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To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (28655)	9/1/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Katherine, Thanks for your note. I partly agree that wars start for economic issues; But the issue gets fogged heavily for other non-economic issues such as religion. And yes, you are right! We helped trained the Afghani brigades- but what turned the war against the Soviets was IMO our provision of Stinger missiles to the rebels which prevented their helicopters from giving good air-to-ground tactical support of Soviet Troops. But fighting wars and attacking military/economic targets is one thing (acceptable under standard rules of combat)- and attacking political/civilian targets is another (not acceptable). That the Afghan brigades turned their training on their chief trainer/benefactor? It happens- read the "Annals of Tacitus" on first century Roman political/foreign affairs for a vivid description of that happening to/with the Romans in Tukey and the Middle East in 1st Century AD, and how they handled it- I bet that we follow their approach to resolving the problem too... Whatever you call Bin Laden, due to the Afghan War, the US has many friends in both Pakistan and Afghanistan right now as we speak. Also about 10 years ago I was invited to the local American Arab Society meeting since I was a local leader who espoused a balanced view of the Isreali/Palestinian issue. I became a member of the Group, and learned much that I did not know before. For example the Group changed its name to reference "American" first just so that everyone understood that they are very loyal American citizens like other Amrican. Second, we have an incredible number of Arab-American citizens working on our behalf over in the Middle East... Finally the US also made a whole bunch of friends in the Middle East by fighting the Gulf War. The Saudis in their hearts felt that the Americans would never actually come to the Middle East and help defend the Gulf Kingdoms from aggression, especially if by another local power. We came, we fought. While that angered the Fundamentalists, we made a whole lot of friends in the Gulf States. I assure you that if you go to the Arab Gulf, that you will be well received. And yes, I agree economics, or maybe better stated, the social impacts of economic decisions is a big issue here. A number of the Gulf States have decided post-war to adopt a series of western economic approaches to various issues- and yes, that goes counter to some of the traditional "avoid western ideologies" approaches espoused by the Fundamentalists. So yes you are right! Economics is an issue. In fact the issue is identical to what the Parthian (Persians) Empire faced in 1st century AD with the Roman Empire- fight, flight, accommodation, or some combination thereof in order to assure the success, survival of the Parthian Empire? Take a minute to read some of the Annals of Tacitus. (And besides the books have lots of great personal data, intrigue, war, wild pagan (literally) sex, references to the activities of interesting historical figures such as Nero, Augustus, Caligula, and Jesus etc.).... Sincerely, Doug F.