It's the way that Bush squandered the 9/11 sympathy from other nations.

[Poll_Blind]

I think that may be the thing I hate him most for. I was in the 9/11 forum reading something or other and then, invariably, I put 9/11 into Google and come up with this page of pictures of the world's solidarity with the US on 9/11. Everything is there, from Russian women weeping in front of the US embassy in Moscow to Tokyo- the hundreds of thousands (if not totalling milions) who marched in capital cities around the globe to show their support.

Everybody knew America had pulled some dirty tricks in the past, most of the countries who showed support for us in the time of crisis had a black eye from us at one time or another. But that didn't matter, they still cared about us on some level.

And Bush squandered it and pissed on it and slapped their faces and called 'em bastards for their troubles. Now the entire world really doesn't care so much about us anymore and there's something so hurtful about the fact that he's driven away so many of our friends. If there's another 9/11 there will be outpourings of grief but nothing like 9/11.

It's like a drunk gets into it with us at a bar and when our friend comes to our aid we're so angry we lash out at them, too.

Sometimes it's really hard to encompass just how much damage Bush has done to our standing in the world at a time when we need clout (out credit's long gone bad).

PB

[xray s]

1. I agree

We were given a once in a million years chance to unite the world to work for peace and justice and the bastard flushed it all down the toilet.

That moment will never come back. It's gone forever.

[wake.up.america]

2. Very well expressed. Bush had a chance to become a great President...

and he blew it.

[amerikat]

3. He never had the potential to be even a mediocre president.

He lacks empathy. He see's only black and white("you're with us or your with the terrorists") and can't see shades of grey, which comprise most of the complexity of life on Earth. He's an idiot.

edit for puncuation

[wake.up.america]

5. Yeah, I guess you are right. Even without Iraq, he is a bozo.

He does not have the potential. Thanks for making me realize how silly my statement was.

[Erika]

4. I thought his speech about 9/11 was beautiful and I admired him

Then it turned over to Iraq which had nothing to do with 9/11. Where is OBL?

We have pictures of Cheney with his arm around Saddam as he gave Saddam lethal chemicals which he used against the Kurds. We saw Cheney give Saddam a gold plated pistol.

Interesting.

[CJCRANE]

6. If you take 9/11 at face value

then yes, he squandered the sympathy.

But in reality it was a set-up for the neocons to get everything they wanted..and it worked.

[amerikat]

7. You are correct...pnac got the Pearl Harbor they wanted.

Little did they know it would be their undoing.

[CJCRANE]

8. Yes, in the long run.

The PNAC crowd are Cold War dinosaurs. Their old school politics doesn't work well in the 21st century with the internet and international 24 hour news channels. Secret information that used to take decades to come out now takes years at most.

[MapleHeart]

9. squandered is right

I just happened upon DU Thursday night and it was this post of yours PB that spurred me into registering.

I'm an adventure travel guide/driver here in Canada, the company I work for dealing mostly with international backpackers. These people are mostly university educated and well traveled, many spending a year or more doing round the world trips.

On Sept 11 I was in the Saquenay region of Quebec (whale watching and sea kayaking where the Saquenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence being a couple of the more popular activities) when the first sign that something was different occured to me. There seemed to be a highly unusual amount of flights of CF-18 fighters that morning (one of Canada'a main fighter bases is located at CFB Bagotville near Chicoutimi). Soon we were to find out what had happened and spent the afternoon glued to a TV set in a small bar while several of my clients tried to phone home to resssure loved ones they were OK (many international visitors to Canada fly in and out of North America via New York). Shock, sorrow and sympathy for Americans set in and these feelings were to be with us for rest of the trip.

As the tour schedule would have it I was in Ottawa, our national capital, on Friday the 14th. As in other world capitals there was a memorial gathering on Parliament Hill to show support to the American people. My tour group consisted of 21 people from 9 different countries and we joined an estimated crowd of 100,000 other people to offer our respect and sincere sympathies.

Later that afternoon we walked past the American embassy on Sussex Drive where people had come to leave flowers, notes, candles etc. alongside the fence bordering the building. We came upon a small stuffed bunny on which hung a small sign around its neck which read "Please give me to somebody who has lost their mommy or daddy." There wasn't a single person amomgst us who didn't have tears flowing after seeing that.

It was a horrible thing that happened that day. No matter, as you have pointed out, that many people around the world (including some from America's traditional allies) had well grounded negative opinions of American policies and intervention in their affairs, there was a general feeling of revulsion concerning this barbarous act. People from all spectrums of the world's nations were ready to stand with and support America.

Not so anymore. Even the vast majority of those people from the UK and Australia who I have dealt with bitterly oppose their own governments for allowing their countries to be dragged into this mess in Iraq, which any rational person knows never had anything to do with 9/11 or WMD in the first place.

In the aftermath of 9/11 America was given the opportunity to truly be a respected and moral leader of the world. Personally, for humanity as a whole, I believe the greatest tragedy to come out of all this is the fact that opportunity was lost, probably forever, because of the warped minds of the current American administration.

Please do not take this as anti-American or bashing the American people. It isn't. I'm simply a person from outside America verifying to you my experiences that would seem to confirm what you already know... that Bush and his cabal have done tremendous damage, perhaps irreversible, to America's standing in the world community.

Canada and the USA historical have pretty darn good relations with each other whenever there is a Democrate in the White House. The really mean spirited problems only seem to happen when thre is a Republican president. As a Canadian I find it annoying when American right wing blowhards disrespect my country but it is nothing compared to the anger I feel towards right wing Canadian nutbars who call me anti-American simply because I am a proud Canadian who takes exception to my country being bad mouthed and disrespected for things that are not our fault (the power blackout of Aug 03) or simply outright lies (the 9/11 terrorists attacking America from Canada).