Tuesday, September 18, 2001

It may not be those we first suspect!

On September 12, I wrote on this page:

Caution! We need to move slowly and carefully. Yesterday's events have left me and many others numb, bewildered, sad and angry.

It all seems like an opening Chapter of a Tom Clancy novel. And like Tom Clancy's stories, it may only be the first act. We must be very careful. Our first need it to protect ourselves and our country. We must avoid any rush to judgement. This was one of the most devastating and successful attacks in the history of human warfare. Those behind it are very dangerous. And, they may not be those we first suspect.

Yesterday, it was reported by Yahoo Finance that the stock market may have been manipulated by those with pre-knowledge of the attack on America. By selling airline stocks short billions of dollars may have been stolen.

Today, it is reported by the BBC's George Arney that:

"the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks.

"Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October.

"Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin.

"Mr Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told him that unless Bin Laden was handed over swiftly America would take military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar.

"The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the Taleban regime and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans in its place - possibly under the leadership of the former Afghan King Zahir Shah.

"Mr Naik was told that Washington would launch its operation from bases in Tajikistan, where American advisers were already in place.

" He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate in the operation and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby.

"Mr Naik was told that if the military action went ahead it would take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest."

And so the plot thickens. Again I caution. We need to move slowly. We need more information.

Timothy Wilken

 

Making Choices...

A human once said that the end justifies the means. And if I intend good, then my use of evil means is forgiven.

Another human said the means become the ends. If I use evil means even in the pursuit of good ends, I become evil.

We humans have a choice in how we go about trying to make the world better. If we see the world as part evil, we can hate that part of the world that is evil and try to hurt and kill it. That is what the terrorists did who attacked the World Trade Center. They said the United States was Satan and they focused on making the evil part of the world less and less.

However, we have another choice. We can choose to see the world as part good, then we can love that part of the world that is good and try to help and support it. We can choose to focus on making the good part of the world more and more.

Remembering that the choices we make today will determine our future. What choice will you make?

Timothy Wilken