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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank
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To: Poet who wrote (26629)9/12/2001 11:55:03 PM
From: Lazarus_Long  Read Replies (2) of 82486
 
OK, I've cooled down now.

I'm sure you understand you could wake up tomorrow and find that your country is at war. It's not at all unlikely. What was done fully qualifies as an act of war under international law. NATO today passed a measure that declared this an attack on the alliance and allows the US to call on any and all members for military aid and assistance. This is the first that has happened in the history of the alliance. It's that serious.

The likeliest perpetrator is bin Laden. He is being given refuge by the Taliban - effectively the government of Afghanistan. (There are reports that the Taliban has placed bin Laden under house arrest.) If bin Laden did it, I would expect the US to demand that Afghanistan turn him and his gang over. If they refuse we have several options. We can ignore it- -bad idea; it encourages repetition. We can try to snatch bin Laden; unlikely to succeed and will most likely just result in more deaths. We can bomb and launch cruise missiles. I would expect the US to restrict targets to the government and military. We can invade- -costly in lives and could have other very bad repercussions. We can aid the groups fighting the Taliban and provide them with air support- -possibly the best and safest military option.

If bin Laden is under arrest in Afghanistan, it may mean that they do intend to hand him over to avoid other consequences.

But I would suggest to the humanist faction that before they express sympathy for the Afghanis that they keep in mind that they provided a safe haven for people to kill what will very likely be several tens of thousands of their fellow citizens and that we may very well be at war with the Afghanis very soon.
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