h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I want to tell u everybody, that we muslims are very sorry and touched of the american terorr attack.
It is right that we have a negative opinion about USA becouse of US foreign politics, but this doesnt mean we want or wish to kill american civilian ppl.
And by the way dont blame islam, many ppl. involve islam in what the do, but it is wrong islam r as other religions which wish peace for everyone, islam dont tell us to kill children, civilians, mothers and ppl who is fought for others life like firefighters down the Twin Towers.
I begg you to not invlove islam in it, Iam a muslim girl and Iam living in Europe, and since yesterday I cannt stop thinking of the poor ppl. who had nothing to do with anything.
Iam so sorry for what happened, and wish all ppl on this earth peace and God bless us all, and America.

The shock and horror at what transpired in america is felt by every
humanbeing our heart felt sympathy is with the victims family's.
I feel however that every one is jumping the gun somewhat here.We do not know as yet if indeed muslims are involved or not.Even if those who carried out this cowardley act are found to be of the muslim faith,we must and before we condemn the religion of islam or draw comparisons with the crusades establish the forces which drove those people to carry out such carnage and be prepared to die doing it.
I believe that the subject heading 'love islam hate america'is very misguided as i know it to be a fact that many muslims round the world love and admire america and the american people. what a lot of people round the globe and not only muslims hate is arrogance,prejudice,favoritism,imperialism that only to name a few of the ills of our world today.I believe it is our duty and the duty of every peace loving person regardless of his religion and for the sake security of all of our world citizens to work to stamp out injustice in our society.

The whole politically correct thought process is ludicrous. The world has been brutalized. What if these dirt bags had biological warfare on their mind. Are you aware the American hospitals are on alert to watch for strange illness patterning??????
America could easily have been infected with a disease that could destroy us all. The terrorist care for no one. Even their own families. I STRONGLY support ending the abilities of any nation that harbors or funds such people. They choose to support these animals. If Bin Laden had no place to hide then he would of been destroyed ten years ago. The countries responsible deserve to feel the wrath of A VERY angry America. Terrorism is a threat to every living creature. If you think your safe your wrong. The winds may blow to the east and it may be your wife or children being buried by acts of violence in your home town. These are not logical reasonable people we are dealing with. They should be stopped and as an American I SUPPORT the war against terrorist and countries who harbor them. It is the only way to stop this sort of evil.
The dead in New York and Washington and the victim's families did nothing to deserve this. Politics and religion were not responsible. Evil is.
I dont want my children to have to fear for their lives when they board a plane or go to work. I NEED to feel safe in my own home. This has been taken and I want it restored.

The whole politically correct thought process is ludicrous. The world has been brutalized. What if these dirt bags had biological warfare on their mind. Are you aware the American hospitals are on alert to watch for strange illness patterning??????
America could easily have been infected with a disease that could destroy us all. The terrorist care for no one. Even their own families. I STRONGLY support ending the abilities of any nation that harbors or funds such people. They choose to support these animals. If Bin Laden had no place to hide then he would of been destroyed ten years ago. The countries responsible deserve to feel the wrath of A VERY angry America. Terrorism is a threat to every living creature. If you think your safe your wrong. The winds may blow to the east and it may be your wife or children being buried by acts of violence in your home town. These are not logical reasonable people we are dealing with. They should be stopped and as an American I SUPPORT the war against terrorist and countries who harbor them. It is the only way to stop this sort of evil.
The dead in New York and Washington and the victim's families did nothing to deserve this. Politics and religion were not responsible. Evil is.
I dont want my children to have to fear for their lives when they board a plane or go to work. I NEED to feel safe in my own home. This has been taken and I want it restored.

The whole politically correct thought process is ludicrous. The world has been brutalized. What if these dirt bags had biological warfare on their mind. Are you aware the American hospitals are on alert to watch for strange illness patterning??????
America could easily have been infected with a disease that could destroy us all. The terrorist care for no one. Even their own families. I STRONGLY support ending the abilities of any nation that harbors or funds such people. They choose to support these animals. If Bin Laden had no place to hide then he would of been destroyed ten years ago. The countries responsible deserve to feel the wrath of A VERY angry America. Terrorism is a threat to every living creature. If you think your safe your wrong. The winds may blow to the east and it may be your wife or children being buried by acts of violence in your home town. These are not logical reasonable people we are dealing with. They should be stopped and as an American I SUPPORT the war against terrorist and countries who harbor them. It is the only way to stop this sort of evil.
The dead in New York and Washington and the victim's families did nothing to deserve this. Politics and religion were not responsible. Evil is.
I dont want my children to have to fear for their lives when they board a plane or go to work. I NEED to feel safe in my own home. This has been taken and I want it restored.

With reference to the crusades the comparison is confusing and wrong. Having just completed a history degree and studied the crusades in depth I can inform you that they were based, for those involved, not on the idea of retaking the holy land but on redeeming themselves. At the time fighting and warfare had recently been deemed sinfull and so the pope had preeched the crusade as a way for the knightly classes to pursue the chivalrous rights of war but without going to hell. They did not care who they killed just as long as they fulfilled their mission. When Jerusalem was sacked after siege the Crusaders made a point of killing the large native christian population as well as Muslims.

