Personally, I can't imagine the level of hate that would drive someone to such extreme acts of terrorism. But the reason why many people in the world hate the US is easy to understand -- we're hypocrites.
We say we love freedom. When China jails, beats, tortures and murders political dissidents, Christians, the Falun Gong and Buddhists (among many others), we give China Most Favored Nation trading status.
We say we love peace. When Israel builds settlements on Palestinian land and fires into crowds armed with rocks, we say it's a regional problem and none of our business.
We say we love justice. When American companies establish offices in areas with corrupt or non-existent governments and use bribery and thugs to steal land from farmers, and to beat and kill union leaders and organizers, we ignore it.
We say we hate terrorism. When the Taliban ordered the people of Afghanistan this year to stop growing opium poppies, we gave them $43 million, despite their tolerance of Osama bin Laden and their brutally repressive treatment of women and academics.
I love America. I'm proud to be an American. We do a lot of things right. But we're not perfect, and when our hypocrisy is so clear to everyone else in the world we make it easy for fanatics to fan the flames of hatred against us. All the flag waving in the world can't make up for our blindness and stupidity.
Laura Cooksey
lcooksey@mindspring.com