Okay, firstly, I don't want any Americans taking this thread the wrong way. This is not some sort of insult, no matter how you read it. I'm just trying to open up a discussion that struck me today.

I was talking to (okay, drinking with) an American today and he made the statement "The attacks on September 11th where because the rest of the world is jealous of our success".

My response was (I was probably sluring my words mind you) "So you don't feel that it could possibly have had anything to do with America's foriegn policy"

And he shocked me to the core by suddenly becoming very defensive and ranting about how America was "the most fairest nation on earth" and had "done more for world peace than any other nation on earth" and "America is the last line of defence against these people".

A number of things struck me at this stage (not least of which was the argumentative qualities of alchohol), so I asked him "So, you don't feel that America's foriegn policy annoys other nations?". He seemed amazed that I would even think that America would harm a fly abroad without first being attacked.

I then asked him about the trade war with Canada over the lumber (and how America illegaly adds a 32% tax to Canadian lumber - inspite of the free trade agreement - to protect their own lumber trade), the policy of arming the Isrealies against the Palestinians, the policy of Arming the Taliban against the Russians, the policy of bombing Libya (and killing children), the policy of carpet bombing Afghanistan, the policy of spying on European companies and providing the information back to American companies, the policy of refusing trading rights in America to European companies who might compete with their home grown industries.

And (I swear this is not a word of a lie), he denied that any of that was wrong, and that he didn't believe half of this hippy propoganda (I can verify all of the above points). This astounded me. Don't get me wrong, I think the events of September 11th were despicable and terrible, and make my heart grieve, but I cannot comprehend how such a person can be so self-righteous as to honestly believe that their country does no wrong. I come from a country (Britain) which has a terrible history of screwing up every country on earth, I accept this as one of the many short comings of my land, yet it doesn't mean that I am any less proud to be British. However, this chap seemed to believe that it was un-patriotic to say anything bad about America, and therefore he wouldn't do it. Hell, I've worked with Russian scientists (before Galsnost) who had more freedom of speech than this guy.

I realise that this guy does not speak for all Americans, but it really perturbed me to the core. This guy see's nothing wrong with breaking trade agreements, killing innocents (as long as they are not American), and inciting violence (as long as it's not on the American soil). I'm looking for the voice of reason, and I know I will find it on this website in the likes of Katie and Dennis. Someone, please tell me that you don't all feel this way, 'cause I have to say that at this very moment I'm pretty ticked off about the whole thing.

I might add, that at one stage he got very threatening (because I didn't believe that America was this great paragon of vitrue), until he leaned across the table pointing at me, and I stood up. It was at this point that he realised that I was a full foot taller than him and a good 100lb's heavier.

Sorry guys (Katie etc.), but I'm really ticked off about this. Does your news really hide so much from you, that you can't see why other nations get annoyed? Or is this guy an unusual case.

SD