A Turban on His Head With Abacus in Hand?

NMB, Florida September 20, 2001 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

A TURBAN ON HIS HEAD WITH ABACUS IN HAND?

Despite the Afghan/Russian war where the Soviets were forced out most of us
still think of Afghanistan, now that we are forced to think of it, as ragged
guerrilla warriors dressed in bandoleers fighting from craggy mountain
peaks. We have forgotten, if we ever really knew, that the Afghans were
supported by the military weapons and technology the U.S. gave them
unstintingly. When the Taliban, a group of religious fanatics, took over
Afghanistan we were disgusted at the force they used to strip away the
western ways to plunge the country into barbarism and hatred of us.

Our ways of using stereotypes is quaint. We see a "brown" skin and black
straight hair and we see a terrorist. We have forgotten the white skin and
blue eyes of Timothy McVey. We have forgotten the white "supremacists", the
"Aryan Nation", the "Posse Comitatus" and some of the worst of the "Moral
Majority" who are willing to bomb abortion clinics and murder the "Liberal"
broadcaster. These are our homegrown terrorists. They find that they
cannot convince us by their logic, beliefs and their "truths". So they
resort to the same methods and materials that the previously unthought of
airplane highjacking stealth murderers used on such a huge scale. They are
all murderers and don't look like killers in their civilian mode.

I am not sure if you take off an Afghanistani's turban and remove the beard
from an Osama bin Laden that you would be able to pick out the terrorist
from a group of technicians working in front of computer monitors. In fact,
I am sure you wouldn't have thought about it BEFORE the Twin Towers'
destruction.

It is surely a mistake to think that the aircraft carriers now steaming
towards the Persian Gulf are the weapons of choice in this conflict. We do
not even know the position, strength, armaments and backers of the force we
wish to subdue. I certainly do not envy our President whom the Supreme
Court appointed - and his many cold-war warrior advisors - in punishing
those who did the deed and those who harbor them. What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation: 10+ out of 10.