Sorry if this is a repost. I did a quick search, but I don't have full text search so I didn't find anything.
======================================================================
>Making sense of the world.
>
>
> By Victor Davis Hanson
> Author most recently of Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the
>Rise of Western Power.
>
> March 15, 2002 8:35 a.m.
>
> One of the advantages of living in relative isolation on a farm is
>the opportunity to ponder idle questions when there are few experts
>around to give the proper answers. I list in no particular order a
>sampling of them that arose last night while I was walking alone through
>the orchard - on the chance that a few other puzzled Americans have also
>at times been just as exasperated and confused.
>
> Why does Mr. Mubarak lecture us to become intimately engaged in the
>Middle East Peace process, when Mr. Clinton, who was very recently
>intimately engaged, got the intifada for his efforts?
>
> And why does Mr. Mubarak seek to advise us about our proper diplomatic
>role, rather than explain to us why an Egyptian masterminded the deaths
>of 3,000 of our citizens and others of his countrymen are top
>lieutenants of Mr. Bin Laden and are now killing Americans in
>Afghanistan?
>
> And why, instead of warning about rising anti-Americanism in his
>country - itself the dividend of the virulent propaganda of his own
>state-run presses - does he not ponder another recent poll, one showing
>that 76 percent of Americans themselves have an unfavorable view of the
>Arab world?
>
> Because, unlike Egypt, we are a democracy, at some point will some
>brave American congressman ask the dreaded question, "Why continue to
>give billions to Egypt where three quarters of the people do not like us
>- and when three quarters of the American people would prefer not to?"
>
> Why do Middle Easterners become excited and haughty as they gloat to
>you that Americans are unpopular in their countries, but suddenly grow
>shocked, silent, and hurt when you politely and calmly explain why the
>feeling is becoming - and perhaps should be - mutual?
>
> Why do so many from the Middle East come here to find freedom,
>security, and safety - and then criticize the country that they would
>never leave as they praise the country that they would never return to?
>
> Is there a word for profiling or irrationally hating Americans?
>Americanophobia? Misamericany?
>
> Why did we incur only anger from Eastern Europeans and Orthodox
>Christians for saving the Muslims of the former Yugoslavia from
>Milosevic, but no praise at all from the Islamic world itself?
>
> If the West Bank is the linchpin of the current Middle East crisis,
>what were wars #1, #2, and #3 there about, when it was entirely in Arab
>hands?
>
> Is there a difference between Palestinians preferring to kill Israeli
>civilians rather than soldiers, and Israelis preferring to kill
>Palestinian fighters rather than civilians?
>
> Why are the EU and international agencies vocal about well-fed and
>humanely treated prisoners in Cuba, and yet said nothing when depraved
>comrades of these detainees recently executed an American soldier upon
>capture in Afghanistan, and murdered Danny Pearl?
>
> Would the world be angry if a Jewish terrorist forced a captured
>Muslim to admit to his race and faith as he executed and beheaded him on
>film?
>
> Is it really true, as we were warned for most of January, that
>prayer-mats, lamb stew, Korans, and humane treatment in Cuba ensured
>that al Qaeda in turn would not execute captured Americans?
>
> Why do not Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, who overtly and stealthily
>war along side the Palestinians, simply all join with the former to gang
>up and declare war openly on Israel and then settle the issue on the
>battlefield?
>
> If we remove the fascist regime in Iraq and help institute consensual
>government there, why would we need troops any longer next door in Saudi
>Arabia? What and from whom would we then be there to protect?
>
> If we could not have normal relations with the Soviet Union and
>Eastern Europe, who both allowed neither freedom nor democracy, why and
>how can we maintain normal relations with the Islamic world?
>
> If America forced Israel to give back every inch of the West Bank, if
>America withdrew all its troops from all Arab countries, if America
>increased its aid to Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan, if America sought to
>placate Saddam Hussein, remove all U.N. sanctions, and normalize
>relations with the Iraqi dictatorship, and if America sought to restore
>full relations with Iran without conditions, would the Muslim world
>really like the United States?
>
> Has any American in any live broadcast on television ever asked a
>Saudi prince, the king of Jordan, the President of Egypt, or the royalty
>of Kuwait, whether they plan on allowing a free press or democratic
>government? If not, why not?
>
> If 19 Americans incinerated 3,000 Muslims in Mecca or Medina, and blew
>up 20 acres in either of those cities with a two-kiloton explosion,
>would the Saudis or the Egyptians a few weeks later politely listen to
>admonitions from the American government about their incorrect Islamic
>policies in the Middle East?
>
> If the Eiffel Tower had been wrecked by an al Qaeda hijacked airliner,
>would the French have gone into
>Afghanistan after the terrorists? And if so, how and why? And would they
>have asked our help? And would we have given it?
>
> Why in the last decade have we seen a succession of Israeli prime
>ministers and opposition figures but only Mr. Arafat alone?
>
> What would the world think if Mr. Sharon displayed a revolver and then
>attempted to strike one of his ministers at a Cabinet meeting?
