Laurie Lipton, Collateral Damage
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan9-2008oct09,0,6830841.story
According to the investigation, conducted by U.S. Central Command, the civilian death toll in the Aug. 22 strike on the village of Azizabad was far lower than the 90 claimed by the United Nations and the Afghan government. Their assertions are questioned in the report, which argues that they “lack independent evidence” to support the higher death toll.
Both the first and the latest U.S. investigations conclude that the attack was a “valid military action,” military officials said.
“This was a legitimate target,” said a senior military official. “There is no culpability.”
“We are deeply saddened at the loss of innocent life in Azizabad,” Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the acting head of Central Command, said in a statement. “We go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties in Afghanistan in all our operations, but as we have seen all too often, this ruthless enemy routinely surround themselves with innocents.”
Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, asked for the new investigation after a grainy cellphone video seemed to show a much higher civilian death toll than military officials had acknowledged.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael W. Callan, who led the new investigation, found that charges that U.S. or Afghan forces had violated the rules of engagement were “unsubstantiated.”
The report concludes that of the 33 civilians killed, eight were men, three were women, and 12 were children, based on videos from the aftermath of the fighting. Ten others were not identified.
So there is ”no culpability”, but there is, incidentally, this mother of all natural gas pipelines in the works:
http://www.aprodex.com/pipeline-opens-new-front-in-afghan-war-1028-n.aspx
To prepare for proposed construction in 2010, the Afghan government has reportedly given assurances it will clear the route of land mines, and make the path free of Taliban influence.
In a report to be released today, energy economist John Foster says the pipeline is part of a wider struggle by the United States to counter the influence of Russia and Iran over energy trade in the region.
The so-called Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline has strong support from Washington because the U.S. government is eager to block a competing pipeline that would bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran.
The TAPI pipeline would also diminish Russia’s dominance of Central Asian energy exports.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080730.wmackay0730/BNStory/National/home
Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted Wednesday that Canadian troops are not in Afghanistan to guard a new natural gas pipeline being built through the southern part of the country.
Mr. MacKay told a Halifax radio talk show that Canada has to let Afghanistan map its own future.
He said fears that Canadian troops may end up paying a hefty price to protect the U.S.-backed project from insurgents are unfounded.
Seeing the phrase ”dominance of Central Asian energy exports” brings to mind the author of The Grand Chessboard, one Zbigniew Brzezinski. In that bold but seldom-cited 1997 apology for 21st century American empire Brzezinski writes:
“Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public’s sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.” (p.35)
“Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat.” (p. 211)
“The momentum of Asia’s economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea.” (p.125)
And how has Dr. Brzezinski recently busied himself? He is a “top foreign policy adviser” to Barack Obama.
http://www.nysun.com/national/despite-criticism-obama-stands-by-adviser/62534/
Yes, like the view of an Afghan village from an AC-130 gunship, things really are so much clearer when you have the Big Picture.
Meanwhile, the “progressive” Democratic Senator from Illinois is already fully onboard.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/08/obamas_right_war.php
Sounding presidential, Senator Barack Obama said Wednesday he would order a surge of U.S. troops – perhaps 15,000 or more – to Afghanistan as soon as he reached the White House.
“The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large and plotting,” he said, echoing Mr. Bush’s oft-repeated refrain.
On that we are agreed, Senator.
2 Comments
the U.S. Government, and elements of the U.S. Air Force, i.e.: NORAD, as well as Dick Cheney, were the ones who attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. Bush bastard wasn’t in on the plot, based on his look of utter ’stupefaction’ when Andy Card came in and told him about what had been going on all morning. However, the U.S. Secret Service knew that George W. Bush was not in any way endangered, and left him there to read “My Pet Goat” for several more minutes. Robert Mueller and John Ashcroft must be prosecuted, for their roles in covering up this high treason and mass murder, as well as about 140 other high ranking U.S. Government officials, such as Donald Rumsfeld, Dov Zackheim, and Douglas Feith, with Stephen Cambone, for their part in this treason, as well.
I agree with and second Nathan Hale’s remarks.
9/11 WAS an inside job as anyone without a hidden agenda, a set of faith-based blinkers or a reluctance to accept reality can instantly see in any one of the dozens of videos showing explosive charges demolishing the WTC.
In one respect, Obama’s quote [above] is correct. The terrorists who attacked the US on 9/11 ARE still at large and plotting – just not in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran.