What’s Happening in Afghanistan?!?!?!

WARNING LONG: (hope it makes sense to you!)

What's happening in Afghanistan is leading up to what's going to happen in Iran but there's also some other unexplainable stuff going on too. I don't mean to generate a big discussion here, just give you some info and maybe a little understanding which seems nearly impossible these days!


OK Folks< I haven't done a great research project but this is some information I've received via a political newsletter. If you don't think art and politics should go together, stop reading here! If you don't think that harsh words are needed and feelings are going to be hurt, stop here.

For my dear Canadian, American and Islaamic relatives and friends and people I know of a variety of religions and political leanings and countries, I ask that difficult request: Please don't take this personally. The word "they" may be taken to refer to certain general groups, not individual persons – who will generally be named exactly! I try to love (at least theoretically) everyone in the world even though they may be against me!

I don't bear any bad feelings to all the persons I know and include myself as responsible for allowing these continuing initially non-UN sanctioned violent actions to occur. I can remember studying as a child about Nazi Germany leading up to the war and wondering how individuals could sit by and LET things these things happen! [They even showed us films of the war and inside of the gas chambers in action, theoretically so that we'd remember and never do or allow such things again! Imagine – we were 12 years old! Coming from a religious background  - a so-called "peace-church", I saw not one stitch of glory in war, either from the victors, the victims or the by-standers. At that time, though this justifies nothing, there was at least some sense that civilians should be spared. Then Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were all blitzkrieged, giving birth the the current –scorched earth policy taken by many military forces.]

[Canada has been threatened with this recently. [link] ]

And now I understand perfectly because even though I am doing something (letters, petitions, demonstrations and so on), the landslide toward more war continues and it seems my actions are futile but I can't give up. And incidentally, lest there be too much confusion, in War II, Canadians enlisted several years before the Americans joined in too. So we have to get over these petty ideas about borders and nationality and who did what when and why and what name or none that we choose to call God. I think we must overlook these "differences" as much as possible no matter how much they bother or even madden us. Just remember that everyone has the right to believe what they will, as long as it doesn't harm them or anyone else. But of course, that's only what I believe!

Here's some good news about what you can do and it only takes a nanosecond if you have one of those auto-fill functions on your system: go to Stop War on Iran, read or not the main info, or just go directly to the petition page and auto-fill your letter to American President Bush and Congress! This is an action that anyone can participate in regardless of location! [We should have a Canadian petition soon!!! There may be one in existence so if I stumble across it, I'll let you know!. Meanwhile, let's overcome our national and personal borders to sign this one as well as the one in my previous "Code Pink" journal. [link]

Stop War on Iran.org

[link]

Stop War on Iran Petition

[link]

I won't pretend to be any sort of political or historical expert (or any other kind really!) but I've been listening with half an ear to news about Afghanistan. The reasons for this is that since sometime before the Iraq "conflict" began, about 300 Canadian troops (that was only the initial number) were deployed there as a "staging point" to launch the attacks on Iraq. People may not have heard this but in fact, it was clearly stated in all the news – just not glaringly so. There have even been documentaries made about Canada's activities there.

Strangely this allowed Paul Martin (the former Prime Minister of Canada) to say to Canadian peaceniks that we would not be joining in! So Canadians were lumped into the bunch was "was not with" the US in fighting Iraq (and we still don't know what Iraq did wrong exactly!). Canadians were satisfied, some Americans were pissed [off] with us. Generally we kept our so-called "neutral" status in the world. Oh the white sepulchre!

Meanwhile, check around and there we are helping get those rocket launchers and whatnot all set up for blitzkrieg. Nonetheless, of course there are Canadians, gun toters and military folks who want us to get over there in greater numbers, spend more of our taxes on this waste…so the conflict goes on in Canada as to whether we should pitch in or not – not whether we should take our troops out altogether because the average person thinks we have no military force in the middle-east. Needless to say, 300 folks weren't many but I'm many more have been deployed since the war started. And now another 2200 have just been sent.

So incidentally, these conflicting notions have caused a great many Americans to come on over to Canada so that they can continue to conscientiously object and don't get drafted in the meantime. [I know, there's no draft yet, because Bush is trying to keep American peaceniks happy too!]

