Query -- [Fwd: Does anybody in this country get it?]

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

How firm -- dependable -- is this description (below) of the situation
in Afghanistan. I'm tentatively planning on making it the core of a
letter to the local newspaper (letter limit 300 words). And while I'm
quite willing to be wrong, in fact believe it is crucial to push
strongly enough that one risks being wrong, still I don't want to
suggest the possibility of millions of deaths if it isn't going to come
even close to that.

Any comments?

Carrol

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11855
The Coming Apocalypse
Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com
November 5, 2001

Does anybody in this country get it?


Does anybody understand what the United States is on the verge of doing?


Experienced, respected food aid organizations warn that even before the
bombing of Afghanistan began on October 7, some 7,500,000 Afghans were
-- through a gut-wrenching combination of poverty, drought, war,
dislocation, and repression -- at risk of starving to death this winter.
When the bombing began, almost all delivery of food from the outside
world stopped. Now, roads and bridges are destroyed, millions more
people are dislocated, and the snow is steadily approaching from higher
elevations and from the north.


For weeks, aid organizations, along with voices from throughout the
region, have been begging the United States to call off its bombing
campaign, at least for long enough so that aid agencies can conduct the
massive transfer of food into and throughout Afghanistan that is
necessary to prevent death on a scale the world has not seen in a long,
long time. On our newscasts, it's politely referred to as a
"humanitarian crisis." That's a euphemism that makes "collateral damage"
seem humane.


Seven and a half million people at risk of dying in a matter of months.

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