©02 The Media Desk
The Desk had planned on a cynical, satire laden round of heckling at everything from the new Very Annoying! McDonalds musical assault commercial, and the Federal Government's just getting the idea that something was wrong with the way Enron went belly-up.
But the news of the War changed all that.
Oh, the MickyD's commercial still prompts the Desk to turn off its radio for awhile, and it still chuckles at the idea that it took Uncle Sam a couple of months to catch on to the misdoings in Texas, but the tanker crash and other news from 'Over There' has superseded that.
Now the Desk will simply thank the new Afghani government, if it can be called that, for seeing to it that several of the Talib are able to continue their work of spreading radical-extreme Islam and ferment hatred of all things not Talib.
Why would the local leaders let them go? Couple of reasons really, and they are fairly simple too.
Nevermind their claim that the Taliban leaders are their 'brothers'. That's simply posturing for the Western press. The Taliban are NOT their brothers if you ask the Taliban. Nobody except hardcore, long bearded, woman-beating, infidel shooting, Mullah following flakebaskets Are their brothers. Everybody else is either an Infidel or someone who needs to be flogged until they decide to adhere to True Islam.
No. The regional governor let the Talib's top guns go because they: 1. Are afraid of them and their kooky followers. 2. Need their support to run the country. 3. Are something just over half-sympathetic with them.
Oh yeah. They are all but falling down in a swoon in love with the Taliban. (Much like the Islamists and Black Muslims in the US. Most have yet to condemn bin laden without their fingers crossed behind their back.)
They like American Cigarettes and Japanese Land Cruisers. So they don't want to completely cut themselves off from the West. But they HATE the idea that women over here can vote and entire families can go out and walk down the street without somebody beating them unconscious because of some minor infraction of the Religious Law. They want all the perks of America, with none of what they don't like.
Well that's nice.
We all want all the perks of America... We want the freedom, the access to entertainment and communications (except for that nauseating opera-thing McDonalds commercial), the ability to have a career other than what some Mullah thinks we should. We can change churches, change jobs, move, marry and divorce without overmuch intervention by the government.
... Without the things we don't like, too. We Don't like taxes, well, the government bureaucrats love taxes but they don't count. We don't like responsibility, we don't like the laws we have that restrict something we personally like to do (but think laws that restrict something we personally don't like are just fine). We dislike the Cost of Freedom. Nobody likes watching military funeral processions, nobody wants to register for the draft (oh, by the way, even in the USA women are Second Class Citizens in that regard so the Talib must like something about the US). Nobody enjoys standing in line to vote, or putting up with six months of stupid campaign ads for mayor and county registrar of deeds before election day.
Perhaps you want to fly the twisted cross flag and dress as an SA blackshirt. Maybe your Jewish neighbor and WWII veteran father-in-law won't see the humor in it, but you do have the Right to do it.
The Desk was seethingly upset about the way Roseanne Barr sang the National Anthem at a baseball game several years ago, it happened to be watching the game on TV. But then it got even more upset with people that said she shouldn't have been allowed to sing at all. No way. That is not America. Remember Every Man, Woman, and Child has the Right to Express Themselves (as long as they don't hurt anybody else). If Roseanne wanted to make a fool of herself and insult the country, she had the right to do it. And those fans in the stands in San Diego had the right to boo her as well, but not throw beer bottles. And those of us that started taking up a collection to buy her a one way plane ticket to say- the Sudan, had the right to do that too.
THAT! Is America!
That is one of the main gripes the Talib, and their 'brothers' in the Afghan government have with us. That and we don't force men to grow long beards and keep women in actual slavery while piously practicing their brand of Islam.
Now the Afghani regional governors are saying that they didn't actually capture any high ranking Talib.
The Desk doesn't believe that one either.
If the Taliban are actually their 'brothers' they would see no problem with lying to Western Infidels. The Running Dog Americans deserve nothing better than total BS and gibberish.
So. In spite of dead servicemen, and a servicewoman as it turns out, in spite of tons upon tons of bombs, and months of fighting and work, nothing in Afghanistan has changed.
And the Desk would not be surprised that as soon as the Marines close Camp Rhino and come home, the terrorist camps and factories for putting together shoe-bombs and studios shooting how-to videos open for business again.
If we buy this line of malarkey. If we let them sell us this pile of garbola (garbage with tomato sauce), we'll get exactly what we deserve. More terrorist strikes, more dead Americans, more burning buildings, more fear and anguish.
The Desk will say it again.
No... it'll let the WHO say it again.
-30-
back to the desk