USA and the World

Subject: USA and the World
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 10:15 AM

This takes a bit to download - but it is worth the wait. Pictures of all the countries who have shown their solidarity in our time of sorrow.

Maybe World Peace isn't a dream. Peace - Steve

http://home.earthlink.net/~hankinhsd/thankyou.htm

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 10:37 AM

A Blue Clicky for the page

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 10:40 AM

Worth th ewait indeed. But not "all the countries" - all the countries they had pictures from.

That's just in case anybody might look for the absentees and make false assumptions.

For example, Ireland , where the whole country virtually closed down, isn't in there, nor is Iran for that matter.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 06:57 PM

This is drifting down the page and getting lost in the crowd before most people have seen it I suspect.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Allan C.
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 06:59 PM

Thank you for this. It is just what I needed to see.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: SINSULL
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 08:59 PM

Thanks. I passed it on to my family.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 09:21 PM

How beautiful. Now if I can just get that tune out of my head!

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 09:27 PM

Yeah Aninmaterra......I loved the photos, but I can't take that song.....Worth it I guess for the pictures, which are really inspiring.

Spaw

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: DougR
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 09:41 PM

Wow, Norton1, that got my throat all lumpy! And it's your fault. Thanks.

DougR

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 09:54 PM

Strong emotional impact. Pakistan has indicated solidarity

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 10:42 PM

Would have liked to have seen the picture of Yasser Arafat giving blood to be sent to New York added here. I have yet to see coverage in the States or Canada. I hope that I only missed it.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 02:01 AM

I am humbled. I am able to cry for the first time tonight. I can't help but wonder what we as Americans would do if it were Mecca that had been attacked.....many, many predominantly Muslim countries have spoken out for us. Would we be able to do the same?

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 06:25 AM

From the Guardian (London) 17th September:

Tehran's mayor has sent a message of condolence to New York's Rudolph Giuliani in the first public oficial contact between the two states since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"This act is not just against New Yorkers, but all humanity" Morteza Alviri said.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 06:59 AM

The goodwill of the people of the world is such a precious thing. We are blessed to have it.

Please let us not squander it.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Wolfgang
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 07:43 AM

Let us not forget that more than 50 countries have suffered losses of life in that tragedy. Of course, the numbers of dead foreigners pale in comparison to dead US citizens. However, just to give you a perspective, the number of dead Germans will be either the highest since the train crash in Eschede (101 dead) in 1998, or even the highest since the big flood in Hamburg in 1962 (more than 300 dead). Up to 100 or even more dead Germans would have made a headline here for days in succession even if nobody else had died.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Willie-O
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:22 AM

Current estimate: 40-75 Canadians missing, presumed dead. Hard to track them down if they are just gone somewhere else.

This would be a Canadian national disaster in itself were it not such a miniscule part of a much huger tragedy. I guess we're all realizing how little the national identifications mean at this moment.

If I'm not mistaken, this unspeakable crime has set the tragic record of displacing the Halifax Explosion of 1917 (estimated 3000 dead; accidental collision of two munitions ships in harbor) as the worst single man-made disaster in North American history.

All these terms sound pale and trivial. Words really cannot describe--I was going to say "do justice to", but that didn't sound right either--the awfulness of this event.

Bill

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:28 AM

We haven't even got a word for it.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:31 AM

300+ British citizens amongst the missing-presumed-dead, the largest loss of British life in a single incident since WWII, the news was saying. Even the Hezbollah sent condolences... since they were the ones who bombed the Beirut embassy in 1983 and killed my father, I don't actually feel comforted by that. But these pix were telling, indeed. Maybe There's A Chance.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:58 AM

Truly an attack on the world.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 10:40 AM

And at a time like that I've just heard on the BBC that George Bush has said that this is "a Crusade against evildoers". Which to a Muslim must sound a bit like hearing that a German leader has invoked the memory of Hitler to rally support in a time of crisis.

That kind of language and that kind of thinking is insane. At this very moment the Pakistan government trying to force the Taliban to back down. Expressions of support and sympathy have come from Muslims in many parts of the world.

