Americans ask "Why do they hate us?"... Why do you think?!

As the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. In 2001, after the 9/11 attacks happened, it seemed that a lot of people were confused. "Why do they hate us?" and "Why would someone do this?" seemed natural questions to ask in the wake of a tragedy. But of course, the Bush administration fed Americans the same BS that we hear all the time: "They hate our way of life. They want to take away our freedom". In the aftermath of the recent tragedy in Boston, we've heard these same statements all over the media and from government officials.

Can we just think about this for a second... How is "they hate our freedom/way of life" an acceptable or rational answer? Who are "they"? What do they hate about our way of life? What kind of freedoms are we really talking about here? Ok, let's just say "they"are scary foreigners who practice a religion that is not the dominant one in our culture. "They" are young men, armed and dangerous, ready to die for what they believe in, no matter how insane their beliefs maybe. Now, let's use our imaginations for a minute. Picture you are living in Kabul or Baghdad. Foreign soldiers invade your city, and soon death and destruction is everywhere. The soldiers claim to have a noble (or even religious) motive for the violence, but either way your loved ones are maimed or killed in the crossfire. You would probably not have very many nice things to say about those soldiers, would you? You might even feel the need for justice (i.e. revenge) so that the bastards that killed your family or friends wouldn't go unpunished. Now, does this scenario sound familiar? This is probably how some Americans are feeling right now.

Now I'm not saying that the Boston attacks are exactly the same as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Both US soldiers and Al Queda extremists are ready to die for their causes. In the case of the US, the "cause" (fighting for our freedom) is so ambiguous, politically manipulated and purposefuly deceiving that sadly many don't even understand it themselves.

The CBC posted an article today about the interrogation of the surviving Boston bomber. According to officials, Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there.

In this time of absolute sorrow and despair, it is seriously messed up to think the best way to prevent future terror attacks is to have an "eye for an eye" attitude. Or to treat the accused as an "enemy combatant", virtually stripping him of all human rights. If Americans are so worried about preserving their freedom, then I think they need to step up and lead by example. If Americans can uphold basic international laws such as the Geneva Conventions, and stop killing innocent civilians by drone-malfunctions and pointless occupations of far away places, maybe the international community will actually respect Americans and their foreign policy. If you ask me, it is constant US invasions (for oil or whatever be the excuse the next time) that are breeding terrorists. As westerners, we need to swollow our pride and be the bigger person sometimes. This is the perfect time to show how civilized us westerners really are.