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This feature is taken from E.A.9.11, Group 6.
See the entire discussion: retaliation.
OK, what do you all think about the way Bush is handling everything? What I think I'll post in the form of an essay I wrote a day or so after 9/11:
The events of September 11th, 2001 were horrific. Many people lost their lives because of hatred.
The terrorists attacked our country. They died for a cause that they thought was right. Killing thousands of people was their goal, and they obviously reached it.
In all honesty, though, the means of retaliation that President Bush is using, is just as terroristic as what they had done. Killing innocent civilians just as they did, isn't my idea of a "war on terrorism".
I've come to realize, that sometimes war is necessary in certain situations. I do not believe that this is one of them. A world of absolute peace is not going to happen, for it is in the human nature to fight. Wishing and wanting peace is fine, but also realize there is a time for fighting. It may not be right, but it is true.
"The world is a secluded place, we cannot go around polluting it." --Treize Kushrenada or the anime Mobile Suite Gundam Wing.
I agree with you in the sense that we should not be killing innocent civillians for the sole purpose of killing innocents. But if you want freedom for the people of Afghanistan, and you honestly want your government to help them acheive that status, then someone is going to have to go to war and defeat the Taliban. and in that process innocent civillians will die.
That's an oversimplification of the problem in Afghanistan I'm afraid. First, why are these people able to be controlled by an oppressive dictatorship? A large part is their extreme poverty, which we as a country are in many ways responsible for. Trade Liberalization has allowed the interests of multinational oil companies to basically dictate the way that economies are set up in the middle east. Thus the wealth lies in the hands of a few wealthy oil barons, who are in the pockets of these oil companies, and the rest of the masses are left to starve as already infertile land is left even more barren. Thus, an easier solution would be eliminating this problem.
Also, how effective will this measure be even assuming the Taliban were destroyed? It is more important to look at the underlying causes of hatred towards America around the world.
First, there are large groups of near starving people in the world. They are controlled by very wealthy dictators whose power is checked only by first world countries like the United States.
To eliminate this check on their absolute power, the dictators will point out the reasons why the United States is responsible for their poor condition, whether it be unfair trade practices, military actions, or economic support of dire enemies. Then large masses of desperate staving people can be manipulated into crashing a plane into a building.
Destroying the Taliban and killing innocent civilians will not sop this root problem it will in actuality worsen it. We're making the disease worse in an effort to attack the symptoms.
Bombing Afghanistan will not get rid of the terrorists. Osama bin Laden has the money and the means to get out of there, which is what he probably did the day after he found out we knew he was there. Bombing Afghanistan to kill Bin Laden is like bombing Tampa, Florida because we THINK a serial killer may be hiding someplace in the town.
And don't act as if the American government cares in the least about the Afghan people's well-being...Bush is in this for oil and good public relations and image. He's a new president, not many people liked him much but now that he's done all this, look at his approval ratings...so now he says he's gonna go after other random countries based on the assumption that they could be potentially dangerous- seems a lot like shooting a guy on the street because you think he looks like he *might* go rob a bank.
-Amanda
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