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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (799)	9/12/2001 7:52:45 PM
From: Big Shorty	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27666

I want more than just bin Laden, way more!!!!!

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (799)	9/12/2001 9:09:21 PM
From: Mark L.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 27666

Give them an ultimatum to return him or lead to credible information of where he is. If not, they suffer the consequences. What will those consequences be? Bomb Kabul or flatten it as some suggest? Do you think these guys give a sht what happens to innocent Afgans? While I share some of your concerns about our foreign policy in the Mid-East, I think you are wrong in your emphasis on this last count. These people do care about losing their war against the Northern Alliance. They want to continue in power. The potential of a devastating military attack which would unseat them would be quite unsavory. As for your concern about the collateral effects--the killing and maiming of innocents, ruining the economy, causing famine and disease--you are quite correct--those could easily happen. War is an ugly business. I can assure you that everyone we killed in World War II was not a rabid combatant. Sometimes you have to choose between two imperfect alternatives. Maybe you don't think this war is worth the likely side effects. That's fair; Vietnam wasn't worth the side effects. I happen to think this one is. Incidentally I think your concern about our actions increasing the risk of additional terrorist attacks is well-founded. But I do believe that a strong, focused response now would reduce the effectiveness* of terrorists--their ability to train and arm themselves, undisturbed. So I think that a firm ultimatum now would either be successful quickly or, if ignored by the Taliban and vigorously enforced by us, would serve as a strong deterrent to other regimes which harbor terrorists. None of this is meant to undermine your concerns about our mid-East policies--concerns which I share. But I think that we can simultaneously take a firm stand both on the importance of a just agreement between Israel and Palestine as well as on our willingness to go to war against terrorism.