h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very good, thought provoking article.

In spite of my seemingly "hawkish" nature in other areas of h2g2, I actually am not.

I'm an "old hippie" who wouldn't have gone to Vietnam if death were the alternative......it was a wrong war(but, thats' another discussion entirely).

Sadly, sometimes there is no choice.

We, the self-proclaimed "enlightened", too often forget that the majority of mankind doesn't see things from our perspective. Peace, no matter how desirable, is not worth giving up ones' dignity and freedom.

War is not something one approaches with glad heart....it is to be avoided if at all possible. But not at any cost.

Sometimes you have to fight, whether you want to or not.

NM

Thank you, FS. I entirely agree with you. One could add that in this case, failing to do anything about the appalling Taleban regime in Afghanistan would have meant giving up *other people's* dignity and freedom in order to preserve a semblance of peace. And of course it would only have been an illusion of peace, while Osama bin Laden and friends were still at large.

Still, I feel desperately sorry for all those young Afghans who were recently conscripted by the Taleban to fight for what is both an unjust cause and a hopeless one.

I just fervently hope that it's all over quickly.

You, sir, are not alone in that hope.

It is a sad site to see the suffering of the Afgan people. They only want the bombs to stop.

I cannot fathom the desperation they must feel after so many years of war......only to have it compounded by forces they cannot control.

If there were only another way. I wish, with all my heart and being that there were....but I don't see one.

To choose between evil and a greater evil. You and I are left no choice. Let us hope that this does not escalate into what it could possibly become.

May it be quick....and as painless to the "average citizen" of that nation as is humanly possible.

NM