Word: persianism
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...people that an act of war has been committed. This is a different kind of enemy than we have ever faced, and they need to know that." That day, he also moved quickly to pre-empt any possibility of a replay of the fractious congressional debate before the Persian Gulf War, though such a debate was wholly unlikely, given the galvanic effect of the terrorist acts. He demanded authorization of war powers before Congress could demand the right to supply one. Within two days, both houses had given it to him. On Thursday Bush fell into terse, effective cadences...
...escalation in conflict that is barely imaginable at this point. Eight days after the terrorist attacks, President Bush told reporters he does not want Congress to reinstate the draft in order to staff the war on terrorism. That same day, the Pentagon dispatched scores of advanced aircraft to the Persian Gulf...
...begun moving air power into the Persian Gulf region - air power capable of raining down massive destruction on Afghanistan if its ruling Taliban movement refuses to hand over Osama Bin Laden. Not that there's much left there to destroy. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Wednesday acknowledged that the Pentagon has struggled to identify significant targets in a country ravaged by two decades of brutal war. "Several countries have exhausted themselves pounding that country," Rumsfeld said. "There are not great things of value that are easy to deal with...
...everyone in this world has a lover except me," sings a woman. "Why is it so?" Her lament, in Persian, throbs over the speakers of a cab heading for Kabul, Afghanistan. An hour into the six-hour journey from neighboring Pakistan, the taxi driver abruptly switches cassettes, and chants of Koranic verse replace the pop song. Moments later, the car stops at a checkpoint. The wooden poles of the barrier are entwined with strips of confiscated audiotape and film, the loose ends flapping in the wind. A guard peers into the car and inspects the four passengers and driver before...
Religious songs with no instrumentation are exempted, as well as patriotic chants such as "Taliban, O Taliban, you're creating facilities, you're defeating enemies"--a bit of nationalistic verse that has received heavy play on Radio Shariat, the state-run station. Before the prohibition, sung Persian poems known as ghazals and instrumental Indian melodies called ragas were highly popular in Afghanistan. Concerts featuring such traditional instruments as the rubab (a short-necked lute) used to last for hours at celebratory occasions like weddings and births. Even Western pop made its way to Kabul in the 1970s, when the capital...