>From: Christian Szegedy <szegedy@or.uni-bonn.de>
>NATO will kill at least 10000 innocent people, women and children
>in Kabul.
>
>Of course it is easy. It will be even good for the economy.
>American and European people will cheer and USA will reelect Bush.
>
>On the other hand, it will generate a lot of people in afghanistan
>who have lost their families, their houses, everything.
>A lot of people who have nothing to loose. Some million potential
>terrorist.
>
>Do you really believe that this is the proper way you to eliminate
>terrorism
Of course this war will cause many "victims" to view the US as the "bad guy"
and may even enlarge the ranks of would-be terrorists. Logically, of
course, I realize that a war of attrition is, in almost every respect, a
horrible thing. But sometimes a very bad alternative is still the best
alternative.
I know I have mentioned Hiroshima and Nagasaki as examples of "positive"
outcomes from horrendous actions. And I think the analogy holds. Remember,
the kamikazis were religious fanatics bent on killing the enemy at all
costs, even at the cost of their lives. But *very* few people are willing
to attack their enemy at the cost of everything they hold dear, hearth,
home, family, country and culture. That's what was at stake for the
Japanese if their aggression continued. They hated to do it, but they
knuckled under and submitted to unconditional surrender.
I think we have the chance to obtain a similar result from anti-American
terrorists if we can raise the stakes to them of continued aggression high
enough. It won't be pleasant, but if we stick with it, I believe it can be
done. And, in my mind at least, if that goal is reached the terrible toll
will have been worth it.
-Zero
"I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking
that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man.
Has to be." -- George Taylor _Planet of the Apes_ (1968)
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:49 MDT