What I've found to be more disturbing after 9/11 is what followed after that fatal day when Americans adopted a different attitude. Instead of looking outwards and seeking to understand the causes behind what had happened to them, Americans have withdrawn into a delusionary world of self-righteousness and arrogance.
The worst kind of this state, which manifested itself as ' patriotism ' and being exceptional, prevented Americans from carrying out much needed soul-searching and fact finding. Instead of trying to understand the root causes, most Americans accepted the naive conclusion that America was attacked because it was "good, free, economically prosperous, and democratic".
And instead of reaching out to the Muslim world to try to understand the causes of the strong dissent and the anti-American sentiment that caused the attacks, America alienated Muslims worldwide. Rather than encouraging more cultural exchanges and dialogue between America and the Muslim world, Americans opted for xenophobic paranoia. It is clear that the tragedy of black September brought out the worst in America. What happens next is just a consequence.
The Bush administration was quick to exploit the memory of this tragedy to push forward its hidden agenda not only in the Middle East but also in many parts of the Muslim world. Despite America's constant denial of having a hidden agenda or plan to re-map the region, its declared plans reveal the opposite. Bush's neo-conservative expansionist agenda includes Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Sudan. According to Bush's logic, America has to invade all these countries.
This is a dangerous trend, and perhaps we should not be surprised with statements like: "You are either with us or against us." Seems to me just another way of silencing debate and portraying any dissent as unpatriotic. With this statement, the America Empire has made it clear that it sees the world in black and white. There is no compromise, no debate, and no dialogue.
Al Qaida, in its narrow thinking, has also divided the world into two divisions: Dar-al-Islam(realm of peace) and Dar-al-harab(realm of war). Some would argue that Bush's outlook is no different. In his narrow mindedness, he seems
nearly as bad as Al Qaida. He divided the world into two distinctive camps: the axes of war and axes of peace. Both Al Qaida and the American administration see the world in the same manner and both bring into play God's name as a justification for their extreme policies. Both believe in out-of-place religious interpretations, and each believes that God is on their side.
In such an atmosphere of anger and hatred, vengeance and darkness, tolerance could no longer survive. But our friends to the south should know one thing: it is not hatred that drives people of the Arab and Muslim world to stand against it. Rather it is its arrogant attitude and its unjust and double standards that make people hate America.
To ease the tension and alleviate the anti-American sentiment, America should stop acting like the bully that cuts into the supermarket line simply because of her size and strength. Many commentators believe that because Bush had lost the war against Al Qaida, he had to turn to Iraq. Hence, it is the policy of vengeance and intolerance that still dictates American foreign policy.
The time is now for the Americans and the Muslim world, to put aside their differences and work together so that they are able to reclaim the greatness of their respective cultures. If the level of tolerance and debate in both cultures continued to deteriorate and if both continued with their inward withdrawal, both will certainly lose everything that they may have stood for: principles and ideals that turned both of them into great civilisations.
I hope that history is not doomed to repeat itself, for we should always remember that great empires are not destroyed by outside forces, but rather by forces within. We only hope that history's lessons are fully understood.
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