Using the McChrystal Moment to Raise a Forbidden Question
by Prof. David Ray Griffin
Global Research, June 25, 2010
There are many questions to ask about the war in Afghanistan. One that has been widely asked is whether it will turn out to be “Obama’s Vietnam.”1 This question implies another: Is this war winnable, or is it destined to be a quagmire, like Vietnam? These questions are motivated in part by the widespread agreement that the Afghan government, under Hamid Karzai, is at least as corrupt and incompetent as the government the United States tried to prop up in South Vietnam for 20 years.
Although there are many similarities between these two wars, there is also a big difference: This time, there is no draft. If there were a draft, so that college students and their friends back home were being sent to Afghanistan, there would be huge demonstrations against this war on campuses all across this country. If the sons and daughters of wealthy and middle-class parents were coming home in boxes, or with permanent injuries or post-traumatic stress syndrome, this war would have surely been stopped long ago. People have often asked: Did we learn any of the “lessons of Vietnam”? The US government learned one: If you’re going to fight unpopular wars, don’t have a draft – hire mercenaries!
There are many other questions that have been, and should be, asked about this war, but in this essay, I focus on only one: Did the 9/11 attacks justify the war in Afghanistan?
I’d say it’s pretty well established the afgan occupation was all about the pipeline.
O will have us out in mid 2011 with lucrative mining and exploration contracts if he doesnt blow it. Also he will have the Pakistanis as alies similar to the way Turkey is our ally. This is a best case scenario of course but in the end if he can do what no bush could have ever done and create a viable stable community that wont tollerate islamic fundamentalism especially as leadership or as a strong force in their government then at least he will have succeeded in one country… were going to have to face the fact that we have given Iraq to the shia…
Our hidden masters that lurk behind the curtain foment hatreds to initiate and prolong wars — and as long as war is profitable for so many, nothing will change.
“American democracy” is a ruse, an immense hoax — the grandest stage show in human history. Key leadership is selected and then instructed/managed by our self-appointed overlords.
On a recent stopover, my alien friend commented once again about the stunning ways that humans treat each other — based on nationality, sterotyping, religion and culture.
What the American government does to non-Americans around the world, with American tax dollars and the majority of American’s approval, is shameful, widespread, brutal, and in many cases, overtly vile.
And as long as the ruling class is able to distract and entertain the bewildered herd, (and to discourage critical thinking), the hoax and consequences will ensue.
Enjoy the fireworks this weekend — give little thought to what America has really become.