Massacre in Kunduz bares real nature of Afghanistan war

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Massacre in Kunduz bares real nature of Afghanistan war
Statement by the Socialist Equality Party
9 September 2009

An air strike ordered by the German army at the end of last week has resulted in one of the worst massacres in the history of the eight-year-old NATO war in Afghanistan.

It is now clear that in the course of Thursday night at least 125 persons were killed in the attack, which had been ordered by the military commander of the German “Provincial Reconstruction Team” (PRT) in Kunduz, Colonel Georg Klein. In addition to armed fighters, the attack wiped out many inhabitants of neighbouring villages. The incident was one of the bloodiest air strikes since US forces invaded the country in the autumn of 2001.

Such a massacre is not the result of “bad decisions”, an alleged “disregard of NATO rules” or an “unclear situation”. It is the inevitable result of the objective logic of the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan.

The pretext used by the US and its allies to occupy Afghanistan eight years ago was the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The declared aim of the invasion was to wipe out the bases for international terrorism and overthrow the Taliban regime, which had granted refuge to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. In fact, plans for the military occupation of the country had been drawn up long before 9/11.

...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/psga-s09.shtml

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Which is why they should be in prison for going to Iraq.

[stray cat]

2. Or in case you missed it - the real nature of most wars - people die

[Orwellian_Ghost]

4. That's pretty callous

Amazing how flip some people are about all of this. Guess we should "get over it?"

"The Good War?"

[tekisui]

7. War is murder.

[Mari333]

13. so enlist

[Individualist]

14. +1

[Why Syzygy]

3. In this story ...

I am opposed to killing civilians of course... but this story reported that the civilians had been enlisted by the armed insurgents to help retrieve gas/oil from the captured tankers. If a civilian chooses to engage in war time activities, they cannot really be considered 'civilians' at that point. If I, un-enlisted with the armed services, embed with a military group and participate in the same activities, someone is going to take a shot at me.

Show me if I'm wrong.

ps. I am still absolutely opposed to this war.

[Wilms]

5. Show me where you're right.

I didn't know that "civilians had been enlisted by the armed insurgents to help retrieve gas/oil from the captured tankers."

I read...and it makes more sense...that they where grabbing fuel for there own use.

You really went out of your way on that post.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. Men with Guns, in Kabul and Washington

Men with Guns, in Kabul and Washington

by Norman Solomon

...


Last year, while the U.S. government was spending nearly $100 million a day on military efforts in Afghanistan, an Oxfam report put the total amount of humanitarian aid to the country from all sources at just $7 million per day. Not much has changed since then. The supplemental funding measure that the White House pushed through Congress a few months ago devotes 90 percent of the U.S. spending in Afghanistan to military expenditures.

Dimes to nurture life. Dollars to destroy it.

I hate to think of the kind of future that the U.S. war escalation foreshadows for the very thin children I saw in Kabul, flying ragged little kites or playing with toys like an empty plastic soda bottle with a rope tied around its neck.

Echoing now is a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967. If we replace the word “Vietnam” with “Afghanistan,” the gist of his message is with us in the autumn of 2009:

“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Afghanistan. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Afghanistan. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/08

[johnaries]

12. Technically, ALL of the insurgents are "civilians". nt

[blindpig]

8. k&r n/t

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. Thanks

The bloodshed for money and resource control continues unabated. The silence on the streets is deafening here in The Homeland.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. The "new" strategy in Afghanistan needs a name. FUBAR seems to fit. K&R

By any rational measure we have lost both both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is no longer about "winning" it's about saving face even if it means bankrupting the nation and providing more funerals for the cannon-fodder sent there.

Fortunately, the tide really is turning...against the wars.

[johnaries]

11. Sorry, I do NOT trust that website.

I most certainly disagree with their interpretations and conclusions. :tinfoilhat:

[blindpig]

15. What the hell is 'tin foil' about the OP?

Maybe you don't remember VietNam.

Maybe you haven't been paying attention these past eight years.

The incidence of 'collateral damage' inflicted by US armed forces has been as regular as the combat deployment of US troops.