Terrorism that's personal

[Christa]

/snip

Should the United States commit more troops to Afghanistan and for what specific purpose? As American policymakers mull the options, here is a frame of reference that puts the tough choices in even starker relief: Are acid attacks a sign of just how little the United States can do to solve intractable problems there — therefore, we should pull out? Or having declared war on terrorism, must the United States stay out of moral duty, to try to protect women such as these — and the schoolgirls whom the Taliban in Afghanistan sprayed with acid simply for going to class — who have suffered a very personal terrorist attack? We offer a reading file of two smart essays that come to differing conclusions, and we tell the stories of some more of these women on the back page. But be forewarned: Those photos are even harder to look at than this one.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/.a/6a00d83451b05569e20120a6bbe481970b-600wi

Saira Liaqat, 26, poses for the camera as she holds a portrait of herself before being burned, at her home in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. When she was fifteen, Saira was married to a relative who would later attack her with acid after insistently demanding her to live with him, although the families had agreed she wouldn't join him until she finished school. Saira has undergone plastic surgery 9 times to try to recover from her scars.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/photo/2009/11/terrorism-thats-personal.html

[EmeraldCityGrl]

1. Yesterday in Philadelphia a young woman was

dragged out of a restaurant to an apartment across the street and raped by several men. Is this not terrorism? These random acts of terror and becoming more
and more frequent. Maybe it's time to focus on our own culture and do some serious work here to create a safe society for women to live free and without fear.

We have no business in Afghanistan. The problems the woman of this region live with are not going to be solved by our military occupation of their countries.