Selamat Dehai:

There are two kinds of people: the thermostat and thermometer.

The thermostat says: "I think it is going to be hot; I better prepare to cool things down." Or "It looks like it is going to be cold; I better prepare to warm things up."

The thermometer merely reacts: "It is HOT! It is COLD! Oh, boy, it's hot! It is cold! I don't think it's ever been this hot" etc.

For the last two years, some Eritreans have been saying that the Ethiopian Government is hell-bent on the destruction of Eritrea. That we should do all we can to prepare for the moment. That this conflict has nothing to do with borders; that Ethiopia doesn't like our government; it does not like that we won't act our size and won't just have lightly armed police and ill-trained militia; that it is grooming opposition to "democratize" Eritrea; that it wants weak neighbors (like Djibouti and Somalia) so that it can control the neighborhood. That in preparation for when Ethiopia unleashes its war, we should try to lobby the US, the EU, the UN, to be if not sympathetic at least carry out its duties. But, most of all, we should support the Eritrean Defense Force so it will at least have a fighting chance.

Then there have been those who have been surprised by the ferocity of the Ethiopian Government. If only we had accepted this treaty, if only we had accepted the other. If only we had reached out to this group, if only we had done the other. The are good people: they rely on their common sense and have concluded that it is not in Ethiopia's interest to wage war and it is doing so only because we did this, that or the other.

There is no peace treaty, none whatsoever that Ethiopia will accept and implement because its goals are nothing less than "decimating" your brothers and your sisters and your cousins. The goal post is always higher and higher. It is not enough that Eritrea has to commit to withdraw, it must withdraw; it is not enough that Eritrea withdraws but Ethiopia--and Ethiopia alone--must verify that Eritrea has withdrawn. It is not enough that it do so, it must go further and proclaim that the territory is sovereign Ethiopia. Eritrea must be humiliated, humbled, made to beg for its survival. It must change its government. It must never "pose a threat" to Ethiopia--which means it must disarm unilaterally and completely.

People ask me the million dollar question: if we are going to withdraw, why didn't we do it almost a year ago when the world was "begging" us to? Where did you get that information? From the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry? You are going to believe the same people that told you that four Eritrean divisions comprise of 515 people? Didn't they tell you that they _______ (fill in the blank: decimated, destroyed, annihiliated, decimated) four divisions around Shambko and then produced 15 dead and 500 POWs)? The truth is this: nobody, until May 25, 2000, asked us to withdraw without first securing cessation of hostitlities. The world--the OAU and the US, that is--gave us both a proposal that began with a cessation of hostilities and ended with demarcation. Ethiopia--in keeping with its declaration of war of May 13, 1998--wanted Eritrea to withdraw "unconditionally." Ethiopia told the world that it accepted the peace proposals and then went about ignoring the call for cessation of hostilities knowing that the world would come around and support or at least be silent when it waged war.

So you are "humiliated"? What would you want the Eritrean Government to do so that you are not humiliated? Defend Barentu for weeks and weeks so that the BBC can report, "the Eritreans put up a spirited defense"? Would that make us feel better? So the Eritrean Generals should pursue a strategy that makes us feel better while our brothers and sisters are being "decimated"? Or should they minimize our casualties and inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible?

The Deporter-in-chief now running the Ethiopian Empire referred to our country as "bloody" (after he bloodied it) in his "wild monologue" directed to the missions in Addis is scheduled to have a Gulf War type press conference with his Defense Minister. After he brags about all his real and imagined victories, he will either declare victory and go home or he will officially tell the world that the campaign to decimate my and your brothers is official.

When President Reagan was shot, he asked his attending physian, jokingly, "I hope you are a Republican." The doctor said, "Mr. President, today, we are all Republicans." Until the threat of the bloodthirsty gang from the South is gone, we should all pledge to be Shabia. The Eritrea Government has many flaws but when the fate of the nation hangs on the balance, are there any other group of people who are better qualified, more experienced to defend our land? Otherwise, we will be a naton of Dagmawis--a man who, barely two weeks ago, was calling for the resignation of Meles Zenawi--but now cannot contain his glee at the destruction of a young nation.

All our "I am worried, I can't sleep, I am depressed" is nothing more than fuel for the organized Shiftas from the South so let's contain ourselves and defend our nation. Let's convert "Operation JackAss" into "Operation Quagmire."

Saleh