What it really means to be an American Curtis F.J. Doebbler

Opinion, August 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

What it really means to be an American

Curtis F.J. Doebbler

8/29/03

I have often been criticized for criticizing the United States government and the American people.

I am an American. My family is American. I love America. And I want to see America become a great nation.

I want to see an America that cooperates with its neighbors and does not threaten them. I want to live in a world where America peacefully co-exists with other people in other nations and does not murder and mistreat people in other countries in violation of the norms of human dignity. I want to live in an America that is wealthy because it shares the world's resources with others and does not merely exploit other countries for its own benefit. I want to live in an America where people practice the religious values they preach and do not use these values to justify their hatred of others. I want to live in an America where my President and my government respect international law and the human dignity of other individuals everywhere in the world and do not regularly violate the laws and sanctity of human life. I want to live in a world where I feel protected as an American citizen because others view me as a friend and not a world where I am the enemy because of my government's disrespect for the lives and well-being of others.

American is a rich country--just the fact that we control approximately 80% of the world's capital proves this. America must also prove that its is a just country, a compassionate country, a country that respects the rule of international and national law. Through our exploitation of others, our use of violence against others, our disdain for international law, we, Americans have proven that the rest of the world is right to hate us, to threaten us, to treat us as the world's greatest threat to peace and security. It did not have to be this way.

We could have responded to 11 September 2001 by applying the rule of law within our country and internationally. We could have shown the world the proof the Sheik Osama Bin Laden was associated with the attacks and then requested his extradition under a treaty we had with Afghanistan. If this did not work we could have gone to the United Nations to seek authority to use force. The United Nations would have undoubtedly supported action in such circumstances. We could have also showed the patience that respect for the rule of law requires in dealing with Iraq, instead of rushing to attack the Iraqi people in violation of international law and creating a situation in which Americans die daily. We could respond to the world's AIDS epidemic by proving the vital resources needed to combat this scourge, instead of providing paltry sums to institutions that we already starve of funds by our failure to pay what we agreed to pay in international agreements. We could learn from our mistakes in pushing unbridled capitalism upon the world and agree to treaties that make us more answerable to the rule of law for our crimes, for our use of resources, and for our actions towards others. We could cooperate with others instead of threaten, coerce, and use force against some of the poorest people in the world. In other words, we could set a good example, instead of the example of violence, arrogance, selfishness, and exploitation that we currently set.

Yes, some of the above steps would require us to expend more of our wealth on helping others who are thousands of times less fortunate than us, but is not the peace of mind of living in a secure world where we have friends around us, preferable to being the enemy of humankind? This is a question we should ask Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolferwitz, Pearl, and each other, every single day we live in fear of the next attack against us somewhere around the world or at home. This is a question I pray everyday as a God-fearing man, the Bush administration will also ask itself.

Regards, Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler Washington, D.C. USA 20008 fax: +1-425-795-1652 email: human_rights_lawyer@writeme.com

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).