From my article on today's LRC:
So now the cheerleaders for war would have us believe that they are more concerned for the welfare of Afghan civilians than are those who wish to end the US occupation.
First we have White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs sanctimoniously imploring the editors of Wikileaks not to post more information that the administration believes might endanger the lives of local Afghan informants:
"You have Taliban spokesmen in the region today saying they're combing through those documents to find people that are cooperating with American and international forces," said Gibbs. "They're looking through those for names, they said they know how to punish those people."
Next, there is Time magazine, a recent cover of which was adorned with the badly mutilated face of a young woman and the headline "What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan." (A statement, not a question.) As if the implicit pitch for more war as a solution to violence against women did not provide enough cognitive dissonance, the woman pictured was actually disfigured by family members at the order of a Taliban official last year – eight years after US forces entered Afghanistan.
In fact, the Time piece fits very neatly with something found in one of the leaked documents that has the White House so concerned. Titled "CIA Red Cell Special Memorandum: Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission-Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough," the document ."..outlines possible PR strategies to shore up public support in Germany and France for a continued war in Afghanistan."
...Read the rest here.
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Judy Mandelbaum
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
We have definitely screwed up our support for the people of Afghanistan, especially the women, but your implication that it happened all the way back LAST year and that we should leave because we haven't wiped the bastards out yet ignores CENTURIES of abuse and subjugation of women in that region.
I personally have questions on how best to help the women of Afghanistan, but if you believe that we should walk away and leave these women to their fates have the guts to say that you are in fact knowingly sentencing them to suffer and die and spare me the "ifs" or the "it's our fault" bullshit.
P.S. And we should give them all the knowledge and the means to successfully and painlessly commit suicide before we leave because that will be kinder than leaving them to the animals that will be taking over.
(And the fact that the link wasn't working sheds some light on the first comment here -- the poster hadn't even read the article!)
(And the fact that the link wasn't working sheds some light on the first comment here -- the poster hadn't even read the article!)
Nice try, honey, but some of us actually do some research (i.e. you're pretty easy to Google) before we comment as opposed to people who state outright wrong information and silly ass comments about other people having read their articles.
That facts still remain that you are willing to accept the abuse and murder of thousands and thousands of Afghani women to achieve YOUR agenda.
All I'm saying is have the guts to admit that you are KNOWINGLY sentencing them to torture, abuse and death and that you just don't give a shit about them. It's simple really. Just make believe that you are a guard at Auschwitz.
Then I guess the problem must be one of comprehension. My article made it pretty clear that Afghan women's lives have gotten worse with the US occupation, not better (including a strengthening of the Taliban.) Unless you have some evidence to refute this claim, your contention that *I* am the one who doesn't care about Afghan women makes no sense.
american foreign policy is not uniformly evil, but i believe the world and the nation would be a better place if the army stayed home and the cia disbanded. they have done some good, but more harm.
as for those who think america must save the world's women from their men, let's start by saving them from drone bombs. then let's leave in place socialist societies where women were treated with respect, instead of destroying those societies to install quislings.