TO THE EDITOR:
For those who cannot fathom why there are people who dare to oppose the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan, let me ask you, will you kill an innocent person to further your own goals? To protect yourself from someone or something, is it OK to kill an innocent third party? I doubt that anyone in their right mind would answer yes to this question, yet if you don't believe that is what is being perpetrated by your government on innocent Afghani people as you read this, you are unfortunately mistaken.
This is a world-class university, and we students are supposed to be trained to think critically. It only takes a few facts and some old-fashioned critical thinking to realize that there are direct and fatal consequences facing potentially millions of Afghan people as a result of the U.S. campaign. Remember this is a very poor country with millions at the brink of starvation.
What happens when the electricity in the cities is taken out by bombing (this has already happened)? Drinking water can no longer be purified with the result being thousands of innocent children and adults inflicted with dysentery and other horrible intestinal diseases.
What happens when the cities are deserted from fear of bombs and war and the Afghan economy is utterly destroyed (already happened)? No income means no food; no food for the refugees and dwindling amounts for those who stayed behind.
The paltry few hundred thousand snacks air-dropped by the U.S. amounts to nothing for 7 million people hungry every day but certainly makes for good propaganda.
Yes, the Taliban rulers are certainly at fault for exacerbating the situation and showing absolutely no compassion for their people. Their sick behavior, though, doesn't make ours any less sick.
I'm ashamed of our country's willingness to perpetrate a crime against humanity and to dismiss it as "collateral damage" in its response to a crime against humanity that was perpetrated against us. Have we no shame?
