> Now the bit I'm unhappy with. Although Bush didn't say in his speech that the army was going to Afghanistan, it now looks extremely likely that this is where they're going. And why? Because the Taliban refuses to hand over Bin Laden. Now, here is where most news reports stop. That's all they say. However, I heard on Newsround (that's a children's news programme that has an extremely good record for good coverage of big stories) that "the Taliban have refused to hand over Bin Laden...**until concrete proof of his guilt is provided.**" This phrase seems, to me, all-important. If the Taliban haven't handed over Bin Laden, it would appear that they have not received any proof of Bin Laden's guilt. I imagine the US would much rather solve this problem with diplomacy than war, so if the Taliban hasn't received proof of Bin Laden's guilt in these attacks it's a fair bet that the US does not have this proof. In short, the US is going to launch an attack on a poverty-stricken country, in which ONE PERSON is the target, on the basis of some guesses and analysis of style.

"Proof" means different things to different people. In any case, I am quite certain that the US has proof of bin Laden's involvement in various terrorist activities, and if that is the case, then his involvement in the most recent one is incidental, as far as I'm concerned. Besides, the Taliban may be demanding something insane, like video footage of bin Laden giving the order or something--how are we to know? Based on what little I have heard (and it would be very little, being a non-American, and not having any kind of securioty clearance) the US has enough evidence to proceed.

> Phil-"Yes, this post is extremely controversial, and there's a chance I'll get flamed, or banned, or accused of anti-Americanism. I just feel it's something that needs to be said."-bee

Don "Not by me, but your comments about Americans being as bad as the terrorists are not good--there is a big difference between civilians dying, after being warned, and as a side effect of going after a known terrorist in a provoked act of war, and civilians dying as a direct target of an unprovoked attack." Monkey