USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

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Stardate 20011114.1740 (On Screen): There's been much discussion in various quarters that the attack on 9/11 meant the "death of irony". I'm not so sure I believe it; while it may be true that fashionable cynicism just became unfashionable, the universe will keep tossing irony in our faces. Consider, for instance, the fact that the 8 western misisonaries who were held in Afghanistan are now free and in Pakistan. They were retrieved by US special forces helicopters from a field, but for the moment it's not clear just how they became free. It may be that they escaped; it may be that they were freed by the Taliban. But in that case, how did the special forces know where they were to retrieve them? Another possibility is that they were freed by direct action of special forces units on the ground (in which case those who did it would call in the helicopters, which is why I'm leaning towards this theory) -- and if so, then the universe has created another sweet irony.

For you see, several of the missionaries are German. In Germany right now there is a great deal of political struggle about the extent to which Germany should be involved in this war. It's being heavily debated in the German parliament, and there is a great deal of opposition to it. I'm told by someone I know who lives in Berlin that the general mood there is to not get involved. So how will those people feel when they learn that some German citizens were saved from an awful fate by US soldiers fighting a war that Germany is not and doesn't want to get involved in? (discuss)

Update: it's been informally acknowledged that they were indeed freed through military action.

Update 20011116: Chancellor Schroeder got his approval from Parliament to support the war militarily, but only just barely and only by making it a vote of confidence. That was gutsy of him, but it's unfortunate that it required that for Germany to do the right thing. German forces will not (and constitutionally cannot be) involved in combat.