War on Terrorism, and Terrorism's War on US

--- Keziah Furth in France wrote: > How about letting me > know a bit what's going on with our attacks on > Afghanistan and what's the business with a coal > sickness in Washington. (maladie de charbon) It's > very annoying to hear the words USA and NY and > Afghanistan, BL etc and not be able to really > understand what they're talking about. I don't know what maladie de charbon is, but there's been an incredible Anthrax scare for a month almost. It was mailed to some important people, none of whom contracted it. But 4 people have died so far, mostly connected with the mailrooms that handeled the envelopes with the white powdery spores inside. And thousands of faked Anthrax envelopes have been sent to bad bosses and ex-boyfriends, since talcum powder is a passable imitation of the 'thrax. It's mostly fear, but it's serious for high-profile people who could be targeted. There is no clue as to whodunnit. We've continued to bomb Afghanistan further back into the stone age (they weren't quite out of the stone age when the bombing started). US Special Forces have been used in intelligence-gathering and a few special operations. We're supporting, though still quite wary of, the ethnic minority Northern Alliance, who have escalated their war against the Taliban. We're looking for a good successor to the Taliban, but it's hard to please everyone, and impossible to guarantee that there won't be another 15-year civil war like there was during and after the Soviet invasion in 1980. Pakistan hates the Northern Alliance. Russia loves them (even though it's the exact same people who defeated the Soviet invasion). There's an 86-year-old former king of Afghanistan who might become a figurehead; he lives in Rome. And then there was an article on nytimes.com today about one tribal leader in the south (Taliban's strongest area) who is resisting the Taliban, and whose idea of a council of tribal chieftains might be adopted in the post-war nation building. Oh, interestingly enough for you, Kez, a poll came out today saying about 50% of French support and 50% are against the US Bombings in Afghanistan.