The Cultural Divides of War By Richard Cohen Tuesday, April 27, 2004; Page A21
It is said -- actually, he's the one who said it -- that President Bush barely skims the newspapers and instead gets briefed by his staff. If that's the case, then Bush probably missed the story in the New York Times about how, when three Japanese were freed by their captors in Iraq, they returned to Japan and were greeted not with yellow ribbons but with scorn and anger. In Iraq, knives were held to their throats. In Japan, the fear is they might use them on themselves.
The three were kidnapped in early April near Fallujah and released about two weeks later. In the interim, they were seen on TV with their captors, who threatened to kill them unless Japan pulled its troops out of Iraq. Even as that was happening, though, some in the Japanese government and the press were, as the cliche goes, blaming the victim.
For what, you might ask? For three reasons, we are told. For endangering Japan's humanitarian mission in Iraq. For disobeying a government advisory and going to Iraq in the first place. For putting their own goals above those of the nation. The public censure was such that the families of the hostages received harassing phone calls even while the three were still in Iraq, and politicians dumped on them even before they were pronounced safe. A helpful government sent a plane for them -- and then billed them for the flight. An American would be pardoned for paraphrasing the ever-wise Dorothy: This was not Kansas.
:::snip:::
Too bad George Bush doesn't read newspapers on his own. They can teach a lesson. The story about the hostages in Iraq was only partially about Japanese culture. By inference, it was also about American assumptions.
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Tom Beck
my LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tomfodw/
"I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never thought I'd see the last." - Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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