1974 brought tremors to the global market economy precipitated by the "oil crisis". Skyrocketing prices, high unemployment, inflation, cuts in welfare and social services and diminishing profits. The Afghan Revolution of 1978 overthrew a thousand year old essentially feudal society. The successful People's Democratic revolution in Yemen, as well as national liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America were serious threats to the New World Order in general and U.S. supremacy in particular. When the Soviet Union responded to request for assistance from the new progressive regime in Kabul against the Taliban and Jehadi counterrevolutionary "opposition" the Carter administration orchestrated the supplying of sophisticated weaponry and intelligence to the clerical fascist Fundamentalists and dispatched National Security Advisor Zibigniew Brezezinski for a tour of the Afghan border.

The compelling US imperialist interest at the time was to exercise long term power in Central Asia by setting up a puppet government that would guarantee control of pipelines from the Caspian Sea oil ports to Pakistan. As Ridgeway in the Village Voice aptly put it the US would be in an excellent position to "react to political changes in Iran." An outpost in Afghanistan "would also give America added leverage with Europe and Russia." 

This was followed by the Reagan Doctrine of the 1980's and the initiation of Low Intensity Conflicts aimed at destabilization, counter insurgency or control of local puppets that act as proxies for Washington. Once and for all the "Realpolitik" ofKissinger would eliminate the nasty Vietnam Syndrome and pronounce America's greatness and supremacy. The Realpolitik of the first Bush regime made a decision to support our man in Baghdad Sadam Hussein against the larger devil in Iran. 

In 1992, the nation that urges we adopt "family values" bombed a hospital in Sudan. That decade saw our "freedom fighters" down a commercial Cuban airliner while protecting the criminals in Miami. And Secretary of State Madeline Albright tells a journalist that the "collateral damage" of 150,000 Iraqi children and women were justified by our noble cause. In the aftermath of the most successful and tragic terrorist acton U.S. soil, President Bush and Secretary of State Powell referred to the perpetrators as "madmen" and "nutcases." This rationale accomplishes a crucial objective in damage control; that those responsible, being so demented and unpredictable that it is impossible for the best intelligence and the most sophisticated military science and weaponry to prevent this as well as past and future disasters. In 1998 the US military killed thousands of innocent Afgahns for the crimes of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

As the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) claim that the "fundamentalist terrorists would devour their creators" has proved tragically true. RAWA had previously warned the U.S. not to support "the most treacherous, most criminal, most anti-democracy and anti-women fundamentalists parties because after both the Jehadi and Taliban have committed every possible type of heinous crimes against our people, they would feel no shame in committing such crimes against the American people whom they consider 'infidel.' In order to gain and maintain their power, these barbaric criminals are ready to turn to any criminal force." 

RAWA concludes its statement by saying that they announce "our deep sorrow and solidarity with the people of the U.S. and we believe that attacking Afghanistan and killing its most ruined and destitute people will not in any way decrease the grief of the American people." I would add nor eliminate or diminish the root causes of terrorism. For it was the overt and covert material and ideological support supplied by Washington that created a climate in which terrorist and neo-fascistic groups could increase in number and boldness.

The enormous failure of the FBI and other Intelligence agencies, in spite of many billions for their budget to protect the people in this country, gives new meaning to the term criminal negligence. It was these criminals acting in the name of the National Security State that for years have known of the training with assault weapons of fascist like groups such as the Aryan Nation, the KKK, Christian Patriots and the John Birch Society who had" many friends in the Army Special Forces (Green Berets) as well as in Congress. For example during and after Watergate and Iran-Contra we saw interlocking networks including protected C.I.A. rogue operations and the training of Death Squads many of whom were trained in the School of the Assassins (Americas).

As the Village Voice editorial cogently notes that Osama bin Laden was "our man in Afghanistan." A product of the ClA's covert holy war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. "But what people often don't get is that Bin Laden wouldn't exist without the support of the Saudi royal family, the most disgusting conglomeration of slave owners." We should recall that it was the Pakistani Intelligence service that recruited him from the Saudi royal family to fight against the Soviets just to show the rest of the Muslim world that Saudi Arabia was behind the war. In 1982 Bin Laden brought heavy construction machinery to Peshawar, Pakistan on the Afghan border and started building roads and other projects to help the Mujahadeen. Bin Laden set up a huge training camp and arms depot partially financed by the C.I.A. and recruited Arabs from other countries that was to constitute a kind of foreign legion alongside the fundamentalist Afghans.

The immediate danger is that of the justification of a protracted war perhaps with tactical nuclear weapons against the masses of impoverished Afghanis which can only encourage more terrorist acts as well as the return of a McCarthyite and fascist-like police state in the U.S. where people with the "wrong" ethnic names and dress will be the main targets. Just as we used the red devil and then the drug devil to cover imperialist policies of conquest, oppression and exploitation so today we resort to the terrorist devil to justify killing to protect profits.

(dm.silver@verizon.net)
 
 
 

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