Not to worry, Canadians are in there now, European troops have been promised and of course there's always the mercenaries who have no allegiance at all and I don't mean that in a good way! They are paid via contractors such as Halliburton, Honeywell, Brown and Root and so on. Perhaps they have some allegiance to their employers. Of course the contractors have loyalty only to the top US (and no doubt some other nations and individuals) rulers, as long as they're getting paid! And well, I saw an article recently where one of the contractors decided to keep the money for himself. Hmm…maybe that's why the reconstruction isn't getting done. So you have a situation where companies are being paid by governments (who get the money from tax payers –and not just American ones) to both employ the soldiers to do the wrecking and to reconstruct what the soldiers have destroyed. Everybody probably knows all this stuff, but geez, it's all-time ludicrousness and there has to be some way to stop it without more violence. [We hope that China will not call in its loans to the USA.]

But it's here in black and white (or green as dA!) that Canada has sent a bunch more troops and no one seems to know who ordered it! Once again, Canadians [or anyone else] are unable to stop the war action though generally they want no part of it.

Then recently, a dear fractal friend of mine from the Netherlands and I were discussing the topic and he said:
[I just changed a few little grammar thingies – and I do have his permission to quote him!]

"So I come to Afghanistan.  I'm sure that a lot of money goes to that country but I don't know where you can find data about this.  I've written to you about sending troops.  We did already, they are there, and that does make sense although it's difficult because the people there (Afghani) don't make a distinction  between us (Dutch people) and Americans.  

And you know how they [not only American soldiers are this way, I'm sure!] act, cruel, without any tact and arrogant as ever.  They aren't aware of their own arrogance and therefore they will never understand why the whole world hates them. They think it's because they're rich, but the truth is it's because of their arrogance.  Not only now, also in the past.  Of course there are exceptions, MacArthur in Japan for instance but in general they think that everybody thinks in the same way as they do.  When I say the whole world, that's especially the Islamic world.  Don't underestimate that!  We now see that absurd overkill reactions of that world against Denmark, and even Norway and Austria, countries that have nothing to do with those Danish cartoons.

Back to Afghanistan. We've also just sent new military troops (1400 men/women) to the province Cruzan.  It was decided by our parliament last week and because they yielded to international pressure, including the UN (Koki Anna). This is absolutely irresponsible behaviour because: one of the [pro] arguments is that we have to reconstruct the society there. But there is no reconstruction possible.  In that province the Taliban is the ruler and it's a centre of warlords.  They only will maintain medieval circumstances.  Suppression of women.  No education.  No schools.  No health care.  No civil works and so on.  They don't want any change and only maintain the orthodox Muslim laws, the sharia.  

There was nothing, there is nothing, there's nothing to reconstruct and any construction will be impossible.  Health care workers, teachers, engineers, everybody has been murdered there in the past.  When a soldier is made prisoner he immediately will be killed.  Nobody wants to go there, not the USA, not Great Britain, Germany, France, nobody!  Only our silly right wing government, supported by middle-left have promised in an early stage to do the job. (Like the beginning of Chaplin's The Great Dictator, where everybody gives the projectile to a lower in rank.  Chaplin also wants to give it further but he can't, he's the lowest, only a simple soldier who has to shoot it of.)

It's 100% certain that a number of our Dutch soldiers will be killed, without any purpose.  All people who know the situation on the spot itself say that this mission has no sense, will reach nothing and is irresponsible because those victims are fully unnecessary.  Nevertheless we go and our politicians indirectly are killers too.  You can't compare Uruzgan with Kabul."

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Then I read this article in our local Vancouver rag, The Vancouver Province, an extremely conservative [mostly sports] paper, privately owned by the same family who owns MOST of Canadian media, the Asper family of Winnipeg; (I'm quoting the whole article here because you know the papers don't necessarily keep their articles on line forever.)

[link]

The Province Monday, February 13, 2006

Just what are our troops doing in Afghanistan? We should be told

By Alan Ferguson

Sometimes you feel like picking Canada up by the scruff of its neck and giving it a good shake. A foreigner perusing a newspaper here might be forgiven for thinking all 30 million of us are obsessed with a minor politician switching his party allegiance [re David Emerson]. Drowned out in the din of a handful of disgruntled voters is the roar of the transport planes carrying hundreds of young Canadians off to war. Why they are going off to possibly die in Afghanistan (eight already have), for what purpose and on whose authority is a mystery to me and, I suspect, to a lot of you.

