Finally someone says it right !!! 

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 the following to let everyone know 
what an American is, so they would know when they found one. 

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, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or
Pakistani, or Afghan.  

An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot,
Navajo, Apache, 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 is from 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 
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. When Afghanistan 
was overrun 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: the best products; the best books; the 
best music; the best food; the best athletes.  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.  
I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at 
least 30 other 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 every 
bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of 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.