God bless our friends in Afghanistan, Iraq, the USA, and may be peace be upon the many victims of 9/11 Chile. All of them are equally deserving of our mourning.

The US is like a sleeping giant. It rolls this way and that, causing enormous impacts that aren’t even noticed. And like you so accurately observed, this is due primarily to our nearly worthless mainstream media. And that’s due partly because corporations don’t like reporting that works against profit, but probably even more because a complacent population is much more interested in Paris Hilton than what’s happening in Darfur. This is a VERY serious problem to the world. I’m not at all sure how it can be fixed. But…if you CAN find a way of fixing it, the payback is ENORMOUS. Americans are as capable of great contributions to the world as well as bad. The world would be well served to find a way of influencing the US in a positive way. And this inevitably comes back to the internet IMO. It’s free for anyone to publish and viral by design.

Just to be clear, I’m not asking anyone to love the US. Just recognize in a logical, non-emotional way its impact on the world. Any nation that can explore mars and map the human genome is capable of contributing to world peace.

gary

Any nation that can explore mars and map the human genome is capable of contributing to world peace.

Agreed but you must also note Gary, that this is due to America’s diversity, and that diversity is really what makes the US (as a nation) great. The intellectual diversity of its citizens means you can very easily relate to at least one group of Americans who do believe in universal human rights and justice, and not just their own.

But there’s another factor, an example of it would be the commenters here who continue to step on us and make themselves seem superior by bragging about their country’s achievements… but if you look close enough… these are global achievements, and not something limited only to America and Americans. The American dream is something that many people dream of, not just American citizens.

America as a country is a huge melting pot of immigrants, a lot of whom originate from the Middle East. Contributors to NASA include Pakistanis and Egyptians. Harvard University has Indian and many Latin American professors. Kurdish and Persian communities are huge, and I heard that there’s half a million Arabs in Detroit alone. There are many leading Arab American journalists, and many Russian developers and film-makers, and many Chinese investors, etc. Even in companies like Google, one of its founders is originally Russian and it has Indians and even Iranians present in their staff.

This should only further the argument that diversity is power, instead of the common statement that the USA is somehow “smarter” or better than the rest of the world. There is only one ingredient to its massive success and that is opportunity. Equal and welcoming opportunity which our own countries has deprived us from, which is why many of us seek a better life abroad.

I personally have never been to the USA (part of that is I never successfully got a visa haha) so I am not qualified enough to speak about the country.

I am, however, a very huge fan of American pop culture (hence my slightly American accent which I apparently got used to while imitating Hollywood stars) and growing up I also shared the dream of living, working, and studying in this country. But I have a duty to my own country now; I wish to serve it and protect it and enhance it and to watch my family live securely in it. And if anything interrupts that, whether be it the U.S military or a civil war, then I will like any other passionate person react strongly to this. I hate it when lives are endangered for the sake of a political entity’s personal interests, and I hate to see “realist” politicians and their masses justify these crimes.

And just the way you don’t ask us to love the US we are not asking anyone to love us either but we do expect for our lives to be as valuable as yours. We realize America’s power; the question is what is America planning to do with this power. Just the way it can map the human genome and is capable of contributing to the world it has the technology to dismantle it too and we never seem to know which route will be taken and when our lives will be in question. That is why most of us do not want to be associated with the country, it’s really out of guilt and responsibility for our own people.

We need to empower this region as much as possible. Most of our intellectual leaders, doctors, historians and professors go abroad due to internal conflicts and lack of financial and educational opportunities which keeps a lot of us at risk. It’s time for us to rebuild our nations, so that we can watch our children speak highly of it, the way you speak of yours.

Esra,

Very well put…your observations are right on. Being a melting pot (everyone working together instead of fighting) is a great asset.

We realize America’s power; the question is what is America planning to do with this power. Just the way it can map the human genome and is capable of contributing to the world it has the technology to dismantle it too and we never seem to know which route will be taken and when our lives will be in question.

I live here and I can’t tell either. But I am trying to influence it!

If you should have the opportunity to visit the San Francisco bay area, let me know. I’ll show you my favorite sights. Last weekend I took my kids for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. Such incredible beauty.

gary

The closest I got to the U.S was the Niagara Falls area, lots of old and retired people there.

San Francisco would be great. “Mrs. Doubtfire” was filmed there, that movie is a childhood favorite. But I guess a lot has changed there since 1993

I’m afraid you won’t meet Mrs Doubtfire. But the Alcatraz tour is interesting. And the street performers are fun to watch. I know you don’t like when I plug my websites, but here’s the first one I ever created…

http://www.CliffHouseProject.com

It’s a tribute to an early SF landmark, the Cliff House. Nothing to do with politics!

gary

Great job, the virtual tour is a blast.

Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks; Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment

67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7

See more at http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070906103632686

Haven’t been here for awhile, but I have to comment on this: first, when Bin Laden makes videos time and time again taking credit for the 9/11 attacks, I think it’s about time to let the whole conspiracy thing go…I find it far easier to believe that the US government simply didn’t take any warnings seriously, and wasn’t prepared when it did happen (where government is concerned, incompetence is a far more pervasive trait than diabolical planning). The US media and entertainment industry has the US public as it’s primary consumer, and thus US tragedies are exhaustively documented, often ignoring other events around the world just as poignant. When the US is at war (or whatever the hell they’re doing in Iraq now) the same media will take pains to ignore any reports of atrocities by US forces when it can, for the same reason. What I find confusing is this sense that the US is somehow this virtuous, John Wayne style “tough guy with a heart of gold” entity, and that people are let down by the reality of it’s policies. While it does make noises about promoting peace and democracy, it is still just a nation with it’s own interests, which it defends as ruthlessly as any other with the power to do so. One final note to the conspiracy buffs: Can you honestly believe that a government who couldn’t take the time to find a couple of old SCUDS and fill em with poison gas to justify their Iraq adventure had the brilliance to engineer something like 9/11 and NOT have anyone own up to it after 7 years?

I am not sure why this is turning into a 9/11 conspiracy thread, this is intended to be a post to show our solidarity with humanity and not just the USA.

eric,

You have heard of trick photgraphy? Well it can also be done with the videos. Even many newscasters when reporting about the latest Osam Ben Laden were commenting about how he looked different or younger from previous vidoes.

Since you haven’t been here for I while, I guess you missed out what I have previously commented under different topcs.

Look at the FBI’s webpage on Osama Ben Laden http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm

Why wouldn’t an attack which killed 3,000 people be specifically mentioned?
Journalist Ed Haas’ investigates this,

On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”

See complete article at http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html

Esra’a,

AS you just said 9/11 was used to attack Afghanistan and Iraq and Somalia and maybe Iran next. 9/11 is being used to suppress civil liberties. Shouldn’t we find the truth about what was done on 9/11. These are not wacko “conspiracy theories.” There are some real unanswered quetions that need to be answered. Like form the in my first comment it says regarding word trade center building number 7

“WTC 7 housed the mayor’s emergency bunker and offices of the SEC, IRS, CIA and Secret Service and was not hit by any planes but still completely collapsed into its own footprint nearly eight hours after the Twin Tower attacks. FEMA did not explain this collapse, the 911 Commission ignored it, and the promised official study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now 2 years overdue”

Regarding the other 9/11’s you mention, if people had put on trial the government officials for these crimes, we may not had the 9/11 of 2001.

eric wrote,

One final note to the conspiracy buffs: Can you honestly believe that a government who couldn’t take the time to find a couple of old SCUDS and fill em with poison gas to justify their Iraq adventure had the brilliance to engineer something like 9/11 and NOT have anyone own up to it after 7 years?

So the U.S. government is one monolithic being with a single brain? WHen has the U.S. government owned up to anything. I am still waitng to here a government official acknowledge the 3 to 5 million deaths it is responsible for when it bombed Vietnamn and Cambodia.

Al Qaeda is so brilliant; the terrorist attacks that are blamed on them have killed more Muslims than non-Muslims.

9/11 has caused the United States to bomb two countries, killing thousands times more Muslims than Americans killed on 9/11.

Gary, you wrote,

“The US is like a sleeping giant. It rolls this way and that, causing enormous impacts that aren’t even noticed.”

How cute! The United States is a big bumbling teddy bear that bombs countries, uses chemical weapons, funds terrorism, and topples regimes; all with impunity.

Gary, you wrote,

“And like you so accurately observed, this is due primarily to our nearly worthless mainstream media. And that’s due partly because corporations don’t like reporting that works against profit, but probably even more because a complacent population is much more interested in Paris Hilton than what’s happening in Darfur.”

Darfur is the region that gets the most sympathetic coverage in the media. Celebrities like George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg. But of course the “Save Darfur” activist don’t bring up the role of the United States and other democracies in fueling conflict in the Sudan.

See http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics___Eurasia/Oil_in_Africa/oil_in_africa.html

and

http://allthingspass.com/journalism.php?jid=165

For some reason the Congo doesn’t get the same attention. See what the U.S. and other countries have done there.

http://worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9832

http://zmagsite.zmag.org/JulAug2007/snow.html

When the United States, Israel, and Europe benefit from diamonds, other natural resources, and sale of weapons, the death of black Africans is not that important.

Gary- i agree that conspiracy is totally ridiculous for so many reasons. Why not instead focus on the Bush administation’s reasons for entering Iraq;oil and self enrichment via Halliburten etc. We are not perfect,and have not been perfect but have and will continue to be capable of great things.

Hi Randall,

I don’t disagree with you. And if the analogy came off too “cute”, my apologies…I realize these are very serious issues, as you go on to itemize. But my main point is unchanged…it’s worthwhile for the rest of the world to seek a better understanding of the US, including the influence of media, to direct this country’s resources in more productive directions. Would you agree?

