At the beginning of the week, I was invited to attend a World Affairs Council event, featuring Robert Kagan. A neo-con insider and founding member of the Project for a New American Century, Kagan spent the evening pandering to the ideals of freedom while promoting the ideals of empire.
The evening's talk was titled "The Future of Foreign Policy Challenges for the Obama Administration". Kagan led off the talk with glowing reviews of Hilary Clinton, who he deems "strong and principled" as our next top diplomat. In his glowing endorsement of the Obama nominations for cabinet, Kagan observed that two-thirds could have been chosen by Senator McCain. You're not going to see "a dramatic shift in choices" with Obama's administration, he informed us. This is going to be a "centrist" administration.
Talk quickly moved into "National Security" and the War on "Terror". Mr Kagan was quite excited that "some of the top leaders" of the Mumbai attacks had been arrested in Pakistan (so far, only "suspected terrorists" have been arrested and no charges issued-as usual). "Perhaps Mumbai will be enough to set Pakistan on the right course" he went on. This led, quite naturally, into talk of Afghanistan. Mr Kagan is proudly supporting a troop surge (over 20,000) into the region with the incoming Obama administration. He believes "Obama should go to Europe" and pursue alliances for the further occupation of Afghanistan. Apparently, if we have allies in the occupation, it will be less contentious.
When asked by Jane Wales (conducting the forum, and President of the World Affairs Council of Northern California) "how dangerous is Iran", Mr Kagan jumped immediately into "Iran will have a nuclear bomb within a year". He had no trouble leaping to such claims, and even conflated Iran and Iraq with "a kid coming out of an alley and pointing a toy gun at the Police", thereby excusing the Police gunning down the kid. He uses this analogy to condone leaving a residual force of 50-70 thousand troops in Iraq and taking the fight to Iran next.
As talk of "safety" continued, Kagan promoted "Humanitarian Interventions". He referenced our "humanitarian" efforts in Panama, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo and Bosnia. Never was American training of death squads, bombing of urban areas, recruitment, arming and training of "al-Qaeda" forces or use of depleted uranium in the bombs dropped mentioned. "America has a special roll to play, as many predecessors have believed" he explained. It is quite amazing how "little intervention exhaustion we have considering these two grinding wars". Mr Kagan was quite confident that America will get behind any future "humanitarian interventions" that may arise-say in Iran.
Through the rest of the interview, Mr Kagan expounded on Russia, which seeks to "regain its empire" and China, with whom we utilize "engagement and containment" policy. He truly presented himself as a competent mouthpiece for fascism. He used all the right phrases ("humanitarian intervention" instead of invasion and attack, "centrist economics" instead of "corporatocracy"), he stood behind the choices of the Democrat President-Elect and even took a few chides at the current regime. Through it all he was warm, friendly, charming. He was all glows and smiles at the mention of the Project for a New American Century and the need to expand the global War on "Terror".
The coup de gras was the horrid observation that Obama need not go on a listening tour, and that the American People do not care if Obama listens to us, because we only need him to lead-not listen. Ms Jane Wales, who had been handed stacks of cards with questions from the audience, found her way to asking three of them (all three being quite innocuous). I am not surprised that my question (why is American aid to dictatorships that sponsor terror never cited as a cause for global terrorism?) asked. I am surprised that the audience seemed duped by the rhetoric, and quite at ease with his predictions for the future of our foreign poicy.
If what Mr Kagan (and Mr Obama and Mrs Rodham-Clinton, et al) espouse is anything to go by, then we are indeed fucked.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Shades of Mumbai
When I was 19 I stood on a street corner in Manhattan and watched the twin towers fall. Through out the course of the day I could not get away from the sense that something bigger was brewing...and not in al Qaeda's cauldron. The launch of America's newest war (after our War on Poverty, our War on Drugs, our War on Violence, etc) harkens to another War on Terror-one launched by a little man remembered as Adolf Hitler.
With the attacks carried out in Mumbai over the weekend, I have a sickening sense that this is just propelling us faster into the ultimate police state. Of course it is no coincidence that Mumbai is financial capital of the Indian sub-continent. Nor that the attack was carried in such way that foreigners (among them Brits and Yanks) were killed. What is coincidental is that Pakistanis are being linked to the attacks in a time when we are looking for reason to spread our Empire into Pakistan, Iran and the greater Middle East.
In the same way that the "training" of al Qaeda alleged hijackers in Afghanistan has allowed us to bomb the fuck out of the Afghanis, there is (conveniently enough) cause to extend that fight now Pakistan. Oh, yes. The Pakistanis were our brothers in the Axis of the Willing-and sure we backed their dictator, Musharaf-but they need to feel the awesome power of freedom now too! The al Qaeda members hiding out in Pakistan need to be rooted out. We will accept no threat to our security.
Now, let's take a minute, shall we. When Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds of Northern Iraq, he did so with US support. When the dictators of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (more allies of freedom) detain, render and torture people with American support, it is an act of defense. When the dictatorships of South America rendered, tortured and killed people, again with loud US support, they were defending freedom. When "insurgents" in Iraq attack military bases (with piddling mortars) or Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli driven US tanks, it is terrorism. If a Palestinian were to detain and torture an Israeli, it is a violation of convention-when Israel detains and tortures a Palestinian, it is policy.
