On Oct 7 the United States government began bombing Afghanistan, a country already ravaged by years of war with the Soviet Union and by the mercilessly repressive Taliban regime that holds power. This military response marks the beginning of what government officials and their stenographers in the corporate media are calling a "new kind of war".

Propaganda isn't only a thing of totalitarian regimes. The American public, captivated by the the news on television, will not see images of the death and destruction caused by US and British bombs after they hit "unintended" civilian targets; newspaper readers will not get in-depth background coverage of the US's history of military aggression and support for brutal dictatorships abroad; nor will radio listeners hear reporters postulating on whether or not the military attacks on the Afghani people, though the stated target is Osama bin Laden, will actually increase the amount of violence and frustration amongst peoples all across the world who already despise the US for its actions and policies; and can you imagine Dan Rather asking the parade of generals and ex-State Department officials on television if the "war on terrorism" is perhaps a cover for the interests of US business elites?

People in the US are asked to move forward and spend our way to a revitalized economy, to wave our flags and bow in deference to our omnipotent president without a questioning peep. Those who protest war and decry US militarism as completely ineffective tools for creating a truly free and just world are labelled as sympathizers of terrorists, and mocked by the jingoistic upholders of the status quo. But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone, anarchist or republican, who wasn't appalled by the Sep 11 suicide attacks that caused the deaths of over 6,000 people. The "with us or against us" attitude is partly at the root of the anti-US fervor pervading the Middle East and elsewhere.

A more complex analysis is needed. These acts of terror did not occur in a vacuum. Amidst the din of blind nationalist rhetoric have emerged many opinions and voices that run counter to the monolithic war-is-the-only-solution current in the government and corporate media, opinions that look for the root causes of this violence and seek to find an alternate response that might break the cycle we're currently caught in. Context and history are crucial, and Indymedia readers and conscientious journalists around the globe have provided much of value. Here is but a sampling:
• A Just Cause, Not a Just War by Howard Zinn
• Now is the Time to Act, by Starhawk
• RAWA 10/18 Statement
• A War of Lies by Rahul Mahajan and Robert Jensen
• No Palestinian Ever Called Me a Nigger, by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
• Counter Terrorism by Brianna Chesser
• The Ongoing War: U.S Conflicts with Muslims
• Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan: Statement; More, including movie clips
• Statement from Japanese Peace Activists
• Audio: Bush Administration's Indiscriminate Violence; Religious Leaders Respond
• Hold the Vision, by Starhawk
• Osama bin Laden: How the US helped midwife a terrorist, by Ahmed Rashid
• A letter from a Palestinian
• UKGuardian: They can't see why they are hated
• An American dissident's reaction to terror at home, by angka
• Black Radical Congress statement - BRC -
• War Resisters League statement - WRL

Many sources for progressive and radical viewpoints exist on the web:
No War Collective | infoshop.org | Common Dreams | Z Magazine | KPFA | Flashpoints Radio | IMCs: En: indymedia.org/peace | NYC, DC, Es: Argentina, Barcelona, Columbia, México Pt: Brasil, Portugal Fr: France He/Ar: Israel