Airedale1
Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2003
- Messages
- 268
.......from today's Boston Herald and IMO it's right on the money.
Prouder than ever to be American
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, May 13, 2004
The moral authority of the United States has never been stronger or more worthy of respect.
This is a nation of Nick Bergs, Thomas Hamills, and Norman Darlings - the last an Army Pfc. buried in a Massachusetts military cemetery on Monday.
It is a nation where a Boston cab driver, himself a Russian immigrant, proudly displays his daughter's photo in an Army uniform on the dashboard, smiling at the irony that once upon a time he was a Russian soldier and now his daughter is an American one.
It's a nation where that daughter puts herself in harm's way to protect the freedom of the press which allows Boston Globe editors to run bogus photographs of American soldiers raping Iraqi women.
This is a nation who counts Jim Sereigo-Wareing among its citizens, a Methuen man who has spent $6,000 out of his own pocket to hang American flags from highway overpasses. And it's a country of neighborhoods where homeowners for and against the Iraq war display candles as silent prayers for soldiers' safe return home.
It's a country where most see teaching right from wrong as a fundamental parental duty, and worshiping God as an act of love, not hate.
Nick Berg is not a hero. Nor is he a martyr. He is a murder victim, like the 3000 people who were killed on Sept. 11 were murder victims. Like Daniel Pearl and the young people dancing in a discoteque in Bali, or the commuters traveling by train to Madrid.
Berg went to Iraq because he wanted to help an oppressed people rise up. He lived a fundamentally moral American ideal.
His bereaved parents blame US officials, in part, for the slaying. Who can begrudge them their anger when their son is coming home in pieces. But they are, nonetheless, wrong.
Those responsible stood in hoods behind the bound 26-year-old and held his head aloft in bloody triumph. Those deserving blame are the masters of their cause, hiding in caves and rogue states around the world.
Their cause is power. Power over people and power over ideas. Hate, fear and oppression are just the tools wielded to gain it. The Almighty just the excuse.
President Bush [related, bio] rightly calls Islamic terrorists ``evildoers.'' And they tarnish a just and loving religion by committing evil in God's name.
It was an abuse of power that led to the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. But the actions of a few don't reflect the dedication of the many.
This nation is using its power for good. To rebuild infrastructure, restore order, open schools and hospitals, create a government of, by and for the people.
And just as some American MPs used their power to abuse, some American leaders (of both the opinion and political variety), are now using their power to mislead.
Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner ought to be condemned for displaying those fraudulent rape photos.
Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson ought to be ashamed to link treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war to racism against blacks in this country.
The New York Times, which has hawked story after story on the prison abuse scandal, saw fit yesterday to run a single column on the upper right front page about Berg's murder, while prominently featuring accusations of abuse by a former Afghan prisoner.
We can only hope that most in the Arab world reacted with disgust, with horror and with sadness when they saw Berg murdered so brutally, just as Americans are to the photos of degraded Iraqi prisoners.
We can only hope the agendas of Turner, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and others are seen for what they are.
Yesterday, a German official implored the United States ``to regain its moral authority for the good of the Western world.''
The truth is we have never lost it.
Prouder than ever to be American
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, May 13, 2004
The moral authority of the United States has never been stronger or more worthy of respect.
This is a nation of Nick Bergs, Thomas Hamills, and Norman Darlings - the last an Army Pfc. buried in a Massachusetts military cemetery on Monday.
It is a nation where a Boston cab driver, himself a Russian immigrant, proudly displays his daughter's photo in an Army uniform on the dashboard, smiling at the irony that once upon a time he was a Russian soldier and now his daughter is an American one.
It's a nation where that daughter puts herself in harm's way to protect the freedom of the press which allows Boston Globe editors to run bogus photographs of American soldiers raping Iraqi women.
This is a nation who counts Jim Sereigo-Wareing among its citizens, a Methuen man who has spent $6,000 out of his own pocket to hang American flags from highway overpasses. And it's a country of neighborhoods where homeowners for and against the Iraq war display candles as silent prayers for soldiers' safe return home.
It's a country where most see teaching right from wrong as a fundamental parental duty, and worshiping God as an act of love, not hate.
Nick Berg is not a hero. Nor is he a martyr. He is a murder victim, like the 3000 people who were killed on Sept. 11 were murder victims. Like Daniel Pearl and the young people dancing in a discoteque in Bali, or the commuters traveling by train to Madrid.
Berg went to Iraq because he wanted to help an oppressed people rise up. He lived a fundamentally moral American ideal.
His bereaved parents blame US officials, in part, for the slaying. Who can begrudge them their anger when their son is coming home in pieces. But they are, nonetheless, wrong.
Those responsible stood in hoods behind the bound 26-year-old and held his head aloft in bloody triumph. Those deserving blame are the masters of their cause, hiding in caves and rogue states around the world.
Their cause is power. Power over people and power over ideas. Hate, fear and oppression are just the tools wielded to gain it. The Almighty just the excuse.
President Bush [related, bio] rightly calls Islamic terrorists ``evildoers.'' And they tarnish a just and loving religion by committing evil in God's name.
It was an abuse of power that led to the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. But the actions of a few don't reflect the dedication of the many.
This nation is using its power for good. To rebuild infrastructure, restore order, open schools and hospitals, create a government of, by and for the people.
And just as some American MPs used their power to abuse, some American leaders (of both the opinion and political variety), are now using their power to mislead.
Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner ought to be condemned for displaying those fraudulent rape photos.
Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson ought to be ashamed to link treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war to racism against blacks in this country.
The New York Times, which has hawked story after story on the prison abuse scandal, saw fit yesterday to run a single column on the upper right front page about Berg's murder, while prominently featuring accusations of abuse by a former Afghan prisoner.
We can only hope that most in the Arab world reacted with disgust, with horror and with sadness when they saw Berg murdered so brutally, just as Americans are to the photos of degraded Iraqi prisoners.
We can only hope the agendas of Turner, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and others are seen for what they are.
Yesterday, a German official implored the United States ``to regain its moral authority for the good of the Western world.''
The truth is we have never lost it.