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Pentagon:
U.S. will 'bring the Taliban down'
Warplane takes off from
USS Theodore Roosevelt today
Excerpts
from article describing the state of affairs regarding the military
campaign against islamic extremist terrorism in Afghanistan:
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A
top Pentagon official said Wednesday he was surprised by the
determination of Taliban forces but stressed that the U.S.-led
assaults would continue until the Taliban government is toppled.
U.S.
Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said the Taliban are "tough
warriors" who are operating in an environment with which
they are very familiar.
"I
am a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to power.
For [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar to not see the inevitability
of what will happen surprises me. We are prepared to take however
long is required to bring the Taliban down," he said.
U.S.
warplanes struck targets near the Afghan capital, Kabul, and
the front lines north of the city. Heavy bombing also resumed
Wednesday in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, according
to reports from the Arabic-language TV satellite network Al
Jazeera.
From
a village north of the front lines, fighter jets were seen above
the mountains where Taliban fighters are entrenched, and bombs
were heard exploding. The jets were met with anti-aircraft fire.
Plumes of black smoke were seen in the area.
The
front-line attacks could soften the Taliban defenses, allowing
the opposition Northern Alliance to advance toward Kabul, but
a Northern Alliance spokesman said he did not believe the time
for that had come.
"It
has not reached the level that we will expect a major change
in the military situation as far as the front lines are concerned,"
Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told CNN.
"But we are in contact with American authorities, and we
are working to coordinate our efforts in that regard."
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Source:
Anti-Terrorism
Bill Passes, Sale of War Bonds Approved
Excerpts
from an article detailing recent moves in the House to fight
terrorism and fund the anti-terrorism war efforts ...
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After
returning from a recess called to allow for anthrax testing
in their offices, the House of Representatives passed a compromise
anti-terrorism bill and approved the sale of war bonds.
In
a 357 to 66 vote, the House today adopted sweeping new laws
that give police the power to secretly search the homes of terrorism
suspects, tap all their phones and track their Internet usage.
"The
House is taking a responsible step forward by giving law enforcement
the tools necessary to secure the safety of Americans while
protecting our constitutional rights," House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, R-Ill., said after the vote. "Our overall goal
must be stopping terrorists in their tracks rather than wasting
precious time, energy and resources fighting bureaucratic legal
hurdles."
The
White House had urged the proposal be quickly passed as is,
but members of Congress imposed so-called "sunsets"
so the new powers would expire unless renewed later. Some lawmakers
said the sunsets were needed to safeguard against future abuses
of the war-time legislation.
...
The final version now moves to the Senate where Majority Leader
Tom Daschle said he expected the Senate to pass the anti-terrorism
bill before the end of the week.
...
On Tuesday, the House followed the Senate's lead and passed legislation
authorizing the Treasury Department to issue the first war bonds
since World War II.
The
measure passed unanimously on a voice vote in a nearly empty
House after speakers in both parties said the bonds would give
citizens a way to get involved in the fight on terrorism. ...
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Source:
Taleban's
New Tactics
Taleban's strategy will
increase risk to civilians
Excerpts
from an article describing the Taleban tactic of hiding amongst
civilian populations to avoid American airstrikes:
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...
Reports from Kabul suggest that some Taleban soldiers have moved
into residential areas, assuming perhaps that this will make
it more difficult for American warplanes to hit them.
...
It has been reported for some time that the Taleban were dispersing
their fighters. With American planes targeting troop concentrations,
it's a move that obviously makes sense.
Use
of the fearsome AC-130 gunship in such attacks would only have
driven home the point that it was suicide to leave fielded forces
in areas where they were sitting ducks.
...
Overall, the balance of Taleban and Northern Alliance forces
does not appear to have shifted a great deal since US air strikes
began more than two weeks ago.
Strikes
against Taleban front line positions, around Kabul and Mazar-e
Sharif, have been welcomed by Northern Alliance commanders,
but have yet to make a decisive impact. Alliance officials speak
of the need for greater co-ordination. ...
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Source:
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Military
Fact Files
Links
to summaries and graphic displays regarding military fact files
on warplanes, support aircraft, helicopters, and ships involved
in the current military campaign against islamic extremist terrorism
in Afghanistan and surrounding regions:
Real
or Imagined - You Decide
Imaginations
are boundless - for example, in your imagination, your car could
turn into a monster and eat you.
In
your imagination, when you read this, your computer could turn
into a volcanic-like peanuthead from planet Xanax and swallow
you. <burp>
Anything
is possible in your imagination - hold on while I imagine being
surrounded by 72 adoring virgins and rivers overflowing with
wine - my, now wasn't that fun?
See
how easy it is to imagine, well, anything?
Thus
far, the imagination seems innocent enough as a diversion from
the ordinary goings on from the real world.
However,
when it crosses the line between fantastical / imaginary and
becomes a delusion is when people actually *believe* and *claim*
that imaginary things are real rather than imaginary.
Such
is the nature of faith.
If
folks act on the anti-human aspects of those delusions which
remain embedded in the "believe or else" nature of
most ancient faiths, then all hell can break loose on earth,
as Americans well know from the horror perpetrated against us
by those blinded by religious fervor in the attack against us
on September 11, 2001.
Therein
resides the real risk of the imaginary when treated as real
by folks divorced from the questioning nature of an educated
and rational mind.
What
is absolute reality?
It's
unknown.
To
humans who are realists, humans are objectively speaking a minute
part of an inconceivably vast universe, perhaps one of an all-but
infinite number of universes, with our ultimate meaning residing
outside of the
human mind, thus far.
To
a dinosaur, well, order and design and meaning as we perceive
it seem somewhat inept descriptions of a universe that did that
grand clan of beasts in.
To
an ant, the universe (what's that?) is all about ants and order
involves the workings of and impacts upon the ant colony (follow
the colony, it's all about the colony), nothing more, nothing
less (damn those pesticides, choke, spit, die).
To
a human interested in searching and exploring the natural world,
history, and all that one can know in this time in which each
of us has the opportunity to know all we can, reality as well
as we can perceive it is
- a
reflection of each of us,
- an
insight into our humanity,
- an
enrichment of a cherished and ennobling communion with the
best and brightest thoughts that humankind is capable of,
- an
inspiration to go forth and max out the human experience,
at this time, in this life,
- a
revelation of the value of knowing and the worth of caring
about the knowledge that our ancestors have spent lifetimes
and lives for,
- an
appreciation of the challenges and responsibilities entailed
in an educated and reasoned approach to solving human problems
in pro-human ways.
What
about the imaginary beings / places entailed in religion? What
is that imaginary stuff all about?
It's
a reflection of group / peer / familial / social / cultural
/ sexual / financial pressures, authoritarian influences, brainwashing,
guilt from those factors, fear, and the demand from faithers
that believers suspend all doubt lest they risk eternal damnation.
Heavy stuff, that religious chicanery, stuff from the depths
of anti-human psychosis.
Add
to that, all the lovey dovey pile promised by investing resources
/ time /devotion / commitment to blind faith, and well, you
have the seeds for schizophrenic paranoid delusions as manifested
by practically all forms of religiosity poisoning most civilizations
the world over.
By
the way, they're all empty imaginary claims without one iota
of evidence, worthy of little more than a yawn by individuals
interested in open-minded search for truth in this natural world
which, per all the evidence humankind has been able to divulge,
is totally free of magic invisible pixies from nowhereland.
However,
when it comes to the ways humans behave based on that absolute
manifestation of authoritarianism represented by the word god
(allah), yikes! That's when it can get downright scary and life
threatening.
Source:
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