HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
UNITE! Info #159en: E. Margolis on US' Afghan war [Posted: 11.12.01] Note / Anmerkung / Note / Nota / Anmärkning: On the UNITE! / VEREINIGT EUCH! / UNISSEZ-VOUS! / ¡UNIOS! / FÖRENA ER! Info en/de/fr/es/se series: See information on the last page / Siehe Information auf der letzten Seite / Verrez information à la dernière page / Ver información en la última página / Se information på sista sidan INTRO NOTE: On 09.12.01, the Canadian bourgeois newspaper published an article by Eric Margolis, later posted (by Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) to the AntiNATO mailing list (HTTP:// WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK), with the title "America's New War: A Progress Report". Eric Margolis is a staunchly Conservative writer, whose "tra- ditionally"-right-wing articles have often been attacked, cor- rectly or sometimes not quite correctly, by writers to that mailing list mentioned. He at times has brought information and analysis which, in my opinion, have been of some interest also to those who oppose capitalism and imperialism in the world. In this article, Margolis above all maintains that the US im- perialists have now committed a strategic error. I on my part cannot, at the moment, tell whether he (to some part or com- pletely) is right in this. It's possible that he *is* right. Anyway, this article IMO is interesting reading, and thus I'm reproducing it, below. I've added some brief comments of mine within brackets [ ]. End of intro note [QUOTE:] Published on Sunday, December 9, 2001 in the Toronto Sun: AMERICA'S NEW WAR: A PROGRESS REPORT by Eric Margolis What has the U.S. achieved after waging war for the past two months in Afghanistan? * Afghanistan's de facto government, the Taliban, an Islamic religious movement with about 30,000 armed supporters, has been overthrown and scattered. After holding out for five weeks under massive U.S. bombardments, its leader, Mullah Omar, ordered his men to retreat to the mountains. Omar, who may be shortly captured or killed, claimed he ordered the retreat to spare civilians in Taliban-ruled areas from U.S. bombing. To date, the U.S. has dropped 10,000 bombs on Afghanistan, killing sizable numbers of civilians - in the range of 1,500-2,000, according to Afghan sources. U.S. bombing of cities, towns and villages has driven over 160,000 people into refugee camps. * On Dec. 3, 2000 - one year ago - this column said that over- throwing the Taliban would "pave the way for a second Russian occupation of Afghanistan." This has now happened. The Northern Alliance, armed and funded by Russia, directed by the Afghan Communist party [not of course an actually commu- nist one but a revisionist party, just as *anti*communist at least as any Conservative or other openly-bourgeois forces - RM] and under the overall command of the chief of the Russian general staff, Marshall Viktor Kvashnin, deputy KGB [that old infamous spy organization, founded in 1954, actually to- day has been "dissolved" or at least renamed - RM] director Viktor Komogorov, and a cadre of Russian advisers, seized Kabul and all of northern Afghanistan. U.S. President George Bush committed a colossal, inexcusable blunder. If this column could foresee Russian intervention, why didn't the White House? * Last week's much-ballyhooed Afghan "unity" conference in Germany produced precisely what this column predicted: a sham "coalition" government run by the Northern Alliance. One of the CIA's Pashtun "assets," Hamid Karzai, who represents no one but himself, was named prime minister. There was no other real Pashtun representation, though they comprise half the population. Of 30 cabinet seats, two-thirds went to Northern Alliance Ta- jiks, notably the power ministries of defence, the interior and foreign affairs. Two women were added for window dressing to please the West. The 87-year old deposed Afghan king, Zahir Shah, widely blamed for allowing the communists [nope, the revisionists - RM] to infiltrate Afghanistan in the 1970s, was invited back as a figurehead monarch. In short, a communist-dominated [getting boring, but again: revisionist- dominated - RM] regime, ruled by a king, whose strings are pulled by Moscow. Quite a bizarre creation. FEUDING STARTS The very next day, feuding broke out among Alliance members. Old communist stalwart [these people never *could* get this right - nor, of course, never wanted to: please translate as "revisionist stalwart", anyway - RM] Rashid Dostam, who had just finished massacring hundreds of Taliban prisoners with American and British help, threatened war if his Uzbeks did not get more spoils. My old friend, the Alliance's figurehead pre- sident, Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, a respected Islamic scholar, was shoved aside by young communists [no, revisionists - RM]. * The Bush administration was apparently too preoccupied chasing Osama bin Laden to notice its new best friend, Rus- sia, had broken its agreement to wait for formation of a pro- U.S., pro-Pakistani regime, and seized half of Afghanistan. Marshall Kvashnin rushed his men into Kabul, just as he out- foxed the