By the end of this month, some 2,200 Canadian service men and women will be in Afghanistan, alongside troops from some 36 other countries. The UN-authorized force will have a total strength of some 9,000 -- meaning that Canada, inexplicably, is bearing the brunt of the NATO-led action. Britain currently has 1,100 troops deployed. The United States has a separate force of about 21,000, but wants to get 3,000 of them out of there.

One thing should be emphasized: The men and women in our armed forces are among the best disciplined, best trained and bravest in the world. As a journalist, I have seen them in action at close hand, toiling in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, hunkered down under a mortar barrage in Sarajevo, gingerly picking their way through minefields in Croatia. They genuinely believe that they can achieve some good in this blighted land. But just as Canadians are being poured into the country in great strength -- and as the Americans pull out -- the dangers are increasing.

The roadside bomb that killed a Canadian diplomat last month and gravely wounded three Canadian soldiers proved to be just the precursor to a wave of such attacks. Another one last week slightly injured three more Canadians out on their very first patrol. A growing body of military experts believes the number of NATO-led forces is pitifully inadequate to advance the cause of peace. They believe the NATO mission sorely lacks the political muscle necessary to succeed. [There has also been an incident – ruled a "friendly fire" type error of Americans shooting at the Canadian embassy [link] - not the first of such ridiculous incidents between allies!]

Sadly, many of the smaller national contingents do little more than squat safely in their barracks, only occasionally venturing out to give candy to kids. A golden rule of all military missions is to establish in advance precisely what they are intended to achieve. But we do not know the rules of engagement. It's a "military secret." And no one knows how long it will last.

Afghan warlords still control their fiefdoms -- and the opium fields. Any attempt to rein them in would almost certainly involve a brutal struggle. Is that part of our mandate? We don't know. Astonishingly, our Parliament in Ottawa never authorized this military adventure. NDP Leader Jack Layton had it right. He called for a halt to more troop deployments, warning we may be drifting blindly into war. But no one seems to be listening.

aferguson@png.canwest.com
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"BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH" A long article which I've only scanned but basically goes through the events (including the so-called Danish cartoons issue –(which I have not followed at all so no offence to anyone) which are leading up the Iran war.

www.rense.com/general69/moh.htm


Below is the key point of the article:

When might the new hostilities begin?  General Sharon, before he was incapacitated, had told the Israeli Defense Force to be ready to strike Iran in March.  The former US Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter says that the attack order has already been given.  Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the maverick Russian politician, thinks that the most likely date is March 28, coincident with the Israeli elections.  Zhirinovsky has longed served as an auxiliary to Russian President Putin, and his estimate may benefit from the insights of the Russian special services.  Whenever the attack comes, it is clear that the NATO logistics and manpower infrastructure - the German railways, the French air force and navy, the Italian ports and air bases - will play a vital role.  Without these, the US could hardly operate in the Middle East at all.  Today, the US neocons may be offering occupation rights in various secondary target countries, like Syria, to tempt countries like France or Italy into joining the war.

RATTLING THE CAGES OF OFFICIAL WASHINGTON

Last Wednesday, a Home Depot in the Washington DC suburb of Gaithersburg, Maryland was evacuated because of suspicious package emitting a strange smell, which turned out to be a harmless videotape recorder. Last Friday, the Rachel Carson Elementary School in the same community, which is part of the region where many federal officials and bureaucrats live and have their families, was evacuated because of another suspicious package which a local official claimed looked like an Improvised Explosive Device or Iraq-style roadside bomb. It was "something like you might see in a war zone," said the spokesman of the Gaithersburg fire department said to the radio and television that afternoon. The school is typically attended by the children of federal employees. But the "IED" also turned out to be a big nothing. Early this evening, the Russell Senate Office Building was evacuated because of a nerve gas alert that also proved to be groundless, a complete false alarm. But a dozen senators had to flee. This escalating pattern of incidents likely to provoke hysteria among US government officials betrays the intent of the invisible government to overload the circuits and facilitate the stampeding of this government into a wider war full of incalculable danger.
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Another article on Iran

Iran: the next war

[link]

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