 |
| Body of burned Afghan child |
Whose lives have value; who is prized, who
despised, who is cherished, who discarded?
Compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett
Background
Afghanistan
had nothing to do with 9/11.
Afghanistan
has never threatened America. If the U.S. occupation ends, Afghanistan, still,
would not threaten the United States of America.
International
law is clear: No nation may attack another nation except in self-defense.
The
U.S. war is lawless. Neither the UN Security Council nor the U.S. Congress
authorized this invasion and occupation. The United States has not fought a
legal war since World War II.
‘Al
Qaeda’ is a U.S. creation.
 |
| Body of Afghan |
The U.S. ‘War on terrorism’ [begun in 2001] … has not
removed religious fundamentalism, which is the main cause of all miseries,”
says the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.” The U.S
administration reinstalled warlords in power in Afghanistan, thus replacing one
fundamentalist regime with another. Together with [Afghan President Hamid]
Karzai, the U.S. government relies mostly on Northern Alliance criminal leaders
who are as brutal and misogynist as the Taliban.
“RAWA believes that freedom and democracy cannot be donated;
it is the duty of the people of a country to fight and achieve these
values. Under the U.S.-supported
[Karzai] government,” RAWA says, “the sworn enemies of human rights, democracy
and secularism have gripped their claws over our country and have attempted to
restore their religious fascism on our people.
“Whenever fundamentalists exist as a military and political
force in our injured land, the problem of Afghanistan will not be solved.”
ONGOING AGGRESSION
 |
U.S.-Afghanistan
to take
U.S.- Iraq model |
Perpetual Occupation (agreed under force) and grant of
impunity
U.S./Afghanistan presidents’ secret in the dark
‘Status of forces’ or SOFA agreements set a framework under
which United States forces operate abroad. These agreements, bilateral or
multilateral, define the status of visiting military forces. Wide-ranging particulars regarding the status
of visiting forces may be set out “in a separate agreement” or the SOFA may be
“part of a more comprehensive agreement.”
U.S. Defense (Pentagon) officials — negotiating with an ‘independent
host nation’ — draft the provisions of a Status of Forces Agreement. “Occupied
countries” have little say in the matter.
Stephen Lendman describes these agreements as “a modern-day
version of 19th century China’s ‘extraterritoriality’ agreements, granting foreigners
[visitors, occupiers] charged with crimes the ‘right’ to be tried by [the
foreigners’] government and under that government’s domestic law.”
Host countries’ local courts are precluded “from exercising
legal jurisdiction over American personnel.”
Impunity
With its enormous occupation of hundreds of known, shared,
and secret bases in more than 150 countries, the U.S. presence “assures
trouble,” Lendman says, that “includes murder, rape, theft, drunken driving,
and other crimes.” This mass occupation also subjects local people to “unacceptable
noise, pollution, environmental destruction, appropriated public land; and
flagrant disregard for local laws, customs, and rights of ordinary people.”
 |
| Permanent U.S. occupations |
Under “Status of Forces” agreements (mostly secret, some
infractions “too embarrassing to reveal,” total number unknown), even U.S.
foreigners who commit murder and rape are exempt from local judicial process —
unless U.S. officials yield to local authorities. “Offenders,” Lendman says,
are usually whisked out of countries.”
Endless lawlessness, endless aggression
Local people “have no say and virtually no chance of
redress.” The most harmed in permanent occupations, the peoples of host countries, “lose
control of their lives.”
Permanency is not built to be abandoned. Bases as in Iraq
are “city size,” having “extensive infrastructure, command-and-control centers,
foreign family accommodations in combat-free areas together with hospitals,
schools, recreational facilities — virtually everything available in their
native country.
The U.S. came to stay in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING
 |
| NATO under fire - Pakistan |
Death
Though it seems not to matter, the Afghan people want the United States out of their
country and Americans, for different reasons, say they want the same; but, as
Lendman puts it, Americans are mostly complacent and indifferent.
