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BURQA vs RAPE
[Half of our mailing list, which is quite 
extensive now, received the third 
letter on BURQA vs RAPE without the writer's 
name. So here it is again along 
with correction of typos. Our mail goes out in 
driblets and we noticed the error 
halfway through. - Editor]
(from Dr. Edward Miller, San Rafael, California)
Kaukab:  
What you have described in 
Germany 
and 
Vietnam regarding women's  
response to an occupying army has been written 
in the history of all great 
empires..  When I was a battalion surgeon in 
Japan waiting to be sent to 
Korea...our Division camp on the side of Mount 
Fugi was surrounded almost overnight 
by clusters of small bars with "mamma-sans" and 
their young prostitutes 
awaiting the marines as they came and went.   The  
marked rise in veneral disease 
and its treatment occupied much of my time..as 
well as the time of the 
very-cooperative Japanese physicians...
On Another topic...President 
Bush 
in exhalting 
the political, murder of the 
two Hussein sons ( and they could very easily 
have been taken alive) tells 
us something about Bush and his god, with whom he  
says he converses. The 
Christian god, as described by the Prophet Jesus, 
taught forgiveness...unlike 
Yaweh, the old Testament Hebrew God of revenge 
(An eye for an eye and a tooth 
for a tooth)...Bush, surrrounded by the so-called 
"Christian Right",..who are 
neither Christian nor rIight...has simply adopted 
their  Hebrew God of 
revenge...
Political assassination, and that's what 
happened to the Hussein sons, was 
effectively banned as a tool of the United States 
by President Gerald Ford in 
1976 in response to the detailed report from a 
congresssional committee 
assigned to study the history and results of such 
actiions.
Keep writing
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UNUSUAL LETTER FROM KABUL ABOUT THE BURQA
I have just read one of your articles about the 
Burqa under the Title
"Unrecognized Role In 
Afghanistan."
it is really very interesting and for the first 
time I am seeing some one 
from the west writing the truth. As from the 
time I am remembering all the 
westerners, no matter even if he or she is 
Muslim, are against Burqa without 
knowing in depth about the depth and its roots in 
the Islamic history and 
culture of Afghanistan. People were thinking that 
it is some thing that has 
been imposed on Afghans by the Taliban where as 
the reality is something 
else. This is a part of our religion and our rich 
culture that we have 
inherited from the past hundreds of years. 
I just wanted to thank you for the interesting 
and beautiful article that 
you have written. I just want your permission, if 
you would allow, I want to 
publish it in our only English newspaper The 
Kabul Times that has for the 
moment an international replication. However it 
has some mistakes 
especially regarding the Khalq and Parcham 
parties and their leadership. If 
needed I will write you the minute mistakes also. 
Thank you very much
and best Regards,
Sayed Sirajuddin Khalid
From Kabul
Afghanistan
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BOYCOTT 
COCA-COLA
[Report sent by Br. Abu Talib, 
Jamaat al-Muslimeen's 
Boycott Committee 
representative in Brooklyn, New York]
Coca-Cola in Kerala, 
India, 
accused of leaving 
farms parched and land poisoned
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Thursday July 24 2003
The Guardian
[Excerpts]
The largest Coca-Cola plant in India is being 
accused of putting thousands of 
farmers out of work by draining the water that 
feeds their wells, and 
poisoning the land with waste sludge that the 
company claims is fertiliser.
The plant in the southern state of Kerala is 
designed to satisfy the demand 
for Coke in what has become the multinational 
company's fastest growing market.
But its huge demand for water is causing such 
damage to the local economy 
that the village council which had granted the 
company a licence to operate is 
now demanding the plant's closure.
So desperate have the nearest villagers become 
for water since their wells 
dried up that Coca-Cola sends water tankers round 
every morning to supply 
minimum needs.
The company denies the shortages have anything to 
do with its use of up to 1m 
litres of water a day from the underground 
aquifer that used to keep the 
wells topped up.
The charity ActionAid says the crisis facing the 
once prosperous farming area 
is an example of the worst kind of inward 
investment by multinational 
companies in developing countries.
In a report to the 
World Trade Organisation's 
meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in 
September the charity says this kind of abuse 
must be controlled.
The report says Plachimada was a thriving 
agricultural community until 
Coca-Cola set up the bottling plant in 1998. 
Coconut groves and vegetable crops have 
had to be abandoned because of the lack of water.
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2003-07-28 Mon 17:36ct