Losing, losers
What arrogant idiots do we Americans have in the White House and the Pentagon?
You know, if you don't want to go down in history as brainless
neanderthals, it would behoove you to do some homework, consider the
past, consider the facts, consider the political realities, and know
your limits. You know, if you haven't got game, and you don't even know
what the goddam game is when you invade a country that has kicked out
all invaders for centuries, then it would behoove you to step
cautiously. You know, if you don't have a program, and you don't know
who the players are, and you can't tell the difference between this
team and that team, what the hell are you doing on the damn court?
Besides running around in circles not knowing you are getting your ass
kicked?
America is becoming renowned around the world for its arrogant stupidity, thanks to the arrogance and stupidity of the in-the-moment primates in the White House and Pentagon.
You know, all the college fans wave their flags and placards. They go to the game and take off their shirts to show their chests painted with some slogan referring to how great the home team is. You know, the Americans love the home team, whatever. Then after the home team gets whupped in the mountains of some country that the college graduates of America can't even pronounce and can't even point to on a map, we will all claim victory and slink home.
Hooray.
=======================
Afghanistan
According to Gideon Polya, based on UNESCO data, the US invasion
of Afghanistan has led to as many as 6.6 million unnecessary deaths.
According to Washburn University law professor Liaquat Ali Khan, the
"crime of genocide applies to the intentional killings that NATO troops
commit on a weekly basis in the poor villages and mute mountains of
Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban." The occupation forces, which
ironically include former Axis powers Germany and Japan, have created
the New Auschwitz.
During a recent visit to Kabul by US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended his
rule, saying the economy and education systems had improved and there
was more democratic freedom under the new constitution. "It is not
right that Afghanistan was forgotten," he said. Meaning, in
diplo-speak, of course, it was, except by the drug-crazed bomber
pilots, who made a record- breaking 3,572 bombing raids last year, 20
times the level two years earlier . But it has popped back into the
news recently with a string of gloomy reports, a series of terrifying
shoot-outs in Kabul, and a high-profile NATO meeting where words were
had, and not pretty ones.
The invasion -- well into its seventh
year and approaching the 1979-88 Soviet nine-year occupation record --
is increasingly being compared to the ill-fated British 19th century
invasions, intended to undermine Russian influence in the so-called
Great Game. Ironically, the current fiasco was similarly inspired by a
Western desire to undermine Russian influence, and, taking a different
and as it turned out extremely risky tack, began in 1979 to massively
fund Osama bin Laden and other Muslim terrorists, something the 19th
century Brits were not so foolhardy as to do. The result, of course,
was the 2001 invasion and occupation, at first hailed as a new chapter
for the hapless Afghans, but now seen as doomed, according to that
pesky string of reports.
Armed resistance to foreign occupation is
growing and spreading. NATO figures show that attacks on Western and
Afghan troops were up by almost a third last year, to more than 9,000
"significant actions", the highest level since the invasion. Seventy
per cent of incidents took place in the southern Taliban heartland of
Helmand, though the Senlis Council estimates that the Taliban now has a
permanent presence in 54 per cent of Afghanistan, arguing that "the
question now appears to be not if the Taliban will return to Kabul, but
when." Watch out, Mr Karzai.
In addition to the 3,572 bombing
raids in 2007, suicide bombings climbed to a record 140, compared to
five between 2001 and 2005. The Taliban's base is increasingly the
umbrella for a revived Pashtun nationalism on both sides of the
Afghan-Pakistani border, as well as for jihadists and others committed
to fighting foreign occupation. The UN estimates the Taliban have just
3,000 active fighters and about 7,000 part- timers, in contrast with
more than 50,000 US and NATO troops. Their command structure is diffuse
and when it comes to guerrilla tactics -- suicide attacks, roadside
bombs, kidnapping and assassination -- the militants have become
frighteningly proficient.
...Major cracks are appearing every day,
and not only in the statues of the Bamyan Buddha, but in impregnable
fortress-NATO, the latest triggered by America's closest ally Canada.
It set off the current crisis by threatening to withdraw all its troops
this year unless other NATO members could be conned into deploying
troops in the dangerous southern province of Kandahar, where in a brief
two years, Canada lost 80 of its 2,500 troops, its highest casualty
rate since native tribes were mowed down in the 19th century by the
British army. This tantrum forced an emergency NATO meeting -- in
Vilnius -- 7-8 February, to be followed by a summit in -- yes --
Romania in April. US generals meeting deep in Eastern Europe pushing
Western Europeans to cough up troops for Central Asia. Most interesting.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/884/in21.htm
Iraq
...The suicide attack, in a village near Falluja on Sunday, was one of a string of recent attacks in Sunni areas.
But what was noteworthy about this one was that it revealed the depth
of disunity among tribesmen the Americans are relying on in their
efforts to keep Anbar stable. Reports from the area suggest the
Issawis, a large and important tribe, are split. A majority supports
the local Awakening Council, while a minority is sympathetic to
al-Qaeda.
Local people say the young teenaged bomber's father was a senior figure
in al-Qaeda. It seems his family sent him off on a suicide mission,
hoping his tribal links would help him get access to the celebration.
In response to Sunday's attack, recrimination between the two factions
has intensified, with tribesmen reportedly burning down the house of
the bomber's family.
The incident has serious implications for US strategy. It underlines
the difficulty the Americans face in providing adequate security for
their Sunni allies - and the constant danger of infiltration by
militants. It also suggests the Americans now find themselves caught up
in a complex web of tribal feuds and rivalries.
