Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Emails Description An account of the resource This collection contains emails which were sent or received on or around September 11, 2001. As of this writing individuals have submitted more than 1,500 correspondences. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Maria Karambasis 09/24/2001 01:43 PM To: Barkha Herman/USG@USG, Kim Stimson/USG@USG, Penni Kessler/USG@USG, Chrystina Katz/USG@USG, Linda Stodtko/USG@USG, Christine Tibbitt/USG@USG cc: Fax to: Subject: Fw: Interesting Point Of View Sad, but true. ----------------------------------------------------------------- > This is very interesting, very enlightening. > > letter by Tamim Ansary, an Afghan-American woman > > Dear Friends, > > Yesterday I heard a lot of talk about "bombing > Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on > KGO Talk Radio allowed 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," and he asked, "What else can we > do? What is your suggestion?" Minutes later I heard > a TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to > do what must be done." And I thought about these issues > especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and > even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never > lost track of what's been going on over there. So I > want to share a few thoughts with anyone who will > listen. > > 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 > fervently wish to see those monsters punished. 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 captured Afghanistan > in 1997 and have been holding the country in bondage > ever since. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a > master 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 > love for someone to eliminate the Taliban and clear out > the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their > country. I guarantee it. Some say, if that's the > case, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the > Taliban themselves? The answer is, they're starved, > exhausted, damaged, and incapacitated. A few years > ago, the United Nations estimated that there are > 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country > with no economy, no food. > > Millions of Afghans are widows of the approximately > two million men killed during the war with the > Soviets. And the Taliban has been executing these > women for being women and have buried some of their > opponents alive in mass graves. The soil of > Afghanistan is littered with land mines and almost > all the farms have been destroyed. The Afghan people > have tried to overthrow the Taliban. They haven't been > able to. > > We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan > back to the Stone Age. Trouble with that scheme is, > it's already been done. The Soviets took care of it > . > 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? There is no > infrastructure. Cut them off from medicine and > health care? Too late. Someone already did all that. > > New bombs would only land in 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. (They have already, I hear.) 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 be making common > cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the > people they've been raping all this time. > > So what else 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. I think that > when people speak of "having the belly to do what > needs to be done" many of them are thinking in terms > of having the belly to kill as many as needed. They > are thinking about overcoming moral qualms about > killing innocent people. But it's the belly to die > not kill that's actually on the table. Americans will > die in a land war to get Bin Laden. 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. 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. The invasion approach is a > flirtation with global war between Islam and the > West. > > And that is Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what > he wants and why he did this thing. Read his > speeches and statements. It's all right there. At the moment, > of course, "Islam" as such does not exist. There are > Muslims and there are Muslim countries, but no such > political entity as Islam. Bin Laden believes that > if he can get a war started, he can constitute this > entity and he'd be running it. 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 Muslim lands, that's a billion > people with nothing left to lose, even better from > Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably wrong about > winning, in the end the west would probably > overcome--whatever that would mean in such a war; > but the war would last for years and millions would die, > not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for > that? Bin Laden yes, but anyone else? > > I don't have a solution. But I do believe that > suffering and poverty are the soil in which > terrorism grows. Bin Laden and his cohorts want to bait us > into creating more such soil, so they and their kind can > flourish. We can't let him do that. That's my humble > opinion. > > Tamim Ansary > > September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. September 24, 2001 September 11 Email: To The email addresses, and optionally names of the message's recipients kim stimson September 11 Email: From The email address, and optionally the name of the author. maria karambasis September 11 Email: CC The email addresses of those who received the message addressed primarily to another. September 11 Email: Subject A brief summary of the topic of the message. Re: Fw: Interesting Point Of View Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource email672.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. unknown Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. yes Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.61.157.28