Hello, Friends: I realize I am violating the spirit of these Lists in sending this, but if it were not for my interest in genealogy I would not have received it. I share it only because it is informative. John Folsom Orlando, FL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know we've all been innundated with thoughts about the terrorist attack, but this one seems to be from a different angle.  I found it food for thought.  I hope that our leaders are wise indeed.  The can of worms is ever more treacherous.... Lee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Dear Friends, >    The following  was sent to me by my friend Tamim Ansary.  Tamim is an > Afghani-American writer.  He is also one of the most brilliant  people I > know in this life.  When he writes, I  read.  When he talks, I listen. > Here is his take on  Afghanistan and the whole mess we are i`n. > -Gary T. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Dear Gary and whoever else is on this email thread: > > 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