Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3228-1003760370-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 22 Oct 2001 07:22:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 25640 invoked by uid 510); 22 Oct 2001 14:19:00 -0000 Received: from n12.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.62) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 22 Oct 2001 14:19:00 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3228-1003760370-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.54] by n12.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 22 Oct 2001 14:19:30 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 22 Oct 2001 14:19:30 -0000 Received: (qmail 69448 invoked from network); 22 Oct 2001 14:19:29 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l8.egroups.com with QMQP; 22 Oct 2001 14:19:29 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta1 with SMTP; 22 Oct 2001 14:19:29 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id f9MEJjo04455 for iwar@onelist.com; Mon, 22 Oct 2001 07:19:45 -0700 Message-Id: <200110221419.f9MEJjo04455@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 07:19:45 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:In.the.fogs.of.war,.the.innocent.starve] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In the fogs of war, the innocent starve Nick Cohen Sunday October 21, 2001 The Observer The 'war' is usually enclosed in unironic inverted commas because the real war is not in Afghanistan. The campaign to contain Islamic fundamentalism is more about winning arguments than winning battles. The overthrow of the Taliban and capture of bin Laden will be worthless victories if America inspires a new generation of fanatics by allowing itself to be portrayed as complicit in atrocity. Tony Blair and Clare Short recognised the danger and argued fiercely that the choice between bombing and famine was false. I've no doubt they were sincere and am sure they don't want mass starvation. But when Short said 'we are trucking in huge amounts of food' and gracelessly accused relief workers of being 'emotional' she was being idiotic. Here, without a tremble of the lip or a tear in the eye, are the figures. The World Food Programme says Afghanistan needs 250,000 metric tonnes of food to get through the winter. Not every sack of grain needs to be distributed to stockpiles before the snows come next month. Parts of the country will be still be accessible. None the less the most conservative aid-workers estimate that 52,000 tonnes must get in by mid-November, along with stockpiles of 35,000 tonnes each for the central highlands and north west. If the food isn't there tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands are going to die. Do the maths and you can see that 122,000 tonnes needs to be moved in the next month at a rate of about 4,000 tonnes a day. The best the World Food Programme has managed since the bombing started was 900 tonnes in a day. Last week it shifted 4,000 tonnes in total. As an unemotional chap at Christian Aid told me, it's impossible to recruit enough drivers while the bombs fall. A ceasefire will allow the Taliban to regroup, we're told. Yes, it will, but so what? America can defeat the Taliban at any time whether the regime has regrouped or not, unless, that is, supporters of the war believe that the US doesn't have the will for a long struggle. I guess this is the fear that no one could quite utter last week. If the momentum was lost, nervousness would set in and the demoralised military would end the campaign. Yet we are assured daily that the American public has a steadfastness and willingness to take casualties. If this is true, it should be told that while the bombing may be a sensible military tactic, as a political strategy it stinks. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE VeriSign guide to security solutions for your web site: encrypting transactions, securing intranets, and more! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UnN2wB/m5_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:56 PST