When will we learn? The bloody disaster of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan is laid bare

[cali]

Forty-three people died on Friday in clashes between militias in Libya, as did 22 on Sunday from bombs in Iraq. In Helmand, a return of the Taliban to power is now confidently expected. Why should we care? Why should it feature on our news?

The answer is that we helped to bring it about. Britain's three foreign wars in the past decade were uninvited military interventions to topple installed governments. All have ended in disaster.

In each case – Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan – it was easy to see evil in the prevailing regime. These are bad guys that we need to go after, said the Americans. Yet the removal of law and order from a nation is devastating, however cruel that order may have been. Iraqis today repeat that, whatever the ills of Saddam Hussein, under his rule most ordinary citizens and their families could walk the streets at night without fear of murder or kidnap. Religious differences were tolerated. Iraq should have been an oil-rich modern state. Even the Kurds, scourged by Saddam in the past, enjoyed autonomy and relative peace.

In each of these cases Britain and its allies, chiefly America, intervened to overthrow the army, disband government, dismantle the judiciary and leave militias to run riot. Little or no attempt was made to replace anarchy with a new order. "Nation building" was a fiasco. The British bombs that flattened government buildings in Kabul, Baghdad and Tripoli did not replace them, or those who worked in them. Those who dropped them congratulated themselves on their work and went home.

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/18/libya-iraq-afghanistan-bloody-disaster-bombs-militia

[cali]

1. kick for a brutally honest piece.

[polly7]

2. Huge successes ........ all of them!

Africa has lost it's gate-keeper and is now ripe for the picking, Libya is opened up to foreign banking and corporations, Iraq's oil has been FREED! and Iran is fairly well surrounded with military bases, ...... etc. etc etc. Huge wins, cali, and sacrifices must be made. No looking back.

[bemildred]

3. Indeed. This is what our money buys. nt

[cali]

4. yep. when it comes to this shit, there's little difference

between repubs and dems

[bemildred]

5. Find somebody weak and defenseless and use violence and deceit to rip them off.

Always for their own good, of course.

But it just doesn't work like it used to.

[cali]

6. well, it works just fine for those "who count"- the MIC

[bemildred]

7. We can agree they are not about to give it up willingly. nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. When will YOU ever learn (although I think you grasp it)

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MIC/PNAC et al run the USA - they LOVE all this destruction and destabilizing other nations.

Many trillions of $$$ would be lost to the 1% if all these disgusting wars were halted.

Only one entity has a prayer of stopping all the carnage at the hands of the USA.

The USA voter - Spend a wee bit of time studying their government,

then DO SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT IT.

I ain't holding my breath though.

Sad about that.

CC

[cali]

9. yes, I get it.

I just think that this is an issue worthy of attention.

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. "this is an issue worthy of attention" - Oh yes, I could not agree more!

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CC

[MisterP]

11. it's not a bug, it's a feature

and not just economically for profiteers (we need to name 'em and shame 'em, too) but politically: if you have Dems arguing for this and accepting armed subversion of other countries and "the right to protect," then warmongering has seized both sides of the conversation