In a message dated 1/11/02 4:36:30 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << I do not see myself as "playing armchair quarterback". I am merely sharing what I heard on the evening news and from Amnesty International, and (in my second post on this subject) sharing my concerns about a very bad situation.
Jeroen >> You have the right to be concerned. I don't deny that. I am myself. But you have also been most critical of the US and our involvement in Afghanistan since immediately after 9/11. You aren't an American, you have no vested interest in the situation and the nature and wording of your repeated defense of the Taliban and Al-Quada forces feels offensive and this is why I refer to what you are doing as an armchair quarterbacking. You have claimed that we were/are/have been considering the use of nuclear weapons repeatedly since then as well. You have questioned our motives, policies, analyses, military decisions and the overall intelligence of the American people repeatedly for the past 3 months. Your post continues that trend: despite the fact that one of the human rights organizations you mention and link to isn't even sure itself of the situation, you are once again condemning us in absolute terms. An example of a comment that is made in absolute terms: "Another worrying thing is that both the Republican *and* the Democratic Party ignore all this completely. As said on the evening news, people in Washington are more concerned with the upcoming baseball game than with the treatment of prisoners." We're more concerned with local sports than the treatment of prisoners? Very non-judgemental of you and the news organization that reported it. FYI: Anything and everything connected to the murder of just under 3000 of our innocent citizens has been getting major, non-stop 24-hour a day airtime on every news channel we have. Practicallly every single bomb that is dropped, US soldier that is killed and USO show on board an aircraft carrier is being covered. Did you know the USS Teddy Roosevelt has a Moose mascot? We did. It ran on four major networks last week as well as at least 2 papers that have national coverage. Quick, without checking a website, do you know the name of the US Special Forces Soldier killed in Afghanistan last week? We know that too without checking for reminders. His name is Nathan Ross Chapman, and he's from San Antonio, TX. He has a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. How do I know this? His face and family have been on every television station for the past week. I haven't had *any* time to watch the news in several days, and I *still* remember this guys name, home town and family faces. We Americans aren't ignoring anything that's happening in relation to Afghanistan. Your attitude towards us is just getting quite tiresome. Jon
