09.14.01

I appreciate your thoughts, Lenny, here are mine. -A

If bin Laden is responsible for this, then yes, he has poisoned the well and he deserves whatever the Hague can prove he deserves. But you might find with a little reading that the British, French, Russians and, more recently, the Americans have been dumping a lot of shit in the Arab well. But bin Laden is beside the point.

It's time that American foreign policy changed to support the ideals we've claimed to support all along: democracy and freedom; instead of the right wing dictatorships and corporate profits we've been supporting. This is the enemy we need to fight-- the people and corporations who use our country's power to accomplish their own ends. This is the source of the resentment many people worldwide feel towards the US.

The purpose of war is destruction, and I won't support it. The better route is a peaceful one. We'd be better off to drop food on Afghanistan than bombs, it just might win the good will of some of our enemies. This route might be a scarier one, especially for those who fear for their children. A gun does feel more powerful than a loaf of bread. But the best interests of our children and our future lie in a more long term solution than continued fighting. We armed the Taliban to fight the Soviets and look at what they're doing now. We armed Saddam Hussein to fight the Iranians and look what happened. We supported Castro in his successful insurgency against a dictator of our choosing and were surprised when he turned against us, leaving us out of the booty. We supported corrupt rightwing extremists in China, Korea and Vietnam and where did it get us? When we will learn? The terrorist attacks in NY and DC were karma -- this idea that we affect the world and the world, in turn, affects us. When we will stop this cycle of violence and war? We have the perspective and the power to do the right thing here. Will we?

As John Lennon said, "War is over, if you want it."

What do we want?

-- AB