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Wednesday, October 6, 2010
News Happy Birthday, Afghan war!
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 11:23 AM
No, not really. Our country is about to begin year 10 of it's "War on Terror" in Afghanistan, a land-locked country full of people who are freakin' terrorized because we're there and "accidentally" keep killing civilians. Whoopsi.
Here's more from The Army News and the Associated Press:
The war in Afghanistan enters its 10th year Thursday with key players hedging their bets, uncertain whether the Obama administration is prepared to stay for the long haul, move quickly to exit an increasingly unpopular conflict, or something in between.Fearing that his Western allies may in the end abandon him, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has started to prepare his nation for a withdrawal of international forces by shoring up relations with neighboring Pakistan and reaching out to insurgents interested in reconciliation.
Pakistan, America's nominal ally, says it's fighting insurgents. But it still tolerates al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban militants hiding out on its soil — out of reach of U.S.-led NATO ground forces.
There have been other important junctures, but this ninth anniversary is proving decisive. It's go-for-broke time in Afghanistan.
Read the entire article, by Deb Riechmann, here.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is tired of our bullshit, too. (Oh, by the way, they're the ones with the nuclear weapons.) Specifically, they're tired of us fighting an undeclared war in their country and killing their civilians with unmanned airplanes. And, really, who blames them? We would lose our minds if anything close to that type of action occurred within our country, which as we all know, is also a well-known breeding ground for international terrorists.
Problem is, Pakistan is supposed to be our ally. They're supposed to help us ferret out the terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, in their own country. AND, they allow us to haul all of our soldiers' crap from the Arabian Sea — where there's a port — to our bases in Afghanistan through their country, which we have to do since, again, Afghanistan is (as I mentioned earlier) a land-locked country ... and it's just not possible to fly in oil tankers. (You know, the ones the Pakistanis keep blowing up?)
You might wonder why we don't just haul our stuff through another neighboring country. To that, I respond, have you looked at a map lately? Do you see which countries border Afghanistan? Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and our "friend" Pakistan. Which one of those countries do you think will allow us to use their roads to truck supplies to our troops after witnessing how we've treated our supposed ally and its people?
This, dear readers, is why the U.S. Military is all of a sudden so enthusiastic about generating their own electricity. It's not because they've developed a sincere environmental conscious, it's because, I repeat, Pakistanis keep blowing up our fuel.
But, hey, let's keep bribing our country's young people with $10,000 checks, the promise of college tuition and shitty veterans' services so we can keep up this ridiculous war. It's not like we have anything else to do, or spend billions upon billions of dollars on. Right?
Further reading:
- 25 NATO fuel tankers attacked in Pakistan -- AP
- Obama's undeclared war in Pakistan continues -- Rebel Reports
- U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels -- The New York Times
Here's an Aug. 5, 2010, video from RT America (formerly Russia Today) so you can get a feel for what people in other countries — ones closer to Afghanistan — think about us. Here's a quote: "The biggest terrorist on the planet, without question, if we ask the Iraqi people and the Afghani people, is the United States of America," Ken O'Keefe, a Gulf War veteran, former Marine and a member of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, in response to questioning about assisting with an aid flotilla sent to the Gaza Strip and the U.S. government classifying the foundation as a terrorist organization. (Like their American accents? The people in-the-know are reaching around American media outlets in an attempt to tell you their side of the story. Thank you, Internets.)
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. Additionally, she's on the steering committee for the Greater Charlotte Society of Professional Journalists. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
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