Do Unto Others?

Careful, it works both ways

by Imran Anwar

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DS Markham wrote: If the "citizens" of Afghanistan are so innocent, why haven't they driven bin Laden out of their country?????????

I am not being snotty but have you ever seen any NEWS or documentary on Afghanistan on TV before this event? Any clip that showed what conditions exist in Afghanistan. 5 or more years of us arming them (I was blown away when I heard the price tag....we put in SIX BILLION DOLLARS worth of arms into the hands of Afghanis.

And 22 years of civil war. 5 years of an armed group of people in control, who are so conservative/stone age they have been shooting down statutes of Buddha as idols in their own country instead of preserving them. (Iran, a REAL orthodox state, has INCREDIBLE historic monuments from before Islam and Christianity and protect them, so imagine if someone is more orthodox or old fashioned than the Iranian rulers). Their own women do not have any rights. There is nothing left in that country. AND....think about it....how easy is it for us to oust a ruler, even with committing crimes you and I would have gone to jail for, Clinton stayed in power, with us having democracy and all. So imagine how it would be in a country like Afghanistan.

They, by the fact that they stood by and did nothing to deter this sick bastard, are as guilty as if they flew those planes.

I do not represent that country, but I would seriously suggest getting a tape from the UN or anyone else who has to show you a few segments of "life on the street" (if there is a street left there).

Let the world know that allowing people such as this to act makes them guilty by neglect and refusal to get involved and should be punished equal to the resulting devastation.

That, unfortunately, is exactly the thinking of the people who committed these crimes against the US...."America is a democracy, they have a zillion newspapers and 100+ independent TV channels, if the Americans imposed the Shah on me (If I was Iranian), imposed a dictator on me (if I was from _____fill in your choice of country, Pakistan, Egypt, Kuwait, .....and so on), gave Israel F16s and Apache helicopters to attack the citizens STILL waiting for an end to the Occupation that the UN resolutions promised 50 years ago, ......it HAS TO BE with the American public's choice, whether they are from Pakistan, Peurto Rico, Pennsylvania, or wherever....after all, if it was not with their will, they must see what their government does and they would stop it......and if they are not stopping it, they are guilty....."

In other words, you are as guilty in their eyes as they are in your eyes. So, let us not use the same logic that led someone else to kill thousands of innocent civilians in NYC.

Let an asshole act like an asshole and they believe their behavior is acceptable because no one has stopped them. Let an asshole know his behavior is unacceptable in this world and they either change their ways or are shunned by the world. An asshole who then continues to act like an asshole needs to be "wiped" away!

Careful here again. Half the "assholes" in power as dictators are there with our (United States Government's) blessings. Which is again why I am saying, let us get the criminals and perpetrators or their supporters but killing one bunch but not solving the root problem will not save us from something else.

bin Laden has proven his distain for the world and has not listened to what is acceptable. He only deserves to die as his victims have. The people of Afghanistan deserve nothing short of the same - they allowed him to do this.

See above, you are using the same "logic" as 'them'.

Compare those "citizens" with the heroes who died taking back the hijacked plane from those wanting to kill more US citizens and causing it to crash in Pennsylvania. They did not stand by and allow it to happen - they prevented it from happening.

Of course there were heroes, and even among the firemen and others who were rushing in to help the WTC victims. But we should also talk about preventing "it" from happening, where I pray to God "it" is not something much worse where heroism cannot save us. What scares me is the number of "Stinger" missiles that were given to these guys....these were the shoulder fired missiles to bring down Soviet planes even if a guy was merely standing on a rock. There was no count, not account. There are hundreds of them still out there.

Period, paragraph! End of story!

No. We should pray this is the beginning of the story. The beginning of a war on terrorism and its CAUSES. A safe place where countries look out for their own interests but not at the expense of generating hordes of enemies whose only mission in life becomes to target US civilians regardless of who they are and what they stand for.

A world based on honor and dignity and decency and justice - for all, not just the people who have fancy weapons that the US provides. As the only superpower and leader of the free will, history has given us that chance and will be watching us to start a new chapter in the history of this world.

Imran Anwar

http://www.imran.com for opinions on what happened and why and what's next.