It is politically correct to ooh an ahh about 911 and pontificate about the terrible tragedy that befell America. Rightardia certainly agrees that the 3000 people who died in New York did not deserve their terrible fate. Innocent people are not deserving of such violent circumstances regardless of where they live.
Yet, the US is hardly guiltless. It has been running around the world since World War 2 starting wars and fueling insurgencies in Central America, South Amercia. the Middle East and Asia. We have conducted unsuccessful wars in Vietnam and Korea.
Will either the Iraq and Afghan Wars be considered successful? Rightardia doubts it. Let the historians decide.
During World War 2, the US bombed Dresden and killed 200,000 Germans and destroyed 15 square miles in in joint bombing raids with the RAF. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were even worse. Of course, these events occurred after formal declarations of war.
But what about the US invasion of Grenada or the US intervention in Chile. Nearly 1200 Chileans disappeared after the US puppet, Augusto Pinochet. took power. The US has also interfered violently in Nicaragua and Iran and numerous other counties. See http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html
Did the US think it could be the evil empire forever and that there would be no retaliation? Apparently so, because the public was shocked by 911.
Part of the problem is that the US homeland never recently experenced the horrors of war until the 911 event. In World War1 and 2, we sent forces to fight overseas, but fighting has not taken place on the US soil since the Civil War.
German U-boat captains were amazed when they reached the US shores during World War 2. All of our cities were lit up and the country did not appear to be on a war time footing. Our cavalier approach to war cost many merchant marine men their lives during the U-boat turkey shoot that followed.
In Europe, particularly people in the UK, Germany, and Russia, still remember the horrors of war.
While the US honors the dead of the 911 tragedy, people in Russia celebrate the Great Patriotic war in which the Nazis were defeated. The Russians suffered nearly 7.5 million civilian death in the military conflict. Another 6 million civilians died during WW2 due to forced labor, famine and disease.
Certainly, the perspective of the Europeans about war is very different from the people who rattle sabers in the US and want to embark on the next great crusade in the name of God and free enterprise.
If we have learned anything from 911 it should be that our vigor for international conflict may have consequences. We live in smaller world today and 911 made it clear that the Fortress America concept is outdated.
Turn about is fair play, isn't it?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_the_Soviet_Union
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