LeftExchange
War on Terrorism
Quarterly summary 1.
by
Jerre Skog
The Bush Troika´s war on terrorism is nearing first base after installing a new government in Afghanistan and the mopping up operations that remain can be done at some leisure. One of the poorest and most defenceless countries on earth has been bombed into rubble by a megalomanic superpower that can see no limits to its rights of domination. The country that harbors more Southern American terrorists, executioners and dictators than anyone else in the world has shown us all what happens when others harbor wanted men! What has been achieved if we look beyond Bush´s clichés, Pentagon´s hype and Rumsfeld´s and Ashcroft´s rethoric? Is the world any safer? Have the suspected evildoers been brought to justice? Has it been a “just war”? Are there less people who hate or dislike the western powers?
Just add it up!!
The good news are:
American oil companies will be able to build that pipeline and the new ruler Karzai have old ties with Unocal and supports the scheme as do others in the new interim(?) government!!!
The Talibans are ousted.
The bad news are:
Between 4 and 6000 innocent civilians, already oppressed by their government in Afghanistan have been killed according to independent studies. 100s of thousands of more refugees have been created and the starvation has increased due to stopped relief deliveries before winter was setting in. The final death toll may rise to a million.
The same government that was helped to power by CIA and Pakistan´s secret service in –96 now has been defeated and other known crooks, gangsters and opium sellers, responsible for the death of maybe 50.000 civilians when last in power, have again taken power, for some time or indefinitely remains to be seen.
Large parts of the infrastructure in Afghanistan have been bombed into oblivion as have Red Cross buildings and important depots. Unexploded cluster bombs will cause carnage for generations.
Some thousands of brainwashed Taliban soldiers, most of whom had no knowledge whatsoever of any terrorist actions outside Afghanistan, have been killed. A few hundred lower level commanders have been captured and will be questioned.
The main “enemies” and raison d étre of the “war”, the monster, evildoer, fanatic (etc), Bin Laden and his sidekick Mullah Omar, suspected (but not convicted) of atrocities and certainly no friends of capitalism, are not to be found even after levelling the topography of parts of the country and their whereabouts may be any place in the eastern parts of the world. The “smoking them out” seems to need a lot more time and fuel.
A very small number of US servicemen have died or suffered wounds. The number is probably not higher than it would be had they gone on with normal service training and driving forth and back to their homes.
The war has stirred up more unrest in the sensitive Kashmir region and indirectly led to near-war between India and Pakistan. It has also whipped up anti-western feelings and caused the moderates in many countries to come down on the “wrong” side of the fence.
The war has set a dangerous precedence for international violence and legitimates various countries to use their military to hunt and wipe out opposition groups that can be pressed in under the “terrorist” label even if their cause is just.
New laws have been passed in US that dilute or make a mockery of some of America´s most cherished Amendments and introduces military tribunals as a means to deal with suspected terrorists. The interpretation of who is “terrorist “ or what “aiding or abetting” them means seems to be left for the military or Rumsfeld to decide and might even be stretched to include Greenpeace and WTO protesters.
The mainstream media in US have given up all pretence of objectivity and truth and act by and large like propaganda tools for the regime in the same way that Pravda used to sing the praise for the Soviet leaders.
The military cost for US and other countries involved in the “coalition against terrorism” probably amounts to what it would cost to eliminate starvation and a lot of the suffering in the world.
A president who came to power by questionable means and was considered a moron internationally is recieving support to the level that editors who question him can be fired or recieve hate-letters. A secretary of defense, who has declared that US must have world hegemony, shows himself as a super hawk willing to bomb a string of defenceless countries not toeing the line. An attorney general talks like a dictator and threatens those who try to defend open discussion.
US has shown the world that its own brand of state terrorism is allowed and works. And it still refuses to extradite the Union Carbide-boss wanted by India as responsible for the catastrophy in Bhopal that killed 5000 people. Or the large scale CIA-connected terrorist living peacefully in Florida while wanted by Haiti for deadly terrorism to the tune of 1000 people. Or Henry Kissinger, proven to be responsible for the fascist state coup in Chile that led to the murder of democratically elected Salvador Allende and subsequently the deaths of thousands by orders of Pinochet. Or all those others enjoying Florida sunshine with the blessings of the White House after their bloody handiwork in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, Cuba, Peru and Colombia have become closed chapters in the book. The western hypocrisy is staggering!
And we seem to be approaching only first base! Where will it all end? When will the bombs start falling on Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, North Korea and Iran (they already fall on Iraq, regularly like clockwork).
WHAT COMES THEN.....? WHO IS NEXT....?
