World Opinion after 9/11 and Now

Kevin Hayden of The American Street reminds us of how it was after 9/11 and how it is now:

Remembering 9-11 is easy, but do you remember 9-12 through 11-9?

— Iran’s Ayatollah Imami Kashani spoke of a catastrophic act of terrorism which could only be condemned by all Muslims, adding the whole world should mobilise against terrorism. [link, to the next three paragraphs, as well]

— In Iran, Tehran’s main soccer stadium observed an unprecedented minute’s silence in sympathy with the victims.

— The US Consul General in Jerusalem reported that he has received a huge stack of faxes from Palestinians and Palestinian organizations expressing condolences, grief and solidarity. He himself was pained to see that the media chose to focus on the sensational images of a few Palestinians rejoicing.

— The terrorist act was strongly condemned by every single Palestinian organization including Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, Workers Unions and Committees, Human Right organizations (AlHaq, Law, Palestine Center for Human Rights), student associations, municipalities, mosques and churches, etc.

— Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, supreme jurist-ruler of Iran: “Killing of people, in any place and with any kind of weapons, including atomic bombs, long-range missiles, biological or chemical weopons, passenger or war planes, carried out by any organization, country or individuals is condemned. … It makes no difference whether such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Qana, Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and Washington.”

— President Muhammad Khatami of Iran: “[T]he September 11 terrorist blasts in America can only be the job of a group that have voluntarily severed their own ears and tongues, so that the only language with which they could communicate would be destroying and spreading death.”

— Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), prominent British Muslim: “I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: the Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims at this sorrowful moment.”

It's important to remember that this is just a sampling. The list of those who expressed their sympathies is much longer. The opportunity to build better relations with any number of nations was great at that time. Very quickly, the Bush administration was able to gain cooperation with dealing with terrorists. But by January, Bush had thrown away the opportunity for better relations. Iran and Iraq, who had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks were declared members of the axis of evil (North Korea was on that list as well and was the only nation at the time with a serious nuclear program; Bush's clumsy and arrogant policies have still not resolved various issues with North Korea). Bush has failed to take advantage of any number of opportunities to improve our nation's security and the general temper of the times through diplomacy. Even relations with Russia, China and India are not as good as they were six years ago. And Europe and the rest of the world are bewildered by what is happening in Washington.

I would like to add a personal note about Kevin Hayden's post. Four years ago, I would have been bothered by some minor rhetorical flourishes that Mr. Hayden uses in the second half of his post. By the standards of 2006, those flourishes are mild and certainly nothing compared to the rhetorical excesses of Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Bill Bennett, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson and any number of other right wing pundits who manage to get air time in the media. When Rep. Jack Murtha was essentially called a coward on the floor of the House of Representatives, we obviously had to take that as a sign of further deterioration of what passes for political discourse in this era. I have to catch my own excesses at times. It's not easy. This is a serious time and it requires thoughtful language to reach those in a position to save our democracy. I think of people like Larry Wilkerson and Scott Ritter, both Republicans who have serious reservations about what is happening in a Republican-controlled Washington. There are even strange allies like Bob Barr when it comes to condemning the spying on Americans by the NSA. No doubt we need humane humorists, cartoonists and satirists to relieve some of the tension. But the real work is rousing America to the dangers that exist not overseas but in Washington, D.C. itself.