America hasn’t learned a thing...

On September 11th, 4:30 am (which is prime time here in New Zealand), the commemoration of America’s loss was just hours away in Manhattan. Watching the news I could see dozens of camera vans on the roadside for the morning coverage. Just to the right I saw the “tribute in light,” two blue shafts beaming stories high into the sky—the representative of the strength and magnificence of the twin towers. As I imagined the old skyline of the city, I realized something. America hasn’t learned a thing in the last fours years.
How have we commemorated those fallen heroes of four years ago? We have used their names and awful tragedy to unleash a war on the world and ourselves. Our president told us we were going to fight for the greater good, but what good has come out of the fight we embarked on?
Today 138,000 US troops illegally occupy Iraq. 1896 Americans have died in vain, for a war against a dictator we once supported, in a fight to destroy weapons of mass destruction he never had. No Al Qaeda connection was found, and while it has infuriated the Middle East and ruined our standing in the eyes of the world, we continue to “stay the course.” Tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children have died due to the blindness and the brutality of our “war on terror.” According to the Red Cross, an estimated 6,000 Iraqis were killed and 16,000 were injured during a three week US led onslaught on Fallujah. Estimates claim over 200,000 residents were displaced due to the siege, while 70 percent of the buildings were destroyed, and the remaining 30 percent were at least damaged. The city was obliterated—or democratized. This type of destruction doesn’t exemplify our compassion, humanity, and value for life above all.
I look back into the sky and think of the squandered opportunities after 9/11. It was a chance for a new start, to unify the world, to fundamentally change our foreign policy, our treatment of the Middle East and the Muslim community. It was our chance to realize that “interests” can’t overtake human life; the safety of our children and their future depended on it.

On 9/11, a tape supposedly released by a half Jewish, half catholic Adam Gadahn referenced intended attacks on Los Angles and Melbourne Australia. Gadahn was a white American citizen believed to be recruited by Al Qaeda in California. Al Qaeda uses the atrocities of the “war on terror” as a reason to fight. If the war in Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, Palestine, and the support of corrupt regimes throughout the Middle East weren’t taking place, recruitment for new blood in Al Qaeda wouldn’t be so easy. Al Qaeda is using the injustices caused by America as a recruitment tool.
In response to “defeat” terrorism, America is causing more injustice. The war on terror cannot be won by the destruction of land, it will only incense the violence and further isolate of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world—it’s a lesson we should have learned after 9/11. Those two beams of light that shine so high in the sky don’t represent the fallen towers; they illuminate our incompetent leadership.

The Reverend

The land of the free and the home of the brave?

What in the bloody hell is going on in Louisiana and Mississippi????
Is this the greatest superpower on the face of the planet?

This is the image the rest of the world has of the US and what is going on there:

"...But if Katrina and the suffering in New Orleans & the Gulf Coast of the US have done anything, it is to remind us that governments matter. The aftermath has provided a stark illustration of social injustice and the very real divide that exists in America between rich and poor, black and white, throwing into sharp relief everything that is wrong with the US and exposing the failings of the Bush Administration.

Even the most hardened right-wing commentators have found it hard to swallow the evidence of unequal suffering. The rich of New Orleans got out of town, while the poor were left behind to await a rescue that was agonizingly slow in coming. In a scene reminiscent of the Titanic, when first-class passengers got the lifeboats while the poor were left to fend for themselves, Hyatt guests and employees were allowed to jump a queue for a bus heading out of town. And everyone noticed how a black man carrying food was looting while white survivors were merely finding food.

Much has already been written about the part played by the Bush Administration. Bush and his cronies, Maureen Dowd noted in the New York Times, showed a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency. Bush was playing golf the day after Katrina hit and waited five days before making an appearance in New Orleans.

An editorial in the same newspaper reported that Bush and his Republican Congressional leaders are planning to enact more upper-bracket tax cuts while cutting into the safety-net programmes for sick and impoverished Americans.

Contrast the Bush Administration's response with the action taken by Cuban authorities last September when a Category 5 hurricane hit Cuba. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground before the storm hit. A reported 20,000 homes were destroyed but no one died.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that a country riven by inequalities should have difficulty with the notion that those inequalities will always result in unfairness and unequal outcomes..."

In addition is this from INSIDE the US:

"....A really horrifying thought is that this lack of initiative, the
inability to think and take action, permeates the political
infrastructure of Louisiana. I cannot think of a more inept pair
of "leaders" than New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Louisiana Governor Blanco.

Mayor Nagin in a public display of incompetence, admitted on CNN cameras
that he 'doesn't know whose problem this is' when questioned about
disaster relief response. I can tell you Mayor Nagin, it's your problem.
However, your many years of taking orders from the political machinery
that runs the State of Louisiana has left you without the ability to
think for yourself and make the necessary preparations for eventual
disasters.

Mayor Nagin you were warned repeatedly that there was a 20 foot tidal
surge on the way. You knew that the levees most likely would not hold up
against the surge. What plans did you make to protect your constituents
in the event flooding took place? Apparently, you had none.

And Governor Blanco, YOU are in control of the Nat'l Guard. Contrary to
the main stream media's insinuations that President Bush should have
called up the National Guard, YOU are the one who could have staged
Louisiana Guard units in Baton Rouge, or Alexandria, prior to the storm.
You are the Commander in Chief of the Louisiana National Guard. You are
the one responsible for the proper use of the National Guard during
times of disaster...."

Myself personally, I am ashamed to tell anyone that I am a American outside the USA. For the most part, I am tired of getting hassled and people not liking me ONLY because I am an American. I firstly tell them that I am a Texan (the last best governor was Ann Richards) and not an American and I NEVER voted for ANYONE with the last name of Bush!

I cannot believe after what happened 4 years ago, you could let this happen? What happened to all of that American taxpayer money that paid for the "Homeland Security" spend up?

What is even worse how when this is no longer a BIG media event...this will all be something that happened to someone else.

Sincerely,

The Reverend