 |
|
|
[Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
from Newsscan (an electronics industry newsletter)
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: SOME CRUCIAL DISTINCTIONS
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail message from a friend-of-a-friend of ours, a long-time American citizen who was born and raised in Afghanistan and who has kept in touch with developments in his native country:
"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 Bin 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 N@zi SS. 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 rat's 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."
Yesterday, President Bush made the same kinds of crucial distinctions, and in an hour-long visit to a Washington mosque he told Muslim worshippers that he will not tolerate prejudice against them. Walking through the mosque with his shoes off in respect for the Muslim practice, the President quoted from the Koran and defended the Islamic faith: "Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace, they represent evil and war. Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take our their anger don't represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior."
See Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300083408/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300083408&linkCode=as2&tag=thesaabnetwork for the
March 2000 book "Taliban" by Ahmed Rashid (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300163681/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300163681&linkCode=as2&tag=thesaabnetwork) -- or look for it in your local
library. (We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult
literacy action programs.)
Note that Russia, [[[[not the Soviet Union]]]]], has taken a position of assisting the Northern Afghnis overthrow the Taliban and create a new government in Afghnistan. This effort needs to be boosted. A day before Attack on America, someone assassinated charismatic Masood, leader of the northern Afghanis, supported by Russia [[[[[but once the Soviet Union's mortal enemy]]]. Although this was a heavy blow to the northern Afghanis, they will find another leader who will often call up the memory of Masood in the days ahead.
posted by 207.181.7...
, Sun, 16 Sep 2001 18:01:33
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
