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PEOPLE NOT PROFIT This article from www.peoplenotprofit.co.uk 9th Oct 2001 War is terrorism the real meaning of war; power, wealth, control of land and resources is hidden behind media blindness and manufactured moral crusades. Bush, Blair and their business associates have no interest in the oppressed or poor of the USA nor UK and they have even less regard for the ordinary people of Afghanistan. In coming days we will be reading about the early attacks on Afghanistan but only through the standard media bias. Of the truth we only know a little at this time, the real nature of these kind of military actions usually takes years to be leaked, and the one constant is that western aggression always revolves around business interest. It has been documented that the Americans announced their intentions to attack the Taliban weeks before the attack on The World Trade Centre. They are now saying that they have international backing for their bombing, although polls indicate that 80% of the population of European countries, their closest allies, want to see a diplomatic solution to this crisis. 
The Taliban are corrupt and oppressive and the world needs to see the back of such Government. However, this involves destroying forever the circumstances that create oppression, so far the Bush and Blair alliance have given no thought to long term solutions to these problems, despite pleas from International agencies about the desperate need to alleviate poverty and suffering. We know that according to the CIA Fact Book the population of Afghanistan, a few months back, was just under 27 million people. Life expectancy at birth was 47 years. More than two thirds of Afghanistan's citizens were not only unlikely to reach 50 years of age, but were also illiterate. Telephone service and use was sporadic. There were about 100,000 TVs, or less than one for every 200 citizens. In the whole country, there were 24 kilometres of railroad-yes, that's what the CIA site I consulted said-and under 3,000 kilometres of paved road, or roughly the same as a single highway across the U.S. If that's off, the point is still evident. There were ten airports with paved runways.
Even worse than the stark poverty of the country, Afghanistan had undergone nearly ten years of war with the Soviet Union and the aftermath of that had been ruinous. Thus, weeks back UN and other international AID agencies announced that without a substantial effort at relief this winter could see up to 7 million deaths from starvation. Into this already woeful context the U.S. first infused panic that in turn aggravated hunger by demanding that Pakistan close its borders and curtailing food for nearly four weeks. The threat of bombing provoked mass migrations of fearful civilians seeking solace. Not satisfied with that contribution to this desperate country, the U.S & UK. has now added to the mix B1 and B52 bombers, stealth missiles, and who knows what other deadly ordnance.
And having put the population into hysteria and flight, having disrupted meagre paths of travel and what little electrification and other services the country had, having closed borders, having curtailed food deliveries, having induced an exodus of AID workers, all at a time of possible calamitous starvation, we have begun dropping along with the bombs enough food to feed about 30,000 people a day, assuming it continues. Asked whether food was dropped in Taliban regions its been reported that the answer offered was no, so, supposing that was accurate, we are dropping the food in regions covering about 10% of the country. The current strategy of all this is not complex. First throw the nation into turmoil, leave to acclaim. Turn the journalistic cameras in another direction. Hope the innocent deaths go unnoticed.
INTERNATIONAL LAWS Of course, international law has been violated. Worse, the mechanism for attaining illegal vigilante prosecution has been a policy which knowingly and predictably will kill many, perhaps even huge numbers of innocent civilians. We take access to food away from millions and then give food back to tens of thousands while bombing the society into panic and dissolution. This is terrorism, attacks on civilians to gain political ends, with a barrage of public relations. The answer is not to reduce the prospects of terror attacks. Everyone says their likelihood will increase, in fact, both out of short-term desire to retaliate, and, over the longer haul, due to producing new reservoirs of hate and resentment. The answer is not to get justice. Vigilantism is not justice but the opposite, undermining international norms of law. The answer is not to reduce actual terror endured by innocent people. Our actions are themselves hurting civilians, perhaps in multitudinous numbers.
No, all the rhetoric aside, the answer is that the U.S. supported by its lapdog Britain wishes to send a message and to establish a process. The message, as usual, is don't mess with us. We have no problems about wreaking havoc on the weak and desperate. The process, also not particularly original since Ronald Regan and George Bush senior had similar aspirations, is to legitimate a "war on terrorism" as a lynchpin rationale for both domestic and international policy-making. This "war on terrorism" is meant to serve like the Cold War did (the fight against the Soviet Union). We fight it with few if any military losses. We use it to induce fear in our own population and via that fear to justify all kinds of elite policies that only serve to benefit the rich; from reducing civil liberties, to enlarging the profit margins of military industrial firms, to legitimating all manner of international polices aimed at enhancing U.S. power and profit, whether in the Middle East or elsewhere.
This war will also be used to divert attention away from what is happening here. Wars have always been used as a way of justifying unpopular laws by unpopular governments. We are tired of the lies of the powerful, we are tired of their wars, and we want a world where all resources are used to benefit its people. The stakes are now getting higher in the west and we will pay the penalty of our Government's actions. They are already preparing us for major retaliation. We have no argument with the ordinary people of Afghanistan; we abhor the ideas and policies of the Taliban. We, like most people, were appalled by the attack on innocent people on the world trade centre - but we also recognise that the activities of western government will continue to provoke desperate actions, and we recognise that the politicians and the money men sitting in the comfort of their offices in Washington, London organising the attacks will bring about further desperate attacks. Attacks that will kill ordinary people People Not Profit c/o News From Nowhere, 96 Bold Street, L1 email: [email protected] www.peoplenotprofit.co.uk Is this a just war? Should the West interfere with the taliban regime?  |
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