News coverage showed footage of Iraqis and other people, many of them children, celebrating in the streets after the events of September 11th. Americans were disgusted by this and couldn't understand how these people could be celebrating. Imagine that you are an Iraqi child. Your father was forced at gunpoint to join Saddam's army. He was shot dead by US planes while surrendering. Your mother was killed by a cluster bomb. All your siblings were infected with cholera, because of the contaminated water that resulted from US bombings of treatment plants. There was no way to treat your siblings, because US sanctions blocked out the needed medication. Your siblings all die. If one day you found out that US military and economic centers were attacked and damaged, there's a good chance that you would celebrate with others in the streets.

On August 15, 2002 it was announced that about 600 family members of September 11th victims filed a trillion dollar lawsuit against the Sudanese government, Saudi officials, banks, and charities for supposedly funding the attacks on September 11th. First of all, it was "President" George W. Bush who gave a gift of $43 million to the Taliban in May of 2001. Maybe this lawsuit should be made against the Bush Administration. Secondly, if family members of the victims of American violence were to file lawsuits of equal monetary value per victim, the amount would be in the quadrillions. (See the tens of millions of victims listed in "America's Greatest Hits" and Section 2) There isn't enough money in the entire world to pay such a settlement.

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." - Mahatma Gandhi

The US did of course get its vengeance, but the primary victims were the people of Afghanistan who had nothing to do with the Taliban and were victims of it. An estimated 3,767 civilians were killed in the first 9 weeks alone. (The Progressive, February 2002) On October 16, 2001, US Navy planes bombed six food-filled Red Cross warehouses in Afghanistan. In one attack that took place on November 30 and December 1, 2001, the US bombed 3 villages 25 miles south of Jalalabad (a territory controlled by allies and anti-Taliban forces). On December 30, 2001, the US struck the village of Niazi Kala, killing about a hundred civilians, mostly women and children. According to the UN, "unarmed women and children" were "chased and killed by American helicopters," "as they fled to shelter" or "as they tried to rescue survivors." Another publicly known incident occurred on July 1, 2002 when the US bombed a wedding party, killing 48 and injuring over 100.