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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

AMERICA

I have been asked by a lot of my friends, “Why don’t you write about politics on your blog?” I have never had a satisfactory answer as it is well known that I do love to bore people with my views and my favorite pet peeve: AMERICA.

They are such a country of contradictions. You can love them, hate them but you can’t ignore them. Why? Because they do some of the most brilliant or stupid things.

Yes, you guessed right. This is not about their smartest things. It is about their dumbest things.

I hate Bush. So what’s the big deal? I hear you say. Everyone does.
I don’t hate him because everyone does. I hate him because he has no regard for the world besides America. Let me substantiate.

Recently, three prisoners committed suicide at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo bay, Cuba. They hung themselves with sheets to take their own lives.

What does the United States say about the suicides?

Colleen Graffy, the deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, said: "Taking their own lives was not necessary, but it certainly is a good PR move. It does sound like this is part of a strategy -- in that they don't value their own lives, and they certainly don't value ours."

Great! So now committing suicide is a PR move. What a stupid thing to say. These people have been in prison for four years, denied a trial or a lawyer. Their situation is hopeless, to say the least.
Yet, they didn’t act out of desperation. No.. No… it is all a part of a strategy to embarrass the United States. Well, nobody really needs to do that. You guys are very good at that yourself.

They were picked up in 2002, in Afghanistan. Whatever they did, it looks like the US believes that no court of law would convict them, because they haven’t been charged with any offence and certainly not had a fair trail. In the world, people take up delaying tactics when they know they have a weak case.

Bush says they are bad, bad men…but then Bush also said Iraq had WMD’s and god knows what else. There is a small matter of not finding a thing. Bush is a liar and everyone knows it. I think he knows it too.

You hear that a lot about Mujahedeen or ‘Holy Warriors.’ They don't value their own lives. Did the soldiers who climbed up those mountains to fight off the Pakistani army in Kargil value their own lives? They knew their chances of making it through were slim, considering the huge advantage the enemy had. So can we say these soldiers of India didn’t value their own lives? I don’t think so.
They did it because they loved the things their country stood for. That's what warriors do -- they die in pursuit of a larger purpose. They also kill in pursuit of a larger purpose.

Is the US not aware of how these remarks sound to people who live in the Muslim World? They already believe that the United States is their enemy and people like Bush just give them reason to believe that they are right. Two of the dead men were from Saudi Arabia and one was from Yemen.
How would we feel if a Saudi spokesman announced that two Indians who'd been held in an Arab jail for four years and had then killed themselves had done so as a PR stunt? Doesn't such a statement violate the simple rules of human decency?
And what about international diplomacy? Bush has a serious propensity to shoot himself in the foot. He has been doing so for the last six years and the world has two more to endure. In the mean time, what has he achieved? Two very costly wars in terms of money and human life.

Most of the world hates the Unites States for these un-asked for wars. Sure, the world trade centre got bombed and five thousand Americans Died. It was a very sad day in human history and we all grieved for them. Does that give the Unites States the right to attack anyone they believe “wants” to hurt United States interests and kill thousands of their women and children? What is the difference between the United States and the terrorists then? The bottom line is both kill innocent people. This un-called for war has only alienated the world more from The US. Now, everybody thinks of them as a bully.

Let’s go back to a time such as 1941 and see what the United States did in a war then. They fought Nazi Germany and won that war.

Did they fight that war eagerly? No. They were forced into it by Japan bombing them.

Did they torture or abuse prisoners then? No.

Did they exercise restraint? Yes.

Were they generous? Yes.

Did the world love them and admire them? Hell, yes.

So what’s the difference now? First, everyone knows who created the monster called Taliban in Afghanistan in the first place. What you sow, so shall you reap. When their own monster turned around and bit them, they started crying foul. Then they went ahead and attacked Afghanistan and Iraq and killed thousands of innocent civilians. Then they reneged on some parts of the Geneva Convention which talks about torture and backed out of a treaty on torture so that they could torture people for information, which they have or don’t have, nobody knows but everybody has heard of Abu Gharaib prison and the brutal things they did there to prisoners of war. Now they are pulling troops out of Afghanistan and reneging on promises made to rebuild Afghanistan.
So why would the world like you or respect you? Why do you even aspire for the world’s respect?
As they say Power inspires only fear, respect you have to earn.