Together with impunity, atrocities seem unchecked and unending.
The annual report released today by the UN mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) said, “Afghan children, women and men continue to be killed
in this war in ever-increasing numbers.”
A total of “3,021” civilians died last year, an 8 percent
rise from 2010.
A total of “11,864 civilians” have died in the conflict in
Afghanistan since 2007.
The report said most deaths attributed to NATO forces resulted from “attacks from the air” and the UN mission urged the 130,000 NATO
force to review its tactics — particularly regarding aerial attacks — aimed at
preventing civilian loss of life in all military operations.”
 |
| Afghanistan protest |
Pakistan-based analyst Ali Sukhanver reflected on a truth too simple to avoid yet it is senselessly avoided.
“What if I hand over a loaded gun to a hungry
teenager; naturally he would turn that gun on me and run away with all that I
have in my pockets.
“This is what is happening in Afghanistan and in the tribal
areas bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“While commenting on the ever-increasing flames of violence
— mistakenly called terrorism — we find it very easy to shift the whole blame
on to the ‘hungry boy.’ No one blames the hands that hand the gun to him
instead of taking care of his hunger.
“The situation in Afghanistan regarding the blazing fire of
terrorism is never going to change unless the hands are cuffed which mock at
the helplessness of Afghan people.
 |
| ANSWER Coalition |
“Whatever is happening in Afghanistan is not terrorism but is
instead a reaction and response to U.S. atrocities against the people of
Afghanistan: paying back in the same coin… The hungry need bread not guns.”
Kindness returns in kindness.
Hunger
In this foreign war of aggression, the people of Afghanistan also suffer hunger, conditions particularly
threatening to people living in the mountains, people who are poor, and people who are very young.
Afghanistan is one of the highest ranked countries in the world when it comes
to problems with food security, says a report released today by the World Bank
and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Economy.
 |
iCasualties
War in Afghanistan5-5-2012 update |
Children below the age of five are hit the hardest. “At
least 54 percent of Afghan children face serious challenges in getting adequate
food and nutrition. At least 29 percent of the country’s population received
insufficient calories and 20 percent have a poor diet.
U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN
Foreign raids, local resistance
It is unacceptable,” said an Afghan villager, “that they are
coming and conducting night raids on the homes of innocent civilians.” Known by
one name, Quasimullah said, “We want the president to put a stop
to night raids as soon as possible.”
Today in a night raid in a residential area of Afghanistan’s
northeastern Kunar Province, U.S. forces arrested five other
people and killed a school teacher.
Over the past few months hundreds of civilians have died in
U.S.-led operations in various parts of Afghanistan and Afghans have become
increasingly outraged at what seems to be an endless number of the deadly
assaults by the foreigners.
While the U.S. and Afghanistan presidents on Tuesday signed
an agreement paving the way for retaining the U.S. presence through 2024,
rallies across Afghanistan continued to press their condemnation of the endless
killings and their demand for complete withdrawal of foreign troops from
Afghanistan.
Tuesday morning in Afghanistan hundreds of Afghans
demonstrated over the deaths of four children killed on Monday in the crossfire
of Taliban, NATO and Afghan security forces in the southern Zabul province. They
accused NATO troops of killing civilians.
Carrying the bodies of the four children (ages
8 to 12), protesters stopped traffic on the Kabul-Kandahar highway and chanted “death to
America, death to Karzai.”
 |
| U.S. drone |
U.S. IN PAKISTAN
Foreign strikes, local resistance
Earlier Saturday in Pakistan, an unmanned U.S. aircraft
targeted a residential area less than 50 miles west of Miranshah, the main town
in North Waziristan. The attack killed 20 people and injured many others.
The people of Pakistan as Afghanistan have continued to
press their condemnation of U.S. assassination drone strikes.
