Why do we hate them so?

Here's a poem by a poet and labor organizer who lives in NY city. The horrible attacks today reminded me of this poem.

My City

In my city innocent people
are killed by thunderous terror.
Vendors in the street are pummeled by rubble.
Men and women on their way to work are greeted
with anonymous hatred
of those they have never met.
Janitors, businessmen, clerks,
cooks, construction workers, the rescue workers
who risk all to help these.
My beloved city showered with death.

We cry up and ask, in the midst
of the screams of loved ones,
Why do they hate us so?
Why do they do this to our city,
to our livves?
My stomach turns on itself.
The people I love, burned, dissolving, dying.
The city I love, attacked.
My brothers in agony.
My sisters. Children. Mothers. Dead.
Who would do this?
Why my beautiful city?
How do we survive this
but by breathing the city's name
over and over and over like a mantra, a prayer?
Baghdad, Baghdad, Baghdad.

While not lessening the horrible significance of the attacks today, I continue to question why people don't care about the horrendous acts of terrorism that are occuring on a daily basis on Iraq. While the events of September 11, 2001 and June 7, 2005 will forever live on in our memories, Americans turn a blind eye to the events occuring in the middle east. How can we justify our utter lack of compassion to those in the middle east while we flood London with sympathy in the wake of terrorism? America, Enlgand, Spain, and all other countries in the west that have been attacked by terrorism have been fourtunate in the sense that the acts only occured ONCE. After all, the shadow of terrorism on America was September 11, 2001. The shadow of terrorism was London is June 7, 2005. The shadow of terrorism on Iraq, however, began March 20, 2003...............and still continues.

Why do we not care......?