Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Why Get Bent Out of Shape By 9/11 Propaganda?

In the comments at this post on 9/11, a guest suggested that the 3,000 Americans killed in a terrorist attack are no more significant (perhaps less significant?) than civilian deaths in the Iraq War. If you go to Pandagon, you'll find more along the "America deserved it" and "It's our fault" line of argumentation.

But I have to admit that this explanation of 9/11 on the BBC children's website might be the worst of all.

The way America has got involved in conflicts in regions like the Middle East has made some people very angry, including a group called al-Qaeda - who are widely thought to have been behind the attacks.

In the past, al-Qaeda leaders have declared a holy war - called a jihad - against the US. As part of this jihad, al-Qaeda members believe attacking US targets is something they should do.

When the attacks happened in 2001, there were a number of US troops in a country called Saudi Arabia, and the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, said he wanted them to leave.

What a nice way of saying that terrorists attacked a free country and killed thousands of uninvolved citizens for no reason recognized by intelligent humans!