The "Good War" in Afghanistan – the Bush-launched war that
Barack Obama tells us we must fight and win – continues to
deteriorate before our eyes. Just like every other operation in the
so-called "War on Terror" (another Bush-launched campaign that
Obama has fully embraced as his own), the Afghan war, now in its
seventh year, has proven entirely counter-productive to its stated
aims. Instead of stabilizing a volatile region and denying it as a
base for violent extremism, it has of course done the opposite. The
shock waves of the heavy-handed American-led invasion of
Afghanistan – a country that no foreign power has ever conquered
and held – have spread across Central Asia, most dangerously into
Pakistan.
Afghanistan itself is in a desperate condition, laden with a
weak, foreign-installed government dominated by warlords and
riddled with corruption. The illegal opium trade, quashed by the
Taliban, has now surged to historic levels, and is flooding the
streets of Europe and the West with cut-rate heroin – not to
mention fuelling an astonishing rise in drug addiction among
Afghans, Pakistanis and Iranians. At every turn, the iron hand of
American militarism is producing more suffering, more chaos, more
corruption, more extremism, more slaughter, both directly and as
blowback from people maddened into wanton violence by the
relentless stream of atrocities.
And no, to comprehend an origin of violence is not to condone
it; but reality compels acknowledgement of the fact that
state-terror atrocity breeds "asymmetrical" atrocity in turn. It
also teaches by example. The state militarists of empire say:
Violence works. Violence is honorable. Violence is the most
effective way to accomplish your goals. And you must not blench at
killing innocent people in your violent operations. Is it any
wonder that others adopt these methods, which are championed and
celebrated by our most respected and legitimatized elites? Recall
the words of one of America's own home-grown "asymmetricals,"
Timothy McVeigh, who at his sentencing for the Oklahoma City
bombing quoted Justice Louis Brandeis: "Our Government is the
potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches
the whole people by its example."
McVeigh of course was schooled in death and violence as a
soldier in the first Iraq War, where he had been appalled to find
himself killing people who wished America no harm, and to see the
wholesale slaughter of innocent people in a conflict that need
never have been fought. A peaceful settlement of the complex
financial and territorial dispute between Iraq and Kuwait had been
brokered by the Arab League; but although Iraq accepted the deal,
at the last minute, the Kuwaiti royals – long-time business
partners of then-President George H.W. Bush – reneged and declared,
"We will call in the Americans." Then the regional squabble between
Iran and Kuwait was deceitfully turned into a "global threat" by
the false claim that Iraq's invading forces were massing on the
borders of Saudi Arabia. Pentagon chief Dick Cheney claimed secret
satellite imagery showed vast Iraqi armies preparing to swoop down
on the Saudi oilfields, the lifeline of the American economy. Bush
Family capo James Baker, then Secretary of State, went before
Congress and declared that the imminent war was all about saving
American jobs. But commercial imagery obtained by a US newspaper at
the time showed there were no Iraqi forces on the Saudi border. It
was all a knowing lie – as were the claims paraded before Congress
that Iraqi soldiers were flinging infants from their incubators in
Kuwaiti hospitals. This bearing of false witness had been arranged
by a prominent Bush-connected PR firm. The first Iraq War was just
as falsely based and pointless as the second.
Unfortunately for the innocents in Oklahoma City, McVeigh too
fully absorbed the lessons of the omnipresent teacher, even as he
came to reject the teacher's authority. But his greatest crime in
the imperial system was not that he killed innocent people in
furtherance of political aims, but that he did it free-lance,
without the "legitimacy" of a militarist government which
slaughters innocent people by the hundreds of thousands in
furtherance of its political aims.
Now in Afghanistan, the atrocities of the "legitimate" forces
are fueling a prodigious growth in the "illegitimate" insurgency,
transforming thousands of people who once opposed the Taliban into
fighters under its banner. (Of course, "Taliban" has become a
generic term for an array of opponents to the Western presence in
Afghanistan). But these atrocities are an inevitable by-product of
the very presence of foreign armies, which require "force
protection" and close air cover and missile strikes to maintain and
protect their operations. This inevitably produces large amounts of
"collateral damage" (i.e., dead, maimed, ruined and dispossessed
civilians.) The larger the foreign force, the more "force
protection" it needs, which produces more atrocities, which fuels
more resistance and more extremism. This is virtually a
mathematical law. But of course, the very essence of a militarist
state is that is feels unbounded by any law – not even the laws of
human nature. Thus Washington is now increasing its military
presence in Afghanistan, with Obama promising even more.