———————————————

limpia,

Your point on the Bush administration is well taken, however I fear that this goes even beyond just this administration. Bush is not to first to invade countries, work against democracies, allow the CIA to assinate leaders, and so forth. Until we can get past mainstream media’s shallow coverage of foreign policy, I don’t see the situation improving. Any ideas…?

gary

That’s really what our problem is with the USA – even when key strategists like Thomas Barnett admit that they entered for oil, the government continues to make it seem like they went there out of respect for human rights… I mean really, the pro-war Middle Easterners who trust and believe that the USA is honestly concerned about us as individuals, are naive and ill-informed as hell.

Iraq was never “liberated,” it was intervened and replaced with another occupation, and surely getting rid of Saddam was the only good thing that ever came out of it, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a big mess and failed strategy that led to the lost of hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Hi Esra,

It does seem like the common theme here is the lack of information, on all sides. And it’s not just a lack of foreign policy knowledge…it’s a serious cultural gap as well. A lot of “conservatives” here (to use a much abused term) see Islam and muslims as very alien, in ways I’d be afraid to repeat. I suspect the reverse is true as well. Whatever the solution, it needs to somehow put a human face on all this…showing that we’re so much more alike than different. You don’t go to war against people you know.

gary

Gary,

You say “.. it’s worthwhile for the rest of the world to seek a better understanding of the US, including the influence of media, to direct this country’s resources in more productive directions.” It’s worthwhile for Americans to seek a better understanding of there own country so that they wouldn’t need to ask, “Why do they hate us?”

Actually that is not what the people were asking, this is how the media framed the 9/11 attack. It helped the media avoid discussing the U.S. funding and collaboration with Muslim extremists and dictators. It help the media avoid doing a real investigation of 9/11.

Randall,

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s listening to mainstream media pretend to speak for me. They rarely do.

gary

Randall,

Please see http://www.jnani.org/mrking/writings/911/king911.htm
for a professional description of the towers collapse.
Please note the PDF file by http://www.implosionworld.com as they did the deconstruct of the WTC site and are the largest professional demolition group in the US.
All of your spooky truther stuff is sadly make believe regardless of a Zogby poll (no one’s ever asked me, where do they do those San Francisco?).
I thought you a thinking man but I may have to reivaluate based on this theme.

In response to Gary’s comment about not going to war against people we know, let me begin by pointing out that, whatever the involvement of the US, the Soviets, etc, the killings in Chile, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, and the thousands of people every year who are murdered by their own governments or terrorists, are not alien or imported from across the planet. They are, in many cases, people who either live within 100 kilometeres, or in the same city, or even are neighbors. The perpetrators of these atrocities are quite familiar with their victims; it just doesn’t stop the feral, murderous hate of the “other”.
Oh, and Randall? You can trot out all the conspiracy evidence you want, but you’ll never convince me that the US government possesses that much “evil genius”, instead of complacent incompetence.

path,

Three buildings collapsed, in almost free-fall speed, on 9/11.

So what ever condition existed in one building, it is nearly impossible that the same conditions would exist in all three buildings.

eric/canada,

Western democracies play a role in the mass killings in the developing world by providing weapons, training soldiers, and assasinating leaders. They topple regimes and prop up brutal dictators and kings who do their bidding.

WHy do you ignore the West’s use of missiles and chemical weapons to kill millions. What about the 3 to 5 million that were killed when the United States bombed Vietnman and Cambodia?

path,

In the first link you put regarding 9/11 there is a quote about WTC from firefighter Captain Chris Boyle (Engine 94) that actually confirms rather than debunks those who question the official investigation of 9/11.

A little north of Vesey I said, we’ll go down, let’s see what’s going on. A couple of the other officers and I were going to see what was going on. We were told to go to Greenwich and Vesey and see what’s going on. So we go there and on the north and east side of 7 it didn’t look like there was any damage at all, but then you looked on the south side of 7 there had to be a hole 20 stories tall in the building, with fire on several floors. Debris was falling down on the building and it didn’t look good.

There was a 20 story hole on the south side of WTC 7. So the building should have toppled over, not collapse straight down into its base.

eric/canada,

Good points…agreed. Even so, we (the US) still needs to do the right thing, even if we’re not the primary problem.

gary

Gary and Eric,

You were right; the Latest Osama tape is real! see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5q0X4LNBsE

Here is a video of a news report that asked the Bush admininstration and the FBI why Osama Ben Laden was not indicted for 9/11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUQczDktgI

eric, wrote, “Oh, and Randall? You can trot out all the conspiracy evidence you want, but you’ll never convince me that the US government possesses that much “evil genius”, instead of complacent incompetence.”

You don’t need an “evil genius” to cover up who was behind 9/11, you just need an apathetic, indolent public that allows their government to do whatever it wants. As long as they have television to watch and junk food to eat, who cares about the truth.