Well Hussein would not have gone to war with Iran because he would not have been in power without the US, nor for that matter would the Taliban have existed to give aid to Bin Laden (who was also trained by the US), ditto our invasion of Panama would not have happened if the CIA would not have trained and put that madman in power either – who literally studied at a dictator college we had in Central America. This guy did not even mention the Iraqi CHILDREN who died by the thousands AFTER the war because of the disruption of clean water systems. Much of the major problems in the world right now does come from America’s short-sighted and very selfish foreign policy that pumps guns and money into the hands of barbaric madmen simply because they are conveniently pointing their hatred someplace we wish to hit clandestinely, or because they open their countries up to US business like they are brothels to be cleaned out – only to have the monsters get off the leash eventually.

But to imply that feeling horror and sadness for the victims of the September 11th attacks is somehow wrong because of other horrors that have happened in the past is simply misguided. Of course we feel there is a difference when such acts of barbaric and senseless slaughter happen in modern, civilized countries compared to countries where tribal clashes still rule the order of the day.

I can sympathize with the argument that there is often a double standards about such things though.

Sure I want Dick Chaney to look me in the eye and say with a straight face "our pending invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with putting in an American puppet "democracy" so Exxon & Co. can waltz in and take all that oil."

Sure I want the American people to wake up to the fact the Bush Administration is hiding behind the flag and war hoops in an effort to distract them from serious problems at home and their hand in causing them, not to mention their chipping away at civil liberties and corporate oversight.

Sure I want America as a people to wake up and see to it that these freedoms and inalienable rights inherent in our system should be afforded to ALL people, and the hypocritical policies that defend them here while other countries are enslaved by the dictators WE install ends once and forever.

But that does not change the fact that thousands of innocent people were murdered by madmen last year on 9-11 and should be mourned by all civilized peoples.

As for the atomic bombs, he stopped short of mentioning the ghastly atrocities inflicted upon all of Asia by the Japanese army for a decade and the fact the collected countries of the world had estimated at least one million casualties if Japan was to be invaded by conventional means. Having already suffered for years NO ONE was interested in losing more of their sons when two bombs would do the trick. The deaths in those two attacks were actually a pretty small sum compared to the civilian deaths in other cities in that war that came about by conventional bombing.

Of course the bombing of Dresden by the US and UK, and Rotterdam by the Germans and Nanking by the Japanese were all terrorist acts. Anytime a civilian population is attacked in and effort to demoralize and “terrorize” them it is an act of terrorism. As was the United States mining of Nicaraguan harbors in the 1980s, which led to the U.S. being the only national government in history found guilty of terrorist acts by the World Court. No wonder President Bush has perpetrated the disgraceful act withdrawing the US signature from the current World Court’s war crimes documents. It IS a disgrace and it IS hypocritical for the U.S. to preach freedom and democracy, and yet be the only industrial nation to feel it should somehow be exempt from the judgment of the other countries of the world.

But none of that changes what happened here last year and that it is right to never forget.

I have heard other people mistake their criticism for US-led capitalist policies as a reason to say what happened on 9 11 was no big deal compared to other atrocities, etc. One guy said that very thing at a party recently. I did not say (but wanted to) “something tells me if your pregnant wife sitting in the other room had been on one of those planes or in one of those towers you would be thinking it a bigger deal than you now profess.”

All compassionate people should be outraged by such acts of barbaric murder. But it only makes sense that you are even more outraged when it was your own people and society who were the ones butchered.