>By Robert Fisk
>12 September 2001
>
>
>So the mountains of Afghanistan will be photographed
>from satellite and
>high-altitude aircraft in the coming days, Mr bin
>Laden's old training
>camps and perhaps a few new ones highlighted on the
>overhead
>projectors in the Pentagon. But to what end? When
>America last tried to
>strike at Mr bin Laden, it destroyed an innocent
>pharmaceuticals plant
>in Sudan and a few of Mr bin Laden's Muslim followers
>in Afghanistan.
>For if this is a war between the Saudi millionaire and
>President Bush's
>America, it cannot be fought like other wars. Indeed,
>can it be fought
>at all without some costly military adventure
>overseas.
>
>Or is that what Mr bin Laden seeks above all else?
>
>
>
>
> --- from list
>postcolonial@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
>
Absolutely. The Soviet Union fell apart largely because of the conflict in
Afghanistan. If we invade Afghanistan in search of bin Laden and other
terrorists, we will be there for years with marginal results and having sown
the seeds of hate in the next generation from the region. Only fools, macho
men and bullies retaliate. Sober individuals with a knowledge of history
and the current situation reform the prevailing conditions that led to such
actions.
As Dustin Hoffman's character in "Little Big Man" says to Custer just before
he charged into his last stand, "You go down there and you won't be coming
back."
There is no doubt that the attck that occurred on 9/11 was years in the
planning and there is also no doubt that bin Laden as well as Afghanistan
and other countries of the region have prepared for reprisals.
What should we do? Simply strengthen security and renegotiate the entire
set of issues that concern these people. This is an act of war but there is
no requirement that we should respond in kind.
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