An Eye for an Eye—Plus Some:US economics professor Marc Harold has tallied corroborated reports from
aid agencies, the UN, eyewitnesses and news agencies around the world.
He estimates that at least 3,767 civilians were killed by US bombs between
October 7 and December 10, far more than the 3,234 who were killed in
New York and Washington on September 11. The evidence is reported with
commentary in the Guardian at http://politics.guardian.co.uk/archive/article/0,,4323335,00.html
and Revenge and Reconciliation:Tomás Borge and Carlos Mejia Godoy from Nicaragua and Rev. Desmond Tutu from South Africa have written about issues of revenge, justice and reconciliation. Arundhati Roy about the War:Although she is an acclaimed author, no US magazine was willing to publish
Arundhati Roy's essay about the war. This verifies the saying in villages
of the Narmada valley in India, which Roy quotes in her book Power
Politics, "You can wake someone who's sleeping. But you can't
wake someone who's pretending to be asleep." About Islam: Farid EsackTo learn about Islam, Karen Armstrong's books are very good. However, Farid Esack—the Muslim theologian from South Africa who helped overthrow apartheid and now is on that country's Gender Equity Commission—gives a clear sense of why Islam matters and inspires the oppressed and why it can embrace pluralism. His two books, On Being Muslim and The Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism are excellent. See also the essays on his web page at http://uk.geocities.com/faridesack/ About Afghanistan:Mohsen Makhmalbaf, director of the film Kandahar has written some very perceptive essays about Afghanistan. His essay, "The Buddha Was Not Demolished In Afghanistan; He Collapsed Out Of Shame" includes important background about the country. Oil, of Course:Zalmay Kahlilzad, appointed by George Bush as special envoy to Afghanistan, is an Afghan-born former aide to Unocal. One article about Kahlilzad and the oil policy behind the war is posted at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jan2002/oil-j03.shtml
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