From MEMRI...
Saudi Princess Reem Al-Faisal, granddaughter of the late Saudi King Faisal, is a photographer and writer. The Saudi English-language daily Arab News published an article on October 3, 2003 in which she criticized the U.S. The following are excerpts from the article:
The Americans insist that most criticism directed toward their policies stems from a deep-seated anti-Americanism which the entire world has been suffering from since the founding of the U.S. In fact, I find that the world has been more than forgiving toward the Americans from the very beginning.
Anti-Americanism as an ideology is actually a fairly recent phenomenon. It was an artificial construct of the Soviet Union in their propaganda war against us. Prior to the Cold War, the rest of the world tended to underestimate us — rich, but not the richest country in the world, powerful, but not the most powerful country in the world. The Sovs had an active policy of fostering anti-Americanism, and it's outlive them... | If you take a quick look at American history, you will realize instantly that the atrocities committed by the Americans on their fellow man might be one of the worst in human history, and that's saying much — one, because humanity has reached levels of evil that no other creature on earth can compete with, and two, because the very short history of the American nation makes its crimes even more shocking when compared with other, more ancient lands.
That's simply a propaganda echo, without even any thought behind it. We're not without sin, but neither are we more sinful than anyone else, and considerably less sinful than most. There is simply nothing — and I include the Indian wars and slavery — in our history that compares to the exterminations, serfdom, pogroms and repressions that have been the norm in the rest of the world, to include Europe. The slaughter of large numbers of people, whether it's gleeful or systematic, is something we've simply never done as policy. We've had more than our share of bad guys, probably even preceding Big and Little Harp, but they've always been the exception rather than the ideal. | The Americans are responsible for one of the most thorough and extreme genocides in history, that of the Native Americans.
This is a pretty common myth, made more common by repetition. A certain proportion of the Indian population in North America (and South America, for that matter) died from disease to which they had no immunity — measles and smallpox, notably. Of the remainder, relations were for many years maintained on a fairly equal basis; see Roanoke/Jamestown and the Powhattans, for instance. A large number were simply absorbed into the Euro population — many of us have little drabs of Indian blood — or into other Indian nations. Much of the conflict between the two cultures wasn't nice, because there were hard men on both sides, but to expect otherwise would be to apply today's standards against those of 100 or 150 years ago. And much of the diplomacy that took place between the White Eyes and the Redskins was surprisingly civilized. Treaty violations on both sides were usually by the same sort of young fellows who make their living holding up liquor stores today. | Yet the world still sees it as a benign and innocent state which faced great challenges and surmounted them through ingenuity and perseverance. As the Americans proceeded to the extermination of the native people of the land they were conquering, the world looked the other way even though it was generally well documented and the few of them who are left still suffer from discrimination to this day
How dare America look the rest of the world in the face, when it refuses even to admit or ask forgiveness from just these people it has so wronged.
Wonder whatever happened to the Gepids? How're the Moriscos doing lately? Anybody heard from the Huguenots? The Indian portion of me is amused by this sort of sophistry. The hillbilly part of me is wondering whatever happened to Virginia Dare. The Italian portion is bored by the whole thing... | You talk about anti-Americanism. I say the world is besotted by an America which never even existed. The land of the free and the home of the brave only exists in the song and nowhere else. It is time for us, the rest of the world, to see America as it truly is, just another nation with great gifts and terrible faults.
More gifts than faults, some of us think. And faults that aren't as great as most peoples' — starting with Arabia... | There is nothing special about America, and we, and most of all the American people, must begin to admit this. When we begin to view America in the light of reality, then we might begin to avoid the horrors which have been wreaked on humanity by those who think they are above the rest.
It's my opinion, and I've been to a few other countries, that America is special. There are other countries that are special, too, and still others that are no great shakes, despite their own opinion of themselves. In the great scheme of things, America's promise and its accomplishments outweigh protecting the two holy mosques. So bite me, lady. |
|