The contradiction rampant throughout the report can be best phrased in the words of US Army Major Justin Featherstone who told the report’s writers after his extensive work with the urban population in southeastern Iraq: “Humanity is what it’s about, a genuine desire to do good by the good people, which can sit side-by-side with…
Tags: Afghanistan
Missing from the Afghan ‘Surge’: A Congressional Debate
If there were a public and Congressional debate about an exit strategy, about a timetable for withdrawal, about blocking the Pentagon from building permanent military bases in Afghanistan, real change in US policy towards Afghanistan would be happening faster. BY ROBERT NAIMAN Truthout INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat A key fact about the recent history of…
Freeing Up Resources…For More War
The president’s speech had little to say about the plans for escalation, but the few words will come back to haunt: “With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the…
Bowing to the Masters of War?
The American people did not elect the Pentagon. They elected Barack Obama based a good deal on his promise to get US troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later. Since he was elected, Mr. Obama has hedged on this promise. Since he was inaugurated, the Pentagon and its civilian boss Robert Gates have hedged…
When in Doubt, Bomb Afghanistan
America’s Other Glorious War The Pentagon pushes hard for a large increase in troops for Afghanistan. Barack Obama has been calling for the same since well before the November election. Why? What is there about this backward, reactionary, woman-hating, failed state that warrants hundreds of deaths of American and NATO soldiers? That justifies tens of…
Guns, Butter, and Obama
Over the next several months there will be a battle for hearts and minds, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war will be here at home, waged mostly in the halls of Congress, where grim lobbyists for one of the top 15 economies in the world are digging in to preserve their stake in…
Sagada Folk Condemn Bombing That Killed Therapist in Afghanistan
Call for review of GMA’s labor export policy While residents of Sagada, Mountain Province (275 km north of Manila) mourn for the death of a community member in a suicide bombing incident in Afghanistan on Jan. 14, they condemn the bombing incident as inhuman and at the same time criticized the labor export policy of…