Eric S. Margolis

The dawn of the 21st Century was supposed to have been a time of great and noble happenings.  But much ballyhooed 2000 turned out to be a year with few heroes or heroic acts.  On the bright side, at least the world didn't end.

The first phase of the US `war on terrorism will likely be the attempted overthrow of the Taliban regime, which currently rules 90% of Afghanistan. Washington is massing powerful strike forces around Afghanistan and has unleashed a fierce propaganda offensive against Taliban.

The 21st Century went to war against the 11th Century in Afghanistan last week. The 11th Century won. US warplanes cluster-bombed the usual natives, but the intensive air attacks failed to dislodge Taliban tribal warriors from positions north of Kabul.