The point is that we cannot compare the acts of sept the 11th with those of the distant past. The only acts that bear serious comparison to those we have witnessed are such acts as the mass murders we have wittnessed in the last century as they are the only acts of comparable brutality.

I believe that the sort of incidents we should look most to are acts such as the killing of 17,500 civillians in the Israeli invaision of the Lebanon in 1982 and the hideous rounds of arming of Arab nations by the west only to later attack them with bombs and sanctions which kill children. The west turned a blind eye to these incidents at the time and since. The majority of people, and I do especially single out Americans in this though none are without blame, saw these events as nothing to do with them, far away and about a different (muslim) world.

Now we see that those disgusting events did take place in the same world and we here the west recognising an act of Barbarism. Why has it had to take this to open our eyes?

Don't get me wrong. The attacks were among the sickest things I have seen in my short lifetime. Action of the strongest type must be taken against these extremists. But equally we must not forget why America and its allies are so hated in the Arab world. Those people do not hate our freedom, as I heard Colin Powell declare, and they do not represent an evil religion that needs to wiped out as I have read in more extreme places. They hate us because we have stood by and ignored, or on occasion supported and controled, many equal attrocities with similar brutality.

My thoughts and hopes are with those who lost their lives yesterday and those who lost their lives in all the days leading up to these terrible events. May we finnaly realise that we must all treat each other as human beings to prevent us being reduced to the animalistic acts we have wittnessed.

S. Bennett (UK)

With reference to the crusades the comparison is confusing and wrong. Having just completed a history degree and studied the crusades in depth I can inform you that they were based, for those involved, not on the idea of retaking the holy land but on redeeming themselves. At the time fighting and warfare had recently been deemed sinfull and so the pope had preeched the crusade as a way for the knightly classes to pursue the chivalrous rights of war but without going to hell. They did not care who they killed just as long as they fulfilled their mission. When Jerusalem was sacked after siege the Crusaders made a point of killing the large native christian population as well as Muslims.

The point is that we cannot compare the acts of sept the 11th with those of the distant past. The only acts that bear serious comparison to those we have witnessed are such acts as the mass murders we have wittnessed in the last century as they are the only acts of comparable brutality.

I believe that the sort of incidents we should look most to are acts such as the killing of 17,500 civillians in the Israeli invaision of the Lebanon in 1982 and the hideous rounds of arming of Arab nations by the west only to later attack them with bombs and sanctions which kill children. The west turned a blind eye to these incidents at the time and since. The majority of people, and I do especially single out Americans in this though none are without blame, saw these events as nothing to do with them, far away and about a different (muslim) world.

Now we see that those disgusting events did take place in the same world and we here the west recognising an act of Barbarism. Why has it had to take this to open our eyes?

Don't get me wrong. The attacks were among the sickest things I have seen in my short lifetime. Action of the strongest type must be taken against these extremists. But equally we must not forget why America and its allies are so hated in the Arab world. Those people do not hate our freedom, as I heard Colin Powell declare, and they do not represent an evil religion that needs to wiped out as I have read in more extreme places. They hate us because we have stood by and ignored, or on occasion supported and controled, many equal attrocities with similar brutality.

My thoughts and hopes are with those who lost their lives yesterday and those who lost their lives in all the days leading up to these terrible events. May we finnaly realise that we must all treat each other as human beings to prevent us being reduced to the animalistic acts we have wittnessed.

S. Bennett (UK)

was it the IRA who trained their very own TERRORISTS in Syria, Palestine, or wherever....or was it those countries who paid the IRA to train their own TERRORISTS ?? Can anyone remember the relatively peaceful days before these anti-democratic scumbags ruined everything ??? What's worse, is that loads of Yanks are still contributing to the IRA coffers in the misguided belief that they are 'Freedom fighters' rather than just plain TERRORISTS like any other Anti- democratic criminals.

Quite simple this one. The Muslims hate the USA's defence and support for the Jewish State. I know quite a few Muslims and whilst they sympathise with the loss of innocent life, they do agree that America had in some way this attack coming to them?. I will always remember the cae in the UK when Salmond Rushdie was villified and Muslems were on the streets with swords and knifes and threatening murder against him and any of his supporters. No charges were ever made of a breach of the peace against any of these people.
We all must learn to live to-gether but we must also respect the rule of law.

Quite simple this one. The Muslims hate the USA's defence and support for the Jewish State. I know quite a few Muslims and whilst they sympathise with the loss of innocent life, they do agree that America had in some way this attack coming to them?. I will always remember the cae in the UK when Salmond Rushdie was villified and Muslems were on the streets with swords and knifes and threatening murder against him and any of his supporters. No charges were ever made of a breach of the peace against any of these people.
We all must learn to live to-gether but we must also respect the rule of law.

I posted some comments earlier which have ben removed by the moderators, and subsequent attempts to repost have been blocked. The comments I made expressed a left-wing viewpoint of the recent attack on the USA and expressed support for the attack as well as heavily criticising acts of war by the US government over the last fifty years. The only reason that these comments were removed was their political content. That is, they were censored because they expressed a view that the BBC in its position as promoter of only the prevailing political outlook, wished to deny. Clearly the BBC, in accordance with the British government's policy does not allow any vies that are blatantly left-wing to be broadcast. As such the BBC has violated the law with respect to its right to have a licence to broadcast.

