(no subject)

[lithera]

HMmmmm.. Lots of thoughts about things. I, along with most of the rest of the country, have been doing a lot of thinking. Let me sum up my thoughts recently.

Terrorism is bad. However, we can't be hypocritical about this. This means all terrorism. This means the IRA. This mean our allies cannot do things which might be seen as terorist acts. (gives significatnt looks to several countries) We didn't ask for this. No one *asks* someone to come to their country and fly planes into buldings and kill thousands of people. I am rather certain that our policies did help bring this about, however. I still occasionally freak out and have huge moments of depression and wanting to cry. So far I've only let myself breakdown once and just for a few minutes. I guess I'm waiting for more. I'm waiting for it to happen again. There is so much potential for good here. So much.... There are countries agreeing with each other over this that have never agreed on anything before. There is so much potential for good. I don't want to bomb the Afghanis. Your average Afghani is just someone who is trying not to starve to death - to find enough food and water to make it antoher day. Famine, drought and twenty years of war will do that to a country. The Taliban - Erg. They cause instability in the region in so many ways. A large portion of their money comes from smuggling and drug running. I understand strict religious policies. I don't agree, but I can understand the motivations behind them. They made me twitch when they blew up the statues, but now... *shakes her head* It's just bad to get invovled in someone else's civil war. It's a rotten policy and never comes out they way you want it to. Those guys on the plane that crashed near Pittsburgh, that took it over... Three of them were a judo champion, a former high school quarterback and a rugby player. It seems fitting to me somehow...

The FBI says the danger for another wave should crest on Saturday, the 22nd.

Hmmm.

Just lots of thoughts.

Comments

[seanb.livejournal.com]

Yes. We definitely need to draw the lines between "good" and "bad" behavior in terms of the actual actions taken, not just whether it is in our favor or against us. We need to figure out what to do about allies that, for example, are opposed to the Taliban but support the Hezbollah.

I can think of a few policies and actions we have done which may have helped bring this about; in that, we agree. There are no excuses, only partial explanations. We must stop this, but only in the name of justice, not in the name of revenge. Too many people just want to use Afghanistan as a punching bag for our frustrations.

I watched "The Siege" yesterday, and I recommend watching it to anybody who thinks they are emotionally ready to move on. I thought I was, but I was close to tears a few times. It is very topical right now, perhaps too topical.

One chilling idea from the movie was the fact that the REAL campaign of terror did not start until "Ahmed bin Tallah" - a bin Laden-like character - was under American custody. It was at this point that his former allies and followers began an ongoing campaign of terror.

There's so much potential here - potential for something wonderful, potential for something terrible.

Just attacking Afghanistan does not seem like a good idea to me. We can't bomb them back to the stone age; that's already been done. This region has been eating armies for millenia. As you said, trying to manipulate their civil war is messy and unpredictable.

One interesting analogy I heard compared the Taliban to the Nazi government, and compared the Afghan citizens to the Jews in concentration camps. I found this imagery particularly interesting since the majority of people in the Middle East seem to believe that the Holocaust never happened.

I half expected a second wave yesterday. The 22nd, you say?

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't think we should bring bin laden to the US. Ever. You think Jeffery Dahmer died quickly in jail?? *shakes her head* The man should be take straight to the UN courts in The Hague. It's the closest we have to a true world court.

Well, the Taliban are really, really out there. When the other extremist countries start looking at you like you're psycho, that should be a clue to them and the rest of the world.

The 22nd. I say not, the FBI does. I read it in the paper this morning. We shall see.

[seanb.livejournal.com]

Right. While there is some precedent set with the way we treated Noriega, I really don't think we should treat bin Laden the same way. Taking him directly to the Hague is probably the best idea.