For a while after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 George Bush made the claim that the terrorists attacked us because they hate our freedoms. Here’s an excerpt from a speech George Bush gave in 2002:
You just need to know it’s still a dangerous period in Afghanistan. There’s still a lot of killers roaming around, and they hate America. They hate us because we’re free. Then cannot stand the thought that we have freedom of religion in America; that we respect each other based upon our personal religious beliefs. They cannot stand the thought that there’s honest political discourse. There’s free press — confident they hate that. They hate us. And so, wherever they try to hide, we’re going to get ‘em. There’s no cave dark enough or deep enough from the United States of America.
However, this meme doesn’t seems to be as played up as much as it used to be. Even Osama bin Laden himself has discounted it:
If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn’t attack Sweden, for example.
The current conventional “wisdom” among supporters of the president seems to be that the terrorists hate us and want to kill us because they are Muslims and we are not. But how much truth does this assertion really have?[digg=http://www.digg.com/political_opinion/Why_do_the_terrorists_hate_and_want_to_kill_us]
It is true that much of the Muslim world finds many aspects of Western and American culture highly offensive. But it’s hard to find much evidence to support the claim that we are being attacked because they find us offensive. Most people typically are not going to be motivated to kill people on the other side of the planet because they watch trashy TV.
We can gather evidence for what motivates terrorists from looking at history. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan offers us some clues. In 1979 the Soviet Union, a communist and atheistic state, invaded the Muslim country of Afghanistan. In response to this, Osama bin Laden and other non-Afghan Muslims came to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union, not because the Soviets were non-Muslim atheists, but because they were waging a brutal invasion. Once the last of the invading troops left in 1989, war with the Soviet Union was not pursued.
The US government has a hard time learning from history. In this case, the US government is caught in a vicious cycle. Their solution to terrorism is to do more of the very thing that motivates terrorists in the first place.
The terrorists have made it very clear as to why they attack us. It is not because of our freedoms or because we are not Muslim. The two grievances that form a common theme among terrorist groups are our government’s bullying and meddling in the Middle East and its lopsided support for Israel.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to have true debate with those who support the war in Iraq and the war on terror unwaveringly. To them, the very idea that the United States might be partly to blame for terrorism is unacceptable and cannot or should not be considered, and the United States is only seen as a force of good in the world.
We will have to see how long our government can play with fire before it realizes how much the American people are getting burned.
I agree with some of your points. It is a vicious cycle. I don’t agree with the Iraq war but I agree with the invasion of Afghanistan.
I really don’t think you can blame the US for what happened on 9/11. Granted they support Israel, however I believe that Islamic militants only use the Palestinian situation as a cover to justify their holy war.
They are not brothers in the Middle East who care about each other. They hate each other. The civil war in Iraq is evidence of this.
If Israel disappeared tomorrow and the US pulled all of its interests out of the Middle East, I believe that Islamic regimes in the Middle East would still be at war with the West.
I don’t think you can apply the Soviet comparison to the US invasion. There were completely different reasons for both.
Nana, fang, it is just that Islam does not let Muslims be peaceful. Have you not seen the recent CSM poll? David has blogged about it too.
But you should not. Because it may disprove the fact that Islam is violent, it does not let people love peace.
Civil war in America showed the love of Americans’ love for each other, I am sure. (David, don’t take offence. All nations have share of good and bad).
Oh no, we should not look so far back in history. We have thesee neo-nazis round the corner. They are clearing the country of black suckers. So much love in the air.
I am sure they would have done a better job if Saddam could take US and liberate it. For now, let us be satisfied with what we have.
I mean the dialogue for a solution between the Shias and the Sunnis could take off only after the liberation.
Long live the liberation.
Agreed. Long live the liberation of humans from religion.
liberation of humans from religion.
Good news for you:
It will happen soon
Bad news for you:
Humans will not last long after that.
The war for Chechnya became a war of attrition which the Arabs were able to sustain. Russia poured billions of dollars into fighting there for ten years, I think this was a major point in the USSR dissolving.
Agreed. They hate us for our sometimes blind support for Israel and our constant meddling in Middle East affairs…
Terrorists are generally straightforward about their grievances because there’s no good reason for them not to be. Leaders of nations, however, have to balance a great many different interests in order to stay in power, so they tend to be heavy on rhetoric that is only taken seriously by their hardcore political base and the mainstream media. By claiming that “they hate our freedom” Bush shows a markedly simpleminded view of what the conflict is truly about, but it is the type of thing we should expect from Bush or any other government head.
I don’t get it. Why would anyone “HATE” freedom ??? Does that make any sense?? Wouldn’t you say that the work is Jealous??
Besides, who really gives a shit if the Afganistans hate us??
The responses all seem so black and white. The US is either blameworthy or completely innocent. Common sense seems to dictate that this problem has been growing for a long time and numerous factors have been adding to the problem. Our support of Israel is a huge factor. We supply (and have supplied for a long time) large amounts of military firepower to a country that uses it against Muslim countries. Our lack of support (or close to it) of rest of the Arab world is another. We impose economic sanctions on Iraq that cause death and significant misfortune to the common citizen for violations of UN Treaties, while at the same time turning our backs when Israel continues to violate UN Resolution 242 (which urges Israel to withdraw from land occupied in the 1967 War) for over 30 years. News stories showing US soldiers painting Happy Ramadan on missiles and other demonstrations of callousness toward Arabs. Incredibly stupid misstatements by Bush stating that “they” hate freedom. The strong statements by fundamentalist Christians (like Ann Coulter) where Israel is unquestioningly supported (based on biblical quotes like ‘the Creator will bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews’ and ‘the Jews will return to Israel before Christ’s second coming) and muslims are portrayed as godless. Our waging a war that killed thousands of innocent civilians and then marching in expecting a hero’s welcome. Our taking on the new role of policing the rest of the world and spreader of democracy, which most of these nations do not want. Our government and media are so ethnocentric in the views they espouse that we are seen as arrogant assholes pushing our ideologies down the rest of the world’s throats.
Fundamentalist muslims and the Arab media are no boy scouts either. They blow even the smallest statement out of proportion to support their view of America as the giant Satan. They have engaged in horrific acts of terrorism and can be seen chanting “Death to Israel, Death to America” on national television.
And then, of course, our two societies do hold very different views on what is moral and what is not. A major reason why this problem will not go away anytime soon is due to fundamentalist christians and muslims both digging in their heals and refusing to take event the smallest steps toward understanding the others point of view because “ours is the only true God and he has spoken, we are right and they are wrong.” Both of these large, politically powerful groups are fucking it up for the rest of us by thwarting any hope of making meaningful progress in seeing seeing each other as people; mothers, fathers, children, loved ones, and yes, a few jerks here and there.
No one of the above issues is totally to blame in and of itself, however, any rational, disinterested person has to see why, when all these things are viewed together, we may not be viewed as the kind, good hearted, lovers of freedom and everything good.
Could it be because there exist fundamentalist Muslims that believe the world should be converted to Islam. Just a thought.