<div>Pat et. al.</div>
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<div>Pat wrote:</div>
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<div>"All the BAD in the world is the fault of Christians and all the good is Muslims."</div>
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<div>Of course no one is saying this, Pat, at least no one I know.</div>
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<div>I recall in the 1990s when the Taliban solidified their hold on power in Afghanistan during the civil war after the Soviets were repelled, being dismayed that this extreme Islamic religious group, the "mujahideen" that the USA supported against the earlier Soviet occupation, were denying women the opportunities to have careers, keeping them under de facto "house arrest," only allowed in public in the burka, women who previously were doctors, teachers, etc. holding public executions, enforcing a Medieval sort of religious extremism on Afghanistan, etc. etc. etc.
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<div>Women's rights activists and other human rights activists were dismayed that once the US helped to achieve the goal of handing the Soviet Union their "Vietnam" (recall President Ronald Reagan calling them "freedom fighters!), a prolonged draining war of occupation that was a factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US appeared to abandon the people of Afghanistan to this oppressive extreme regime...
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<div>Amazing, isn't it? The US helped to bring to power the extreme Islamic Taliban, left them to oppress the people of Afghanistan once our foreign policy goals regarding the Soviet Union were attained, while the Taliban went on to host US hating Islamic extremists, Osama Bin Laden among them.
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<div>What if the USA had taken responsibility for the fact it helped put oppressive Islamic extremists in power in Afghanistan, and remained forcefully engaged with Afghanistan after the Soviets were ousted, with the goal of moderating or replacing this extreme regime? Is it possible that Osama Bin Laden, et. al. might not have had such a free reign to use Afghanistan as a terrorist training base? Need I point out that the 9/11 attacks might have been prevented? The Clinton years are a critical part of this period of time, so some blame for not engaging more aggressively with Afghanistan is his, along with Clinton's role in not aggressively addressing the Rwanda genocide. Clinton has publicly admitted his regrets about Rwanda.
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<div>In your attempt to paint those who oppose Bush's foolish war in Iraq with a broad stereotyping brush, you seem to make the assumption that they are apologists for Islamic extremism/terrorism.</div>
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<div>I, for one, talked often in conversations about the terrible Taliban during the 1990s, and how little was being done by the West to moderate the extreme rule of this regime, that the US helped to rise to power. And I also recall the amazing oblivious "who cares" attitude that my comments induced...Well, those oblivious to the implications of US foreign policy in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and the resultant rise of the Taliban to power are now a bit more concerned...
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<div>A few years late and billions of dollars short!</div>
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<div>The Taliban's US assisted rise to power and their later role in supporting US hating terrorists connected to the 9/11 attacks must be one of the most clear cut examples of "blow back" in the history of US foreign policy...
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<div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahideen">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahideen</a></div>
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<div><a title="Ronald Reagan" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> praised them as <a title="Freedom fighter" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fighter">freedom fighters</a>, and the
<a title="1988 in film" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_in_film">1988</a> <i><a title="Rambo III" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_III">Rambo III</a></i> portrayed them as heroic. This connection is ironic, in light of the future turn of events in which many of the same men would end up as a major threat to the United States. This sort of
<a title="Blowback (intelligence)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowback_%28intelligence%29">blowback</a>, in which a state helped to create a force to fight another state, only to have that force turn against them, was seen earlier in the 20th century,
e.g., the German support for the Bolshevik underground in Russia which led to a <a title="Soviet Union" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union">Soviet Union</a> and the eventual occupation of <a title="East Germany" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany">
East Germany</a> by the <a title="Red Army" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army">Red Army</a>.</div>
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<div>Ted Moffett</div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/6/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Pat Kraut</b> <<a href="mailto:pkraut@moscow.com">pkraut@moscow.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Opps! This is supposed to read: </font><font face="Arial" size="2">Ah! Yes! All the BAD in the world is the fault of Christians and all the good is Muslims. </font></div></div><br>=======================================================
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