Americans in 1999 in a similar coup de main in Ko- sovo. * The hunt for bin Laden and his Al-Qaida continues. A few se- nior figures have been killed, likely including Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad. The net is closing around bin Laden's possible hiding places. Unless he has escaped Afghanistan, his capture or death appear immi- nent. This will be welcome news for the Bush administration. If bin Laden somehow escapes, or his body is never found, Bush will be accused of blowing apart Afghanistan, killing large numbers of civilians, and allowing the Russians to grab back the country, all for nothing. [Concerning the *actual* (main) terrorists, the US im- perialists, some of whom undoubtedly were the ones too who organized the 11 September atrocities in the USA itself, the writer quoted here, like all of his col- leagues of course, continues to cover up *that* action of theirs. For (at least some) information on this crime, which among other things has been used as the pretext for this present war of aggression by the US, and other, imperialists, see some earlier Infos in this series and (with some more details) for instance the sites: www.emperors-clothes.com, www.whatreallyhappened.com and www.psyopnews.com. - RM] * The late Pashtun leader Abdul Haq, whom I knew from my Pesha- war days, warned the U.S. before his death that bombing Af- ghanistan was unnecessary and a grave mistake. Taliban con- trol could be broken, where needed, by financing tribal up- risings - the standard form of Afghan warfare - without fo- reign intervention. Otherwise, he warned, the Northern Al- liance would take over and bring in the Russians. He pleaded with Washington for restraint, but to no avail. Haq was cap- tured by the Taliban during a bungled CIA operation and hanged. But Haq was right. U.S. forces could have hunted bin Laden in southern Afghanistan with relative impunity, as they are now doing, without having to launch a total war against the Tali- ban. U.S. air power totally dominates barren Afghanistan. Ta- liban forces could not move or communicate. There were only a small number of Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan where bin Laden was hiding. Bombing Afghan civilian centres was absolutely unnecessary. The only real military targets offered by the Taliban were its entrenched troops facing the Alliance. It was remarkable the Taliban managed to withstand five weeks of carpet bombing by U.S. B-52s - particularly, as one Pakistani writer wryly noted, after his nation gave in to the U.S. after only a threatening phone call from Washington. The U.S. could have hunted bin Laden without allowing the Russians to recapture half of Afghanistan, a severe geopoli- tical defeat for American ambitions to use that nation as a gateway to Central Asian oil and gas. [On the question of whether this really is much of an ambition on the part of US imperialists, see Info #157en. - RM] And without blasting to rubble what little remained of demolished Afghanistan, and without driving 160,000 civilians into terrified flight. So, after eight weeks of war, the Taliban is out, the commu- nists [actually, of course, once again, no "communists" whatsoever, but some long-since quite infamous revisionists, are what's being referred to here, whether the assessement in this sentence is correct or not - RM] are in power in Kabul and the south is in chaos. The war has cost Washington US$60 billion to date. Afghanistan is a bloody mess. And Vladimir Putin is smiling. Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership [END OF QUOTE] UNITE! / VEREINIGT EUCH! / UNISSEZ-VOUS! / ¡UNIOS! / FÖRENA ER! Info en/de/fr/es/se series: Advocates the political line of Marx, Lenin and Mao Zedong. Each item # will be posted in one or more language(s). Leaflets in the INFORMATIONSBLAD series published by me, mainly in Swedish, since 1975 are available on request. Befürwortet die politische Linie von Marx, Lenin und Mao Zedong. Jedes Nummer # wird in einer oder mehreren Sprache(n) gesandt werden. Flugblätter der Reihe INFORMATIONSBLAD, von mir haupt- sächlich in Schwedisch seit 1975 veröffentlicht, sind auf An- frage erhaltlich. Avocate de la ligne politique de Marx, Lénine et Mao Zedong. Chaque numéro # sera envoyé en une ou plusieurs langue(s). Vo- lantes de la série INFORMATIONSBLAD, publiée par moi principale- ment en suédois depuis 1975, sont accessibles sur demande. Partidaria de la línea política de Marx, Lenin y Mao Zedong. Ca- da número # se envía en uno o más idiomas. Están a su disposi- ción, bajo petición previa, distintos folletos de la serie IN- FORMATIONSBLAD, publicada por mi principalmente en sueco desde 1975. Förespråkar Marx', Lenins och Mao Zedongs politiska linje. Varje nummer # kommer att sändas på ett eller flera språk. Flygblad i serien INFORMATIONSBLAD, publicerad av mig huvudsakligen på svenska sedan 1975, kan fås på begäran. Postal address: Rolf Martens Nobelvaegen 38U4 SE - 214 33 Malmoe SWEDEN Tel: +46 - 40 - 124832 E-mail (main, since Oct 1995:) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (reserve, since Oct 2000:) [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================