10/12 early: AWACS coverage

[Joe]

I think the civilian casualties are pretty light on their side compared to what they have been on our side.

We didn't want this war. We would have been perfectly happy to have had Sept. 11 be just another day, and not attack Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, our hand has been forced. You can't waltz into our biggest city, blow down the biggest buildings with everyone inside, and walk away thinking nothing will happen. We HAVE to fight now.

The Taliban know that civilian casualties make great propaganda. If they themselves wanted to reduce this, they could move their forces out of the cities into neutral territory. We would never attack a city of just civilians any more than we'd bomb a refugee camp.

Why don't the Taliban do this? They know it would be suicide. If we know a site is just Taliban fighters, we would immediately strike there. They know that by mixing themselves into the civilian population we won't attack as fiercely, we'll have to be very careful.

They are using their own civilians as human shields, just as Iraq did in the Gulf War. They are also using Islam as a shield, sleeping in their mosques at night, because they know that blown-up mosques also make great propaganda and we won't hit them there.

Cowards.