In their recent defense of the use of killer drones, U.S.
officials failed to give evidence of how killing people “saves lives” and continued killing with impunity.
 |
| Pakistani protests |
Pakistani human rights lawyer Shahzad Akbar told Press TV
that more than “2,800 of the 3,000 people killed over the past seven years in
non-UN-sanctioned U.S. assassination drone strikes in Pakistan were civilians.”
Only 170 of the people killed in the aerial attacks on the
northwestern tribal belt of Pakistan “have been identified as ‘militants,’”
said the director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights. What this means is
that “over 2,800 people were civilians” killed on suspicion of being militant.
At the recent International Drone Summit sponsored in
Washington by non government representatives, Senior Staff Attorney with the
Center for Constitutional Rights, Maria LaHood, is reported saying, “As the Obama government expands its use
of killer drones around the world, so must we increase our demands for transparency
and accountability.”
Whatever else happens among Americans —
how they feel and what they do —
concerning the U.S. foreign relations model in violence, there is substantial evidence in news reports that the countries under aggression and occupation will not sit idly by.
The longer U.S.-led fighting
persists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen and in other theaters
of war, the stronger grows the resistance.
Sources and notes
RAWA
http://www.rawa.org/rawa.html
RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan, was established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as an independent
political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for
social justice in Afghanistan
Before the Moscow-directed coup d’état of April 1978 in
Afghanistan, RAWA’s activities were confined to agitation for women’s rights
and democracy, but after the coup and particularly after the Soviet occupation
of Afghanistan in December 1979, RAWA became directly involved in the war of
resistance.
Since the overthrow of the Soviet-installed puppet regime in
1992, the focus of RAWA’s political struggle has been against the
fundamentalists’ and the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban’s criminal policies and
atrocities against the people of Afghanistan in general and their incredibly
ultra-male-chauvinistic and anti-woman orientation in particular.
The U.S. ‘War on terrorism’ [begun in 2001] … has not
removed religious fundamentalism, the main cause of all miseries. The U.S
administration’s reinstalling the warlords in power in Afghanistan is replacing
one fundamentalist regime with another.
The U.S. government and [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai mostly rely on
Northern Alliance criminal leaders who are as brutal and misogynist as the
Taliban.
“RAWA believes that freedom and democracy cannot be donated;
it is the duty of the people of a country to fight and achieve these values.
Under the U.S.-supported government — the sworn enemies of human rights,
democracy and secularism have gripped their claws over our country and attempt
to restore their religious fascism on our people.
“Whenever fundamentalists exist as a military and political
force in our injured land, the problem of Afghanistan will not be solved.
“Today RAWA’s mission for women’s rights is far from over
and we have to work hard for the establishment of an independent, free,
democratic and secular Afghanistan. We need the solidarity and support of all
people around the world.”
http://www.rawa.org/rawa.html
Bay Area Indymedia, May 3, 2012
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (b. Dec. 24, 1957, Kandahār, Afghanistan) is an
Afghan politician and (2004 -) first “elected” president of Afghanistan. Hamid
Karzai was the son of the chief of the Popalzai Pashtuns. Both his father and
grandfather served in the government of Mohammad Zahir Shah.
