Children killed in Afghanistan by USA

The other day, while watching nightly news, my granddaughter 11, asked me: “Grandpa why does ISIS hate us so much.” I hastily answered that there has been a lot of wars and killing in the Middle East and many people blame the USA for much of the killing and thus want to kill us. I was going to add more but she seemed to be satisfied so I did not. I wish I would have answered with first saying that is a very good question that most people do not ask, but it is important and then go on with an explanation.

I remember that after 9/11 Pope John Paul II asked a similar question about those who attacked us, without at all justifying this tragedy. I remember going to a discussion group at MATC where the question was asked about the persons we blamed for this horrendous event. It was an invigorating conversation trying to understand the deep hate some in the Middle East had for the USA. However, quickly the conversation in the country changed to how to get ‘revenge’, called ‘justice’ now, and we found ourselves in two wars that continue today, 14 years later, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Out of these two wars more wars were bred in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

The present Pope, Pope Francis, recently said Arms manufacturers and investors can’t call themselves Christian. Yet on his first visit to the USA he is meeting with the President of USA and Congress, the leaders of the country that is the biggest dealer of arms. The planes and bombs Saudi Arabia is using now to kill people in Yemen are “made in the USA” as well as those used by military of Israel to destroy Palestinians. Will the Pope condemn the actions of the President and Members of congress who call themselves ‘Christian’ and some even ‘Catholic’.

I invited the Pope, while he was in the USA, to come to Milwaukee to condemn Marquette University, a Catholic Jesuit university, (he is a Jesuit), for teaching war and killing and to condemn the local Catholic lay organization, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Milwaukee, that is using money for the poor to serve suburbanites. But I never heard from him. Even our Holy Father feels the need to be diplomatic, condemn the actions, but not call out the offenders.

Maybe if we could have seriously asked ourselves the question of Why such a hated for Americans in the 9/11 tragedy we could have avoided some of the violence, wars and enormous deaths and sufferings generated from that action.

The billions invested in creating more terrorist could have created more people who love the USA. We cannot change the past but we can stop repeating the past mistakes by asking why. Why does ISIS hate us so much?

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