Seldom do events have such an impact that they are able to create new and dangerous stereotypes and reformulate foreign policies in a way that they are no longer up for negotiation. As the United States remembers the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the people of the world – especially in this little corner of it – are reflecting on how this single event has so dramatically changed their lives.

Although several thousand miles away, the events of that day five years ago, which saw New York’s twin towers crumble to the ground, have caused not a mere ripple effect across the Atlantic but more accurately, a destructive tidal wave. Who would have guessed that President George W. Bush’s words in the early days after the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 Americans died, would have such catastrophic repercussions? “You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror,” he said in November of that same year.

It is not so much the words he uttered but how misconceptions were then shaped around them that have caused so much damage. From that point on, the September 11 attacks have given carte blanche to the United States and its allies to unleash an unprecedented and unbridled fury on all those Bush so carelessly categorized as those “against them” in this new war.

The very phrase “the war on terror” is a misnomer in the least. Terrorism is a concept, not a place or person, and it is an idea that Bush has allowed himself to disproportionately exploit and tag with gross misconceptions and racist stereotypes. Thanks to the US President, terrorism now has a face, a culture and a religion. Terrorism is dark-skinned, with a thick Arabic accent and a Quran in one hand. Terrorism lives in caves in the Afghanistan outback, in the Saddam Hussein loyalist hideouts in Baghdad, in Hizbullah strongholds in South Lebanon, and in the nooks and crannies of the Gaza Strip’s refugee camps.

And while the Arabs and Muslims have paid the heaviest price for Bush’s cowboy approach, the Americans have not gone without consequences. What is so surprising is that the voices of anger and opposition have not risen loud enough in the White House and on Capitol Hill to put a halt to this madness.

Clearly, the loss of 3,000 civilians on US soil is no minor event. Roughly the same numbers of US soldiers have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq since then. However, the ongoing debate among many Americans in the public and within the corridors of power is whether the US administration’s war policies have contributed to quelling hatred towards America or only further fanned the flames and fury.

If the answer is that Americans have increasingly become more aware that their government misled them after September 11, this is yet to be seen here in the Middle East. A US Senate report released on September 8 refuted what Vice President Dick Cheney so vehemently argued in 2004 when he said “there's overwhelming evidence there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government.” The report concluded that Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.”

Still, there is no sign US troops are packing up and pulling out of Iraq. Instead, the battered country is at the dangerous brink of a civil war while an invading foreign army continues to abuse Iraqi prisoners and civilians alike, allowed a free hand in occupying and oppressing a people it claims to have liberated from a tyrant’s rule.

Moving on to Lebanon, the recent events there are evidence that Bush’s maxim of “with us or against us” is as strong as ever. Israel pummeled the south of Lebanon and its capital for over a month, justifying to the world their unrelenting war on “Hizbullah terrorists.” Never mind that a grotesque number of innocent civilians were sacrificed in the mix. The important thing is that Israel, backed by its number one ally, has conveniently been provided with the comfortable cushion of the west’s “war on terror” to fall back on whenever deemed necessary.

Israel’s, and by proxy, the United States’ policies in Palestine are no different. While Israel has always reigned over Palestinian territories under its occupation with brutality, the post-September 11 era has provided it with much of the world’s sympathy in doing so.

Don’t forget that Israel has marketed itself as the Middle East’s European representative since its creation. Israel holds up the image of its light-eyed, blonde-haired scantily dressed European immigrants as the civilized inhabitants of the former “land without a people” or at least a people that does not count. In Bush’s post-9/11 world, the Palestinians fit the perfect “terrorist” profile – predominantly Muslim, Arab and fervent lovers of their country and cause. In the lexicon of another time and age, the Palestinians would have been praised as patriots, freedom fighters, and peace seekers.

Clearly, the Palestinians, the Iraqis, and the Lebanese cannot put their wagers on the consciences of the world’s governments. Despite overwhelming evidence that they deceived their own people, the brazen abuse of Iraqi prisoners and civilians, and the obvious justness of causes such as the Palestinians,’ governments continue to be driven not by morality but by interests.

Therefore, just as the Americans have a responsibility to question their own government and see beyond the hollow rhetoric about “saving America,” the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims must also take it upon themselves to show the world how it has been misled. Why has the phrase “state terrorism” been slashed from common discourse, especially when it comes from Israel or the United States? Is not the bombing of whole villages where hundreds of men, women, and children are killed even worse than the capturing of an occupying soldier, whose presence is for the sole purpose of oppressing another people?

The world is a long way from realizing these truths, but like anything else worth fighting for, real progress is made one step at a time. Unfortunately for the meantime, because of the deaths of less than 3,000 Americans five years ago, an entire region must pay the price.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Programme at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mip@miftah.org