Lessons to learn [Archives:2003/690/Viewpoint]

Lessons should be learned from a failed USA presence in Iraq, and the consequences this failure would cause to the world and the USA.
The first lesson is to always think before hearing others. Americans in particular should not be driven away from reality and should not see the world with rose-colored glasses.
I advise American readers who support the war to throw away those glasses and look where they are living. After all, we are living in one planet, and are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Getting to know the world around you is a must to realize what the truth.
Americans started to realize after 911 that there other nations out there. There are continents, countries, and people, who have emotions, priorities, and beliefs they would die or live for.
The isolation of the American people in a world of their own has made them too unaware of the rest of the world, and this is due to many reasons. The US media is quite poor in bringing pictures from the world. Those US networks have so much to cover within the country, that they feel they should not be involved in reporting about other happenings unless they concern US policies or citizens.
It is time for US nationals to try to figure out how others think about the USA, and its actions and policies. Five minutes of discussions about how others view your country every day will make you understand why all those things happened in the past, and what would happen in the future if things continue in the same fashion.
American citizens need to understand that it is them who will suffer most if the Iraq conflict goes on forever, simply because the world has indeed become a small village, and the more arrogant, imposing, and selfish the US administration acts, the more people throughout the world would chant anti-US slogans.
Just look at how the Brits received Bush in London lately. Did they receive him with roses and praises because he ‘liberated’ Iraq and minimized security threats facing the ‘free world’? No, he was simply booed, protested and denounced.
You would want to know why and you would want to learn what went wrong, wouldn’t you?
Then forget you are an American for five minutes a day and try to look at what your administration has done and is doing in many countries throughout the world. Look at what it has done to Palestinians. Look at what it has done to Iraqis. Look at what it has done to Arabs by supporting their dictatorship regimes for decades, and continue to today.
Don’t be misled. Just try to listen, read, and analyze to know why the USA is in the position it is in today.
You can send me hate mails saying that I am anti-American too. I will accept that, and I will respect your point. But you also need to tell me why millions others are also called anti-American. Could it be that all of us are wrong? Why can’t you question yourself for one time: Could it be that we are wrong? Why not start a dialogue for us to understand the other?
Or am I asking for too much?
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