From LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Tue Feb 12 15:52:34 2002 Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 17:48:04 -0600 From: "L-Soft list server at UIC (1.8d)" To: Laura Q Subject: File: "FEMINISTSF LOG0105D" ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:37:22 -0700 Reply-To: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" Sender: "For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature" From: Maryelizabeth Hart Organization: Mysterious Galaxy Subject: Taliban -- Bush action MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > > By L.A. Times reporter Robert Scheer: > > Bush's Faustian Deal with the Taliban By Robert Scheer > Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists and destroy > every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush > administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up > as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that > this nation still takes seriously. That's the message sent > with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of > Afghanistan (news - web sites), the most virulent anti-American > violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last > Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), > in addition to other recent aid, makes the United States the main > sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for > declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by > the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's > the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention. > Never mind that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) still operates the > leading anti-American terror operation from his base in > Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody > attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush > administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the > United Nations (news - web sites), at U.S. insistence, imposes > sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn > over Bin Laden. The war on drugs has become our own fanatics' > obsession and easily trumps all other concerns. How else could we come > to reward the Taliban, who has subjected the female half of the > Afghan population to a continual reign of terror in a country once > considered enlightened in its treatment of women? At no > point in modern history have women and girls been more systematically > abused than in Afghanistan, where in the name of madness > masquerading as Islam, the government in Kabul obliterates their > fundamental human rights. Women may not appear in public without > being covered from head to toe with the oppressive shroud called the > burkha, and they may not leave the house without being > accompanied by a male family member. They've not been permitted to > attend school or be treated by male doctors, yet women have been > banned from practicing medicine or any profession for that > matter. The lot of males is better if they blindly accept the > laws of an extreme religious theocracy that prescribes strict rules > governing all behavior, from a ban on shaving to what crops may > be grown. It is this last power that has captured the enthusiasm of > the Bush White House. The Taliban fanatics, economically > and diplomatically isolated, are at the breaking point, and so, in > return for a pittance of legitimacy and cash from the Bush > administration, they have been willing to appear to reverse themselves > on the growing of opium. That a totalitarian country can > effectively crack down on its farmers is not surprising. But it is > grotesque for a U.S. official, James P. Callahan, director of > the State Department's Asian anti-drug program, to describe the > Taliban's special methods in the language of representative > democracy: "The Taliban used a system of consensus-building," Callahan > said after a visit with the Taliban, adding that the Taliban > justified the ban on drugs "in very religious terms." Of course, > Callahan also reported, those who didn't obey the theocratic edict > would be sent to prison. In a country where those who break > minor rules are simply beaten on the spot by religious police and > others are stoned to death, it's understandable that the > government's "religious" argument might be compelling. Even if it > means, as Callahan concedes, that most of the farmers who grew > the poppies will now confront starvation. That's because the Afghan > economy has been ruined by the religious extremism of the > Taliban, making the attraction of opium as a previously tolerated > quick cash crop overwhelming. For that reason, the opium ban > will not last unless the United States is willing to pour far larger > amounts of money into underwriting the Afghan economy. As > the Drug Enforcement Administration's Steven Casteel admitted, "The > bad side of the ban is that it's bringing their country -- or > certain regions of their country -- to economic ruin." Nor did he hold > out much hope for Afghan farmers growing other crops such as > wheat, which require a vast infrastructure to supply water and > fertilizer that no longer exists in that devastated country. > There's little doubt that the Taliban will turn once again to > the easily taxed cash crop of opium in order to stay in power. > The Taliban may suddenly be the dream regime of our own drug-war > zealots, but in the end this alliance will prove a costly > failure. Our long sad history of signing up dictators in the war > on drugs demonstrates the futility of building a foreign policy on a > domestic obsession. -- ******************************************************************* Mysterious Galaxy Books Local Phone: 858.268.4747 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Suite 302 Fax: 858.268.4775 San Diego, CA 92111 Long Distance/Orders: 1.800.811.4747 http://www.mystgalaxy.com General Email: mgbooks@mystgalaxy.com ******************************************************************* -------------------------------------------------- This is the feministsf listserve, intended only for discussion of feminism and Speculative Fiction. To unsubscribe from this listserve, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU and in the body of the message say: unsubscribe feministsf Contact feministsf-request@UIC.EDU if there are problems.