The Afghan People Will Win - Part 19

So the Yanquis were looking for Osama bin Laden when they discovered a trillion dollar cornucopia of mineral wealth in Afghanistan. That sounds reasonable.

This is the phoniest of phony wars. It's even more unbelievable than claiming Saddam had WMD and harboring Al-CIA'da in Iraq.

Here's a slightly different perspective on this issue:

Asad Ismi wrote:

So, while the West kills thousands of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan and ravages both countries, Russia, China and Iran are acquiring the crucial energy riches of Central Asia and the Caspian area without firing a shot.

... In light of such major Western energy-related defeats, the continuing occupation of Afghanistan by 46 Western nations must have some other purpose. If their military venture were mainly economic - if they simply wanted greater access to Central Asia's resources - why did they not offer the region's countries acceptable prices for them, just as Russia, China, and Iran are doing?

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/05/22/russia-china-iran-defeat-u-s-...

The Afghan Puppet Gov't is Crumbling Before Our Eyes..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287531/The-Afghan-puppet-govern...

"'How many times can they apologize for killing our innocent women and children and expect us to forgive them? They come, they bomb, they kill us and then say: 'Oh sorry, we got the wrong people. And they keep doing that.'..

This time we have been clumsier and NATO has helped to install a former CIA asset described by a high ranking UN diplomat as 'off balance and emotional and whose continued tirade raises questions about his mental stability.' Although Karzai is a Pashtun of the Popalza tribe, under his watch NATO has in effect, installed the Northern Alliance in Kabul and drawn the country's Pashtun majority out of power..

However much some Western liberals may dislike the Taliban, the truth remains they are in many ways the authentic voice of rural Pashtun conservatism..It is hardly surprising that the Pashtun are determined to resist the regime and that the insurgency is widely supported.."

Troops Out Now! Stop trying to entrench this crooked Aghan Band Council puppet government of Hamid Karzai to deliver 'consent' to  occupation and resource theft. Stop the war on Indigenous peoples from Turtle Island to Afghanistan toWaziristan, Palestine etc. Defend and Support Indigenous and Popular Resistance NOW!

Afghanistan's Riches: 'The War is Worth Waging'

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19769

"The war in Afghanistan is a profit-driven resource war. The US led 'war on terrorism' will be transformed into a colonial policy of influencing a fabulously wealthy country.."

The 'Rip Van Winkel' syndrome in Afghanistan:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/14/AR201006...

U.S. testing "pain ray" for crowd control in Afghanistan:

Noah Shachtman wrote:

Safety concerns lingered; a test subject had to be airlifted to a burn center after being zapped by the weapon. (He made a full recovery.)

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/u-s-testing-pain-ray-in-afghanis...

Lawrence of Arabia, Guiding US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0619/Lawrence-of-Arabia-guiding-US-A...

"T.E. Lawrence has in some ways become the patron saint of the US Army advisory effort in Afghanistan and Iraq..."

This should do it...

US Testing Pain Ray in Afghanistan

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/u-s-testing-pain-ray-in-afghanistan

"The US mission in Afghanistan centers around swaying locals to its side. And there's no better persuasion tool than an invisible pain ray that makes people feel like they're on fire.."

2,000 years of western civilization...IEDs should take care of it

[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iyOH94lqBuDzOLZttPo-o... informers play dangerous game in Taliban heartland[/url]

Quote:

For cash, but risking his life, he has given valuable information to the 293rd US Military Police Battalion, who train Afghan forces in a densely populated northern district of Kandahar, a known staging area for insurgents.

"A lot of Taliban leaders live here," said US Sergeant Michael Crowley.

The population has good reason to be afraid to tip off or cooperate with Afghan and Western forces for fear of reprisals.

"There have been threats. (The Taliban) cut hands off construction workers building government-funded projects, after sending them threatening letters," Crowley said

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Lawrence of Arabia, Guiding US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0619/Lawrence-of-Arabia-guiding-US-A...

