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Haven't verified any of this, but I thought we needed something light-hearted. It seems sensible enough! bas *** How far can we think out of the box? BOMB THEM WITH BUTTER By Kent Madin rett39@hotmail.com rett39@hotmail.com http://www.boojum.com/Butterbombs.html The terrorists have defined the game and we are reacting. They are clever,patient and creative. They planned their attacks for months and executed them with great effectiveness. They are not stupid, so they have made plans for the expected American military response. An attack on Afghanistan is exactly what the terrorists want. It will strengthen and swell their small but fanatical ranks. What better opportunity to destabilize Pakistan, foment a coup and establish another Islamic fundamentalist state. Imagine several divisions of US troops as hostages in an Islamic state which holds nuclear weapons! Instead, bomb Afghanistan with butter, with rice, bread, clothing and medicine. It will cost less than conventional arms, poses no threat of US casualties and just might get the Afghan populace hinking that the Taliban leaders don't have the answers. After years of drought and with starvation looming, let's offer the Afghani people the vision of a new future. One that includes full stomachs. Barrage them with information; video players and cassettes of world leaders, particularly Islamic leaders, condemning terrorism. Carpet the country with magazines and newspapers showing the horror of the acts committed by their "guest". Blitz them with laptop computers and DVD players filled with a perspective that is denied them by their government. Saturation bombing with truth will mean that some of it gets through. Send so much that the Taliban can't collect and hide it all. The Taliban are telling their people to prepare for Jihad. In response,let's give the Afghani people their first good meal in years. Seeing your family fully fed and the prospect of a stable future is a powerful deterrent to martyrdom. All we ask in return is that they, as a people, agree to enter the civilized world. That includes allowing international law to run its course. Let's offer them a helping hand into the 21st century. In responding to terrorism we need to do something different, something totally unexpected, something that addresses the root of the problem instead of exacerbating it. We need to be wiser and more clever than the terrorists. We need to define the contest on our terms, not theirs. We need to take away the well of despair, ignorance and brutality from which the Osama bin Laden's of the world water their gardens of terror. We have the technology; do we have the compassion? [Editor's Note: John Steiner sent out an email message earlier in the week with a similar story from Len Duhl < len-duhl@socrates.Berkeley.EDU len-duhl@socrates.Berkeley.EDU >. In that story Len described a war game that was staged in the '60's. The participants acted out an imaginary invasion of India by the Chinese. A friend of Len's played the President of the United States. He decided to do what is called a "paradoxical intervention". He ordered dropping food, and radios, and withdrew troops. He encouraged discussion. Peace resulted, new patterns of relations occurred, and he achieved peace. Proud of his success, Len's friend invited him to the debriefing. At the beginning of the debriefing a high ranking military man turned to his friend and said, "Mr. X", you will never participate in war games again! You have not played by the rules!" -- DS] ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.