>
> Why do Palestinians shoot machine-guns up into the air at funerals and
>Israelis do not?
>
> Why do supporters of Israel in America rarely castigate their country
>for giving money to Egypt, Jordan, and Mr. Arafat, while supporters of
>the Palestinian authority here always damn the United States for giving
>commensurate aid to Israel?
>
> Why do Middle Easterners become far more enraged at Israelis for
>shooting hundreds of Muslims than at Iranians, Iraqis, Jordanians,
>Syrians, Indians, Algerians, Russians, Somalis, and Serbians for
>liquidating tens of thousands?
>
> If nearly two-thirds of the Arabic world believe that Arabs were not
>involved in September 11, why should any American believe anything that
>two out of three people from that region say?
>
> Will Palestinians cheer when Saddam Hussein launches chemical-laden
>missiles against Israel when we invade his country?
>
> Why after half a century has the Saudi government suddenly now decided
>to enter the negotiations about Palestine?
>
> If Iran launched missiles of mass destruction against Israel, would
>the EU do anything?
>
> If North Korea attacked South Korea, would the EU do anything?
>
> If someone blew up another 3,000 Americans, would the EU do anything?
>
> Has anyone made an inventory of the all the goods, services, and
>equipment that France has sold to Iraq since 1991?
>
> If Johnny Walker Lindh is not charged with betraying his country, what
>precisely does an American have to do to commit treason?
>
> Has anyone heard a Muslim in the United States condemn September 11
>without employing the word "but?"
>
> Why do spokesmen for groups that have the words "ethical", "humane",
>"amnesty", "fair" and other such words of kindness appear so unkind in
>public interviews?
>
> Why are most of the talking heads on television who are ex-military
>men direct, honest, polite, and rarely self-absorbed, while the academic
>pundits usually stutter, lose their cool, and say inane things "one
>could imagine." and "as it were"?
>
> How can training someone for four years to lead men into battle make
>one a more effective speaker and thinker than someone prepped for five
>years in graduate school to teach in the university and write?
>
> Why do six billion people in the world conclude that the US military
>is the most deadly and effective armed force in the history of
>civilization when the American media who covers it does not?
>
> How much annual income and time off does one have to garner to oppose
>automatically almost everything the United States has done since
>September 11?
>
> I know that there are properly nuanced answers to these questions that
>touch on issues of pragmatism, national security, statecraft, requisite
>education, and other such abstract considerations. But millions of us
>Americans, I think, wonder about them nevertheless - and just maybe we
>are not so crazy after all.
======================================================================
>Making sense of the world.
>
>
> By Victor Davis Hanson
> Author most recently of Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the
>Rise of Western Power.
>
> March 15, 2002 8:35 a.m.
>
> One of the advantages of living in relative isolation on a farm is
>the opportunity to ponder idle questions when there are few experts
>around to give the proper answers. I list in no particular order a
>sampling of them that arose last night while I was walking alone through
>the orchard - on the chance that a few other puzzled Americans have also
>at times been just as exasperated and confused.
>
> Why does Mr. Mubarak lecture us to become intimately engaged in the
>Middle East Peace process, when Mr. Clinton, who was very recently
>intimately engaged, got the intifada for his efforts?
>
> And why does Mr. Mubarak seek to advise us about our proper diplomatic
>role, rather than explain to us why an Egyptian masterminded the deaths
>of 3,000 of our citizens and others of his countrymen are top
>lieutenants of Mr. Bin Laden and are now killing Americans in
>Afghanistan?
>
> And why, instead of warning about rising anti-Americanism in his
>country - itself the dividend of the virulent propaganda of his own
>state-run presses - does he not ponder another recent poll, one showing
>that 76 percent of Americans themselves have an unfavorable view of the
>Arab world?
>
> Because, unlike Egypt, we are a democracy, at some point will some
>brave American congressman ask the dreaded question, "Why continue to
>give billions to Egypt where three quarters of the people do not like us
>- and when three quarters of the American people would prefer not to?"
>
> Why do Middle Easterners become excited and haughty as they gloat to
>you that Americans are unpopular in their countries, but suddenly grow
>shocked, silent, and hurt when you politely and calmly explain why the
>feeling is becoming - and perhaps should be - mutual?
>
> Why do so many from the Middle East come here to find freedom,
>security, and safety - and then criticize the country that they would
>never leave as they praise the country that they would never return to?
>
> Is there a word for profiling or irrationally hating Americans?
>Americanophobia? Misamericany?
>
> Why did we incur only anger from Eastern Europeans and Orthodox
>Christians for saving the Muslims of the former Yugoslavia from
>Milosevic, but no praise at all from the Islamic world itself?
>
> If the West Bank is the linchpin of the current Middle East crisis,
>what were wars #1, #2, and #3 there about, when it was entirely in Arab
>hands?
>
> Is there a difference between Palestinians preferring to kill Israeli
>civilians rather than soldiers, and Israelis preferring to kill
>Palestinian fighters rather than civilians?
