South Africa's response to the US of A was about the best they could master, and they probably had to pay some already highly paid consultant to work this one out. Very good summing-up from an American correspondent for the SABC was: "You want to wage war against people who are our friends, but we want your money".

This whole episode has hit poorer countries even more than the developed countries. The Rand is down to close on Nine Rand to the Dollar, nearly Thirteen Rand to the Pound and close to Nine Rand to our biggest trading partners' currency, the Euro. Today the Reserve Bank announced an interest cut of half a percent. That's not going to do much to support a faltering economy in the face of the damage the ANC has already done to this country. With fuel prices rocketing again (this time 13 cents up to the liter) there really isn't much reprieve for the average citizen.

The policy of negotiations suited the Communist backed ANC perfect when P.W. Botha decided to change this country forever. Before that it was mayhem, in spite of an official statement by Thabo Mbeki to the contrary where he claimed that only the military and police were targeted during their "struggle" years. We know the true facts, and just like his stance on "HIV does not cause AIDS" makes him look like a total idiot all over the world, so does the above statement of not targeting civilians during their terror years.

But the time will probably never come that the ANC will turn their backs on terrorist harboring countries and leaders such as Hussein, Arrafat and Castro. Therefor they couldn't possibly condone nor offer military action nor support. The absolute best was to offer sympathy and condemn the terrorist attacks.

Where does this leave the average South African? Very frustrated and upset with an inept government who preaches negotiations whenever they get the opportunity to voice an opinion. Has Tony Yengeni negotiated with ANC voters for his luxury 4 x 4? Did the mayors of so many towns negotiate their luxury cars and extravagant salaries with their constituencies? Did Thabo Mbeki himself consult with "the people" before deciding to buy a luxury airplane in order to not feel embarrassed, or did his highly paid advisors decide this? Bottom line to all this is simple, we can only hope and pray that America is succesfull with their fight against terrorism, or the very least, be able to suppress terrorists to such an extent that they will cease to exist for some time to come. And in their efforts, we can only pray for the minimal casualties amongst innocent people - of which there will be some.

And if some CIA or FBI agents hit some targets in this country, most people will condone and support these actions to the fullest.

The biggest problem we as white South Africans have with the Americans, where were they when white South Africa needed them? What tricks did they pull on us during our support in the Rhodesian war? Did they back the Communists during the apartheid years? Action speaks louder than words and it had to come to the estimated six thousand multi-national lives lost for them to get to the point where they're at. Does it really take a trigger happy Bush to show them what to do, or were they (the people) also getting frustrated with a government with no backbone except for the occasional show of power?

And to support this last statement (or was it a question), go to my links page and visit some of the American pages listed there. We think we're different, yet in the end we're all the same.