Saturday, October 31, 2009
note from dad. i now hate obama more, didn't know that was possilbe.
Here the Taliban are showing no discernment between schoolchildren or UN workers--they kill randomly--the weakest and those with no defenses. This is what they've always done. I saw a documentary yesterday that was filmed by my head of photography a few years ago. It contains some never-before released scenes of the Taliban's oppression--really horrible and oppressive people. They are not originally from Afghanistan--they are from Saudi Arabia--and are a relatively new philosophy--inspired directly by Osama Bin Laden. The US must not allow them to regain any kind of leadership role in Afghanistan or they will take over Pakistan--which gives nucear weapons to Al Qaida--and then look-out China, India, Russia, and any US interests. Pakistan has deep-water submarines that are nuclear-armed--so the US would be a sitting duck. Clinton's latest brow-beating of Pakistan's leadership--weak as they are--was a deep insult to a nation that has only recently begun to truly spill its own blood in combat with the Taliban--before they didn't have the leadership that was willing to do much. For her to be throwing salt on their wounds when they have just sent 40,000 troops into one region that is in the US' interest to drive out the Taliban and then to be insulted by her in the eyes of the world is going to do irreperable harm to US interests in the region. She has forgotten why we're here--it's about the nuclear weapons and preventing real terrorism from spreading to the west. 9/11 will look like a day at the beach if Al Qaida gets power in Pakistan.
Sorry for the lecture--but maybe some of your influential friends might find this perspective interesting.
The work at the station continues to go well. The disruptions due to the Taliban have been frustrating to everyone--but we're doing OK. My guest house is about 250 meters away from the UN's--but it's 3 streets over, so though the gun battle was tense--it even went up and down our road--it wasn't a direct threat to us here. We have only 4 guests here and are well-guarded--so there is little likelihood that the Taliban would target us. Right now the media aren't targeted by them because they need the reports from us to keep the rest of the nation tense.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
funny picture
For a taste of tennessee go to http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/1437382864.html and see the pictures. LOL
Thursday, October 8, 2009
bomb blast (from dad)
We had a bomb blast at the Interior Ministry, across from the Indian Embassy. I was in the news room, when we heard a whooshing sound and then a low thud--all the walls, floors, and ceilings shook, and the windows vibrated, but nobody at our facility was hurt. The ministry building is 500 meters from our facility. Our people were immediately outbound to cover the blast--and everyone else resumed their work like nothing had happened. You'll read more about it in a few minutes, I'm sure. Anyway, I'm OK and still feel secure in my location--I'm just glad I wasn't on that road today.
Pray for him
Pray for him
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
a word on afghanistan
From my dad (he lives in Kabul now by the way):
I am learning a lot--I feel like I am in college taking several world history and social science courses simultaneously. This evening I spent a couple of hours with a consultant from Pakistan who gave me a broad history lesson (as he answered many questions) on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, India, Saudi Arabia, Kresmir, the first Gulf War and its relationship to the beginnings of Al Quaida (it was the ultimate insult to Muslims that the west (the US) would build a base in their most holy place, the home of Mecca) and the Taliban's origins and growth in Afghanistan. Also, I learned more about Kabul City--how it was once the Paris of the middle east--a place where tourists would come to enjoy a beautiful, modern, progressive and serene vacation. Then, after two very bad kings who oppressed their people much like the bad kings of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, communism was able to get a foothold--and under the guise of saving the people of Afghanistan from an oppressive ruler, the Soviets came to Afghanistan to throw out the oppressive and corrupt regime of the king. The war, which lasted 10 years, was ultimate won by the Mujahadin as the fighters, the Americans as the weapons suppliers, and the Pakistanis as the colonels and generals. I learned that the very first suicide bomber was a Muslim woman in Chechnya who had been raped by Soviet soldiers and forced to watch as her husband and son were tortured and murdered. She strapped dynamite to her body and made it into the tent headquarters of the Soviet general and blew herself up. This was in about 1977. There was then a great controversy throughout the Muslim world--was suicide, considered an unpardonable sin in Islam, acceptable when Jhiad has been warranted. Ultimately, though most Muslim clerics declared that it was never justified, a small faction within the Sunni sect declared that it was justified, and of course we know what has followed. 9/11 was brought on by a combination of what happened in Chechnya (the introduction of acceptable suicide retaliation) and Gulf War 1--the insult to Islam by the west's occupying even a small portion of Saudi Arabia
I am learning a lot--I feel like I am in college taking several world history and social science courses simultaneously. This evening I spent a couple of hours with a consultant from Pakistan who gave me a broad history lesson (as he answered many questions) on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, India, Saudi Arabia, Kresmir, the first Gulf War and its relationship to the beginnings of Al Quaida (it was the ultimate insult to Muslims that the west (the US) would build a base in their most holy place, the home of Mecca) and the Taliban's origins and growth in Afghanistan. Also, I learned more about Kabul City--how it was once the Paris of the middle east--a place where tourists would come to enjoy a beautiful, modern, progressive and serene vacation. Then, after two very bad kings who oppressed their people much like the bad kings of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, communism was able to get a foothold--and under the guise of saving the people of Afghanistan from an oppressive ruler, the Soviets came to Afghanistan to throw out the oppressive and corrupt regime of the king. The war, which lasted 10 years, was ultimate won by the Mujahadin as the fighters, the Americans as the weapons suppliers, and the Pakistanis as the colonels and generals. I learned that the very first suicide bomber was a Muslim woman in Chechnya who had been raped by Soviet soldiers and forced to watch as her husband and son were tortured and murdered. She strapped dynamite to her body and made it into the tent headquarters of the Soviet general and blew herself up. This was in about 1977. There was then a great controversy throughout the Muslim world--was suicide, considered an unpardonable sin in Islam, acceptable when Jhiad has been warranted. Ultimately, though most Muslim clerics declared that it was never justified, a small faction within the Sunni sect declared that it was justified, and of course we know what has followed. 9/11 was brought on by a combination of what happened in Chechnya (the introduction of acceptable suicide retaliation) and Gulf War 1--the insult to Islam by the west's occupying even a small portion of Saudi Arabia
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