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The Never Ending Story: Peddling Al Qaeda Fear
So as Petraeus is claiming Al Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan
we have a front page NY Times story claiming Al Qaeda is behind
the Taliban expansion in the Swat Valley.
Why? Because a CIA drone hit a truck in South Waziristan, hundreds of miles
away, and it blew up big!!! Which means it must be laden with bombs, which
must be heading for the Swat Valley!!!
Now, the CIA wouldn't have a need to show some success
in light of only 1 in 6 drone strikes hitting their target, would they?
With all those civilian deaths, there couldn't be any pressure?
So while Petraeus is telling us the Taliban and Al Qaeda aren't joined at
the hip in Afghanistan, the NY Times is pimping CIA lines to show us
that Al Qaeda and the Taliban must be joined at the hip in Pakistan,
even though AQ is so clever they're not showing their Arab face in Pakistan
because, uh, Pakistanis don't like them. Doesn't that make a lot of sense?
[Kinda like how the the secular Saddam Hussein, who let women play
volleyball in shorts, would welcome the fundamental religious nutcake
named Osama bin Laden, who favored women in full burqas and had
vowed to overthrow Hussein, to join him as a partner in terror!!!]
And our war in Pakistan deepens just as we thought we were only headed into
Afghanistan with the latest buildup. But the Times writers make sure to inform
us that Al Qaeda hasn't stopped planning evil destruction worldwide even while
potting against Islamabad. Be afraid, very afraid. As goes Islamabad, so goes
Kansas. Next step: more troops to Kashmir!!! Bangladesh!!! Phillipines!!!
Diego Garcia!!! World Tour 2010!!!
Mission Accomplished!!! Mission Extended!!!
Mission Accomplished!!! Mission Extended!!!
Danger, Will Robinson, Mission Creep!!! Mission Creep!!!
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Whirr! Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
Why are these people still on our TV's and in our newspapers?
What happened to our new day in Washington?
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Important post Des, thanks. Did you happen to catch the 60 Minutes story on Drones last night.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/08/60minutes/main5001439.shtml
May 11, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Think of it as international tasering from on high - it's pure! precise! painless!
A nation with a Jesus complex, pretty! pathetic!
May 11, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
We in the blogosphere are obsessed with past torture, and rightfully so, but innocent people are being killed now in our name and there is scarce discussion about this situation. Yes, we can walk and chew gum at the same time, but lives and villages that can be saved from destruction are important now, not after the atrocities have occurred, so kudos for bringing this up. More importantly, with conflicting and nonsensical narratives from the government, all justification evaporates.
I'd also like to point out that this is no different from what Israel does, in my view, if not even worse to some extent since Israeli violence is usually an overreaction to a provocation whereas this US violence is just ongoing and chronic. If we are going to dictate to Israel on peace, we will need more moral authority.
May 11, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Come on, Israel builds walls and cuts off borders and then when Palestinians react, Israelis say, "They provoked us, we had to retaliate in force". How many houses have the demolished, how many tracts have land have they absconded with, how many daily insults and abuses to the existing population?
May 11, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed, provocations come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and packagings.
Back to Afghanistan, I also want to bring up the irony of unending civilian deaths in an anti-terror war against operatives trained by the CIA during the Soviet occupation.
May 11, 2009 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's less ironic than the poppy trade run through the President's brother.
May 11, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's it exactly. This whole certitude sitting on a whole other continent disturbs me to no end. We're never wrong, we don't make mistakes. So instead of after action reports to prevent more and more civilian casualties, they end up doing CYA reports trying to prove the target was justified since we are never wrong. Technology is perfect. If all else fails just keep asserting Al Queda and insurgents and we regret the loss of allegedly innocent life.
May 11, 2009 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm terrified of Al Qaeda - everytime they do something they takes more of our rights away.
May 11, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm terrified that if I had more freedom, they would hate me even more.
May 11, 2009 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
One in six Desi? That is not what they were saying on 60 minutes before I turned it off.
May 11, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's most awesomest is how we're NOT REWARDING TORTURE by putting this McChrystal guy in charge in Afghanistan. Task Force 6-26? The Black
Room? Camp Nama? So now we're gonna use all this cool equipment, plus torture, to really get that assassination machine going, eh?
What. A. Goddamn. Farce.
This is Obama's brave new way forward? PROMOTING THE TORTURERS LOCAL BOSS? Dandy.
May 11, 2009 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I understand what you're saying, Des, but what would you advise Obama to do? Are you suggesting the mission actually *is* accomplished and we should pull get out and go home?
May 11, 2009 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Start talking honestly about Al Qaeda? Stop making them the boogieman of our Middle East adventure? Wow, that'd be hope and change. Al Qaeda did not create the Taliban, but these jackasses know the American public is stupid and won't jump unless led through the hoop of OsamaBinLaden/Taliban to scare it into sending more money.
If the Taliban is a problem, then say, "We have to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan", not, "We're fighting the guys who caused 9/11", who are Al Qaeda. A bigger shit sandwich is still bullshit. We went through all of this in Iraq, blaming everything on Al Qaeda and then on the Iranian Shia, without every acknowledging that the people we're bombing and searching might actually hate us enough themselves to attack.
So here we're blowing innocent people and buildings up as collateral damage, 5 misses out of 6, and we're going to keep on with the illusion that we're precise, that it's Al Qaeda, that we know what we're doing. The sad thing in all of these blunders is that there can be real security concerns. *I* don't want the Taliban to control Pakistani nukes. Is that what we're talking about? Okay, stop firing gay translators, get our shit out of Iraq quick, focus on the Taliban and just say we screwed up with Al Qaeda but they're no longer such an important target.
Instead, Obama's just taking over the Bush playbook. Sorry, new figurehead doesn't make a change in course, and building up the troops in Afghanistan at the same time the commanding general is saying our mission is accomplished really doesn't make sense. Nor does keeping the President of Afghanistan's brother rolling in new opium money, over twice the output of when we were complaining about Afghanistan in 2000 and we supposedly control the place now. (Ironically, the Taliban cut down on opium production).
May 12, 2009 2:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm relieved to hear you believe we need to pursue the Taliban problem. The firing of McKiernan yesterday is a step in the right direction, it seems to me. It was folly to continue fighting a conventional war against guerillas.
In my view, this change is not something Obama could have or should have done immediately upon taking office without assessing the situation firsthand. I certainly wouldn't have accepted a bush administration analysis, even if there was one.
I certainly agree about Karzai's brother. He needs to go as does Hamid Karzai, although I haven't heard about anyone who might be better. As for the Taliban and opium, there are different opinions on why the Taliban cut the drug's production.
May 12, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink