Anger=Suffering

Some of you have probably wondered what has caused my change in tone in recent months. Many of you know that I lived in NYC for most of my life and currently work in the shadow of the WTC. I saw the towers just before they were hit - and just after the first tower was struck - not knowing what was going on.

Anger has given way to weariness and sadness over the whole WTC attack, but once in a while anger creeps back into my consciousness when I hear reports about how the US Administration has stumbled and bumbled over information in its possession that could protect my fellow citizens from further attacks. I am also angered when hearing about the so called "War on Terrorism" that President Bush initially claimed would go after states that support and harbor terrorists, yet today we are no closer to going after those terrorist states than we were in September.

Instead, we've seen the US try to keep India from lashing out at Pakistan because Pakistan has fueled the Islamic fundamentalists in Kashmir into inciting cross-border attacks that might lead to a catastrophic war between two nuclear nations that share a common border. This conflict could potentially devastate the South Asian subcontinent and affect hundreds of millions of people - most of whom only vaguely know what is going on in the first place. The US has supported Pakistan time and time again even though Pakistan has shown that it doesn't have the slightest inclination to take the truly necessary steps of clamping down on terrorists and funding those folks who harbored our friends in Al Quaeda in the first place - the Taliban. The US basically bribed Pakistan into this 'war on terrorism,' yet we've not gotten all that we bargained for.

Meanwhile, India (far from being a religious tolerate nation in its own right, but a democratic one nonetheless) has been dealing with religious extremists since the British left town in 1948. They've fought three wars with Pakistan over the Kashmir since then, and with both India and Pakistan possessing nuclear arms and missiles that can strike deep into both countries, no one in either country is safe - especially if Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's government is overthrown by extremists if the armed forces do poorly against the Indian army (which also happens to out gun and out man the Pakistani army by a 2:1 margin). The US would be wise to call upon China and Russia, the Pakistani and Indian backers, to urge restraint and move away from the precipice.

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