LAT/AP: World Remembers 9-11 but Many Not Crying

[DeepModem Mom]

World Remembers 9-11 but Many Not Crying
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer
September 11, 2006

PARIS -- The nations of the world joined Monday in solemn remembrance of Sept. 11 -- but for many, resentment of the United States flowed as readily as tears.

Critics say Americans have squandered the goodwill that prompted France's Le Monde newspaper to proclaim "We are all Americans" that somber day after the attacks, and that the Iraq war and other U.S. policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.

Heads bowed in moments of silence for the 3,000 killed in the attacks on New York and Washington -- while the No. 2 al-Qaida leader issued new warnings in a videotape. And dissident voices said the world has traded in civil liberties and other democratic rights in its war on terror.

In Europe, where Islamic terror has struck twice since 9/11, in the Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks, the silent tributes were tinged with doubts and recriminations.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- an advocate of repairing ties with Washington that were frayed under her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder -- had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means."...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11sep11,0,7723232.story

[Kagemusha]

1. At first I wondered, whatever did Bush do to Merkel?..

...Then I remembered the unauthorized shoulder rub attempt at the G-8.

Well, not that this concerns the substance of her complaint, or being seen to complain in German politics, but that's not the tone she got into office with.

[rfranklin]

2. That was probably the very least of his insults to her and Germany...

The guy thinks that "plain spoken" means being as abrasive and antagonistic as possible. It is his M.O. to humiliate and demean everyone that he interacts with--it gives him a feeling of superiority which deep, deep down he knows is not so. And that's my opinion as a certified armchair analyst.

[Kagemusha]

3. Well I certainly am not disagreeing with you at all.

I feel I don't WANT to know what other insults he's blustered into that Merkel's far too polite to allow into the public eye.