--- Anthony Swan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >This was forwarded to me and is well worth the read. > >---- > > > >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 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 > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp