BUSH SUPERBLY CLEANS UP CLINTON'S MESS:
AND ALSO BOLSTERS HUMAN RIGHTS
By: Carol Devine-Molin
etherzone.com
As of this writing, the Taliban forces are in full retreat, as critical cities, Mazar-e-Sharif, and the capital Kabul, are now firmly under the control of the American-backed insurgents from the Northern Alliance. The cities of Kandahar and Jalalabad are about to topple, with the Taliban fleeing to the mountains in an attempt to re-group and launch guerrilla style attacks upon their enemies.
Contemporaneously, US Special Operations troops are in keen pursuit and zeroing in on Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network. And the worst fears of the civilized world were confirmed upon the discovery of a nuclear device blueprint found at a bombed-out al Qaeda safe house in Kabul. This blueprint, and other documents unearthed at that site, represent a US intelligence bonanza, verifying that bin Laden’s organization indeed has access to fissionable materials for the construction of nuclear and radiological weaponry. Moreover, in anticipation that suspected terrorists will be apprehended forthwith, President Bush has signed an executive order establishing a military tribunal to try these murderous thugs.
From all indications, the current military campaign, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, has been profoundly successful and assiduously supported by the American people.
Importantly, this war against fanatical Islamic terrorists, and the regimes that harbor them, has produced a significant victory within the human rights arena, as well. As a consequence of the US led military action in Afghanistan, the Taliban government is, according to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "in total collapse", thereby freeing the oppressed masses. And no group was more abused under the Taliban than the females in Afghanistan.
By all reports, the Afghani people are beginning to shed their symbolic shackles, with men shaving off their beards in droves, and listening to previously banned music. And some of the still-frightened women are gingerly casting off their burqas, the head-to-toe cloaks that act as all-encompassing shields, preventing others from glimpsing their bodies outside of their immediate homes. A new day of freedom has dawned with the overthrow of the Taliban, and surely it will take some time before Afghanis are fully acclimated to the new changes and opportunities.
Since 1997, women’s rights activist Mavis Leno (wife of "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno) has worked tirelessly on behalf of the oppressed Afghani women under Taliban control. In her testimony as a member of the National Board of the Feminist Majority, before Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) of the US Foreign Relations Committee, Mrs. Leno stated the following: "The Taliban has:
Banned women from employment;
Banned women from attending universities;
Banned girls from going to school;
Prohibited women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a husband, father, or son;
Required women who do leave their homes to be covered from head to toe in a "burqa", with only a mesh opening to see and breath through;
Required that the windows of homes with women be painted opaque so the women inside cannot be seen;
Banned women from being treated by male doctors (the few female doctors who are permitted to work are often harassed);
And even banned women from wearing white socks, and shoes that make noise when they walk".
Mavis Leno continues, "In all our work on this issue in the United States, the public’s reaction is clear. American people are shocked by the terrifying abuses suffered by women and girls in Afghanistan and want (their) human rights restored immediately."
Sadly, Afghani women have been beaten, tortured or even killed for violating these draconian rules. Mrs. Leno refers to this systematic abuse of women under the Taliban regime as "Gender Apartheid". However, that is much too generous a designation, as these women have been virtually slaves, clearly treated as sub-human entities. Mavis Leno should be highly commended for her advocacy on the part of these women denied even fundamental human rights.
And it should be mentioned that Republican and conservative dignitaries as well were out among the public, bringing awareness to the plight of these unfortunate Afghani women. For instance, Congressman Ben Gilman (R-NY), former chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick, former ambassador to the United Nations, have been outspoken on this specific issue of the Taliban oppression of women, in addition to highlighting other human rights violations throughout the globe.
But I don’t hear a peep out of Mavis Leno and the feminist community, or the left leaning intelligentsia, regarding the fact that the Taliban and Osama bin Laden remained essentially unscathed during the Clinton administration of the 1990’s, and were even permitted to flourish. Aren’t these liberals the least bit upset that Bill Clinton did nothing significant to rein in the activities of these Taliban scoundrels and their affiliated al Qaeda compadres? Remember, the Taliban’s ascendancy to power in Afghanistan occurred around 1994, well within Clinton’s scope to provide effective intervention. Besides perpetrating wide scale atrocities against women, and establishing themselves as the premier purveyors of illegal narcotics (providing more than 75% of the world’s heroin), the Taliban also made an unholy alliance with Osama bin Laden and his Islamic terrorist organization, al Qaeda. And, of course, the al Qaeda network was behind a panoply of terrorist activities targeting US assets during the Clinton administration such as the bombing strikes upon the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, two American embassies in Africa, the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, and NYC’s Twin Towers (1993). Unquestionably, Clinton did nothing to ameliorate problems stemming from the militant Islamic world, problems that only became exacerbated over time.
Furthermore, the aforesaid says nothing of the manner in which Bill Clinton caused other widespread calamity for this nation. Essentially, Clinton was bereft of leadership and vision during his tenure, permitting the American military, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (now colloquially known as Famous But Incompetent) to utterly decline. The Bush administration is currently subjecting the Armed Forces and these agencies to systematic review and thorough overhaul, in order to make them truly responsive to America’s needs during this exceedingly challenging landscape of the 21st Century.
No, the liberals will never properly scrutinize and criticize the failings of their hero, former President Bill Clinton. And I doubt that they will give adequate credit to a splendid Republican such as President George W. Bush, despite his notable military and diplomatic achievements that are readily evident only 10 months into his administration. Clearly, Bush is not an insipid, inept, bumbling idiot, as the liberals have tried to portray him. In fact, the public has quickly warmed to President Bush as a formidable commander-in-chief, and a man of character. And they appreciate Bush’s wartime consiglieri, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well.
And after the Afghanistan phase of this campaign is completed, it is on to Iraq to drive out of power Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden’s associate in crime. |
