I'm 48 years old and have lived in and around New York City my whole life. Besides "the bomb" and communism the scariest thing I remember worrying about was the MAFIA. When I was a kid the only thing I knew about them was that if you looked at them they'd kill you. Report them they'd kill you and make you watch as they killed your mother. Testify against them and you'd have to watch them torture your entire family to death and then they'd kill you by rolling you over with a steam roller; starting with your feet and slowly working their way up. Pretty scary stuff.


As I think about the image the US has throughout the third world I'm pretty sure I'd prefer for them to regard us as I regarded the MAFIA when I was a kid. Let them be scared, let them be afraid, let them feel we might not always play by the rules.


When our hostages were taken 1n Iran in 1979 we did nothing. Perhaps if we had regarded our hostages as front line soldiers who sometimes must die for their country and we had bombed our embassy and taken Teheran with it I'm pretty sure state sponsored terrorism might have taken a giant step backward.


The hostages, if you remember, were released on January 20th, 1981 when Reagen took office. Khomeni was probably scared to death of this guy. Who knew what he would do? Well, Khadafy found out and he's been pretty quiet since.


I'm not advocating world war, and I really do not want to see the Afghan people go through yet one more horrible conflict. But, the little monsters of this world must be shown that there are and will be terrible consequences when they target us. And if we cannot impress this upon the little monsters because they have little or nothing to lose thenh we have to impress it upon those states that offer them a safe haven, a willing supply of brainwashed soldiers, and economic aid. They must be shown there will be a terrible price to pay so that hurting us hurts them to the point of extinction. It's terrible to consider, but if we can make our point once, demonstrably, then perhaps we will save countless lives on both sides for the rest of eternity.