If a terrorist laughs in cave, does he make a sound ? ( political commentary)

I think what most Americans don't understand is the role the neo-con's have played in pulling your great country away from the rest of the world.

From that initial " You are either for us, or against us." remark from your President, the use of torture, the violation of the historical right of " habeus corpus", the insulting of other nations by your political leaders, and the refusal to join most international agreements have all shown us a much different America than the one we used to admire.

With Canada, my country, the US currently holds about five billion dollars of money that rightfully belongs to us. The softwood lumber dispute, where Canada has won ruling after ruling on the illegallity of the US to violate it's own agreement with us under the Free Trade act has shown how American politicians can be trusted to honour their word on agreements that they sign.

The sheltering of terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles, who blew a Cuban airliner out of the sky and planted bombs in Cuban hotels that killed innocent people only proves the hypocrisy of your neo-con leaders.

We must unite in opposing all terrorists, not just some of them. In this world there are good causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where the line is drawn. Yet, there is no such thing as a good terrorist. No national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate murder of the innocent. Any government that rejects this principle, trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will know the consequences.

- President George Bush

November 10, 2001

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Some terrorists are more equal than others, it seems. Just ask Carriles.

Your great country makes friends with brutal tyrants like Islam Karimov of The Republic of Uzbekistan , a man who allows torture of prisoners - including boiling them alive. Those types of actions get some countries invaded, while others are trusted friends.

However, credible non-government human right watchdogs, such as IHF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well as United States Department of State and Council of the European Union define Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights" [1] and express profound concern about "wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights" [2]. According to the reports, the most widespread violations are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms: of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly [3]. The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human right activists, and political activists, including members of the banned opposition parties. In 2005, Uzbekistan was included into Freedom House's "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan

And then we hear your politicians sing the praises of "God's gift to humanity...democracy. "

Please forgive those of us that have to muffle a laugh...

Your President signed a bill that technically allows him to attack the World Court in the Hague, to free Americans held there. (HR4775)

Your government gave that lovely bill such a patriotic name - the "American Servicemembers' Protection Act "

This act deliberately misleads the American people, and threatens an international and respected court of law, in a free and democratic nation, with military attack.

Any case taken to the World Court is done so only after the home country of the national involved refuses to act. It's cases are for acts of genocide, and crimes against humanity.

It was written and enacted only to bully the rest of the world, and done so with no shame.

If the US ever decided to use the powers given to the President under that act, it would lose the support of every nation in the world.

It would be considered by all citizens of free and democratic nations (all of them members of that selfsame international court) to be indeed a terrorist act in and of itself. It would be the end of America's power in the world, and the total loss of any moral standing to call itself a democracy.

For all these reasons, and scores more, the US is becoming seen by more and more people as a rogue nation. It sets it's own rules, makes it's own definitions, and doesn't play well with others.

None of this is directed against the American people, but simply at it's current political leaders. Those men and women have acted in a manner which many of us never expected to see in our lifetimes.

In this time of great need for alliances, and for a mutual defense against an ever present and dangerous enemy, that is the greatest tragedy of our time.

On Sept. 11th, 2001 , every man and woman with any conscience was on your side. In a way, many of us were Americans that day. That attack was against us, because it was against you.

Now, almost five years later, we find ourselves torn apart, and in disagreement. We sit here calling each other names, and venting our frustrations.

Somewhere in a cave in Pakistan, if you listen closely, you can hear Osama Bin Laden laughing...