[Moonwatcher]

I found this very interesting and thought you might want to read it.


This article written by Tamim Ansary who is from Afghanistan but
has lived in the U.S. for 35 years comes closest (in my opinion) to
defining the situation as it presently stands with regards to
military involvement in Afghanistan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back
> to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that
> this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with
> this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral
> damage. What else can we do?" Minutes later I heard some TV pundit
> discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done."
> And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am
> from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years. I've never
> lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will
> listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.
>
> I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There
> is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the
> atrocity in New York. I agree that something must be done about those
> monsters.
>
> But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not
> even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant
> psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a
> political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis.
> When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people
> of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not
> only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were
> the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come
> in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international
> thugs holed up in their country.
>
> Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer
> is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few years
> ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in
> Afghanistan--a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of
> widows. And the Taliban has been burying these widows alive in mass graves.
> The soil is littered with land mines, the
> farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few of the reasons why
> the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban.
>
> We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the
> Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it
> already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their
> houses?
> Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their
> hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and
> health care? Too late. Someone already did all that. New bombs would only
> stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at least get the Taliban? Not
> likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the
> means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get
> some of those disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even
> have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be
> a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would
> only be making common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the people
> they've been raping all this time. So what else is there? What can be done,
> then?
>
> Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden
> is to go in there with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly
> to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to
> kill as many as needed. Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about
> killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out of the sand.
> What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And not just because some
> Americans would die fighting their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's
> hideout. It's much bigger than that folks. Because to get any troops to
> Afghanistan, we'd have to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely.
> The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations
> just stand by? You see where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war
> between Islam and the West.
>
> And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants.
> That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right
> there. He really believes Islam would beat the west. It might seem
> ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the
> West, he's got a billion soldiers. If the west wreaks a holocaust in those
> lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even better
> from Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west
> would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and
> millions would die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin
> Laden does. Anyone else?
>
> Tamim Ansary

[shopgirlnc]

That is a very interesting article, Moon. Just goes to show that there are no easy answers in all of this. I am catholic and I went to mass on Sunday....our priest told us that God didnt do this, that terrible people with hatred did this...and that God does not seek for us to get revenge, but for us to seek Justice. He went on to say that we should support whatever our president decides to do....for seeking Justice in war does not have to be about getting revenge. It sure makes you think about all of it...the advantages, the disadvantages. I have felt total anxiety over it since it happened....like my body is exhausted, but my mind keeps on racing! Didnt mean to get off track here!

[frankles]

I think there are millions of Americans that need to read articles like that, it's very educating, I feel so sorry for the people in Afganistan, they have no control over their own country and for the past few day's have been trying to escape their own land,all because of that a**hole, what I wouldn't do to crawl in his tent and slit his throat, (I'm mad and hurting, ok) sad, I hope we don't go in there trigger happy.

[Jenerizer]

I also think Bush & his staff know this....and that is the reason we haven't already flown over there & bombed it to pieces. I think they are hoping the threat of what could happen will force them to sacrifice Bin Laden. And I just read an article that there is evidence that Iraq & Saddam Hussein are behind this also (big surprise).

Jen

[frankles]

Jen I had heard that too, rumors were that Sadam was gathering his army together on Tuesday. But you would think the two of them would butt heads, who knows.

[Jenerizer]

Well Saddam does have issues with us & how we handled Desert Storm. I still don't see why they didn't get rid of him while they could back then. Oh well, money will cause people to do evil things. I heard Iraq has all their soldiers ready & waiting along with the Taliban. You can't say we didn't try to take the right steps to end this as peacefully as possible. I'm just sitting here waiting for the tv stations to give us the first report of warfare. It has to be any day now.

Jen

[shopgirlnc]

I agree Jen......I sit and just wait for the word.

[Raccb]

Moon...thanks for this! I am going to copy and paste it into an email and send it out to all my friends. I think that this is something everyone should think about before saying "let's just bomb the hell out of them." I have heard this over and over again.

I feel somehow our country will make the right decision on what to do. For now, I just want to pray for the victims of this terrible tragedy and trust that our president will guide us in the right direction for what comes next.

[Theresa55]

I have also read this, there are no easy answers and we are going to lose more innocent people over it. Something has to be done to stop these people. I just wish we didn't have to suffer doing it. I have a son-in-law in the Active Army and a son in the Guard. So yes, I have very mixed emotions. I pray daily for understanding and strength for our nation and also for my family and friends. You all are qualified as my friends.
Theresa