"T.E. Lawrence has in some ways become the patron saint of the US Army advisory effort in Afghanistan and Iraq..."

That's hilarious. I bet he's turning over in his grave.

I wonder if the story of his efforts for Arab independence at the Paris Peace Conference is required reading too.

NO US MILITARY EXIT FROM AFGHANISTAN

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/afgh-j19.shtml

"Last Monday, the New York Times published a front-page article hailing the supposedly recent discovery that Afghanistan is rich in valuable mineral deposits...

The Times article, intended to boost flagging support for the war, only demonstrates its criminal nature. The Obama administration is escalating a filthy imperialist war of plunder and colonial occupation."

Why We REALLY Fight: An Imperialist Politician Has Moment of Truth on Afghanistan

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/afghanistan_0610/

"President Horst Kohler, a Christian Democrat was forced to resign for giving everyone a moment of truth about Germany's role in the war on Afghanistan:

'...But my estimation is that, on the whole, we are on the way to understanding, even broadly in society, that a country of our size, with this orientation toward foreign trade and therefore also dependence on foreign trade, has to be aware that when in doubt in case of anemergency, military deployment is also necessary to protect our interests..'"

Warring For Resources

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25768.htm

"Whereas it was previously considered uncouth for anyone to suggest that economic hegemony might motivate US military action, our leaders are now boldly selling wars as commendable instruments of profit-focused imperialism. Importantly, this revised message relies on the new assumption that the public sees resource conflicts not as detestable--but as worthy and even admirable..."

Afghanistan: The Longest War (and vid)

http://www.voltairenet.org/article165899.html

"It is clear that the US has lost the war politically and is in the process of losing it militarily...As in Indo-China, Algeria adn elsewhere, a popular, highly motivated guerilla resistance army; deeply embedded in the national-religious culture of an oppressed population is proving more resistant, enduring and victorious over an alien high tech imperial army.."

Originally I believed that U.S. mining companies and government don't want you to know about Afghanistan's mineral wealth.

I've since changed my view on this subject. Here's the reason why:

David Sirota wrote:

Reading this week's New York Times headline - "U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan" - many probably wondered why this information was being presented as "news" in 2010. After all, humanity has long been aware of the country's vast natural resources. As Mother Jones magazine's James Ridgeway said after recalling previous public accounts of the ore deposits, "This 'discovery' in fact is ancient history tracing back to the times of Marco Polo."

The intrigue in the Times' dispatch, then, is not Afghanistan's "huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals" that the paper quotes Pentagon officials gushing about - it is the gushing itself. Indeed, the real question is: What would prompt the government to portray well-known geology as some sort of blockbuster revelation?

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder proffers a convincing answer. Noting the military's coordinated quotes in the Times piece, he writes that the Pentagon is probably trying to bolster Americans' support for the flagging Afghanistan campaign by "publicizing valid but already public information about the region's potential wealth."

... The accusation that the U.S. invades countries to pilfer their natural resources was once written off as an inflammatory insult or an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory, irrespective of corroborating facts... The assumption, of course, was that the public opposed resource conflicts and that therefore labeling wars as such was nothing but disreputable slander designed only to harm a political opponent.

This manufactured construct, though, began eroding as soon as George W. Bush started turning the "war for oil" aspersion into a proud clarion call.

... Importantly, this revised message relies on the new assumption that the public now sees resource conflicts not as detestable, but as worthy and even admirable. And should that assumption prove true, it would mean that this latest exercise in martial propaganda represents more than mere marketing innovation. It would signal a disturbing change in what the population thinks is - and is not - a just reason for war.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/06/18/war_for_resources_a...

I believe in Stephen Tanner's book titled "Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander The Great To The Fall Of The Taliban" he mentions the fact that the Soviets found a large number of undiscovered resources in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

I am wondering how much of these new resources are just being rediscovered or are these new resources all together?

Thanks, NDPP.

