March 19, 2003
FORMER AUSTRALIAN government minister Andrew
FORMER AUSTRALIAN government minister Andrew Thomson, now based in DC, on anti-Americanism:
Behind the bitter diplomacy lies an unspeakable truth: A great many people who live in wealthy countries are hostile to the United States and secretly believe that America deserves to suffer these attacks. True, they believe this in the abstract. They don't believe Americans as individuals deserve to be murdered. But what they believe--in ferocious, mindless hostility towards "America"--results in the regular slaughter of ordinary people just like themselves and their families, who happen to be citizens of the United States.
As a consequence, the murder of Americans has become not merely an object of complacency in wealthy Europe, but the inevitable outcome of its professed foreign policy. Finally, Americans are waking up to this appalling new reality.
The link was sent by Nelson Ascher, who writes: "Is there something special with the air or water down there that keeps some minds sane?" No! It's the cigarettes and the wine.
Posted by Tim Blair at March 19, 2003 11:56 PM