Mike wrote: "Right, so the war ended in 1973 (or so?) after 7 years of protests? I don't mean to say that the protest was ineffectual but my point is that maybe with the Taliban situation we (you, everybody) don't have 7 years grace. And do you feel that there is, or could be an active, effective anti-war movement against the coming war?" I am not sure what you mean by 7 years grace. In Vietnam, the war was raging, the bombs were dropping at the same time the anti-war movement was growing. Maybe the war would have gone on longer if there wasn't such anti-war sentiment. Maybe it would have stopped because we just weren't winning & our children were being sacrificed & it sure wasn't clear to many people why this was happening & why we were involved. There are huge lessons to be learned from Vietnam, especially concerning a guerrilla war. I think everyone knows that we really learned how ineffective all our high tech weapons were in that country. We would be fools to think that this would be any different in Afghanistan. And this is a different situation entirely. We have been attacked. But by who? And where are they? Many are said to be in the USA & other countries. So this isn't just about going into Afghanistan & getting rid of the Taliban. To answer you question regarding whether there can be an effective anti-war movement at this time, I am not sure how you can measure effectiveness. I am not sure how much public opinion counts. But that won't stop me from searching for & speaking up & supporting what I believe to be true. I have no idea what the administration is really up to. And I am pretty sure we won't really know until later. And I am pretty sure they are going to do what they do regardless of what the rest of us think. But that won't stop me from saying what I think. Reading Julius's post on the 60 minutes program, he said "The shrinks said that part of the problem is that these young men feel they have little to lose, as life is hell because of the suffering and poverty they've endured" This is what I believe to be the core of the problem. If it is the core of the problem, then this is where we must go to solve the problem. People are not born evil, they are not born hateful, they are not born a terrorist- these things are learned. Most of us want justice. Most of us want an end to terrorism. Even if we were to somehow capture or kill Bin Laden, would this stop the terrorism? Or will this only serve to unify the terrorists in the same way we feel that these attacks have unified us for the most part. I am not saying that he/they should not be stopped or that knowing what we know, that we should look away from what the Taliban are doing to Afghanistan. I am only questioning the means. And not just from an ethical standpoint, but from a practical one. Pacifism in the face of terrorism is not doing nothing. To me, pacifism says that using violence to fight violence only escalates the violence. And doing something about it. Active pacifism. I do not have an answer to the short term problem of eliminating terrorism, if indeed there is even a short term answer. What I heard Bush saying was that this is a long term situation. So while the government goes about whatever they are planning, I think it is very important for those to speak up on behalf of what the long term solution is. I studied Aikido for a short time when I was younger. It a martial art that allows you to move in such a way that the force of the attacker is used against themselves. This is not a theory, it is an actual practice. You don't harm the attacker, they harm themselves. So this brings me to consider how can this be translated into our global situation. Which brings me back to the Bomb them with Butter post that was posted here by Marian. What are our alternatives, in the long run? More USA sanctioning of arming & training people to fight in wars that we think are justified only to have it backfire on us? ******************************************* Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artistins/awp/indies/bennett.html ********************************************
