On Selective Pacifism & other Oddities

[Charles Jannuzi]

Brad DeLong writes:
>After 9/11 the Taliban
>government had an obligation to reveal >everything it knew about the
>perpetrators, and to turn over all the >perpetrators and all the
>material witnesses it could find to the >United States government as
>the U.S. government undertook its own >investigation.


>The failure of the Taliban government to >fulfill its obligation was a
>casus belli.

The problems with this line of thought include: the US government did not
recognize the Taliban government; the Taliban were still fighting a civil
war and were not functioning as a government in many parts of the country;
for an operation like 9-11 to succeed probably no one in the Taliban knew it
was going to happen; none of the perpetrators deployed directly from
Afghanistan; and quite likely even OBL himself didn't know directly of the
operation (a highly motivated revenge plot of a small group with some key
support most likely)--that is how he has worked in the past as well, as
inspiration, as brainstormer and as financer. Kind of a Jack Welch of
terrorism if you will.

I do have to admire the US government's resolve to turn Afghanistan into the
smokescreen to cover their own collective incompetence. And perhaps the next
time there is a prison riot in the US they'll know to use B-52s to put it
down. What effectiveness! What bravery!
Can't wait for the next exciting episode!

Charles Jannuzi