Webgear wrote:

I believe in Stephen Tanner's book titled "Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander The Great To The Fall Of The Taliban" he mentions the fact that the Soviets found a large number of undiscovered resources in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

I am wondering how much of these new resources are just being rediscovered or are these new resources all together?

Good book. I've read it myself.

[quote=David Sirota]

As Mother Jones magazine's James Ridgeway said after recalling previous accounts of the ore deposits, "This 'discovery' in fact is ancient history tracing back to the times of Marco Polo."

U.K. special envoy to Afghanistan Sherard Cowper-Coles, backs our friend Fidel's proposal on Afghan peace talks that would include Taliban and major insurgent group leaders (but pays the price):

AFP wrote:

LONDON - The special envoy to Afghanistan has taken "extended leave," officials said Monday, amid reports that he clashed with NATO and US officials over strategy to tackle the Taliban insurgency.

Sherard Cowper-Coles has stepped down from his role just a month before a crucial international conference in the Afghan capital Kabul, which will be attended by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

"He's on extended leave and he is returning in the autumn," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London, without making clear what role he would be coming back to later in the year.

New Foreign Secretary William Hague is to review the post of special envoy to Afghanistan, the BBC reported, citing a Foreign Office source, but added the foreign minister had not sacked the envoy and had wanted him to remain.

Cowper-Coles was appointed to the role, which also covers Pakistan, in February 2009 after serving as ambassador to Kabul.

The Guardian newspaper reported Monday that there were serious disagreements in recent months between Cowper-Coles and officials from military alliance NATO, which is leading international troops in the country, and the US.

He was convinced the military-focused counter-insurgency effort was headed for failure and wanted talks with Taliban insurgents to be a priority, said the paper.

... The senior diplomat's departure came ahead of a major conference on July 20 in Kabul, where a host of senior foreign officials will join Clinton and the UN secretary general.

... The news of Cowper-Coles's departure emerged on the same day Britain announced its 300th death in Afghanistan since operations began there in 2001, amid mounting opposition here to the nine-year campaign [i.e., war].

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlDGkGCHYWCXUkV9GJ5Za...

I'm sorry, I don't know why the link won't bring up the article. You can access it on June 22, 2010 http://antiwar.com/ page

President Barrack Obama should do to General Stanley McChrystal what President Harry Truman did to General Douglas MacArthur: Fire him.

Jason Ditz wrote:

... Yet with growing questions about the disastrous results of the McChrystal Plan, the general is in many ways falling into the same trap as Gen. David McKiernan, who he replaced last year. His war is failing, and while the administration doesn't want to openly admit to the terrible situation on the ground (particularly as it angles for yet more emergency funding), McChrystal himself could be swept under the rug conveniently by a scandal such as this, and his plan replaced with someone else's plan, which will likely be little different but at the very least be "new" enough that officials won't be comfortable labeling it a failure yet.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/22/white-house-gen-mcchrystal-may-be-fir...

Jason Ditz wrote:

[A]ccording to Time Magazine, General Stanley McChrystal has offered to tender his resignation to President Obama ahead of what is likely to be an extremely tense meeting at the White House on Thursday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs warned earlier today that "all options are on the table" with respect to Gen. McChrystal and that he might well be fired following the meeting. President Obama is said to be withholding his final decision until he meets with McChrystal.

Gen. McChrystal was summoned earlier today after Rolling Stone magazine published an article in which he and his staff openly derided President Obama and several other high ranking administration members.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/22/report-mcchrystal-offers-resignation/

6079_Smith_W wrote:

And speaking of creating a martyr, The first thing I wondered about when I heard this story if the good general sees himself following in the footsteps of Generals Grant and Eisenhower. Maybe the Tea Partyers already have his itinerary booked.

If you read the Rolling Stone article or accounts of the article that discuss McChrystal and staff's stay in Paris, France, the reaction by both Democrat and Republican lawmakers is that McChrystal should be fired because he brings disgrace upon the Army and he (the military) threatens civilian government authority by politicizing the military.

