16 January 2009

A GORY HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq [editorial]

Article: "Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq"
Source: StatesmanJournal.com
Excerpt(s): This time it's Afghanistan, with a foreign power, not to say an imperial nation, employing sophisticated weapons and military personnel to subdue a people and culture that it knows little about. Last time it was Iraq, when the American people were lied into a war by false claims about weapons of mass destruction and, before that, Vietnam, by a phony Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Both happened because the U.S. Congress passively tolerated and actively supported enormous troop increases and massive expenditures, as casualties mounted and countless civilians died in the crossfire. Today, as President Bush snores and President-elect Obama waits in the wings, the Pentagon plunges ahead, planning to add 30,000 more U.S. troops to the 31,000 already in Afghanistan. Supply operations and maintenance services for the Afghan National Army will cost American taxpayers an estimated $300 million over the next five years, according to Walter Pincus in the Washington Post. Yet there is little evidence that a military occupation, insensitive to the region's history and culture, can lead to democracy or economic development. Where is the justifiable outrage of American citizens the third time around? Let facts speak to a passive citizenry and a blood-soaked military-industrial-university-ecclesiastical complex.
Link to Full Story: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090115/OPINION/90113058/1049

Wake up O ye passive citizenry!
We must STOP the killing!

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