"A Plague of Crooks and Fools"

FB Ali via SST/ here

"....... In all this noise and confusion the simple questions are being drowned out, the basic realities ignored. The aim of the war is stated to be the defeat of al-Qaeda. But which al-Qaeda? The one that did 9/11 is no more; all that is left of it is just a couple of old men hiding in caves in inaccessible mountains, occasionally issuing an exhortatory tape to show that they are still alive. However, the motivation that led to the (US-supported) jihadagainst the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, to the creation of al-Qaeda, and to 9/11 (to remove Western power and influence from the Muslim world) is still alive, and is espousedby many groups all over the Muslim world, some of whom also call themselves al-Qaeda.

The justification given for fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is that, if they are allowed to conquer the country, they will allow al-Qaeda to establish bases in it. What is the basis for this argument? That they did it in the past? On the contrary, what happened to them as a consequence of that should be a powerful reason for them not to do it again. Especially if this were made a condition for allowing them to have a share in power under a political settlement. Many other parties, in addition to the US, could monitor and enforce such a condition. This justification is a total crock! That it is being accepted without any question, much less discussion, is evidence of how easily the Crooks seem able to deal with the Fools participating in this debate.

Suppose McChrystal’s counter-insurgency strategy is adopted and he is given the 40,000 additional troops (plus the tens of thousands more that, down the track, he will say he must have in order to reach the “light at the end of the tunnel”!). Suppose he succeeds in “clearing, holding and building” large areas of Afghanistan. At some point the US has to hand over to the Afghans, since it cannot stay indefinitely. There is no Afghan army capable of taking over and holding these areas, and none likely in the foreseeable future. Even if there were, the governance of these areas will be taken over by the same corrupt officials who are now embezzling aid money and patronizing the drug trade. How long will it be before the oppressed, looted peoples of these areas again welcome back the Taliban, as they did in 1994?

In 1979, when the wars began, Afghanistan was quite likely the most primitive andbackward country in Asia. For 30 years now it has been in a state of almost continuous warfare. It is a ruined country. Even in its best days it was never more than a loose grouping of autonomous tribes and warlords, who gave merely nominal allegiance to the ruler in Kabul. The US attempt to make it now, despite its past history, into a democratic, centralized, modern state with a national army is the stuff of pure farce. Yet, this is being advanced by the Crooks, and swallowed by the Fools, as the basis for committing theUnited States to an open-ended war in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, what will all those other al-Qaedas and Islamists all over the world be doing? Ah, the Crooks murmur into their sleeves, those will be the wars of the future!"