Amid discontent among Afghans, the Afghanistan Supreme Court
in March 2009 ruled that Karzai could legally retain his position until the
August election. Several opposition candidates emerged which the pro-Western
Karzai “neutralized.” The presidential
election was held on August 20, 2009, and was followed by weeks of political
turmoil. In September a preliminary count awarded Karzai almost 55 percent of
the vote. [Britannica note]
Stephen Lendman in Chicago (U.S.) is author of How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War
“Afghanistan: Permanent Occupation Planned — besides
elsewhere, America came to Iraq and Afghanistan to stay. Permanency is planned
on city-sized super bases” (Stephen Lendman), May 3, 2012,
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/05/03/afghanistan-permanent-occupation-planned.html
“UN mission in Afghanistan says 2011 was fifth straight year
that number of dead has risen, with 3,021 civilians killed, February 4, 2012,
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/02/201224101046976807.html
“U.S. atrocities in Afghanistan — While commenting on the ever-increasing
flames of violence, mistakenly called terrorism, we find it very easy to shift
the whole blame on to the ‘hungry boy’: no one blames the hands that hand over
the gun to him instead of taking care of his hunger” (Professor Ali Sukhanver)
April 22, 2012,
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/04/22/us-atrocities-in-afghanistan.html
“Concerns Over Lack of Food Safety in Afghanistan,” May 5, 2012,
TOLOnews.com,
http://tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/6121-concerns-over-lack-of-food-safety-in-afghanistan
TOLOnews, its terrestrial broadcast launched in August of
2010, is Afghan owned and operated and the country’s first 24-hour station
dedicated to domestic and international news and current affairs. TOLOnews is
an extension of Afghanistan’s TOLO TV, both part of the regional media
organization MOBY Group. http://tolonews.com/en/about-us/4081-about-us
“U.S-led night raid kills teacher in Afghanistan,” May 5,
2012,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/239749.html
War in Afghanistan by the numbers (AP and var. news sources)
“The Afghan war by the numbers —President Barack Obama
arrived in Kabul on Tuesday to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai. The deal outlines the next phase of the U.S. role in
Afghanistan after combat missions wind down at the end of 2014” (The Associated Press), Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Start of the war: October 7, 2001.
Number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan: 88,000.
Number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the war's peak:
About 101,000 in 2010. Allies provided about 40,000.
Withdrawal plans: 23,000 U.S. troops expected to come home
by the end of the summer, leaving about 68,000 in Afghanistan. Most U.S. troops
expected to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, though the U.S. is
expected to maintain a sizeable force of military trainers and a civilian
diplomatic corps.
Number of U.S. casualties: At least 1,828 members of the
U.S. military killed as of Tuesday, according to an Associated Press count.
According to the Defense Department, 15,786 U.S. service members have been
wounded in hostile action.
Afghan civilian casualties: According to the United Nations,
11,864 civilians were killed in the conflict between 2007, when the U.N. began
reporting statistics, and the end of 2011.
Cost of the war: $443 billion from fiscal year 2001 through
fiscal year 2011, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Number of times Obama has visited Afghanistan: 3 as
president, including Tuesday, and 1 as a presidential candidate.
“Hundreds Demonstrate over Civilian Casualties, Blame NATO”
(TOLOnews.com) May 1, 2012,
http://tolonews.com/afghanistan/6073-hundreds-demonstrate-over-civilian-casualties-blame-nato-?lang=en
May 1, 2012,
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/may/01/us-us-afghanistan-by-the-numbers/
“Deadly Afghan-NATO raid sparks protests — one of her sons
came out and the American forces shot him and killed him. Then her other son
came out, and they killed him,”
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/05/01/deadly-afghan-nato-raid-sparks-protests.html
ICasualties notes
IED
Fatalities
Period
|
IED
|
Total
|
Pct
|
2001
|
0
|
4
|
0.00
|
2002
|
4
|
25
|
16.00
|
2003
|
3
|
26
|
11.54
|
2004
|
12
|
27
|
44.44
|
2005
|
20
|
73
|
27.40
|
2006
|
41
|
130
|
31.54
|
2007
|
78
|
184
|
42.39
|
2008
|
152
|
263
|
57.79
|
2009
|
275
|
451
|
60.98
|
2010
|
368
|
630
|
58.41
|
2011
|
252
|
492
|
51.22
|
2012
|
45
|
91
|
49.45
|
U.S. Fatalities in and around Afghanistan
Country of Death
|
Fatalities
|
Afghanistan
|
1792
|
Bahrain
|
1
|
Germany (from wounds in theatre)
|
27
|
Indonesia
|
1
|
Kuwait
|
1
|
Pakistan
|
15
|
Qatar
|
1
|
Southwest Asia
|
1
|
USA (from wounds in theatre)
|
30
|
Uzbekistan
|
1
|
Total
|
1870
|
Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
Year
|
US
|
UK
|
Other
|
Total
|
2001
|
12
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
2002
|
49
|
3
|
18
|
70
|
2003
|
48
|
0
|
10
|
58
|
2004
|
52
|
1
|
7
|
60
|
2005
|
99
|
1
|
31
|
131
|
2006
|
98
|
39
|
54
|
191
|
2007
|
117
|
42
|
73
|
232
|
2008
|
155
|
51
|
89
|
295
|
2009
|
317
|
108
|
96
|
521
|
2010
|
499
|
103
|
109
|
711
|
2011
|
418
|
46
|
102
|
566
|
2012
|
95
|
18
|
30
|
143
|
Total
|
1959
|
412
|
619
|
2990
|
http://icasualties.org/oef/
Pakistan
Pakistan-based Ali Sukhanver is a bilingual analyst on
national and international strategic and defense affairs.
