Saturday, August 31, 2002

Screwed Up Priorities

Germany has told the United States it will withhold evidence against Sept. 11 conspiracy defendant Zacarias Moussaoui unless it receives assurances that the material won't be used to secure a death penalty against him, Germany's justice minister said in remarks released Saturday.


This article is nice, isn’t it? Moussaoui is part of a conspiracy that killed 3,000 people, toppled the Twin Towers, smashed into the Pentagon, and only saw failure over Pennsylvania.

The Germans are upset this charming fellow could die as punishment.

What kind of scum are the Germans to balance his life against the lives we lost? And then judge his superior?

I strive mightily to convince myself that the Europeans are our friends. I try to keep in mind all that we have in common. I try to remember our shared struggles in the past. I try. I really do. But then somebody does something like this to just slap me in the face and remind me of how alien their minds are. More and more, as they just screw us over, I begin to think of them more as non-enemies. I enlisted in the military believing I might be needed to fight in Europe to protect them (I use the term "fight" loosely as I was just a radio operator). My faith in their friendship for us is eroded every time a politician speaks or I read an editorial column from there. I try to hope that ordinary Europeans think better of us. Won’t somebody over there at least try to show us you think us worthy of being a friend?