USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

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Stardate 20010913.2218 (On Screen): Kermit writes in and asks me what I think of this plea for mercy from the Taliban. I think it's a bunch of despicable lies. There's a story about a man who murdered his parents, and then asked the court for mercy because he was an orphan. This is about that low.

"We appeal to the United States not to put Afghanistan into more misery because our people have suffered so much."

The Taliban itself is responsible for most of that suffering, and has been for a long time now inflicting even more suffering on its own people.

"These days, Osama bin Laden's name has become very popular and to an extent it has become a symbol. These days, even to the common people, Osama bin Laden's name is associated with all controversial acts. Osama bin Laden does not have such capabilities. We still hope sanity prevails in the United States. We are confident that if a fair investigation is carried out by American authorities, the Taliban will not be found guilty of involvement in such cowardly acts."

We don't think that the Taliban had anything to do with the attacks; we think that they are giving aid and comfort to the ones who did it. That makes them our enemy. They've been claiming all along that bin Laden had nothing to do with it, but they have presented no credible evidence beyond their "Would we lie to you?" act. They claimed bin Laden had no means of communication and the next day he used a satellite phone to call a newspaper in Pakistan.

I believe at this point that the US government really does have substantial evidence of the involvement of bin Laden not only in this bombing but in at least three previous bombings or bombing attempts. We've been "presenting evidence" to them for years, and no matter what we tell them somehow it never seems to be enough. One of the great aphorisms of politics and business is "delay is the deadliest form of denial." They're trying to get us to lose our will and go back to begging them for bin Laden so that they can keep refusing by claiming that the evidence is not yet strong enough. No. We're through begging. Now we're demanding. We want him and we won't accept any more excuses. We want his organization. We want it shut down. We aren't going to take "no" (or "later") as answers.

"Killing our leaders will not help our people any. There is no factory in Afghanistan that is worth the price of a single missile fired at us. It will simply increase the mistrust between the people in the region and the United States."

Actually, there's good reason to believe that killing the top command of the Taliban would substantially improve the lot of the people of Afghanistan, especially their women and religious minorities. But leave that aside. There isn't any trust left between our peoples, and it's their fault. We've tried to play square with them, and now that time is over. It isn't possible to reduce trust below zero, which is what we're at now. We don't trust them at all anymore, and we no longer care whether they trust us. And as to any possibility that an attack by us will increase antagonism by terrorist groups and cause them to retaliate, they're going to attack us again whether we retaliate or not. But if we retaliate effectively, we may wipe some of them out before they can do so. At this point we no longer have anything to lose.

The Taliban are essentially trying to say "Let's let bygones be bygones. Friends now, eh?" No. That all changed Tuesday morning. They've had their chance. If they want to be our friends now, if they want us to trust them, if they want mercy, then it's time for them to earn it. They are no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt. They've made their bed and now they can die in it. It's still not too late for them to prevent a catastrophe, but it's their decision to prevent it, not ours. Our course is clear. The time for talking is over; it's time for action now. They can take action, but if they don't, we will. They have only two choices: give us bin Laden or be annihilated. They may choose which they prefer, but they're running out of time to make that choice, and there will be no third alternative. (discuss)

Update 20010914: They're still trying to claim that there's no way that bin Laden could have been involved. And their claim of cooperation is now exposed as an empty lie: if the US has evidence then bin Laden will be tried by an Islamic Court in Afghanistan. That's what they think.

Update 20010914: Now they're threatening retaliation if they are attacked. I think we really are seeing a case of culture shock. Do they really think their threats are going to be taken seriously? The Taliban have no ability to project conventional military force to the US or anything the US owns; the Taliban's only way of retaliating against the US would be by terrorism -- and we're already the target for that. One of their friends -- if they actually have any -- had better disabuse them of their illusions about the US damned quick.