Very wise words about war

[Guest guest]

Dear 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 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 off 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 healthcare? 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 a 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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[Guest guest]

Such a powerfull letter............I hope it gets to the White House. I

would hate to see our government go off the deep end in the wrong direction

here!

Blessings, Doris

_________________________________________________________________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

[Guest guest]

Tamim,

I'm just new on this list and will send an intro soon, but I have to

comment on your post. Absolutely, it is quite discriminatory to

assume Afghanistan as a country had anything to do with the

Sept 11th tragedy. Thank you for writing this post that points out

the difference between Taliban and Afghanistan. I understand

that Osama Bin Laden is not even from Afghanistan originally.

Anyway, in our panic and grief many have made assumptions

that are false, ie prejudice. I am not qualified to address the rest

of your post regarding how to stop the terrorism, but I do feel

sympathy for the innocent citizens of Afghanistan and wish that

there were something we could do to help them.

Now I would like to bring up another prejudice. Many have said

that Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban are " crazy, looney, mad,

psychotic, etc. I would like everyone to consider that this is not

likely. I would like to bust the stereotype that mental illness is

equated with violence. As you know, OBL is quite clever, quite the

trainer and planner. He would need all his concentration to do

what he does. He would not likely be able to pull off what he has

with being depressed, he wouldn't be motivated. He wouldn't

likely be able to plan and train if he were hallucinating. Nor would

he likely be able to continuously carry out terrorism if his moods

were swinging. No one is only manic: what goes up must come

down. Perhaps if he is mentally ill, he is on medication to control

it and therefore functioning well. I doubt it. It takes a lot of energy

to function when one is mentally ill. I should know. I have

depression and anxiety, my son has bipolar with some

psychosis and my daughter suffers from depression at times.

So, my point is that OBL and the Taliban are evil. They are not

devote Muslims, nor are they representing Afghanistan, nor are

they mentally ill. They are simply evil.

Thank you for allowing me to share my opinion.

-Nanette S., Santa Cruz, Calif.

> Dear 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 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 off 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

healthcare? 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 a 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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