What will be the results of this policy? Do the math.
II. The Guardian provides an illuminating look
at the fruits of American policy in Afghanistan today. This is what
Barack Obama wants to see more of:
It was 7.30 on a hot July morning when the plane came swooping
low over the remote ravine. Below, a bridal party was making its
way to the groom's village in an area called Kamala, in the eastern
province of Nangarhar, to prepare for the celebrations later that
day.
The first bomb hit a large group of children who had run on
ahead of the main procession. It killed most of them instantly.
A few minutes later, the plane returned and dropped another
bomb, right in the centre of the group. This time the victims were
almost all women. Somehow the bride and two girls survived but as
they scrambled down the hillside, desperately trying to get away
from the plane, a third bomb caught them. Hajj Khan was one of four
elderly men escorting the bride's party that day.
"We were walking, I was holding my grandson's hand, then there
was a loud noise and everything went white. When I opened my eyes,
everybody was screaming. I was lying metres from where I had been,
I was still holding my grandson's hand but the rest of him was
gone. I looked around and saw pieces of bodies everywhere. I
couldn't make out which part was which."
Relatives from the groom's village said it was impossible to
identify the remains. They buried the 47 victims in 28 graves.
Stories like this are relatively common in today's Afghanistan.
More than 600 civilians have died in Nato and US air strikes this
year. The number of innocents killed this way has almost doubled
from last year, and tripled from the year before that. These
attacks are weakening support for the Afghan government and turning
more and more people against the foreign occupation of the
country...
The latest figures from the Afghan Independent Human Rights
Commission, taken a month ago, suggest about 750 civilians have
been killed by foreign forces this year. Most were killed in air
strikes. The remainder were shot by jumpy soldiers, who often open
fire in crowded public places after an attack on one of their
convoys.
Humanitarian aid agencies say privately that they believe the
figure is significantly higher, as many victims classed as
"insurgents" are actually non-combatants...
Nato and US spokesmen say their forces go to great lengths to
avoid civilian casualties. But all too often after an air strike,
they deny civilians are among the dead or claim far fewer were
killed.
A recent Human Rights Watch report said US investigations, when
launched, have been "unilateral, ponderous, and lacking in
transparency, undercutting rather than improving relations with
local populations and the Afghan government".
The routine denials and hands-off attitude are contributing to a
growing sense among Afghans that their lives are cheap in the eyes
of the foreigners.
"We know they don't intend to kill the civilians but we don't
believe they care enough not to," said Ahmad Zia, a jeweller in
Kabul's busy bazaar. "If it continues we will see a lot more people
joining the fight against the foreigners. It's inevitable."...
Sharif Hassanyar, a former interpreter with US Special Forces
who is now working as a journalist, described how decisions were
taken to bomb areas based on flimsy intelligence.
"I remember when I was working with a group of Rangers and a spy
in the area told them the Taliban were training in a garden of a
house so they bombed the house, without checking the information.
Afterwards they found out that there had not been any Taliban
there, only civilians were killed by the bombs," he said.
Informants for the foreign forces often give bad information
either accidentally or because they are pursuing tribal or personal
vendettas against individuals in neighbouring villages, he
added...
It is not just the deaths from air strikes that are poisoning
the hearts of Afghans. In the capital, Kabul, each day, terrified
drivers swerve out of the way as foreign troops hurtle through the
streets in their armoured convoys training their rifles on the
drivers and pedestrians and shouting obscenities: "Stay the fuck
back!"
The Afghans know to keep out of the way. Last year a US military
convoy ploughed into several vehicles, killing seven people
including a family. The incident sparked a riot involving thousands
of angry Kabul residents. It was suppressed only after the security
forces started shooting protesters on the streets. At least 15
people were killed.
"The anti-American feelings in Afghanistan are not just coming
from conservative or religious elements," said Shukria Barakzai, a
female MP.
"These feelings stem from the actions and military operations of
the foreign troops. The anti-western sentiment is directly because
of the military actions, the civilian casualties, and the lack of
respect by foreign troops for Afghan culture."