Throughout the War on Terror, American and Allied forces have reported large amounts of missing money and materials. How do large amounts of materials, kept responsibly by the American military and Private Mercenaries just disappear? And what about the British and American citizens arrested after joy riding around, gunning down Iraqis, while dressed in robes and fake beards? What of our financial support and CIA training of agents like Osama bin Laden? Is it possible that the current Bush, like his grandfather Prescott, is funding both sides of this war? Is it possible that perhaps there is no real enemy, and that investors like Cheney and Prince Osama bin Laden are merely waging a "war" for the purpose of their own dividend checks?
The chief way to end terrorism is to stop endorsing it as Policy. The amount of military aid given by the American tax payer to dictatorships around the world is the largest amount of state sponsored terrorist money circling the globe. We do not need to fear "rogue regimes" like Iran. We need to fear our own rogue regime-the Military Industrial Complex, the Federal Reserve and the State Department. The leader of terrorism around the globe, hands down, is American foreign policy.
As the Obama emperorship is transitioning, we will see all of the hype of the coming "test" by terrorists. All of our domestic wiretapping, all of our preemptive invasion, and infiltration will surely not hit the mark and we will be subjected to more violence.
These "tests" don't pass the smell test. Why have the last eight years passed without investigation? Why have the last sixty years of Imperial American policy passed without oversight? Why are the Republocrats so convinced (almost gloating) that an attack is coming? Perhaps like other terrorist states we are witnessing state endorsed attacks. Perhaps by turning a blind eye (refer to the Downing Street Memo) we are forced to go along with assaults on the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions.
It is a frightening era in which we live. One in which the reigning superpower, like the British Empire before it, will rage around the globe unchecked, leaving behind a devastated planet, a raped and tortured populace and a legacy of shame to last the ages.
With the attacks carried out in Mumbai over the weekend, I have a sickening sense that this is just propelling us faster into the ultimate police state. Of course it is no coincidence that Mumbai is financial capital of the Indian sub-continent. Nor that the attack was carried in such way that foreigners (among them Brits and Yanks) were killed. What is coincidental is that Pakistanis are being linked to the attacks in a time when we are looking for reason to spread our Empire into Pakistan, Iran and the greater Middle East.
In the same way that the "training" of al Qaeda alleged hijackers in Afghanistan has allowed us to bomb the fuck out of the Afghanis, there is (conveniently enough) cause to extend that fight now Pakistan. Oh, yes. The Pakistanis were our brothers in the Axis of the Willing-and sure we backed their dictator, Musharaf-but they need to feel the awesome power of freedom now too! The al Qaeda members hiding out in Pakistan need to be rooted out. We will accept no threat to our security.
Now, let's take a minute, shall we. When Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds of Northern Iraq, he did so with US support. When the dictators of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (more allies of freedom) detain, render and torture people with American support, it is an act of defense. When the dictatorships of South America rendered, tortured and killed people, again with loud US support, they were defending freedom. When "insurgents" in Iraq attack military bases (with piddling mortars) or Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli driven US tanks, it is terrorism. If a Palestinian were to detain and torture an Israeli, it is a violation of convention-when Israel detains and tortures a Palestinian, it is policy.
Throughout the War on Terror, American and Allied forces have reported large amounts of missing money and materials. How do large amounts of materials, kept responsibly by the American military and Private Mercenaries just disappear? And what about the British and American citizens arrested after joy riding around, gunning down Iraqis, while dressed in robes and fake beards? What of our financial support and CIA training of agents like Osama bin Laden? Is it possible that the current Bush, like his grandfather Prescott, is funding both sides of this war? Is it possible that perhaps there is no real enemy, and that investors like Cheney and Prince Osama bin Laden are merely waging a "war" for the purpose of their own dividend checks?
The chief way to end terrorism is to stop endorsing it as Policy. The amount of military aid given by the American tax payer to dictatorships around the world is the largest amount of state sponsored terrorist money circling the globe. We do not need to fear "rogue regimes" like Iran. We need to fear our own rogue regime-the Military Industrial Complex, the Federal Reserve and the State Department. The leader of terrorism around the globe, hands down, is American foreign policy.
As the Obama emperorship is transitioning, we will see all of the hype of the coming "test" by terrorists. All of our domestic wiretapping, all of our preemptive invasion, and infiltration will surely not hit the mark and we will be subjected to more violence.
These "tests" don't pass the smell test. Why have the last eight years passed without investigation? Why have the last sixty years of Imperial American policy passed without oversight? Why are the Republocrats so convinced (almost gloating) that an attack is coming? Perhaps like other terrorist states we are witnessing state endorsed attacks. Perhaps by turning a blind eye (refer to the Downing Street Memo) we are forced to go along with assaults on the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions.
It is a frightening era in which we live. One in which the reigning superpower, like the British Empire before it, will rage around the globe unchecked, leaving behind a devastated planet, a raped and tortured populace and a legacy of shame to last the ages.
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