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Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' (deleted in The Guardian because of TikTok)
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this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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In your circles perhaps but it was pretty widespread rhetoric at the time.
This was an era where idiots were trying to rename French fries "Freedom fries" and burning Dixie Chick albums because they had criticized Bush. As a non-American it was eye-opening seeing many my formerly moderate US friends become thirsty for war and hysterically denounce anyone who disagreed.
As a non-American, I always saw the "freedom fries" thing as a mockery of Americanism, I'm having a hard time believing this was a non-satirical idea.
No, the "Freedom fries" was all too real. It was actually used in cafeterias in the US Congress and the trend took off from there.
Another thing that actually did happen was a few US civilians attacked American Sikhs and even killed a few because they wore turbans.
I grew up in a red state. I recall that attempting to understand why the enemy attacked us was seen as being sympathetic to the enemy which was a traitorous position to take. Trying to explain the context of why we were attacked even in a conversation about how to most effectively defend ourselves was typically met with indignant anger. The only acceptable response to the attack was total annihilation of the enemy. I heard "glass them over" more times than I can count. The actual military response was seen as a merciful compromise where I'm from.