Actually my first reponse was too simplistic. What should be done is to
invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, catch Bin Ladin, restore order,
set up a new constitution (like the US did in Japan after WW2) and rebuilt
the country to show them that the West is not their enemy and to sow the
seeds of peace. Next the US should talk the Israelis into giving the
Palestinians a homeland, overthrow Saddam Hussein and rebuild Iraq. It
won't be easy - but there is no other way to ensure that the WTC bombing is
the last of its kind.
Rednecks would say: 'nuke the lot of them' - I have to agree that this would
work - but is it a practical way or the way a civilised society deals with a
problem?
----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: Afghanistan thoughts
> Somehow I think that the our leaders right now do see beyond it. I've
> understood
> what bin Laden has been after for some time. (There is a lot of
> information on the
> Internet just do a search on his name). What would you suggest as a
response
> to the murder of well the current count is 5000+ of innocent people for a
> political
> purpose.
>
> At 08:15 AM 9/15/2001 +0800, you wrote:
> >Excellent Chris. I hope people read this and I hope they can see past
their
> >anger enough to understand it...
> >
> >Regards
> >Nenad
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Chris Brogden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 7:35 AM
> >Subject: Afghanistan thoughts
> >
> >
> > > I'm passing this along just as I received it...
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > Folks,
> > >
> > > This came across on another mailing list I am on. Very interesting,
> > > plausible response to "What did they hope to gain by this massive
> > > terrorist attack" and a and bleak picture of Afghanistan today.
> > >
> > > ***************************************************************
> > > Subject: A view from Afghanistan
> > >
> > >
> > > Dear Friends,
> > > The following was sent to me by my friend Tamim
> > > Ansary. Tamim is an Afghani-American writer. He is
> > > also one of the most brilliant people I know in this
> > > life. When he writes, I read. When he talks, I
> > > listen. Here is his take on Afghanistan and the whole
> > > mess we are in.
> > >
> > > -Gary T.
> > >
> > >
> > > Dear Gary and whoever else is on this email thread:
> > >
> > > 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
> > > colateral 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 (the US) 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
> >-
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