Setting the agenda
The wheels are in motion to defeat the forces that rained death and destruction
on the United States on September 11. We don't know all the particulars of where
those wheels will take us, for one thing because it's not a good idea to tell
an enemy who intends to kill you precisely how you plan to resist. However,
when democracies go to war the general policies and war aims ought to be subject
to public discussion and debate, and the troops should go into battle with informed
support from the home front.
Panama will not be sending soldiers, but we have already been asked to help
investigate al-Qaeda's money trail. That assistance has been promised, but the
Moscoso administration's too quick denial of a Panamanian connection, based
on the fact that Osama bin Laden's name does not appear in the files of the
Registro Publico, is not a good sign. Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries
have moved guns and money through here for years without serious pursuit by
our authorities, and such intellectual laziness on the part of our law enforcement
agencies with respect to al-Qaeda should be as unacceptable to the Panamanian
people as it surely must be to the United States.
Meanwhile in Washington, the Bush administration's pronouncements can be as
unsettling as its actions seem to be reassuring. If by his call for a general
'War Against Terrorism' Bush means conflict with everyone against whom the US
has ever used the 'terrorist' epithet, that would be foolish. On the other hand,
it is reported that the Bush administration is talking to Cuba, Iran and other
old foes, in order to isolate bin Laden and the Taliban. That would be a very
wise policy.
Chasing down all the cells in al-Qaeda's international network will be a long,
difficult and largely invisible process. Depriving it of its principal base
will be a simpler but no less daunting task.
'Sending a message' to the Taliban is a futile exercise, whether it gets sent
through diplomatic channels or bombs. The Taliban needs to be removed from power.
Neither the United States nor any other country has the ability to impose
a puppet government on Afghanistan. Nobody should want to do so. However, the
Taliban can be driven out of the cities. Its heavy military equipment can be
destroyed and its army and leaders can be scattered. A space can be opened for
Afghans to create their own post-Taliban government and society.
A key US war aim should be to smash the Taliban, then, in cooperation with
Afghanistan's Muslim neighbors, to help the Afghan people and whatever successor
government emerges to pick up the pieces and rebuild.
Bear in mind...
Out on the edge you can see all kinds of things you can't
see from the center.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one
which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity, will
become as though he was a bosom friend.
Quran, Surah XLI
Success has made failures of many men.
Cindy Adams
