You
can't
bomb
us
back
into
the
Stone
Age.
We're
already
there.
But
you
can
start
a
new
world
war,
and
that's
exactly
what
Osama
bin
Laden
wants.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
By
Tamim
Ansary
Sept.
14,
2001
-
I've
been
hearing
a
lot
of
talk
about
"bombing
Afghanistan
back
to
the
Stone
Age."
Ronn
Owens,
on
San
Francisco's
KGO
Talk
Radio,
conceded
today
that
this
would
mean
killing
innocent
people,
people
who
had
nothing
to
do
with
this
atrocity,
but
"we're
at
war,
we
have
to
accept
collateral
damage.
What
else
can
we
do?"
Minutes
later
I
heard
some
TV
pundit
discussing
whether
we
"have
the
belly
to
do
what
must
be
done."
And
I
thought
about
the
issues
being
raised
especially
hard
because
I
am
from
Afghanistan,
and
even
though
I've
lived
in
the
United
States
for
35
years
I've
never
lost
track
of
what's
going
on
there.
So
I
want
to
tell
anyone
who
will
listen
how
it
all
looks
from
where
I'm
standing.
I
speak
as
one
who
hates
the
Taliban
and
Osama
bin
Laden.
There
is
no
doubt
in
my
mind
that
these
people
were
responsible
for
the
atrocity
in
New
York.
I
agree
that
something
must
be
done
about
those
monsters.
But
the
Taliban
and
bin
Laden
are
not
Afghanistan.
They're
not
even
the
government
of
Afghanistan.
The
Taliban
are
a
cult
of
ignorant
psychotics
who
took
over
Afghanistan
in
1997.
Bin
Laden
is
a
political
criminal
with
a
plan.
When
you
think
Taliban,
think
Nazis.
When
you
think
bin
Laden,
think
Hitler.
And
when
you
think
"the
people
of
Afghanistan"
think
"the
Jews
in
the
concentration
camps."
It's
not
only
that
the
Afghan
people
had
nothing
to
do
with
this
atrocity.
They
were
the
first
victims
of
the
perpetrators.
They
would
exult
if
someone
would
come
in
there,
take
out
the
Taliban
and
clear
out
the
rats'
nest
of
international
thugs
holed
up
in
their
country.
Some
say,
why
don't
the
Afghans
rise
up
and
overthrow
the
Taliban?
The
answer
is,
they're
starved,
exhausted,
hurt,
incapacitated,
suffering.
A
few
years
ago,
the
United
Nations
estimated
that
there
are
500,000
disabled
orphans
in
Afghanistan
--
a
country
with
no
economy,
no
food.
There
are
millions
of
widows.
And
the
Taliban
has
been
burying
these
widows
alive
in
mass
graves.
The
soil
is
littered
with
land
mines,
the
farms
were
all
destroyed
by
the
Soviets.
These
are
a
few
of
the
reasons
why
the
Afghan
people
have
not
overthrown
the
Taliban.
We
come
now
to
the
question
of
bombing
Afghanistan
back
to
the
Stone
Age.
Trouble
is,
that's
been
done.
The
Soviets
took
care
of
it
already.
Make
the
Afghans
suffer?
They're
already
suffering.
Level
their
houses?
Done.
Turn
their
schools
into
piles
of
rubble?
Done.
Eradicate
their
hospitals?
Done.
Destroy
their
infrastructure?
Cut
them
off
from
medicine
and
healthcare?
Too
late.
Someone
already
did
all
that.
New
bombs
would
only
stir
the
rubble
of
earlier
bombs.
Would
they
at
least
get
the
Taliban?
Not
likely.
In
today's
Afghanistan,
only
the
Taliban
eat,
only
they
have
the
means
to
move
around.
They'd
slip
away
and
hide.
Maybe
the
bombs
would
get
some
of
those
disabled
orphans;
they
don't
move
too
fast,
they
don't
even
have
wheelchairs.
But
flying
over
Kabul
and
dropping
bombs
wouldn't
really
be
a
strike
against
the
criminals
who
did
this
horrific
thing.
Actually
it
would
only
be
making
common
cause
with
the
Taliban
--
by
raping
once
again
the
people
they've
been
raping
all
this
time.
So
what
else
is
there?
What
can
be
done,
then?
Let
me
now
speak
with
true
fear
and
trembling.
The
only
way
to
get
Bin
Laden
is
to
go
in
there
with
ground
troops.
When
people
speak
of
"having
the
belly
to
do
what
needs
to
be
done"
they're
thinking
in
terms
of
having
the
belly
to
kill
as
many
as
needed.
Having
the
belly
to
overcome
any
moral
qualms
about
killing
innocent
people.
Let's
pull
our
heads
out
of
the
sand.
What's
actually
on
the
table
is
Americans
dying.
And
not
just
because
some
Americans
would
die
fighting
their
way
through
Afghanistan
to
Bin
Laden's
hideout.
It's
much
bigger
than
that,
folks.
Because
to
get
any
troops
to
Afghanistan,
we'd
have
to
go
through
Pakistan.
Would
they
let
us?
Not
likely.
The
conquest
of
Pakistan
would
have
to
be
first.
Will
other
Muslim
nations
just
stand
by?
You
see
where
I'm
going.
We're
flirting
with
a
world
war
between
Islam
and
the
West.
And
guess
what:
That's
bin
Laden's
program.
That's
exactly
what
he
wants.
That's
why
he
did
this.
Read
his
speeches
and
statements.
It's
all
right
there.
He
really
believes
Islam
would
beat
the
West.
It
might
seem
ridiculous,
but
he
figures
if
he
can
polarize
the
world
into
Islam
and
the
West,
he's
got
a
billion
soldiers.
If
the
West
wreaks
a
holocaust
in
those
lands,
that's
a
billion
people
with
nothing
left
to
lose;
that's
even
better
from
Bin
Laden's
point
of
view.
He's
probably
wrong
--
in
the
end
the
West
would
win,
whatever
that
would
mean
--
but
the
war
would
last
for
years
and
millions
would
die,
not
just
theirs
but
ours.
Who
has
the
belly
for
that?
Bin
Laden
does.
Anyone
else?
salon.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
About
the
writer
Tamim
Ansary
is
a
writer
in
San
Francisco,
and
the
son
of
a
former
Afghani
politician.