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Thank you Truman for the History Lesson, i only briefly mentioned.  I always 
liked Carter because i thought he spoke the truth.  In politics Truth is not 
conducive to success.

I find it ironic that the one place in the world that is revered by the 3 
major religions is all in the same spot.  Religion and Politics is a nasty 
combination in this regard.

I recently told JT that i thought he and Steph did more for international 
goodwill that our current President did in the last 7 years and it was all 
thru a mutual Love of the horse.

I believe that we all need to find things that we agree upon rather  than 
focus on what we don't.  I also do not believe we should ignore our enemies, 
rather we should communicate.  Not wanting to take this on a tangent of 
'off topic' i would just like to point out that even in the worlds view the 
most despicable family there is a member that wants to be a Peace 
Ambassador.  And that path is something this venue is all about.  An 
Endurance Race across Africa.    Thats what we should focus our attention 
on, and not the obvious hatred and politics of the situation.

I would also like to say that in 2006 Osama tried to make a truce w/ Europe 
and the USA and was rejected.  So the carnage continues.  And my son is 
going into it next year and that gives me and his Mother a great deal of 
sadness and anxiety.  It was his decision and we can not change that 
decision.  All we can do is support his decision, somewhat like Omar and his 
Father.

John Lennon said..."Give Peace a Chance".  I believe in that.  ts
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Truman Prevatt" <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tom Sites" <goearth@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Norton AntiSpam] Re: [RC] bin Ladens son wants to put on an 
Endurance Ride across Africa


> Tom,
>
> I think we lose sight of history.  Afghanistan was caught in the Cold war 
> between the Soviet Union and the US. Eisenhower was the first US president 
> to offer aid to Afghanistan as a wedge in the region against the Russians. 
> Afghanistan provided a land wedge between our long time ally Pakistan to 
> the South and the Soviet Republics of to the North.
>
> With the fall of the pro US Government in Iran Afghanistan took on even 
> greater strategic geo-political importance for the US.  When the Soviets 
> invaded Afghanistan in '79 then President Jimmy Carter saw no option but 
> to act. He withdrew the US from the Moscow Olympics and many of our 
> European allies followed suit.  He also put into place a covert operation 
> to provide military aid, military training to the Afghan "Mujahid" to 
> fight the Russians.
>
> Part of the strategy was to train the Afghan's to hate the Russians - 
> actually not all that difficult. The US CIA tapped a young fellow named 
> Osama BinLaden to aid them. The CIA provided all the educational material 
> used in the schools to instill the desire on the part of the Afghans to 
> throw out the Russian invaders. The CIA trained a young Bin Laden and his 
> lieutenants how to train insurgents. Much of what you see used on us today 
> in the insurgent warfare is right out to our playbook. What President 
> Carter put into motion worked quite well as the Russians had to withdraw 
> from Afghanistan in defeat. Maybe it worked too well :-( .
>
> However, we had in the process built a huge network in Afghanistan that 
> would come back to later haunt us when Al Qaeda spun off of the Mujadid. 
> With the US invasion of Iraq in '92, Desert Storm, they turned their ire 
> toward the US and as they say the rest is history, they turned the 
> educational material we provided them to target the Soviets to target the 
> US. the first World Trade Center bombing in '93, the SS Cole and finally 
> the World Trade Center in 2001.
>
> Of course the killing of innocent folks at the WTC is not justified, 
> however, all incidents in history need to be put into a historical 
> context. The history of human conflict is that peace is never attained 
> until all parties are willing to step to the middle of the room, see the 
> world from each others eyes and compromise.
>
> I for one feel that no offering of an Olive Branch - no matter how small - 
> should be ignored. To quote Jimmy Carter, "War may sometimes be a 
> necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a 
> good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each 
> other's children."
>
> Truman


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