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>>> Michael Lane 12/02/05 10:17 AM >>>
Written by an Australian Dentist...

To Kill an American You probably missed it in the rush of news last week,
but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in
a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any
American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to
let everyone know what an American is. So they would know when they found
one. (Good one, mate!!!!) "An American is English, or French, or Italian,
Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be
Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian,
Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan."

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho,
Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native
Americans. An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist,
or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan.
The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of
them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that
he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs
claiming to speak for the government and for God. An American lives in the
most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that
prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which
recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other
nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans
came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their
country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than
any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of
everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best
food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired
and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless,
tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of
them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001
earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World
Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures,
and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the
terrorists. So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So
did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty
tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.
Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place.
They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds
to that spirit, everywhere, is an American. Please keep this going! Pass
this around the World! Then pass it around again. It says it all, for all
of us