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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mac Con Ulaidh who wrote (6894)	10/22/2001 10:01:06 PM
From: Mac Con Ulaidh	Respond to of 281500

An opinion letter in the Jakarta Post ~ Who's the bad guy? Let me ask any readers who still don't have a clue as to why the U.S. is angry after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in which an estimated 6,500 people lost their lives. Every day as I watch the TV I see demonstrations in front of the U.S. Embassy. Do these people know anything about Afghanistan? Do these people know about the Taliban? Do they know anything about Osama bin Laden? If the answer is no, then I suggest they engage in more productive activities. It's strange. When people in Aceh are slaughtered, when the military-backed militias looted and murdered innocent Timorese, or when the Jakarta Stock Exchange building was bombed, I felt sad and angry. Most of my Indonesian friends didn't care. Where was the protesting then? The conclusion I have reached is that, once again, ignorant people are being manipulated by wealthy politicians who are only trying to further their own agenda. I know the people who are demonstrating are only a small minority, but I have spoken to numerous people from all walks of life and the ones who are really tired of all this are the lower income groups. Terrorism is designed to spread fear. The U.S. and the world are tired and want this senseless violence to stop. However, a few wealthy politicians in Indonesia just don't see it that way. Could it be that they are trying to deflect criticism away from themselves? thejakartapost.com Tangerang, Banten

To: Mac Con Ulaidh who wrote (6894)	10/22/2001 11:46:12 PM
From: Doug R	Respond to of 281500

cobaltblue, a handwritten envelope probably did not go through a mail sorter machine, The optical character recognition software currently used by automated sorting equipment at the post office can read handwritten addresses on standard sized envelope mail at the rate of 6 letters per second with an accuracy rate approaching 95%. Even if the letter was rejected as unreadable, it still went through the machine...depositing anthrax spores. The spores are single cell sized. Paper envelopes cannot contain them even with the most delicate handling. 1 ounce of spores would number in the billions. If 1% of the contents exuded from the envelope during its journey...well...you do the math. The post office does not at all put a premium on delicate handling. One of the Brentwood employees, now ill, is a maintenance employee. His job is to prep the machines between shifts. Prepping involves routine cleaning, mechanical and electrical adjustments and computer program tweaks. Cleaning has always been done with compressed air...blowing out dust etc. The PO has now instructed that blowing is not an option. Vaccuuming is now done. Even so...the volume of product passing through the system on a continuous basis ensures that the spread of microbial contaminants will proceed unhindered along a hyper-geometrical progression if influx of such contaminants continues. Doug R