Words only get you so far... (The War Against Terrorism)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	The War Against Terrorism
Date:	06/10/01 (32 review reads)
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I’m going to go against the grain on this one…

I would consider myself to be a reasonably tolerant and normally liberal kind of person… I don’t go in for violence, I don’t condone the slaughter of innocent people (as expressed in earlier ops), but I really do feel that military action is REQUIRED in Afghanistan.

It seems that once the horrific events of September 11th had started to settle in, we started to lose sympathy with America and the old “Bloody arrogant Yanks!” attitude has returned… I’ve even read one opinion here suggesting that we should not give money to relief funds for the victims of the attacks, “…because America is a rich country”.

Personally, I find that attitude sickening. Why should we not support the families of those killed on September 11th?

I am pleased to see such concern for the people of Afghanistan – I had feared a collective bloodlust from most sections of Western Society after what happened in America, and a desire to brand all Afghans, even all Muslims, as evil. I’m happy that hasn’t happened… apart from the usual idiots who go out inciting racial hatred as a hobby anyway.

What I don’t understand though is why the US is now being vilified and accused of large-scale warmongering and a desire to hit innocent civilians when:

1) It was the country that was attacked.
2) The United States has never expressed any desire to hit civilian targets, and
3) No action has been taken yet.

Let us not forget who is the aggressor in this ‘war’ – and let us not be as naïve as to think that the aggressors will go away and leave us alone if we just go and have a nice chat with them.

al Qaeda is not a new group, it is not a fresh face on the terrorist scene and it made an official declaration of war against the ‘infidels’ long ago… it has att
acked US targets in several countries and will continue to do so. It has no desire to talk – Mr. bin Laden and company aren’t thoroughly nice gents that you can sit down and have a nice cup of tea and a chat with. This organisation understands only violence and only hatred. It will NEVER, EVER stop until it destroys the west and imposes its twisted interpretation of Islam on the whole world, or it gets destroyed before it can achieve its objectives.

The Taliban meanwhile are an organisation of supposed religious students who oppress normal Afghans, love to put on fun public executions that the whole family can enjoy, treat women like animals, defame Islam, and wish to destroy anyone who does not agree with their own beliefs. I should also point out that the Northern Alliance, the United Front, the Jihadis, whatever name you want to give to them, are no better. The Northern Alliance are a bunch of crooks who are no better than the Taliban – they also have extremist views and their membership consists mainly of Mujahadeen warlords and crime gangs. These people should receive no support from the west.

Obviously it is not the job of the West to interfere in the politics of another country – we have been guilty of that too often in the past, but destroying the Taliban and restoring democratic government – chosen by the people of Afghanistan – is something that I believe we should do…

Quite apart from their crimes against their own people, they are sponsors of al Qaeda and as such a legitimate military target.

I just think that it has to be accepted that diplomacy can only get you so far. Some people just aren’t willing to talk, they have such hatred inside of them that they exist only to destroy the ‘infidels’ – it’s us or them time.

Of course we should never, ever target civilians. That much is obvious… but I fail to see why anyone would shed tears
for hard-line Islamic extremists, the like of al Qaeda, who would not even think twice about killing you – simply because you have the ‘wrong’ colour skin and practice the ‘wrong’ religion.

The United States has supported ordinary Afghans for many years now – you will have noticed the “USA” stamped wheat sacks on which many depend. The US has helped many ordinary Afghans who would surely have otherwise starved – it’s helped them to live… indeed it still is helping… why would they now turn their weapons on these people?

I think that the West has taken great steps to stress that it is not waging wore on Islam, or on the Afghan population, but it seems that no one is listening – not even many people in the West now it would seem.

We can’t sit back and accept this, pretend that it never happened, pretend that the nice people who attacked New York and Washington will leave us alone if we leave them alone. The attacks will come whether we act or not – at least if we attempt to destroy them we might still have our freedom at the end of it. I truly believe that in this situation, the consequences of inaction are far worse than the consequences of action.

How many attacks will we accept before feeling that action is justified? – I remind you – the attacks on September 11th were not the first.

I know people are scared, I know people want to see the preservation of innocent life – because far too many innocent people have died already – but you really must ask yourself if you are willing to stand by and let more innocent people die – including Afghans, because these terrorists have as little regard for their own people as they do for the ‘infidels’ – just so that these terrorists may live.

The time for talking is coming to an end now. It is time for action – precise, targeted action
– not indiscriminate bombing campaigns and mass murder. I have every confidence that the right kind of action will be taken.

Can we ever wipe out terrorism completely? No, I don’t think so – it’s unrealistic to think that terrorism can ever be completely eradicated… however we must act against those who would love nothing more than to kill every last man, woman, and child who doesn’t share their views.

Let us not kill more innocent people, but less us kill the guilty so that the innocent may live.

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