Hi all, let me start by saying I feel sorry for all of those that been hurt
by the vicious stab in the back from these terrorists
Wim you wrote this;
''Killing Bin Laden will for sure not kill the pattern of
terrorism, it may even strengthen is when the wrong kind of
poison is applied. Strenghtening the immune system etc. of the
inpoverished and disintegrated societies on which terrorism feeds
and to which terrorism restores bits of self-esteem, by sharing
our wealth (and maybe even our political power) migth be the
wisest road.''
A self-consious nation would react this way, the same way as you, a
self-consious person!I can not agree more, right on spot! Though I don't
think that the people in the US agree on this, they want revenge, they want
to see someone punished for this. It scares me that Bush is the leader of
the US, it could go terribly wrong. I'm glad article 5 is used now, it will
oblige Bush to consult other nations before doing something(stupid).
Fot the discussion; I can say is that I hope that the discussions here
become less focused on how great or how wack American culture is, and more
focused on what to do! Though I know that there aren't many religious
people, for those who are, please turn to Spinoza instead of to fanaticism
and stupid TV-''saints'' who scream out for revenge and turn this attack
into an intifada themselves! This must not become a religious conflict, how
much does it matter in what prophet we believe Mohammed or Jesus? The Islam
in core recognised Christianity, but the true religion is often abused by
fundamentalists whose jealousy manifests in terrorism.
The right thing to do;
several options are discussed this last few days, the first one an attack on
Afghanistan, I think it was Rasheed who excellently pointed us at the
meaninglesness of such an attack! There will be absolutely no gain in that,
by the way every intevention in the Arabic world will lead to much more
resistance than before. As the theories of Freud will float painfully to the
surface when people are attacked on what they hold for their 'truth'.
A direct attack on bin Laaden has the same risk of an attack on Afghanistan,
it will lead to a reaction from fundamentalists all over the world who
support Bin Laaden or use the attack as an excuse for their boiling hate
against the US and start a 'real' war.
Do nothing; when Bush decides to do nothing(which is not very likely), the
start of the killing on both sides will be prevented and a conflict simmilar
to the Palestin/Israelic will not occur directly. The great danger of this
is that the terrorists think'; hmm, we are getting away with this, let's do
something else now and wait for their reaction!
Do everything but do not use military resources, this to me is the best
option. If the US ever had chance to show to the world that they are a
mature nation, it is now and on this path! The task of the US and every
nation that supports freedom and democracy is that with all of the
resources(except military!), an atmosphere must be created of mutual
understanding and respect. This offensive will take years and years, and
maybe not solved in our lifetimes. But it is in my opinion the one and only
way to achieve structural world safety. The offensive is not an offensive
that seperates nations and cultures, but unites them. United in a
economical, social, human and intelligent way.
Afghanistan shouldn't be bombed but helped, all nations that are in simmilar
situations as Afghanistan form a breeding place for terrorism. The
involvement of the rest of the world, must take these countries out of
isolationism and the rest of the world including the US should come out of
their 'capitalistic money-focused' isolationism themselves. The strongest
shoulders always carry the most, and that is how the US should react; carry
the weight themselves until the world is ready to carry the same weight, how
long....how long....!
Davor
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