From: Kai Becker (kmb@cameron.kn-bremen.de)
Date: Fri Jan 24 2003 - 02:32:12 MST
Am Freitag, 24. Januar 2003 08:02 schrieb Spudboy100@aol.com:
> <<No, but your president and his fellows should think a little bit
> further. It's not enough to throw some bombs, when this just feeds the
> troops of another enemy.
> War against terrorism is not comparable with conventional wars. It
> means fighting against belief systems and against the causes for the
> motivation of those people. Wars like this can not be won with bombs.
> You either win them in the minds or not at all. Therefore, the only
> intelligent idea of Mr. Bush so far has been the "coalition against
> terrorism". He now is going to destroy this coalition for no sensible
> reason.>>
>
> It is comparable, in some ways, to every conventional war. Look at
> Afghanistan.
Well, did the allied forces find bin Ladin? Did they destroy the Al-Qaida
network? Not at all. Conventional military is good when you can input the
coordinates of your enemy into GPS directed bombs, but they are worthless
against an internation network of small groups in several countries.
Today, Afghanistan is a devasteted country, were only a small area around
Kabul is a relatively safe place. It only is because of the UN troops
there who help the new regime to establish and maintain a lawful system.
The farer away you get from Kabul, the less important all this becomes.
There are still clans fighting about control, power and influence in
their region. And many former Taliban are hidden among them.
The main problems in Afghanistan have not been solved, yet. It will take
decades to develop a civil and democratic society in Afghanistan. This
process will require a lot of personnel, money, tedious talks and
development aid. But if we don't spend this aid, Afghanistan will fall
back into its old system and be a wonderful shelter for every fanatic
muslim group.
> Theres no coalition, if all one wishes to do is avoid pissing-off the
> Islamic militants and their political and financial supporters. One has
> to break eggs to make an omlette.
The question is, if we will survive the counterstrike of the other
chicken :-) How many young, politically mislead people from arabia will
this "omlette" push into the fangs of Al-Qaida and other terrorist
groups? How much more funds will these groups raise in islamic countries?
The bad news is, that the islamic militants have won the war of the minds
in their countries by providing schools, social aid and a meaning for
their life. This gives them almost unlimited support. We, the western
world, have to convince the majority of the people there, that it is far
better not to follow those ideas of a closed belief system, but to go
with us. We have to convince them, that we are not going to plunder their
resources, destroy their culture, fight their religion, raise McDonalds
temples on their holy ground. Difficult, when this has been told for
years and has been supported by some bad attitudes. Currently, this war
of the minds can not be won with military actions. Starting a war now is
therefore a very unwise decision that will escalate the terror.
Kai
--
== Kai M. Becker == kmb@cameron.kn-bremen.de == Bremen, Germany ==
"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
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