America Strikes Afghanistan
Joanna Shunk
WORLD AND NATION EDITOR
Sunday noon our time, Ameri
can and British forces parted with
secrecy and hurled 50 Tomahawk
cruise missiles into night-time Af
ghanistan. Targets included the
Taliban's military headquarters,
aircraft and radar installations,
and A 1 Qaida training camps.
Among the casulaties were four
civilian workers whose office was
located near a Taliban communi
cations tower.
In tandem with the bombings,
President George Bush has added
millions of dollars to the original
humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
"The United States of America,"
said Bush in his address, "is a
friend to the Afghan people." Pre
viously, Bush said the funding was
"for more food, more medicine, to
help the innocent people of Af
ghanistan deal with the coming
winter." As a result of the bomb
ings, the increased aid will directly
assist Afghans displaced from their
homes in Kabul and Kandahar.
Several hundred thousand
Afghani civilians have fled their
homes in Kabul since 15 bombers
and 25 strike aircraft streaked the
Guilford embraces learn-in
Michael Fulp
STAFF WRITER
The course of events on cam
pus went differently than usual
on Oct. 5, 2001.
Instead of the typical
"thank goodness it's Friday"
schedule, a learn-in was spon
sored by Guilford's Peace and
Conflict
Studies, His
tory, Politi
cal Science,
and Reli
gious Stud
ies depart
ments. The
event was
held in re
sponse to the
events of
Sept. 11 and
the interest
that was
shown by the
teach-in that
was held a
week after
the events.
Brent McKinney spoke on the implications for transportation.
4 THE
GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
V- ' ? If s"** /^ s
Aftermath from U.S. and British bombings
night sky. Kabul's electricity was
struck Sunday. Since then, the
bombing has continued through
the week.
There is speculation as to
crushing of the Taliban, which re
fused to bring Osama bin Laden,
suspect in World Trade Center
and Pentagon bombings, to trial
except in one of their courts. "It's
Learn-ins consist of mul
tiple workshops with experts of
various fields leading discus
sions - not teaching, but guiding
others in learning about a sub
ject. In the past, Guilford has
offered learn-ins during times
of trouble or confusion in our
See Learn-in, p. 3
unlikely that the airstrikes will
rock the Taliban back on their
heels," said Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld Monday dur
ing the second day of bombing.
"They do not have high-value
targets or assets that are the kinds
of things that would lend them
selves to substantial damage from
the air."
Americans and Afghans alike
have been concerned that the
bombings may be endangering ci
vilians. Fear and hope mingle in
Little Kabul, California, the cen
ter of one of America's largest Af
ghan communities and named af
ter Afghanistan's capital and tar
get of the bombings. Fear for rela
tives in Afghanistan is combined
with hope that Osama bin Laden
will be defeated.
One resident said, "I love de
mocracy. I love freedom of speech.
I love freedom of movement," he
said. "They are against that,
against freedom for women. That's
why 6 million Afghans are outside
of the country."
Nevertheless, Afghans in
Little Kabul, CA, fear for weaker
relatives that could not leave Af
ghanistan and remain in Kabul.
BRITA HELGESEN
October 12, 2001
The Taliban's ambassador to
Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, de
clared the air strike to be a "ter
rorist act against the Afghan na
tion."
"America will never achieve
its political goals by launching bes
tial attacks on the Muslim people
of Afghanistan," said Zaeef.
Sentiment at Guilford on Sun
day reflected fear of retaliation in
addition to fear for the Afghan
people. Guilford sophomore Mel
issa Taylor's biggest fear is "more
attacks on the U.S., which could
spark a much larger war."
"The way the U.S. presents
their plan, they're going to go in
there and cut off the terrorists, and
then it will all be over, which is the
ideal scenario," said Taylor. "But
technically bin Laden and the
Taliban have the resources to
strike us back again, and there
could be biological warfare, and
this mission could turn into some
thing really scary."
Possible terrorism has been
investigated in anthrax poisoning
in a Florida tabloid office. Various
threats to national security have
contributed to the FBl's arrests of
600 suspects in America.
WWW.WASHINGTON POST. COM
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