| Freedom
Coalition
The
attack on America was actually an attack upon citizens of the
world, the more than 6,000 victims hailing from over 60 countries.
Aside from the U.S. loss of over 5,000, for example, Great Britain
lost ~300, India ~250, Germany ~170, etc.
To
fight the foe, to win the war for freedom, the U.S. is aligning
a worldwide coalition. Highlights as of 9-22-01 follow:
- Great
Britain and France will lead an international force to join
America in attacking Afghanistan in the next 10 days.
-
The attack will likely be on bin Laden and al-Qaeda terrorists
in the north and west of Afghanistan with focus on five terrorist
camps around Jalalabad. The camps are at Darunta, Bhesud,
Jaji- Maydan, Khost and Tani.
- 15
European Union leaders approved a resolution expressing solidarity
with America, recognizing the legitimacy of any military action.
- United
Arab Emirates have cut ties with the Taliban.
- In
reward for their support, sanctions against Pakistan and India
ended.
Sources:
How
the War May Be Fought, Initially
Details
on likely initial phase of the war on global terrorism, expected
to occur in Afghanistan:
- Day
one: missile strikes and air raids on the Taliban's air defenses,
mostly around Kabul, and its air force consisting of 20 Soviet-era
MiG-21 and Su-22 fighters, and some Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters
kept at about a dozen airports and air bases around the country.
- Fighting
mostly at night and at close quarters by elite special forces.
Commandos equipped with global positioning systems may already
be in Afghanistan.
- Mountain
roads in Afghanistan are central to mobility and the two main
north-south and east-west routes are easy targets.
Source:
- Sydney
Morning Herald [link inactive]
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World's
Second Largest Religion
Islam
is Arabic for "submission". Fewer than 20 percent
of muslims are Arabs.
Muslims
believe that Jesus existed as allah's prophet, not as a son
of god, that Muhammad was the final prophet of god, starting
the islamic faith close to 1,400 years ago by writing the quran,
a faith inspired by judaism and christianity, in large part.
It is believed by muslims that Muhammad wrote messages from
god, via the angel gabriel, into the quran.
Another
holy islamic document, the hadith, is said to be a narrative
record of Muhammad and his companions and is also used for support
of the islamic faith. Some islamic leaders and some islamic
governments impose sharia, fundamentalist islamic law, upon
its followers.
Some
parts of the quran advise against killing. Those parts are generally
supported by islamic leaders.
Fringe
or radical or extremist segments of the islamic followers, a
minority which has gained support in some sections of the eastern
world, use the divisive aspects of the quran and the hadith
to support the following ideology:
- Ancient
islamic belief, from aspects of their quran and hadith that
most wish weren't there, that the world is divided into the
"world of islam" and the "world of war"
to justify violence against non-believers.
- Quote
from bin Laden in 1998: ""The terrorism we practice
is of the commendable kind, for it is directed at the tyrants
and the aggressors and the enemies of allah, the tyrants,
the traitors who commit acts of treason against their own
countries and their own faith and their own prophet and their
own nation."
Source:
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