Who knows now what is propaganda and what is not?  This one
seems to make a few good points though.

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

> > >
> > >
> > >Subject:  FW: A view from Afghanistan
> > >
> > >
> > >Dear Gary and whoever else is on this email thread:
> > >
> > >I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing
> > Afghanistan back to the
> > >Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today,
> > allowed that this would
> > >mean killing innocent people, people who had
> > nothing to do with this
> > >atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept
> > collateral damage. What
> > >else can we do?"  Minutes later I heard some TV
> > pundit discussing
> > >whether we "have the belly to do what must be
> > done."
> > >
> > >And I thought about the issues being raised
> > especially hard because I am
> > >from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here
> > for 35 years I've
> > >never lost track of what's going on there. So I
> > want to tell anyone who
> > >will listen how it all looks from where I'm
> > standing.
> > >
> > >I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin
> > Laden. There is no
> > >doubt in my mind that these people were responsible
> > for the atrocity in
> > >New York. I agree that something must be done about
> > those monsters.
> > >
> > >But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan.
> > They're not even the
> > >government of Afghanistan.  The Taliban are a cult
> > of ignorant
> > >psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin
> > Laden is a political
> > >criminal with a plan.  When you think Taliban,
> > think Nazis. When you
> > >think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think
> > "the people of
> > >Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration
> > camps."   It's not
> > >only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with
> > this atrocity. They
> > >were the first victims of the perpetrators. They
> > would exult if someone
> > >would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear
> > out the rats nest of
> > >international thugs holed up in their country.
> > >
> > >Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and
> > overthrow the Taliban? The
> > >answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt,
> > incapacitated, suffering. A
> > >few years ago, the United Nations estimated that
> > there are 500,000
> > >disabled orphans in Afghanistan-a country with no
> > economy, no food.
> > >There are millions of widows.  And the Taliban has
> > been burying these
> > >widows alive in mass graves.  The soil is littered
> > with land mines, the
> > >farms were all destroyed by the Soviets.  These are
> > a few of the reasons
> > >why the Afghan people have not overthrown the
> > Taliban.
> > >
> > >We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan
> > back to the Stone
> > >Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took
> > care of it already.
> > >Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering.
> > Level their houses?
> > >Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble?
> > Done. Eradicate their
> > >hospitals? Done.  Destroy their infrastructure? Cut
> > them off from
> > >medicine and health care?  Too late. Someone
> > already did all that.
> > >
> > >New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier
> > bombs.  Would they at
> > >least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's
> > Afghanistan, only the
> > >Taliban eat, only they have the means to move
> > around.  They'd slip away
> > >and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those
> > disabled orphans, they
> > >don't move too fast, they don't even have
> > wheelchairs. But flying over
> > >Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a
> > strike against the
> > >criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it
> > would only be making
> > >common cause with the Taliban-by raping once again
> > the people they've
> > >been raping all this time.
> > >
> > >So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let
> > me now speak with
> > >true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin
> > Laden is to go in there
> > >with ground troops. When people speak of "having
> > the belly to do what
> > >needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of
> > having the belly to kill
> > >as many as needed.  Having the belly to overcome
> > any moral qualms about
> > >killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out
> > of the sand. What's
> > >actually on the table is Americans dying. And not
> > just because some
> > >Americans would die fighting their way through
> > Afghanistan to Bin
> > >Laden's hideout.  It's much bigger than that folks.
> > Because to get any
> > >troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go through
> > Pakistan. Would they let
> > >us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have
> > to be first. Will
> > >other Muslim nations just stand by? You see where
> > I'm going. We're
> > >flirting with a world war between Islam and the
> > West.
> > >
> > >And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's
> > exactly what he
> > >wants. That's why he did this.  Read his speeches
> > and statements. It's
> > >all right there.  He really believes Islam would
> > beat the west. It might
> > >seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize
> > the world into Islam
> > >and the West, he's got a billion soldiers.  If the
> > west wreaks a
> > >holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people
> > with nothing left to
> > >lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of
> > view.  He's probably
> > >wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever that
> > would mean, but the
> > >war would last for years and millions would die,
> > not just theirs but
> > >ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does.
> > Anyone else?
> > >
> > >Tamim Ansary
> > >i