Afghanistan

Marga Jann forwards an anguished letter from An Afghan woman living in the U.S. Here is an extract:

"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."

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. " There follows a long description of the suffering of the Afghan people..

My comment: Air Force General Curtis LeMay spoke of bombing Vietnam back into the stone age, but all the comments I have heard this time have been more cautious. The Taliban are the creation of the US and the CIA, which armed Arabs from many countries to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Now the "Afghans" have gone back to their countries, where they form the core of bin Laden's terrorists. The America cure for communism was worse than the disease.

Bin Laden is a Saudi with an extended family: 59 brothers! Two have been arrested in London, but I have seen no news about all the others. His wife is from the United Arab Emirates, which was one of only three governments recognizing the Taliban government. It has just withdrawn its recognition., leaving only Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has put all kinds of limitations on its cooperation with the US, indicating its sympathy for the Palestine terrorists. The Pakistan government faces strong opposition from pro-Taliban groups in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta. Even Arab governments are lining up with the US in the fight against terrorism, pertly because they do not want to incur the wrath of the US, and partly because they themselves are targets of terrorists themselves.

Ronald Hilton - 9/22/01