Um, yeah, the Bush administration should send the another what, $43B, to
eradicate opium. Sheesh. What I could do with $43B. By a hell of a lot of
opium for one thing. ;)
-Gary
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 3:59 PM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: Re: An Afghani-American's point of view
>
>
> Nope. Not really serious at all because I know its all a pipe dream. Will
> never happen. We could support the northern alliance against the Taliban
> and we'de still be hated. We could give them free food from now
> to forever
> without touching their country and still be hated. We could
> ignore them and
> still be hated.
> There's really nothing we can do there so we shouldn't really try. We
> should find bin laden, remove him (alive or dead) and then just leave the
> entire country alone. Tech and stealth.
> But the problem is, it wouldn't end there. Bin Ladin was not
> alone in this.
> What do we do if we find real proof (not just the Mossad's proof) that it
> was Iraq? What if it was Iran? What do we do with them? Do we go in to
> retaliate against them and activate all those terror cells? The entire
> situation is a balancing act in the dark with knives. There's almost
> nothing we can do right here. Nothing we can do without upsetting
> someone,
> causing terror cells to attack us and/or being seen as
> cowards/invaders/whatever.
> The whole situation is screwed. We can talk about it all we want but its
> not going to change a thing. Its not going to affect any policy.
> We're just
> venting and talking to cope. trying to make some sense of this all.
> Personally, I would not want to be Bush, Powell or anyone with
> power at the
> moment. I don't think I could really sit down and make a solid
> decision on
> this. I don't think any of us here could.
>
> At 04:34 PM 9/20/01, you wrote:
> >Mike,
> >
> >I've known you for what? 5 years now? You know I am just as opinionated
> >as you. So please, do not take this the wrong way when I
> say.......I hope
> >you are not serious!! That is absolute crazy talk!
> >
> >I think we all know that if we had that level of disregard for the world
> >community, we would DESERVE a complete assault by all of Islam. Yes, the
> >Taliban is oppressive, backwards, and tramples the rights of
> women in their
> >society. Yes, they deny atrocities that obviously occur under their
> >regime. But if we should dare to ignore the stage of world order, we are
> >asking for these cells all over the world to activate in a way we have
> >never seen before. To them, destroying a nation (because that
> is what you
> >are advocating we do), would be the final signal to execute their evil
> >plans no matter where they are. The fact that the clerics have advocated
> >Jihad if Afghans are attacked as a nation just give these terrorist cells
> >all the credibility they need to become a mass group of Martyrs.
> >
> >Now tell me you were not serious with that post....
> >
> >Gerry
> >
> >
> >At 04:21 PM 9/20/2001 -0400, Michael Dinowitz wrote:
> > >And he speaks the truth. Lets hope he is not killed for doing so.
> > >I think we should go in to Afganistan, kick out the Taliban,
> get bin laden
> > >and then rebuild the country. That'll do wonders for the
> people there, our
> > >reputation in that part of the world and stop all those
> anti-Americans in
> > >their tracks (for about 5 seconds).
> > >
> > >At 04:04 PM 9/20/01, you wrote:
> > > ><This was forwarded to me, know nothing about the writer,
> but found it
> > very
> > > >interesting / Ben>
> > > >
> > > >The following was sent by Tamim Ansary.
> > > >Tamim is an Afghani-American writer.
> > > >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
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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