked “Made in U.S.A.” That's why they see “us” as enemies, like Israel. That, plus “our” support for Israel's bombing. George Bush said it was fine with him. “No comment,” said Barack Obama, squandering some of the goodwill toward him. “First and foremost, those rocket attacks must stop,” said Canada's Foreign Minister. It's the “first and foremost” that invited rage. Most people, including Palestinians, know that rocketing others is bad – but so is being bombed. This is about understanding how people think, not debating it.

Or consider this. Gaza is roughly half the area of Toronto, with a population closing in on 60 per cent of Toronto's. To get comparable deaths for the current assault, you'd somewhat less than double: 450 there would be like 750 here, etc. In the first hour of bombing last Saturday, the morgues ran out of room. Then a university, mosques and a TV station were bombed.

The ratios between Palestinian and Israeli dead run between 100 and 150 to one, and have since Israel “withdrew” in 2005. That huge disparity is the difference between bombs and far less damaging rockets. It's what happens when you leave a place, surround it, close it off like a prison and bomb it at will.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090102.wcosalutin0102/BNStory/specialComment/home

[JeanGrey]

1. They should hate their leaders that hide behind them.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Our diplomatic initiatives are bombing all over the world n/t

[bemildred]

3. LOL. nt