The only ones who would see him as a martyr are his devoted band of staffers and perhaps Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Teabaggers.

The Teabaggers are a bunch of idiots: They yak ad nauseum about the ballooning size and spending of government, yet are incapable or unwilling to see the connection that wars are the biggest cause of ballooning the size and spending of government.

President Obamba has a number of options:

1. Accept the letter of resignation but not fire McChrystal and keep his COIN strategy. This is the simplest scenario. Punish McChrystal by letting him twist in the wind in D.C. for a few weeks, while he's pilloried by the press. Send him back to Afghanistan and make his job contingent upon his success or failure - a government situation review for Afghanistan is going to be held in December.

2. Fire him and keep his COIN strategy. Promote one of his junior officers. This provides the easiest transition.

3. Fire him and change strategy in Afghanistan. This creates the greatest chaos, but so far all indication shows that we are failing in Afghanistan and it is an unpopular war. When Obama said U.S. troops were going to withdraw in 2011, how serious was/is he?

U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly accepted the resignation of the country's top commander in Afghanistan.

Before a meeting at the White House Wednesday to explain his scathing comments about the U.S. administration in a magazine article, Gen. Stanley McChrystal had prepared a letter of resignation.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday afternoon that a senior administration official has confirmed the president accepted that resignation.

After an Oval Office showdown with McChrystal in the morning, Obama huddled with a bigger group of war advisers before announcing his decision on the general's fate to the nation at 1:30 p.m.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/06/23/obama-mcchrystal-afghanistan.html#ixzz0rhRReowL

NorthReport wrote:

How sad that Obama did not exhibit some leadership and use this opportunity to end the war.

Here's how things stand: Obama followed option 2 in post #39. He got rid of Gen. McChrystal and kept the COIN strategy.

He didn't promote anyone to replace McChrystal, he got McChrystal's boss, General David Petraeus Central Command (CENTCOM) commander (means he's in charge of both the Iraq and Afghan theaters of war) to assume McChrystal's command on top of his existing duties,

McChrystal borrowed his COIN ideas from Petraeus who in turn, got these ideas from dusting off some "How (not) To" Vietnam counterinsurgency manuals. Remember the 2007 Iraq troop surge?

In a Senate committee hearing about a weak ago, General David Petraeus was asked if he supported Obama's 2011 troops withdrawal date. Petraeus answered "With a qualified yes."

Strategy in Afghanistan is subject to a review by the Obama administration in December.

NorthReport wrote:

How sad that Obama did not exhibit some leadership and use this opportunity to end the war.

LOL! Like oxymorons much?

Obama won't end the war - [b]the Afghan people will[/b]:

[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hmTbwc7CAvcbatelUdIbe... deadliest month for foreign troops since 2001[/url]

Quote:

The deaths of another four NATO troops in an accident in Afghanistan made June the deadliest single month for US-led foreign forces in the nearly nine-year conflict, according to an AFP tally Thursday.

The grim landmark followed the sacking of NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, which was greeted with dismay in Kabul where Afghan officials and foreign diplomats praised his bold efforts to reshape the war.

The four troops died as a result of a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that gave no further details.

The new deaths bring to 79 the number of foreign troops who have died as a result of the conflict in Afghanistan so far this month, according to an AFP tally based on statistics on the independent icasualties.org website.

I count 152 soldiers killed, I an aware of one suicide and one died of wounds that are never in the total count.

This has been a deadly month for assassinations in Kandahar province also, the Taliban have been assassinating tribal elders, Mullahs, Maliks and government employees almost daily.

Gee, I wonder which [url=http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers15%5Cpaper1487.html]spooky US taxpayer funded spy agency and their Saudi and Pakistani army intelligence pals taught "freedom fighters" how to make IEDs[/url] during their holy old anticommunist jihad of the 1980s and 90s? Our fearless military leaders should be comparing notes on IEDs with madrasah dudes still on the CIA's and Pakistani payroll.