Do You See What I See?
Earl J. Prignitz
September 23, 2006
I wonder if you see what I see dear friends as you view our world? As we look back over the past five years, what exactly has been achieved, will you tell me? Is the world a safer place now than it was before 9/11? And what about the freedom and democracy that President Bush still claims to espouse?
The first thing that we did after 9/11 was attack Afghanistan. And in just a few weeks, Afghan cities were surrendering in droves while our generals were still looking for other targets to bomb. The country was already torn assunder by war, poverty and hunger before our attacks.. It had no infrastructure to speak of and certainly no military targets. Our planes pummeled Tora Bora hoping to kill Taliban leaders but nothing came of that. In the early days of the war American losses were minimal, while our invading troops managed to kill more Afghans than the victims of 9/11.
Then what did we do? We turned our forces lose on Iraq! Why? Attacking Afghanistan might have been justified. since the Taliban was known to have aided and abetted Bin Laden and his clan. But the war against Iraq was launched on nothing but lies. Our Administration claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which it did not have. They claimed that Iraq was supporting Al-Queda, but that also was untrue. Actually the war against Iraq was planned years prior to 9/11 and that is public knowledge. The Think Tank PNAC had worked out all the details. The 9/11 attacks simply provided an excuse. The war was illigitimate, fraudulent, and contrary to international law, and waged without a UN mandate. And it has ended with Iraq occupied, divided, and rapidly turning into a civil war.
One might ask "Is the Bush talk of democracy simply a deceptive slogan?" It seems that the victory of Hamas in the 2006 elections and its formation of government have discredited his claim that the war on terror was one for democracy and freedom. For just as soon as the election results were announced, the US and Israeli administrations took punitive action against the Palestinian people. And their only fault was that they elected Hamas.
It seems that we believe elections are fine only when they bring to office people who support our policies of domination and aggression.
Now the US army is bogged down in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Casualties among US soldiers are mounting daily. As for individual freedom -- especially women's freedom -- it has diminished in Iraq. The civil status law governing Iraq before the war was more liberal than the ones passed by the Iraqi government following the occupation.
Is security and stability in Iraq and Afghanistan better today than they were in the past? To be sure Iraq has had its share of political conflict in the past, but it didn't have the sectarian strife that we see today. Nor was it ever close to civil war. Afghanistan and Iraq have been torn to pieces. Iraq is being partitioned along the lines of the no-fly zones President Bill Clinton imposed on Saddam's government.
So what is your assessment of the past five years? Do you see what I see?
The first thing that we did after 9/11 was attack Afghanistan. And in just a few weeks, Afghan cities were surrendering in droves while our generals were still looking for other targets to bomb. The country was already torn assunder by war, poverty and hunger before our attacks.. It had no infrastructure to speak of and certainly no military targets. Our planes pummeled Tora Bora hoping to kill Taliban leaders but nothing came of that. In the early days of the war American losses were minimal, while our invading troops managed to kill more Afghans than the victims of 9/11.
Then what did we do? We turned our forces lose on Iraq! Why? Attacking Afghanistan might have been justified. since the Taliban was known to have aided and abetted Bin Laden and his clan. But the war against Iraq was launched on nothing but lies. Our Administration claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which it did not have. They claimed that Iraq was supporting Al-Queda, but that also was untrue. Actually the war against Iraq was planned years prior to 9/11 and that is public knowledge. The Think Tank PNAC had worked out all the details. The 9/11 attacks simply provided an excuse. The war was illigitimate, fraudulent, and contrary to international law, and waged without a UN mandate. And it has ended with Iraq occupied, divided, and rapidly turning into a civil war.
One might ask "Is the Bush talk of democracy simply a deceptive slogan?" It seems that the victory of Hamas in the 2006 elections and its formation of government have discredited his claim that the war on terror was one for democracy and freedom. For just as soon as the election results were announced, the US and Israeli administrations took punitive action against the Palestinian people. And their only fault was that they elected Hamas.
It seems that we believe elections are fine only when they bring to office people who support our policies of domination and aggression.
Now the US army is bogged down in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Casualties among US soldiers are mounting daily. As for individual freedom -- especially women's freedom -- it has diminished in Iraq. The civil status law governing Iraq before the war was more liberal than the ones passed by the Iraqi government following the occupation.
Is security and stability in Iraq and Afghanistan better today than they were in the past? To be sure Iraq has had its share of political conflict in the past, but it didn't have the sectarian strife that we see today. Nor was it ever close to civil war. Afghanistan and Iraq have been torn to pieces. Iraq is being partitioned along the lines of the no-fly zones President Bill Clinton imposed on Saddam's government.
So what is your assessment of the past five years? Do you see what I see?
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