Mr. President, for me 9/11 was not "a moment"!

I posted this at Daily Kos last night and am still mad as hell, so I'm cross-posting it at MyDD and Turn Tahoe Blue today:

I'm sick (the summer flu), tired (it's past midnight in Germany) and mad as hell, insulted and outraged!

I just saw the President of the United States of America on NBC Nightly News responding to a question why, after 15 trips to Europe, many still react with protests when he comes. He said he "understands" why people react that way: for Europeans "9/11 was a moment".

How dare he!

I was an exchange student in the US ten years ago. I lived in Stateline, Nevada at the beautiful Lake Tahoe and was very fortunate to live with a loving and caring host family. America has become a second home to me. And it still is.

On 9/11 I was interning with a member of the European Parliament in Brussels. It was just one day after my 23rd birthday. One day after my birthday the world changed. I was sitting in on a meeting of the Foreign Relations committee when news of a plane having hit the World Trade Center came in. With more information coming in via text messages on mobile phones members of that committee held a moment of silence without really knowing what happened.

Later the European Parliament was evacuated. In the coming days there was a special session of parliament condemning the attacks and paying tribute to the victims.

There were rumours abound that Brussels might be attacked as well, either the European Parliament or NATO headquarters. Everyone realized that not America was attacked but that all of the Democratic World was attacked and that certainly included Europe.

It's significant to remember that the victims of 9/11 came from all over the world. While the majority of victims were Americans there were victims from virtually every European country, including Germany.

I would also like to remind the President that the world and Europe in particular stood and still stand like one man behind the United States in its efforts to fight terrorism. There is a reason why Germany and many other countries still have troops in Afghanistan.

And I would also like to remind the President that the reason for the protests against him are not because 9/11 for Europeans was just "a moment". Protests against this administration started with his intention to invade Iraq.

While Germany is engaged in Afghanistan it refused to support the war in Iraq. While Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq it did not do so in Afghanistan.

Europeans know that 9/11 was not just "a moment" but an attack on all of us. That not only the United States is a target of terrorism is quite clear when you look at where else terrorists struck: Madrid, London, Istanbul, on tourists in Morocco, Tunesia and Bali.

How dare you, Mr. President, howe dare you come to Europe and tell us that for us 9/11 was just "a moment". How dare you insult us?

Why not be humble for a change? Apologize! Apologize for this insult. Apologize for telling us there were weapons of mass destructions in Iraq. Apologize for creating a terrorists haven in Iraq and distracting from fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. Apologize for the deaths of all soldiers killed and injured in Iraq and especially for the deaths of European soldiers. For none of them was 9/11 "a moment".

Europe stands behind the United States. However, it does not stand behind an administration and a President who has lied to the people of Europe repeatedly.

Sir, 9/11 was not "a moment" for me, neither was it for the people of Europe!