quote:
Originally posted by Barry the Sprout:
Just a quick point. This is far from the end as we all know. That is what worries me - Afghanistan is only the start and this will not bring the fight for justice any nearer to a conclusion.
Also I am not in the least suprised that the Taliban fell so quickly. Their entire governmental budget for one year (not even military budget but the entire thing) is one tenth of the cost of one B52 bomber. How long did we expect them to hold out? Bush, Blair etc had planned for this eventuality i.e. the Taliban falling quickly with minimal fuss and us still not having a clue about how to catch bin Laden. That is why for the last God knows how long they have been saying that this is only the beginning. For the forseable future they will continue to trample on civil liberites and kill people. Hopefully we might have something to show for it, but I strongly doubt it myself.
What kind of Pandora's box have we opened here?
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
(it's a proverb not a political statement so please don't "thump" it, you know who you are
)
With the successes in the past few days, Osama Bin Laden and his organization have effectively lost Afghanistan as a "safe" base of operation. This is a success, and it is justice. The Afghan people, not just NA, are rising up to fight the Taliban. I don't claim the NA are a bunch of great guys, but the government to be set up will include all the tribes of Afghanistan and the NA has agreed to this "Afghan tribe coalition" even though they occupy most of the country.
The Taliban would never have fallen or been removed from the cities without action. Keep in mind, a few weeks ago, the anti-bombing advocates said the Taliban couldn't be removed this way. The Afghans who have been freed from Taliban rule aren't complaining about civil liberties and justice because now they are getting them. Barry, I know your heart's in the right place, but you expect too much and by doing so are only focusing on the negative. There
is initial success, and it's only been 5 weeks. Look at the positive! I don't mean ignore the negative, but simply ignoring the positive is just as one-sided, isn't it?
Peaceful people can be dealt with peacefully, violent people can not. What about the civil liberties of those citizens of 60+ nations who died September 11th? What about the civil liberties of those who were targeted for past attacks and those who may be targeted for current/future attacks? What about the civil liberties of all Americans considering the Taliban have said that
their goal is the destruction of America?
"The current situation in Afghanistan is related to a bigger cause, that is the destruction of America."
"If God's help is with us, this will happen within a short period of time, keep in mind this prediction," Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar said. "The real matter is the extinction of America, and God willing, it will fall to the ground."
"I tell you, keep this in mind. This is my prediction," he warned. "You believe it or not, it's up to you, but we will have to wait and see."
This is not a concept they've recently decided on, but one they knew Osama Bin Laden held and they supported all along.
This particular "box" was unlocked before, but only flung fully open September 11th by Osama and his Taliban cronies,
not Bush and Blair. Some would like the "box" left open, some want to talk about closing it, some would like it closed slowly and gently, while others want it closed quickly, but the job
is to close it, through the means at our disposal.
[ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]