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| Afghanistan | |
| Jihadis: "We'll drink their blood" | |
| 2001-10-07 | |
On the day before the bombing would begin, on Saturday, the enemy of America could be found in a park, his turban on, his sandals off, his face turned to the sun, detailing a trip that he was about to undertake. "Tomorrow, early," said Assmat Ullah, 25, a Taliban soldier. "To Afghanistan." Into battle. The Taliban are estimated to have 30,000 to 45,000 soldiers. Tonight -- "God willing," said Ullah -- they got one more, a man who'd been secluded in Pakistan for Islamic studies when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, but was nonetheless familiar with many of the details, including the reactions of some people who smiled at the images out of New York, delighted. One of those people was him.
His voice, when he said this, wasn't overly emotional, even when he went on to say, "We are crazy against America. When their soldiers come into Afghanistan, we will drink their blood. It is the worst form of hate." Rather, it was matter-of-fact. Just as Afghanistan to some Americans is the single note of men in black turbans and women shrouded to invisibility in burqas, America to Ullah is, above all else, one thing: anti-Islamic. To shoot such an enemy would be justified, he said, to kill such an enemy would be noble, and to be killed by bullet, or rocket, or bomb, or gas, or whatever other weapon America might have, would lead him to paradise. He was born in a village south of Kabul. He was a refugee in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation. He joined the Taliban in 1994. He learned to use a rifle, draw a bead on a person, run a rocket launcher, target an antiaircraft gun. He was wounded, once, by shrapnel, which cut open his leg and head. Paradise -- almost. Four months ago, he came to Pakistan to study logic and philosophy at a religious school, and his days since then have been rigid in their devotion. Up at 5 a.m. Prayer. Study of the Koran. Four hours of classes. Lunch. More prayer. More study. More prayer. Rest. More study. Asleep at 11:30 p.m. And somewhere in there an hour to take a break, which, since Sept. 11, has usually meant listening to a radio, either the Voice of America or the BBC, making sure that whenever music came on between segments the radio was turned off long enough for the music to have disappeared by the time he turned it back on. Ummm... You might call that bloodthirsty. Yes, I think that's the term. | |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |