more american arrogance
19 January, 2006 :: 3:12 p.m.
I love the spin...
We don't hear from Bin Laden for months so Fox News and various other conservative media start saying, "Well, he might be dead." Or, "He's on the run and doesn't have the time/power/resources to put out a tape."
Then we get a new tape, the CIA says, yes, it's Bin Laden and it references things that lead us to believe it's as recent as December and suddenly the spin is, "Well, Bin Laden must be worried or he wouldn't be making a tape..."
So if we don't hear from him, it's good news that suggests we're winning; if we hear from him, it's good news that suggests we're winning...oy.
And I wanted to write about this earlier, but never got around to it...
Where do we get off firing missiles into Pakistan? First al-Zawahiri might be dead. Then the U.S. doesn't want to confirm that they even fired missiles when it looks like al-Zawahiri wasn't there. Now we're saying that we didn't get him, but we got other al Qaeda operatives, so it's ok that we killed innocent Pakistani villagers--including children.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if another country fired missiles into the U.S. based on intelligence that a wanted person or group was there, we'd be pissed...whether they killed any American bystanders or not. We (and I mean the U.S. as a whole, not neccessarily myself or every other citizen) would view it as an attack and God forbid any Americans get killed in the process. But we feel so high and mighty and righteous that it's perfectly fine for us to attack possibly terrorist targets no matter what country the targets happen to be residing in at that moment. I'm sick of this U.S. superiority complex and the accompanying confusion over why our image is shit in the rest of the world. There's still no proof we got any al Qaeda members, but even if we did, the fact remains that we killed Pakistani villagers as well, and regardless of whether they were pro or anti-American, we had no right. Pakistan is a mess, I don't particularly think Musharraf is some great and noble leader who's going to turn the country around, but I don't think that we have the right to trot around the globe doing whatever we wish wherever we wish...