But we have to make the Afghanis believe that we will.
The myriad threads in the Pit (I never go to GD) on whether we should invade/bomb Afghanistan, or not do so in order to spare the lives of innocent people, have finally coagulated in what I like to call my brain.
It would be wrong to kill people who are not terrorists. But because it is so wrong, it’s our bargaining chip. Afghanistan doesn’t want us to do that to them, so if they’re convinced that it’s bin Laden or them, they’ll give him up.
I don’t know what the goverment/military is planning. But I hope they’ll come up with a plan that will convince the “ruling Taliban” that we will strike, we will kill anything that gets in our way, and we will not stop until either bin Laden is in our custody, or Afghanistan is glass.
I’m going to read up on how Hitler was able to take over France so easily. Yes, I said Hitler. We have to convince the Taliban that we are as ruthless as he. We don’t have to be so; we just have to look like it.
Jihad is the Arabic word for Holy War. It has many and complex meanings in that it can also have positive connotations as a crusade in the sense of a fund-raiser or other good act.
But mostly, in context, it is an open religious decree stating that we are the infidel, the corrupters of Islam and embodiment of evil.
Because of their completely erroneous and twisted interpretation of Islam the Taleban defy the strict prohibition against the killing of innocents. They are previously responsible for many hundreds of deaths around the world. In their own country the widows of soldiers are pushed alive into open graves and buried en mass.
These people are maniacs who envision a Theocratic and intensely misogynist society where religious devotions supersede the importance of art, music and any sense of plurality. They also seek to complete what Hitler did not with the slaughter of the Jewish people.
We have nothing that they want. They do not covet our material wealth, they despise our freedoms. They will only accept the total overthrow of the United States or its submission to their goals. Neither of which can be allowed to happen. In my own opinion, these fanatics are the modern day equivalents of Nazis. It is nearly the same mentality and must be dealt with in the same way.
In the context of most western media, Zenster, you’re right. But jihad is actually much more borad than “holy war”, and most generally means “action for the cause of God.” Every person internalizes jihad in the daily struggle to live by the Qu’ran and God’s will, for example. The daily fight against sin is jihad, and the constant battle to love one another is jihad. This meaning of jihad is understood and accepted as duty (the whole “sad vale of tears, life sucks, bad things happenning to good people” sort of thing), and is representative of the battles of faith that must be fought.
Of course, many Muslims continue to embrace the external jihad, the struggle of Muslim against infidel, to the exclusion of all else, claiming that the tru jihad is not philosophical or theological, but martial. And there are numerous splinter sects who claim jihad (in the sense of “holy war”) as a Sixth Pillar of Islam. Mainstream Islam abhors this. (But then, mainstream Christianity isn’t too fond of the Stormers, the Klan, or Freddie Phelps either.)
Well, that’s why I asked, guys: I’ve heard so damn many definitions of “jihad” I wasn’t sure which one applied in this instance.
Now I’ll say, they can call it whatever they want. I hesitate to bring this up, in light of the new solidarity movement, but Southerners called the Civil War the “War of Northern Aggression”. Didn’t matter.
I read an interesting, if unsubstantiated, email the other day about the “Afghan people.” Remember, the Taliban is a small group who have taken over a country and rule it with terror.
To hear this person tell it, it is the Afghan people who were the first victims of the Taliban’s reign of terror (if I see “rain of terror” one more time, I’ll puke). Children are orphaned with no food or shelter, widows are murdered, women who go out unveiled are disfigured with acid or shot. There is nothing we can do to this country that hasn’t already been done by the ruling faction, even flattening it.
It’s an interesting position. I am in favor of military action in this matter, but I am prejudiced- my brother served in the special operations warfare community, and this kind of thing is right up his alley (Ranger). But it will not feel so good when it is all over CNN that we slagged a bunch of peasants without a pot to piss in.
Which is of course exactly what bin Laden is hoping for.
My best friend from high school is in the Navy. WHen I was bitching about Bin Laden, he said, ‘yea he’s bad, but the Taliban, now they’re some scary fuckers.’ I really don’t know much about them, never heard the word until a month ago I bet, but after seeing those pics on the link (thanks, I guess, Ogre) I know what he was saying.
Bingo, dropzone. There isn’t really an “Afghanistan” right now. There’s the ruling Taliban, and then there’s the powerless masses who are being systematically ground under the bootheel.
I don’t believe we have ANY bargaining chips here, except for the unholy destruction we can rain down on these people. And bin Laden is probably hoping that any collateral damage moves more moderate Islamic people into his fold.
This guy has stated publicly that it is every muslim’s duty to kill Americans. Wonderful.