What are we up against in Afghanistan? What are these Taliban?
On Wednesday, December 30th, 2009, a man, reportedly wearing an Afghan National Army uniform detonated an explosive device concealed on his person at Forward Operating Base Chapman, a CIA counter-terrorism hub in the Khost region of Afghanistan. Seven persons were killed and six wounded. The dead included CIA officers, contractors, and the Agency's base chief. CIA officers have described the attack as "devastating."
According to reports, Chapman base focuses on infiltration. That is, they work on "turning people," acquiring informants, infiltrating enemy networks. The bomber is thought to have been a double-agent. He was a person whom the CIA thought they had "flipped."
On MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said that, the way he heard it, the bomber had contacted the Agency, communicating that he had urgent information and needed to meet with them immediately. His communication was so convincing, and he was held in such trust, that the base chief and other high-placed officers wanted to be on-hand for the briefing.
And then, disaster.
When one reflects on the significance of the event, one is compelled to pause for a befuddled moment and wonder just what in hell we are up against in Afghanistan.
This monstrous attack conjures dark thoughts and images. Dwell for a moment on the evolution of reasoning and emotions that must have occurred in the mind of the bomber. He carefully and skillfully deceives experienced CIA officers trained (I assume) to be wary and suspicious. Using the utmost caution and care, he constructs an elaborate ruse that must certainly have been the endeavor of many months. He so completely wins the trust of the CIA that he is brought into the presence of the base chief and high level staff without being subjected to a personal search.
And now, imagine those final seconds before the detonation. Did the bomber shout something? Did the victims become aware of the deception before they died? What final acts of desperation and heroism occurred in that room in that instant?
These are horrible contemplations.
This terrible act was a message from the Taliban. "We are unbowed and unbroken. We are fanatic in our determination. We can get to you." And also this: "We cannot be 'flipped.'"
I am utterly at a loss as to what to do in the face of such savagery. If the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, we unleash these Taliban on the long-suffering Afghan people. If we escalate, we are drawn deeper into a conflict that has the potential to bankrupt our country and ignite a full-scale world war in which every country on the face of this Earth is forced to choose sides.
President Obama gave us some straight talk last month in his Afghanistan speech. His remarks were stark and sober. With the bombing at Forward Operating Base Chapman, the Taliban makes its rebuttal.
2 comments:
You are aware that the US funded the Mujahadeen whom the Taliban came from during the Afghan/Russia war, aren't you?
When co-King George started this little illegal war, he gave the Taliban $74 million for poppy eradication, then stated a few years later that they were letting the Afghans grow poppies for their economy. War on Drugs? What?
In the book, "The Bookseller of Kabul," I learned how U.S. allies called in an airstrike on a wedding party.
As well, throughout the years, I have heard of all sorts of tortures, murders, oppressions, and massacres enacted by the U.S. and its allies against the Afghani people.
It is also well recorded how co-King George helped the Taliban leaders escape the U.S. invasion into Pakistan.
Then there was the Pushtun Massacre early in the war, when our allies under the U.S. watchful eye were trucking some 9,000 Pushtun in containers. To help them breathe in the sweltering heat, they unloaded a few machine guns into the containers, killing upwards of 3,000 people.
The CIA is not known for being nice. They are known to torture, murder, and disappear people. That makes them a military target. Remember early in the war when some folk escaped that CIA prison, got a hold of one of those wonderful, kind, loving, CIA agents, and kicked, beat, and bit him to death. They didn't do that because he was a sweet and nice overseer of justice who treated them with respect and humanity.
This is war. This is what war is all about. Someone is in your homeland killing, raping, murdering, torturing, oppressing, etc., your family, your friends, your loved ones, your people. What do you do? It is a natural consequence of how the U.S. treats people that don't co-operate with U.S. aims. That is, Wall Street needs that money you make from selling all that sweet goey heroine since they can't get money from an oil pipeline.
You are aware that the US funded the Mujahadeen whom the Taliban came from during the Afghan/Russia war, aren't you?
When co-King George started this little illegal war, he gave the Taliban $74 million for poppy eradication, then stated a few years later that they were letting the Afghans grow poppies for their economy. War on Drugs? What?
In the book, "The Bookseller of Kabul," I learned how U.S. allies called in an airstrike on a wedding party.
As well, throughout the years, I have heard of all sorts of tortures, murders, oppressions, and massacres enacted by the U.S. and its allies against the Afghani people.
It is also well recorded how co-King George helped the Taliban leaders escape the U.S. invasion into Pakistan.
Then there was the Pushtun Massacre early in the war, when our allies under the U.S. watchful eye were trucking some 9,000 Pushtun in containers. To help them breathe in the sweltering heat, they unloaded a few machine guns into the containers, killing upwards of 3,000 people.
The CIA is not known for being nice. They are known to torture, murder, and disappear people. That makes them a military target. Remember early in the war when some folk escaped that CIA prison, got a hold of one of those wonderful, kind, loving, CIA agents, and kicked, beat, and bit him to death. They didn't do that because he was a sweet and nice overseer of justice who treated them with respect and humanity.
This is war. This is what war is all about. Someone is in your homeland killing, raping, murdering, torturing, oppressing, etc., your family, your friends, your loved ones, your people. What do you do? It is a natural consequence of how the U.S. treats people that don't co-operate with U.S. aims. That is, Wall Street needs that money you make from selling all that sweet goey heroine since they can't get money from an oil pipeline.
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