“Ten suspected insurgents were killed in a U.S. drone strike
in a house close to the Afghan border on Saturday, Pakistani officials told
media,” May 5, 2012, TOLOnews.com
“Pakistan condemns U.S. drone attack in North Waziristan,
May 5, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/239761.html
Waziristan
Wazīristān tract was under British political administration
beginning in 1892 and it was the scene of several large-scale British military
operations against the tribes from the late 1800s until Pakistani independence
in 1947.
Bounded on the west by Afghanistan, Waziristan is a
geographic region of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. This is a barren,
mountainous country occupied by part of the Sulaimān Range and bounded north by
the Kurram River and the south by the Gumal River.
The Pashtun inhabitants of Wazīristān are divided into two
principal groups, the Darwish (or Wazīr), the main tribe in the north; and the
Maḥsūd, the dominant tribe in the south.
“U.S. defends drone attacks despite civilian deaths — The
United States has defended its assassination drone strikes in several countries
despite the deaths of a large number of civilians,” April 30, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238859.html
“Drone summit in Washington highlights the aircraft
expanding use to discuss the growing use of the unmanned aircraft by the U.S.
in surveillance as well as targeted killing operations carried out in foreign
countries,” (Press TV reports), http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238651.html
“U.S. Drone Kills 10 in Pakistan,” May 5, 2012,
http://tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/6118-us-drone-kills-10-in-pakistan
Images
Afghan image caption-RAWA
Disbelief: Two grief-stricken Afghan men look into the van
where the body of a badly burned child lays, wrapped in a blue blanket. 17
innocent civilians were massacred by US soldiers on March 11, 2012 in Kandahar,
Afghanistan. (Photo: EPA)
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/04/22/us-atrocities-in-afghanistan.html#ixzz1u1RAALvk
Status of forces agreement Iraq, http://www.blackcommentator.com/284/issue_284.html
http://www.setyoufreenews.com/2011/06/25/permanent-us-iraq-and-afghanistan-occupations-planned/
___________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire
http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
___________________________________
Concerns about American recklessness in talk and actions
Then I came across like thinkers. I am not alone in my concerns about the quality and character of U.S. relations with the world; and related to that, the accuracy and unbiased nature of information Americans receive and their depth of knowledge and understanding of other countries and peoples and our connections with them.
A few days ago, in light of U.S. threats and bashing surrounding the Ukrainian conflict, author and commentator Stephen Lendman continued to raise concerns about the character of U.S. foreign relations, citing the recklessness in U.S. rhetoric. “Reckless comments heighten tensions,” Lendman wrote. “They do so irresponsibly. Rhetoric risks becoming policy…. Great conflicts start this way.… Containing Russia has been the longstanding policy, reflecting U.S. hegemonic ambitions.… Whenever Washington wages war or plans one, media scoundrels march in lockstep. They regurgitate official propaganda ad nauseam, substituting lies for truth.