And George Bush calls for a Crusade. This is going to cost lives, including the lives of Americans. The people who organised this thing must be rejoicing to hear Bush's words. He's given them what they must have been dreaming of.

I'm hoping he'll apologise and explain it was a slip of the tongue, though that won't undo all the damage. But I'm frightened that it actually reflects the way he and the people around him are thinking.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 02:47 PM

Not only the people around him, McGrath, but many Americans beyond that, and many politicians and people here in Britain. I fear that forcing countries like Pakistan and the CIS states to get involved will destabilise those countries in ways we can't imagine.

Some countries - notably Turkey, with the second biggest army in NATO - struggle to hold the line against Islamic fundamentalism. Brute force may well force decent Muslims into the hard-line fundamentalist camp, tipping the balance. It is not difficult to envisage Balkans-type scenarios erupting all over the middle east in the coming months.

Given that military action is inevitable,the best hope surely is that it can be done in the name of the UN. To strike in the name of NATO would simply polarise even more the differences between Arab/CIS states and the west. But if it was to be done through the UN, it would seem reasonable that the USA looks again at some of the international treaties it has hitherto scorned - not least, the crying need for a universally respected court of international justice.

Methinks it will come down to the USA going it alone with token support from Britain and a few others. In which case they will reap what they sow.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:12 PM

I have to admit I'm beginning to think that maybe the Bush administration might actually want a protracted and bloody war involving many nations.

They appear to be focusing much more on that than on emphasizing the need to resolve this through diplomatic means if at all possible. I'm beginning to think that the Bush administration may have some secondary agendas that have nothing to do with justice or protecting the country.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Peg
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:25 PM

I fear you may be right about that CarolC.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Amos
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 10:10 PM

An alternative perspective:

Subject: Bomb them with butter, bribe them with hope.

A military response, particularly an attack on Afghanistan, is exactly what the terrorists want. It will strengthen and swell their small but fanatical ranks.

Instead, bomb Afghanistan with butter, with rice, bread, clothing and medicine. It will cost less than conventional arms, poses no threat of US casualties and just might get the populace thinking that maybe the Taliban don't have the answers. After three years of drought and with starvation looming, let's offer the Afghani people the vision of a new future. One that includes full stomachs.

Bomb them with information. Video players and cassettes of world leaders, particularly Islamic leaders, condemning terrorism. Carpet the country with magazines and newspapers showing the horror of terrorism committed by their "guest". Blitz them with laptop computers and DVD players filled with a perspective that is denied them by their government. Saturation bombing with hope will mean that some of it gets through. Send so much that the Taliban can't collect and hide it all.

The Taliban are telling their people to prepare for Jihad. Instead, let's give the Afghani people their first good meal in years. Seeing your family fully fed and the prospect of stability in terms of food and a future is a powerful deterrent to martyrdom. All we ask in return is that they, as a people, agree to enter the civilized world. That includes handing over terrorists in their midst.

In responding to terrorism we need to do something different. Something unexpected..something that addresses the root of the problem. We need to take away the well of despair, ignorance and brutality from which the Osama bin Laden's of the world water their gardens of terror.

Kent Madin 14543 Kelly Canyon Road

Regards,

A.

Subject: RE: USA and the World
From: Amos
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 10:13 PM

And another:

One of the top-rated suggestions was to send the following letter to the President and Congressional Representatives:

To combat terrorism, we must act in accordance with a high standard that does not disregard the lives of people in other countries. If we retaliate by bombing Kabul and kill people oppressed by the Taliban dictatorship who have no part in deciding whether terrorists are harbored, we become like the terrorists we oppose. We perpetuate the cycle of retribution and recruit more terrorists by creating martyrs. Please do everything you can to counsel patience as we search for those responsible. Please ensure that our actions reflect the sanctity of human life everywhere. Thank you.

Weíve mounted a petition campaign, called "Justice, not Terror", that delivers exactly this message. Please add your voice at:

http://www.moveon.org/justice/