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Equating the US and terrorists is misguided

Since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington earlier this month, the response from Taiwan has mostly consisted of vigorous tongue-lashing against the US and its lenient treatment of terrorists. From a humanitarian point of view, such an attitude is problematic.

Certainly, the US has provoked much hatred in the past in its self-proclaimed role as the world's policeman. But would the world fare any better without the US?

South Korea and Taiwan would not only have been lost to Communist rule, but also ground to utter poverty by various other horrific movements. Even Western Europe could have fallen long ago. The collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union would not have occurred. China, moreover, would have had to forget about today's reforms and affluence -- it could have come under Soviet nuclear attack in the 1960s.

The US has certainly been biased in Israel's favor in its Middle Eastern policy, but it has not fired a single shot in that conflict, which is the result of a bloody war between Israel and its neighbors. The US attacks on Iraq were provoked by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The allied troops did not invade Iraqi

territory.

The idea of a conflict between Arab-Islamic and Western-Christian civilizations is therefore a delusion. In fact, most Islamic leaders are condemning the savage attacks on civilians.

Why, then, are some among Taiwan's media ignoring these facts and condemning the US? The main reason has been a misinterpretation of Beijing's anti-Americanism, and the belief that any misfortune that befalls the US is good.

Setting aside the massive damage done to China's economy by that misfortune, we should note that the Beijing government immediately sided with the US and condemned the terrorists. Beijing has even suppressed its own domestic anti-American rhetoric. Why? Because China itself has suffered from more than 100 bombings a year committed by Xinjiang separatists.

Have the pro-Beijing, anti-American people in Taiwan who applaud the terrorist attacks thought about these at all?

Since the incidents, various US government officials have repeatedly called on the public not to bear any hostility toward Muslims and Arabs, but to treat them fairly. US president George W. Bush visited some mosques, Congress introduced legislation to protect Muslims and Arabs and a judge in Georgia postponed a final ruling against a Muslim defendant, describing the current atmosphere as not conducive to a fair verdict.

These actions all illustrate that the US has not lost its rationality. this is in stark contrast to the barbaric behavior of terrorists who treat civilians like dogs -- behavior that indicates their level of "humanity."

The terrorists behind the attacks on New York and Washington represent neither Islamic civilization nor Arab people. The teachings of Islam are of peace and compassion. That is why most Muslims in the world have opposed both the terrorists and the Taliban regime of Afghanistan, which oppresses women and destroyed the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan.

The war between the US and the terrorists is therefore clearly not a conflict between civilizations. There is much in US foreign policy, especially toward the Middle East, that needs to be reviewed. But it should not be put on par with the brutal butchering of civilians. Otherwise, how can one answer to one's own rationality and conscience? The nature of this tragedy should be made absolutely clear. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, this was not an attack on the US, it was an attack on civilization.

Pu Ta-chung is a political commentator in Taipei.

Translated by Francis Huang
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