I have read all the mails on this subject and first I would like to send my condolences to all the American people wherever you are for this atrocity and hope that the group of people who are responsible are soon caught and dealt with. There has been references made to the Crusades as a starting point for hatred of the western world, because of the atrocities done to the Muslems at that time, please, please get real in the days of the Crusades the Muslems and Christians treated each other with the same contempt, women and children where slaughtered by all sides. It was the way wars where fought. It didn't make it right but thats how life was in those days. You could go on and on about which of the countries of that time commited the worst atrocities.

There has been wars between many nations, but at least when the enemy was aproaching you could distinguish between friend and foe by the way that they dressed. These Terrorists who yesterday showed just what depths they will sink to, could be living next door to you as your friend, could have plyed with your children, could have been invited to share a meal with you and your family, you do not know who they are or when they will strike, no matter what you do if they want to get you they will, just talk to anyone who has lived with terrorism.

Quite simple this one. The Muslims hate the USA's defence and support for the Jewish State. I know quite a few Muslims and whilst they sympathise with the loss of innocent life, they do agree that America had in some way this attack coming to them?. I will always remember the case in the UK when Salman Rushdie was villified and Muslems were on the streets with swords and knifes and threatening murder against him and any of his supporters. No charges were ever made of a breach of the peace against any of these people. The terms of the Fatwa were:
The author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, against the Prophet of Islam, and against the Koran, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to capital punishment. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to execute this sentence without delay, so that no one henceforth will dare insult the sacred beliefs of the Muslims.
We all must learn to live to-gether but we must also respect the rule of law.

Japanese suicide kamakazi fighters were encouraged by the Shinto religion. Nobody during WWII said "They must be motivated by all of the evil things the U.S. is doing". If you tell young men enough times: "Those are subhuman animals; kill them all; you will go to heaven for suicide bombing." They will do it. Progressive people in every country are trying to get beyond this primitive tribal behavior, and the Japanese are to be congratulated for doing so. I encourage Moslems to do the same.

Trouble is, with all this macho talk, where will it all end. We've already seen that there are no limits to the terrorists' actions. So America's response will be terrible: and the terrorists will lie down?

I don't think so. Look what happens in Israel.

They'll go a step further. I live in London, another great symbol of the rich west. What happens if a suicide bomber decides to strap a nuclear device to himself?

I am interested by the tone of this submission. As a non American, I am always amused by the moral tone of a nation that celebrates stupidity to the extent that it alternates the people it elects as President between a moron and a criminal. I am also disappointed by the coverage that has been given to the terrible events in the United States, My minority view, but it is by no means isolated, is that, though I am completely horrified by what happened to the individuals in the WTC and Pentagon, also the victims on the flights, it has been a long time coming that the US of A gets it's come-uppance for it's worldwide lack of regard for local and International law, where the all-important factor in it's administration of "Justice" has been the fact that American citizens have been in difficulty overseas, in what the USA regards as "primitive" countries. I was amused by Tony Blair saying today that the perpetrators of these acts had no regard for justice - I think he may find that these people had an all too heightened sense of justice, in parallel with some of the more "traditional" American states, where justice,through lethal injection or whatever , is administered in the good ol' vengeance parameter - an eye for an eye, etc., something that Christianity took from it's Jewish roots but only likes to quote when it suits.

there,s a pirate who lives down the street from me

I was in Manhattan not long ago and even rode to the top of the World Trade Center with my wife and kids. As I looked out over the world from the 110th floor observation deck, feeling the building sway in the wind, I remember thinking how horrible it would be if something were to happen to the building.

I watched the events unfold yesterday in disbelief. These things don't happen in the US. Yes, we were that niave. The thoughts that this could happen by a group of lunatics armed only with make-shift plastic knives was unbelievable.

The news coverage focused on the events but little on reactions around the country. People were pulling to the sides of the freeways around the US in tears and disbelief. Televisions turned on in restaurants with absolutely no noise other than watching the coverage. Seems everyone has a friend or relative who lived in Manhattan, worked near the WTC, or was on a flight in the Northeast yesterday. Rumors also mounted about other flights disappearing off of radar and being tracked by airforce jets.

People are still numb today, and crying. It's horrible!



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I am from Serbia, and I am very sorry what happend in America yesterday. The most of all, I am sorry of all inocente victimes, but do you remember BELGRADE and how we were bombed! America and Nato interfere in our politics, but nobody shouldnt interfere in Americas bussines. I think it is not fair! America must stop being world police officer!

Violence is not to be condoned in any shape or form. I'm simply shocked that this hasn't happened before, or for that matter, that it doesn't happen every other day. America has been the playground bully for many decades, knocking the small kids over and stealing their lunch-boxes. As usual with bullies, it is acting with supreme surprise when someone turns around and gives them the same treatment. Like I say, violence is not to be condoned, but come on, knock it off and stop acting innocent.