Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(December 2001)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
"To be or not to be that is the question."*
 When
the war in Afghanistan is won, will the world return to
some resemblance of normality, or will we be prisoners
of an environment of our own making in which we will have
to endure an endless loss of personal freedom and the
never ending threat of violence?
Will we be able to pick up the threads of our broken
lives and rebuild a future of peace and prosperity, or
are we doomed to a medieval type of eternal violence.
???
I pose these questions for several reasons, the first
and foremost being the ongoing action of man's inhumanity
to man, which we the people have been subjected to through
the ages.
 From
the violence of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian hordes,
the trench warfare of World War One, the total annihilation
by the aerial bombing of complete cities in World War
Two, the atrocities committed in Vietnam, to the violence
of all wars which have been fought in the name of religion
--- the time has come to regain some degree of civilized
conduct otherwise we are doomed to eternal damnation,
(whatever that may mean).
"The evil that men do lives after them."*
Is Osama Bin Laden destined for martyrdom?
Perhaps that is a question for the Afghan nation who
have sheltered him for several years, and the United States
who is out to destroy him and his fanatical followers.
He is accused of being instrumental in waging a terrorist
war against the world of the infidel, namely the United
States and it's accomplice Great Britain.
 In
the context of "yesterday's friends are tomorrow's
enemies", and vice versa, it would appear incongruous
that the three countries instrumental in placing the Taliban
in power, namely Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United
States, now wish to oust this hard-line fundamentalist
Islamic Taliban from power.
The other point of contention is that, even though America
and Great Britain have allied themselves to the National
Front, surely they cannot consider this rag tag army as
a possible successor government to the Taliban.
This is evidenced, by the way the United States indicated
a reluctance to allow National Front troops to take over
the Capital City of Kabul.
(They have anyway). !!!
So where do we go from here?
Perhaps we should hand over the reins to Pakistan in
recognition of their insincere and somewhat limited desire
to assist the United States in the attempt to oust the
Taliban.
 Or,
seeing that Russia fought so hard and long in their invasion
of Afghanistan, (please tell me why the Russians were
there in the first place), perhaps we should allow them
to annex the country to Uzbekistan and/or Tajikistan,
and let Pakistan continue their war in Kashmir against
India.
* My apologies to the great Bard William Shakespeare
(1564-1616), for using his quotations. (Certainly out
of context).
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