Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 15:57:30 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <200201042057.PAA13493@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: president@whitehouse.gov
Subject: stop bombing Afghan civilians

Today's issue of _The Independent_ quotes rescuers and local reports from
Paktia, Afghanistan, as stating that United States bombing there this past
Sunday morning killed 52 civilians, 25 of them children.  This is the third
major instance in the past few weeks of what is euphemistically termed
`collateral damage'.  Either the United States is actively waging a campaign
of terror against Afghan civilians, or it is habitually relying on questionable
intelligence for the selection of targets.  In either case, the United States
is showing a callous disregard for the lives of the Afghan people.  Ten or
twenty years from now, the Afghan child who has just lost a loved one at the
hands of the United States may grow up into the next terrorist desperate for
vengeance.

Sincerely,
Matthew Belmonte