<After Alan after Wirt:>

Alan,
    You have pointed out some rather obvious failings of "our"(the United
States government) foreign policies. I am aware first hand of how people
around the world view us in terms of how we conduct ourselves via our
foreign policies and seemingly will abandon a "friend" and suddenly take in
an "enemy" as a long lost friend. I lived in Taiwan and Greece, as well as
the United States, when I was growing up(my father was in the diplomatic
corp) and I have seen this "conversion" happen overnight, especially in
Greece. We(the United States government) had excellent relations with Greece
until the coup in 1967 when we backed the military takeover of that country.
Many people "disappeared" or were tortured, with the tacit approval of the
United States government's foreign policy at the time. It is no wonder then
that even now, 34 years later, many Greeks detest us for our role in that
action. The radical leftist group "November 17" was established in 1975 and
named for the student uprising in Greece in November 1973 that protested the
military regime and was brutally crushed. This radical group has been
responsible for assasinations and bombings in Greece and Europe through the
present.

    My point is I feel we have a long ways to go in our government's foreign
policies if we want the world to have peace as we know it here in the United
States. I am more than saddened by the events of two weeks ago, and I am
also very aware that the terrorist acts we have witnessed on our soil are
only the next level in terrorist attacks that, until two weeks ago, had only
happened on foreign soil and seemed so distant to most Americans.

    I pray for peace and a greater understanding....


                                      Eric Sand
                                      [log in to unmask]

        >Snipped>

> >But it isn't going to be rocket motors that are going to change the world
> in
> >our -- or anyone else's -- favor. It's going to be our avoidance of again
> >making the mistake of supporting the most radical movements. The Afghani
> >people have no desire to have the Taliban in power, any more than
> Iranians
> >wished for the repressive fundamentalist regime that replaced the
> repressive
> >Shah. If we really want to rid the world of terrorism, we're simply going
> to
> >have to start paying more attention to the wants and needs of a
> significant
> >portion of the world's population without greatly interferring in their
> >internal affairs.
> >
> >Wirt Atmar
> >
>
> As a non American, I forbade making any comments last week when some of
> the "Lets Bomb the World" talk started. There truly is a lot of grief to
> overcome (and having siblings living in New York it could easily have
> been me also) and feelings of rage and wanting revenge are fairly
> natural.
>
> However Wirt's final comment does hit the nail quite squarely on the
> head. We (and this means all the Western Powers not just America) have
> contributed to generating the causes of these acts of terrorism.
>
        Alan Yeo

        <Snipped>

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