Dr. Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at the Independent Institute on Are We Fighting a Real War on Terror at All?
The Bush administration recently made it known that a major offensive against al Qaeda would be launched in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the spring. It was even hinted that Osama bin Laden might be caught this year.
To the average Super Bowl-watching American, it might seem strange to warn dangerous and already elusive foes that you are coming to get them. Conspiracy theorists among us (who occasionally prove to be right) would conclude that the Bush administration already knows Osama’s location and, to have the maximum political impact, is just waiting to round him up shortly before the election. Of course, this conclusion would be a very cynical interpretation of the Bush administration’s actions—which, given the administration’s secrecy and twisting of intelligence to hype the Iraqi threat, may not be entirely unwarranted. Under that scenario, however, the risk for President Bush and his minions is that Osama would once again manage to disappear before they could capture him—leaving them empty-handed before the election.
Read the rest of Dr. Eland's commentary here.
I am from Japan. How do you do?
Let me tell you a fable about the war in Iraq, titled “The Two Brother Sparrows in Waqland.”
The author Dox has a brother, who is a Japanese soldier and will be forced to go to Iraq. He wrote this story in order to express his worry about his brother and other members of Japanese troops, and his doubt over the legitimacy of the dispatch.
Though nearly half of Japanese people are against sending troops, the troops have already left Japan. We would like to tell you that we are against sending troops. We also against Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. I feel very sorry that a lot of US soldiers and Iraqi people were killed, but it was because of Mr. Bush and Blair’s wrong decision.
I would appreciate it if you would read the story “The Two Brother Sparrows in Waqland ” in English at:
http://nofrills.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hon/story.html
If you like it, please let your friends know the site.
In the original story by Dox, the characters were dogs. But as Muslims regard dogs as unclean, the translator Nofrills changed the characters into birds.
You can see them at the illustrator’s site
http://tinyurl.com/37qe6
Please use the illustrations with the story if you like it. Thank you very much for reading my poor English letter.
2/5/2004 12:31:00