>
> Why are the EU and international agencies vocal about well-fed and
>humanely treated prisoners in Cuba, and yet said nothing when depraved
>comrades of these detainees recently executed an American soldier upon
>capture in Afghanistan, and murdered Danny Pearl?
>
> Would the world be angry if a Jewish terrorist forced a captured
>Muslim to admit to his race and faith as he executed and beheaded him on
>film?
>
> Is it really true, as we were warned for most of January, that
>prayer-mats, lamb stew, Korans, and humane treatment in Cuba ensured
>that al Qaeda in turn would not execute captured Americans?
>
> Why do not Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, who overtly and stealthily
>war along side the Palestinians, simply all join with the former to gang
>up and declare war openly on Israel and then settle the issue on the
>battlefield?
>
> If we remove the fascist regime in Iraq and help institute consensual
>government there, why would we need troops any longer next door in Saudi
>Arabia? What and from whom would we then be there to protect?
>
> If we could not have normal relations with the Soviet Union and
>Eastern Europe, who both allowed neither freedom nor democracy, why and
>how can we maintain normal relations with the Islamic world?
>
> If America forced Israel to give back every inch of the West Bank, if
>America withdrew all its troops from all Arab countries, if America
>increased its aid to Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan, if America sought to
>placate Saddam Hussein, remove all U.N. sanctions, and normalize
>relations with the Iraqi dictatorship, and if America sought to restore
>full relations with Iran without conditions, would the Muslim world
>really like the United States?
>
> Has any American in any live broadcast on television ever asked a
>Saudi prince, the king of Jordan, the President of Egypt, or the royalty
>of Kuwait, whether they plan on allowing a free press or democratic
>government? If not, why not?
>
> If 19 Americans incinerated 3,000 Muslims in Mecca or Medina, and blew
>up 20 acres in either of those cities with a two-kiloton explosion,
>would the Saudis or the Egyptians a few weeks later politely listen to
>admonitions from the American government about their incorrect Islamic
>policies in the Middle East?
>
> If the Eiffel Tower had been wrecked by an al Qaeda hijacked airliner,
>would the French have gone into
>Afghanistan after the terrorists? And if so, how and why? And would they
>have asked our help? And would we have given it?
>
> Why in the last decade have we seen a succession of Israeli prime
>ministers and opposition figures but only Mr. Arafat alone?
>
> What would the world think if Mr. Sharon displayed a revolver and then
>attempted to strike one of his ministers at a Cabinet meeting?
>
> Why do Palestinians shoot machine-guns up into the air at funerals and
>Israelis do not?
>
> Why do supporters of Israel in America rarely castigate their country
>for giving money to Egypt, Jordan, and Mr. Arafat, while supporters of
>the Palestinian authority here always damn the United States for giving
>commensurate aid to Israel?
>
> Why do Middle Easterners become far more enraged at Israelis for
>shooting hundreds of Muslims than at Iranians, Iraqis, Jordanians,
>Syrians, Indians, Algerians, Russians, Somalis, and Serbians for
>liquidating tens of thousands?
>
> If nearly two-thirds of the Arabic world believe that Arabs were not
>involved in September 11, why should any American believe anything that
>two out of three people from that region say?
>
> Will Palestinians cheer when Saddam Hussein launches chemical-laden
>missiles against Israel when we invade his country?
>
> Why after half a century has the Saudi government suddenly now decided
>to enter the negotiations about Palestine?
>
> If Iran launched missiles of mass destruction against Israel, would
>the EU do anything?
>
> If North Korea attacked South Korea, would the EU do anything?
>
> If someone blew up another 3,000 Americans, would the EU do anything?
>
> Has anyone made an inventory of the all the goods, services, and
>equipment that France has sold to Iraq since 1991?
>
> If Johnny Walker Lindh is not charged with betraying his country, what
>precisely does an American have to do to commit treason?
>
> Has anyone heard a Muslim in the United States condemn September 11
>without employing the word "but?"
>
> Why do spokesmen for groups that have the words "ethical", "humane",
>"amnesty", "fair" and other such words of kindness appear so unkind in
>public interviews?
>
> Why are most of the talking heads on television who are ex-military
>men direct, honest, polite, and rarely self-absorbed, while the academic
>pundits usually stutter, lose their cool, and say inane things "one
>could imagine." and "as it were"?
>
> How can training someone for four years to lead men into battle make
>one a more effective speaker and thinker than someone prepped for five
>years in graduate school to teach in the university and write?
>
> Why do six billion people in the world conclude that the US military
>is the most deadly and effective armed force in the history of
>civilization when the American media who covers it does not?
>
> How much annual income and time off does one have to garner to oppose
>automatically almost everything the United States has done since
>September 11?
>
> I know that there are properly nuanced answers to these questions that
>touch on issues of pragmatism, national security, statecraft, requisite
>education, and other such abstract considerations. But millions of us
>Americans, I think, wonder about them nevertheless - and just maybe we
>are not so crazy after all.
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