Thom Hartmann: Myths and lies about Afghanistan's role in 9/11 live on, Bush and Cheney escape justice / Karen Greenberg: The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror
NB: For many decades now, the world has been held hostage by the American election cycle, and the criminal tendencies of American Presidents. Our short memories, our weakness in resisting propaganda; and the degeneration of journalism into op-ed commentary by spin-doctors have contributed to this. The rise of violent Islamist movements has a great deal to do with Saudi Arabia, a long-time ally of the USA and UK; they have never been motivated to bring about 'regime-change' in the Saudi monarchy. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89), Islamist guerillas were encouraged and provided with arms by the USA and shelter by Pakistan. Their leaders were welcomed by President Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1983.
Without Pakistan's support there could never have been a successful outcome (in the sense of Soviet withdrawal) of that war. Nor should we forget that between 550,000 and 2 million Afghans died during the Soviet occupation, due to bombing and other military operations; a significant percentage of the population. Hundreds of thousands became refugees. The USSR bears a great deal of the responsibility for the miseries of the Afghan people. And its collapse is in great part related to that intervention. The Cold War between the USA and the USSR was not so cold for the people who lived in territories outside the great powers.
More about the history of these developments can be read in the article below, but it is a very long story. And it has nothing to do with the partisan divide in the USA, which carried out violent interventions in Vietnam, in Chile, in Iran, in Bangladesh, in Sudan, etc. Of interest to India is the Nixon administrations military intimidation of India by the dispatch of the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The USA and China engaged in military maneuvers to assist Pakistan, and it was the USSR that stood by India and Bangladesh. The history of that war may be read here. All this was done in the name of freedom and democracy, and of course, anti-communism. For those interested in details, the Sangh Parivar welcomed American intervention in Vietnam as dharm-yuddha.
All the above references are a mere mention of what the 'leader of the Free World' has done to shatter world peace over the past seventy years. Now the American Empire is drowning in the sewage of the world order, and busy finding scapegoats. But the Taliban is America's gift to South Asia. As long as we refuse to apply our minds towards understanding militarism, propaganda and communalism of all colours, we will be condemned to perpetual warfare and instability. The world faces unprecedented natural calamities. We cannot afford to let our lives be dominated by the American dream (nightmare) of world domination. DS
The myths and lies about Afghanistan's role in 9/11
The big question in the media today is, "Will Afghanistan again become a 'breeding ground' for terrorists who may again attack America?" It's the wrong question. We've all heard that question asked, in a dozen variations, probably a hundred times in the past few months in the media. And it's not just the wrong question: it strengthens the GOP frame that lets George W. Bush off the hook for many of his worst failures and crimes. Afghanistan had little to nothing to do with 9/11
It's time to put this tired
and deceptive canard to bed. The 9/11 attacks were not planned, hatched,
developed, funded, practiced, expanded, worked out or otherwise devised in
Afghanistan. That country and its leadership in 2001, in fact, had pretty much
nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11....
https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/9-11-afghanistan/
Karen Greenberg: The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror
It seems like centuries ago, but do you remember when, in May 2003, President George W. Bush declared “Mission accomplished” as he spoke proudly of his invasion of Iraq? Three months later, Attorney General John Ashcroft proclaimed, “We are winning the war on terror.” Despite such declarations and the “corners” endlessly turned as America’s military commanders announced impending successes year after year in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the war on terror, abroad and on the home front, has been never-ending, as the now-codified term “forever wars” suggests…
https://tomdispatch.com/the-endless-shadow-of-the-war-on-terror/
The Taliban Religious Ideology is Blow-back from 200 Years of British Rule of India
Books reviewed - Deb Mukharji: 1971, Bangladesh and
the Blood Telegram
In pictures: Afghans mark Independence Day
as challenges to Taliban rule rise
Chris Hedges: The Collective Suicide Machine
Book review: AFGHANISTAN: ‘A SHOCKING INDICTMENT’
The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan: Interview with Zbigniew
Brzezinski, Paris, 15-21 January 1998
Vanessa Thorpe: MI 6, the coup in
Iran that changed the Middle East, and the cover-up
Victor
Jara murder: ex-military officers sentenced in Chile for 1973 death
Andrew
Bacevich: High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century
Mohammed
Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise
Donald
Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By
PAUL ROSENBERG
Zack
Stanton: Violent Christian Extremism in the USA
Conversation with Lawrence Lifschultz: The American reporter who investigated the assassination of Mujibur Rahman
Bharat Bhushan: A hanging in Dhaka, courtesy Delhi
