Why they hate America

Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid tells of a polite Oklahoman who held a copy of his latest novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and examined the face on its cover, comparing it to Hamid’s.

The Oklahoman then said to the Muslim writer, nodding once as if to dip the brim of an imaginary hat: “So tell me, sir. Why do they hate us?”

Hamid then goes on to voice the propaganda he’d been fed, attributing it to envy, adding: “The richest, most powerful country in the world attracts the jealousy of others in much the same way that the richest, most powerful man in a small town attracts the jealousy of others.”

Of course, the Washington Post, which published Hamid’s article, devoured his explanation as if he was serving them and the country a lesson in deserved pride.

Hamid does finally add more answer to: why do they hate us? “Simply because America has – often for what seemed good reasons at the time – intervened to shape the destinies of other countries and then, as a nation, walked away.”

As true as that reflection on his own experiences with both America and Pakistan might be, it turns two blind eyes toward the most egregious of America’s foreign maladies.

Along with the control of other’s land, populations, governments and resources has come the Sword of Damocles: imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power.

The excessive fear of terrorists and terrorism held by vast numbers of Americans feeds on the mythical sword hanging over their heads on the thinnest thread.

“A tyrant’s fear is complete fear” – as it is the tyrant’s place to sit daily under the sword. America is a tyrant to the world just as Israel is a tyrant to the Middle East; and America becomes a greater tyrant for its mindless support of Israel.

According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz,  “The Jordanian national that attacked a US military base in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA agents, was furious over the Israel’s Gaza offensive, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported…”

An MSNBC anchor asked, “What can we do to stop them from hating us?” A TV anchor for a major media asking a question as stupid as that deserved to have the answer shouted at her: “Stop occupying their countries. Stop controlling others’ land, populations, governments and resources,”

Most of all stop the military killing sprees! Stop the murders and destruction that breed hatred. What percentage, from the millions of dead, etched on the handles of your guns, is needed to sire retribution?

The bombs, the drones, the F-15s, the assault rifles, the sub-machine-guns, the rocket-propelled grenades, the bunker busters, the cruise missiles, the smart bombs, the E-bombs, the dirty-bombs, the MOABs, the Stingers the Sidewinder missiles, the Strykers, the Bradleys, the M1 tanks, the grenades – all bloody murder weapons.

We Americans run around the world like Mafia gangsters, beating up and eliminating those who don’t accept America as the Godfather.

What have we been doing in Iraq since we invaded it on a pretext – a fraud, a lie by conmen in the White House? How many of the millions dead have families who love America?

Will those forced into refugee camps teach their children not to hate America?
The same applies to Afghanistan and Pakistan and to the families of the slaughtered to bring “democracy” to help satisfy the fake “envy” of America.

The same is true of those who have suffered in occupied Palestine, in Gaza, in Lebanon from Israel, the puppet that controls its master. The kin of the dead can’t forget why they hate America.

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