Banterrific's Blog of Wonderment

banter, satire, rinse, repeat
MARCH 27, 2010 3:32PM

CIA: Apathy not enough, lets use Afghani women as propaganda

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Glenn Greenwald was blogging today on a CIA report submitted to wikileaks entitled (disturbingly):

Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-ledMission—Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough

Greenwald's article is worth reading, and goes into detail how our government and others like China and North Korea (freedom loving company indeed) are plotting to destroy the website...  The wikileaks article itself is about how despite overwhelming public opposition to the war in Afghanistan throughout Europe, governments there keep maintaining troops... They can do this basically because of the apathy of their populations.. and the CIA knows this... they are counting on it.  Even though the CIA recognizes the power of apathy in keeping the agenda of the US government on track in the region, they want a back up plan just in case the people become less apathetic, or leaders start listening to their constituents...  Their back-up plan, keep focus on Afghani women using propaganda.

"Conversely, messaging that dramatizes the potential adverse consequences of an ISAF defeat for Afghan civilians could leverage French (and other European) guilt for abandoning them. The prospect of the Taliban rolling back hard-won progress on girls’ education could provoke French indignation, become a rallying point for France’s largely secular public, and give voters a reason to support a good and necessary cause despite casualties."

 If the powers of apathy wane, keep up the sob story about how the US is only there to help Afghani women...  I have no doubt Afghani women are faring better under US occupation than Taliban governance, however, I wonder how many would approve of being used as propaganda to keep the war going indefinitely... especially when in reality little has changed in afghanistan for women  (see here too) under US occupation.  If the US would make women's rights in Afghanistan a priority, rather than a propaganda talking point, I wouldn't have such a problem with the CIA's strategy.  As it is now, women in Afghanistan are tools for propoganda rather than the subject of intense US efforts to help their plights... the CIA wants to extol a narrative that doesn't exist.  I am guessing this is not the first time for them.  Maybe the CIA should spend its time subverting Islamic attitudes towards women and education of girls instead of worrying about apathetic Europeans.  Maybe real change instead of fantasy would actually turn the European populace on to the occupation of Afghanistan.

In conclusion:  Remember folks (here and abroad),  keep up the apathy!... the CIA  is rooting for you, and we wouldn't want to let them down.

 P.S. wikileaks needs your help.. click here to donate!  In an age where investigative reporting is going the way of the dodo, we need sites like these to be "the intellegence agency of the people."

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Comments

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Hopefully I can still access the Wikileaks site, as I've never been there. As for the CIA, the national security establishment(s) follow their own imperiums.
You wrote - "I have no doubt Afghani women are faring better under US occupation than Taliban governance." Not according to Malalai Joya known as the bravest woman in Afghanistan or the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA ). The warlords that we have installed are just as bad as the Taliban.

I had never heard of Wikileaks until the other day when someone posted about a video they have of the CIA dropping bombs on civilians. Thanks for posting about this important info.
Read the article. BBE turned me on to it. The shit our government will never change. Same shit, different day!
I emailed you the link to the Greenwald blog, AK progressive, as a follow on to the post on the US Govt's war on Wikileaks. The whole thing is worth a close read.

In the US, it is not just apathy that has us overlooking ongoing war crimes abroad and corporatism at home. It is apathy and debt servitude. It is hard to rise up when an overnight in jail could lead to jobloss, homelessness, etc. Govt policies lead directly to the debt that shackles most Americans. monkey fingered.
@Behind Blue Eyes.. that is a good point in general about debt servitude. When you live paycheck to paycheck, it is difficult for a populace to put their neck out on the line to keep officials doing what they are supposed to be doing anyway.
@Alaska Progressive, I hadnt heard that, thanks for the quote... my wife got me reading 3 Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools by Greg Mortensen... if you havent read those they are great! There are some people trying to make a difference in afghanistan and pakistan, and should be supported.
Mortensen was up for the Nobel prize some other jerk won for being the leader of an evil empire for 19 whole days. A shame. Central Asia Institute could have build a ton of schools with the prize money and the publicity would have doubled their donations.