Jeff Bishop – 10/17/04

This page was last updated on October 17, 2004.

Seed of hate has been planted; Jeff Bishop; Beaver County Times; October 17, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

‘I applaud the Times for Tuesday’s staff editorial, ‘America is not safer because of George Bush.’

“I have traveled extensively in the last four years, and for every person I’ve met who supports George Bush’s foreign policy, there are a dozen diametrically opposed.

“In Kyrgyzstan, MBA students asked me why Americans would be so foolish to back their president. Three months ago, I read editorials in the United Arab Emirates on how the Iraq war is a war on all Muslims. And my ‘favorite’ of these encounters was last year while backpacking in southeast Turkey: Upon hearing I was an American, a 13-year-old boy pretended to slit his throat.

“Regardless of whether or not you support Bush or his foreign policy, America is not viewed in a high light on the international scene. As I have traveled, I have met hundreds of disenfranchised young people who would be willing to fight against America in what they view as a holy war.”

[RWC] I hope Mr. Bishop doesn’t believe this is a new phenomenon. The vast majority of the Arab and Muslim world has been anti-American for decades. Remember Tehran in 1979? Beirut twice in 1983? Pan Am 103 in 1988? The World Trade Center in 1993? Somalia in 1993? The Khobar Towers in 1996? Kenya and Tanzania in 1998? The USS Cole in 2000? Perhaps Mr. Bishop forgets Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in 1998.

The Arab/Muslim world was anti-American long before we elected President Bush and they will continue to be anti-American regardless of who is in the White House.

“If this group of poor, angry young people gets mobilized and funded, we will have in America what they now have in Israel - daily fear of terrorist attacks where the ‘enemies’ blend in among our population and low-level technologies are employed to kill high numbers of people.”

[RWC] Aren’t folks like Mr. Bishop the ones who claim President Bush uses scare tactics? Mr. Bishop implies we’ll eventually see daily terrorist attacks on U.S. soil because of President Bush.

“I’m currently conducting research in the refugee camps of northern Uganda, where a brutal 18-year-old guerrilla war is still terrorizing the population. Despite the daily threat of ambushes, I feel safer here than I did this past summer riding the Washington, D.C., Metro.”

[RWC] Mr. Bishop claims he is working in the middle of a guerilla war under “the daily threat of ambushes” and yet he feels safer there than in Washington, DC? Does he really expect anyone to believe this?

“While Bush may say that America is safer, I have met the people that would do almost anything to take down his government. Regardless of who is elected this November, the seeds of hate have already been planted across the world. I fear for what will happen when it’s time for the harvest.’”

[RWC] As I noted above, much of the Arab/Muslim world hate the United States, but it is not because of President Bush. It is because the United States stands for freedom and freedom threatens the fascism rampant in much of the Muslim world.