Parachutes from heaven

While many observers have said the U.S. war on terror is a totally new kind of global conflict, a prominent journalist who survived the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II tells WorldNetDaily that the bombing is not unlike what she experienced some 50 years ago.

Adriana Stuijt, a Dutch journalist and former anti-apartheid activist, vividly recalls the horrors of war in her homeland.

“I remember from my youth in Rotterdam, after we had been bombed repeatedly out of our homes and had suffered years of hunger and depredation, one day in November 1944, a huge fleet of large American bombers came over, creating a terrifying sound which we all knew was always the precursor to another terrible bombing attack on Dutch dikes where Germans had ensconced themselves in pillboxes. Well, this time it was different. This shower of tiny parachutes came raining down upon us, with containers which often broke open before they reached the ground,” she said.

“The containers were showering us with literally many hundreds of thousands of Hershey bars, popcorn bags, food supplies, parcels of clothes and all of these wonderful gifts. This manna from heaven was accompanied by millions of letters written by the children of the United States to the suffering children of Holland, telling us that they loved us and were thinking of us and wanted us to have this food. Much of this heavenly shower sustained us throughout the terrible hunger which characterized that winter, which we had to endure until April, until the Americans came to rescue us.”

Stuijt told WorldNetDaily that it is important for Americans to remember that the people of Afghanistan are also suffering under the Taliban regime.

“The Afghani people – they are innocents just like we were, and they have also been suffering many years of deprivation while their incredibly near-sighted and radical Muslim men have been waging warfare against themselves and against the entire world. The women and children of Afghanistan are a kindhearted and talented people whose skills at, for instance, carpet weaving and other creative pursuits have made their products world famous and much sought after for many centuries.

“The people of Afghanistan should not be bombed with American bombs of retribution – they should instead receive showers of love and kindness such as the starving children of Rotterdam received in November 1944. If I could get one message to your president, it would be to shower the people of Afghanistan with knowledge. Many are not allowed radios, TV or any kind of information device linking them to the outside world, just like the children of Rotterdam had been deprived. They don’t know what bin Laden may have been doing to the people of America from their territory.”

Stuijt believes that millions of radios should be dropped into Afghanistan so the citizens of that nation could listen to news.

“There could be news broadcasts from the U.S. military’s wonderfully clever broadcasting devices from military aircraft. Shower them with clothes, so badly needed, and shower them with medicines, needed just as badly. Above all, tell them, through notes in Arabic written by American-Muslim children, that the people of America love them and don’t want to hurt them. Tell them all the people of America want is to have them deliver Osama bin Laden and his gang of thugs so that this evil influence can be removed from their territory.”

The U.S. bombing attacks on Taliban facilities began on Sunday, but, not unlike in Holland during World War II, American aircraft are also dropping food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies for the people of Afghanistan. According to the Associated Pres, two C-17 cargo planes dropped 37,500 food packets to starving Afghans on the first day of airstrikes, a move meant to underscore the message that the strikes are meant to harm terrorists, not beleaguered Afghan citizens.