Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> A friend of mine - who is no fan of the bombing - had a long chat
> with an Afghan living in NYC the other day. His wife and kids are
> still in Kabul, along with the rest of his family. She asked him what
> he thought of the bombing. He said he supported it. She asked him
> about civilian casualties. He said that people are dying every day in
> Afghanistan, and if the U.S. campaign brought down the Taliban, the
> civilian deaths would be worth it. That makes me very queasy, but
> that's what he said.
>
> Doug
>
You know, come to think of it, youre both right. I am no fan of the bombing of the WTC but now that I think of it maybe I should support it like this buddy I have. What about the civilian casualties in NewYork? I asked him. "Well you know, now that the US and UK are talking about a Palestenian state and now that they know that the wogs can and are willing to strike back they may have to think twice before wiping out entire communities -- and even if this only makes a marginal difference - it may save millions of lives." He said that people are dying every day around the world under the US heel, and if the Al Queda campaign simply slowed down the US terror machine, the civilian deaths in New York would be worth it.That makes me very queasy, but that's what he said.
-Pradeep
PS --Ive also completely come around to Luke's difficult but rather deep insight. Now I too am willing to say that sometimes withholding forceful intervention results (albeit indirectly) in collateral damage as well,-- like the third worlds withholding, all this time, of forceful intervention (at least until 9/11) that could have helped bring the US' terror war back home and helped raise the cost of the US's genocidal campaigns abroad. The wog's inability or refusal to "interve forcefuly" (like with a few well placed Bengali terrorist bombs in London at the turn of the last century) has probably resulted in the death and mutilation of untold millions, although incidences of guilty feelings and wailings about bloody hands that resulted from such restraint after the fact have been rare.