innocent victims of war

[Doug Millison]

Quail:  "We are not creating the famine situation in Afghanistan."

The U.S. attack on Afghanistan has drastically reduced the amount of
humanitarian and food aid going into the country, only a small fraction
compared to before the bombing,  widely reported in the mainstream press.
That's why so many international humanitarian aid organizations have called
for a halt to the bombing, in order to ship in food to avert the death of
millions by starvation this winter,  before winter conditions make that
impossible. The U.S. attack prevents this.  We are thus creating famine for
millions of people who otherwise -- without the U.S. attack -- be receiving
food. The U.S. has it within its power to prevent the famine, and if the
U.S. lets the famine proceed, will be responsible for the first massive
humanitarian catastrophe of the new century. I can well imagine Pynchon
writing a novel that features this sort of mass killing for imperial ends,
especially in light of the kind of attention he's given the Herero, the
Jews and other victims of the Nazis, the native Americans -- but somehow I
can't imagine him supporting Bush's attack on Afghanistan as
rj/rjackson/jbor/? and Quail suggest he would.  But I guess we each do get
the Pynchon we want, after all.