Mister Bush, do feel free to use this

[gerbie]

It took a while before we learned what we did wrong. It took a big attack, in which thousands of innocent lives have been lost, before we realised that the way we are dealing with the rest of the world was wrong. I am very sorry that this has had to happen. From here there are two possible options. A third world war or a continuation of what we have been doing over the last decade, a cold war against everything we Americans considered wrong. It would make the cold war look like a fight in kindergarten. We shall take none of these options. As a true Christian, we will turn the other cheek. The only way this cycle can be stopped as by not reacting. No retaliation, no attacks on possible suspects. I shall repeat this, read my lips, NO RETALIATION.

It is time for us to admit that we had this one coming. Fifty years of interfering everywhere in the world whenever it suited us has come to a bloody final. Now we see what we have done in Korea and Vietnam. In Cuba and the Dominican Republic. In Haiti and Guatemala. In Nicaragua and Chile. In Panama and Somalia. And in dozens of other countries. Thousands of innocent Americans have become the victim of an idiot who wanted us to know what we did wrong. Until now we knew, but thought we could get away with it. We couldn't.

From now on we shall do whatever is necessary to help all those families in this tragedy. But not only the thousands who have died in the last 24 hours, but also those thousands who died in the last 50 years, because we considered our position in the world more important than the lives of individuals. The whole budget from defence will go to welfare, social benefits or third world development. We will finally pay off our billions of debt to the UN. We well recognise the UN as the true world power, the voice of the people of the world. We will do as the majority wants us to. We shall propose the abolishment of veto's for countries who happen to have too much power.

Finally I shall resign from my position as President of the United States of America. We will soon have new elections in which every vote is counted, in which democracy will really work. Until then I shall hand over the power to the senate.

Let our thoughts be with the ones who have lost their lives. Thank you for your attention, God bless America and peace on earth!

Comments

Re:

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I know that I wouldn't be writing this if the US hadn't helped during the second war. As a joke I have said several times that the US have chosen the wrong side in each war SINCE WW2. But possibly I would have written this entry in German. And however horrible it may be to live in a fascist country, I have wondered what really would have happened had the Germans won the war. I don't think it is right that the Americans have taken over the world the way they have since ww2. Economic dependence is not much better than direct overthrowing. Often the US have combined these two to gain influence in a certain part of the world.

In a "civilized" country like mine, (I consider myself lucky to live in one) a surviving hijacker would get a fair trial. And probably be sentenced to life on prison. A serial killer would be the same category in my opinion, would end up in the next cell therefore.

It is also true that the UN hasn't been as useful as it should be. But too much power is impossible. I'd rather have an independent organ have to much power, than a single country. The UN should represent us all, it is the closest thing to world democracy, if it would work well.


"What is the just thing to do in a case like this?"
I wish I knew. Actually, I wish I shouldn't be having to think about it. In an ideal world one wouldn't have to think about it.

[mattrix.livejournal.com]

My father has said at various times that the US usually chooses the wrong sides. I can't say for sure since I don't know the history well enough and the history of the regions.

I've heard it said that Ho Chi Mihn requested American help and when he failed to get that, he got help from the Communists. Should we have been involved at all? Probably not. But since we were, we were on the wrong side and we were not even clear on what we were doing there. A total catastrophe.

Is the US on the right side of Israel vs Palestine? There are definitely who don't think so. At least, at how the Palestinians seem to be treated. But then, I've read a website where the author was attesting that there are no such thing as Palestinians as a nation but that these were Arabs who wanted to obliterate Israel.

And look at how heavy handed the creation and maintenance of that state has been and is!

Concerning your nation, my understanding was the Nazi Germans treated most of their neighbors to the west with some amount of care. As long as you didn't piss them off, you seemed to be alright. But if you did, there didn't seem to be a lot of patience. I don't know why they had it in for the slavs, for example. But even they were treated much better than the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc.

It helps to label people, to dehumanize them. It was probably easier for the Nazis to commit genocide on those they considered vermin. Undoubtedly, the terrorists on Tuesday are being labelled in similar manners.

As far as the US taking over the world in an economic sense, again this is a viewpoint that it's rather hard for me to understand. Here in the US, we're totally addicted to cars which require a lot of imports. We're addicted to cheap Chinese made things. You name it, we import it from China. Many of the things I can see from where I am sitting came from another country. My Microsoft mouse was made in China. My "Dell" keyboard was made in Malaysia. The only thing I can see that I know for sure was made in the US is my Nalgene (backpacker's) bottle.

I think the problem with the US's influence in the world is it's not clear why we care that much. Having neighborly relations is a good thing. Having trade is a good thing. These improve the life of the common man.

But there also seem to be a lot of situations where people at a much higher status than the average gal on the street are manipulating things for their gain.

This is my issue with the UN. It doesn't seem possible for six billion people to be well represented by such a small body. For one thing, I should like to see each country elect its UN rep. But how well would that work?

And even on things like Kyoto Protocol. I am an engineer and work with people who are fairly sharp individuals. I don't know what to think when they criticize the provisions as being based on junk science. A physicist friend of mine probably would have strident arguments against what my coworkers think. But here you have decisions that probably are good for the planet but you have people who disagree greatly on whether the basis of those decisions is right. Or whether it's seeing the whole picture.

Perhaps the conspicuousness of the UN keeps them honest and from pushing the interest of the few really rich people.

But then, what's the deal with the WTO? Why the protests? Some people like these bodies and some people don't and I can't keep straight what their interests are. We Americans though are suckers for protests -- we take them seriously and they seem to get our attention like a traffic accident does. If you as a wealthy individual don't like something, what's better, to complain yourself or to fund a group to protest? It goes from "your" will to the "will of the people".

Yes, in an ideal world, this and many more topics would be academic and only discussed by drunk undergraduates.

Life is crazy and complicated and chaotic and non-linear though!

Re:

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

But if we understood life well, what would there be left to discuss? Where would LJ be?