[Reader-list] Bush's speech from yesterday

[Menso Heus]

On Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 12:25:01AM -0700, Rana Dasgupta wrote:
> The speech comes straight from some kind of sci-fi
> inter-galactic battle scene where the american leader
> rouses his hi-tech ranks to destroy the aliens.  In
> this instance, there's also a hint of impotence since
> the swift victory that you get when you have american
> grit and american technology on your side is denied to
> him here.  
> 
> The spectacular war (the war of the spectacle) is the
> one he knows well how to fight.  The one that is
> demanded of him here doesn't make such a good movie -
> or such a good speech.  Still there are [literally]
> lots of trumpets and flags.
> 
> R
> 

To me, something weird happens here:

> The leadership of al-Qaida has great influence in
> Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in
> controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan we
> see al-Qaida's vision for the world. Afghanistan's
> people have been brutalized, many are starving and
> many have fled. 
> 
> Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be
> jailed for owning a television. Religion can be
> practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be
> jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. 

Sounds like "The people in Afghanistan are living horrible
lives because of the Taliban which gets support from the 
al-Qaida group". 
 
> The United States respects the people of Afghanistan -
> after all, we are currently its largest source of
> humanitarian aid - but we condemn the Taliban regime. 

Sounds like "And we are going to end the way it treats 
it's people".

> It is not only repressing its own people, it is
> threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and
> sheltering and supplying terrorists. 
> 
> By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is
> committing murder. And tonight the United States of
> America makes the following demands on the Taliban. 
> 
> Deliver to United States authorities all of the
> leaders of al-Qaida who hide in your land. 
> 
> Release all foreign nationals, including American
> citizens you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign
> journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your
> country. Close immediately and permanently every
> terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over
> every terrorist and every person and their support
> structure to appropriate authorities. 
> 
> Give the United States full access to terrorist
> training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer
> operating. 
> 
> These demands are not open to negotiation or
> discussion. 

Wait a minute, he forgot the demand that the Taliban government 
must allow every Afghan to practice it's basic human rights!
Surely, this must be a mistake, he starts of so passionately about
why the Taliban is such a terrible regime. 

> The Taliban must act and act immediately. 
> 
> They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share
> in their fate. 

In other words, "despite all our nice words of bringing freedom to 
the rest of the world we actually meant preventing bombs from entering
our little part. As long as that doesn't happen, we still don't give 
a fuck if regimes are mistreating people and ignoring human rights...
including some samples of what they do makes a hell of a speech though!"

Menso

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Anyway, the :// part is an 'emoticon' representing a man with a strip 
of sticky tape across his mouth.   -R. Douglas, alt.sysadmin.recovery
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