US targets three more countries: The war on terrorism is to be extended to three new countries as soon as the campaign in Afghanistan is over. Targets linked to Osama Bin Laden in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be at the top of the hit list, according to senior sources in London and Washington.
You know ... I understand the reasoning, just, but I think this is going to be a hard sell, both internally and internationally. To be sure, it depends on what exactly is done. I don't think the administration can justify the same sort of full-out attack on those three countries, and I suspect they won't try that path. However, it's also going to be easier for terrorists to say, "Hey, look, the United States really IS targeting all Islam!" (Somalia is largely Islamic if not necessarily Arab; Yemen is both, and Sudan is having a thoroughly nasty civil war in any event over the whole issue of Islam vs Christianity vs native religions, wrapped up in all sorts of tribal and ethnic issues. In any event we've already essentially shut down Somalia's internet and telephone service; I'm surprised we could actually do that, technologically speaking. Although one of the more surprising things to me is that Somalia apparently has both a prime minister and something that apparently functions as a government; when did THAT happen?)
And, of course, targeting this way does just leave the question of Saudi Arabia and their behavior just sitting there, doesn't it?
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!