From: John Beckett 

George Sherwood  wrote in message
news::
> torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on
> display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop
> educating girls.

This story is very believable from what we know of the Taliban (although
the story does have the smell of an over-excited journalist).

Let me repeat my earlier comment and affirm that it applies to the Taliban:
> Your quote from an Iranian cleric needs no comment - the person,
>  the culture, the religion are all condemned.

I am in no way saying some variation of "Rumsfeld is just like
Hitler". There are lots of differences between neocon christians and
wacko islamists, and the comparisons all favour the neocons.

But why do neocons do what they do? Why liberate/invade Iraq? Why
"stay the course" so enthusiastically?

Of course, once you've made the decision to get involved in Iraq, the
politicians have to maintain a public face of confidence. The only thing I
fear more than the coalition deciding to invade Iraq are the consequences
of the coalition deciding to leave Iraq.

However, in trying to understand Rumsfeld's enthusiasm, maintained in
defiance of all reason, I have postulated that he may have the same sort of
religious fervour that drives the Taliban etc. Of course, as I said
earlier, the islamists are 300 years behind the rest of the world, and
Rumsfeld is in many ways totally different from Taliban leaders. The
differences are obvious, but maybe there are similarities also.

What alerted me to Rumsfeld's fallibility was seeing him on TV some years
ago when he earnestly explained how AQ were holed up in underground
fortresses in Afghanistan. He displayed a cut-away diagram showing a
typical fortress. I was on the point of drinking the kool-aid. A month
later, I found the following, which Google kindly has at the top of the
search I just did:

http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/nether_fictoid3.htm

We can be certain that no WMD and no "Rumsfeld" fortresses exist,
because they would have been plastered on TV for months, if found.

At the risk of further inflamming your sense of justice, I will mention
that I see vague similarities between the Taliban fanatics who want to kill
anyone who educates women, and the USA religious right who want to
denegrate science education in schools. Of course, the differences are
obvious. But really, there are some similarities.

John

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