Leaked Documents Show Afghan War Is Bloody Uphill Battle.
“The biggest intelligence leak in history” was released simultaneously earlier this evening by NYTimes, the Guardian and Der Spiegel. Courtesy of Wikileaks, of course.
My initial reaction just from browsing the headlines: it’s news that between our accidents and the Taliban’s intentional terror campaigns, many civilians have died? That Bagram has become the new Guantanamo? That it is US policy to kill or capture Taliban leaders? That the Afghan government is corrupt? Or that the US is using drones to kill insurgents and sometimes these operations go awry? That elements within Pakistan have been funding and training the Taliban?
Either there’s not a lot of “there” in these 90,000+ documents, or the mainstream media is down-playing what’s actually ground-breaking in the reports.
Of course the real story is Wikileaks’ role in exposing these and other documents. SOS has had one of the better collections of links on that angle recently, and I expect some excellent commentary from Bruce early in the week.
Is it really right to assume that all civilian deaths were “accidents” by US and NATO forces and intentional terror campaigns when committed by Taliban forces? Isn’t the whole thing a giant terror campaign, you know, “shock and awe”? Don’t mess with us, don’t join them, or else? I believe allied forces go to great lengths to prevent civilian deaths, but I have a hard time believing all of them were accidents, necessarily. I also have hard time believing that all civilians killed by the Taliban were, in all cases, a result of terror campaigns. Perhaps sometimes, maybe even if rare, the situations were reversed?
You make a good point. I’m speaking of general patterns and specific examples are sure to refute that framing even if the general patterns hold.
I think they do, however. The US makes far more “mistakes” than I would consider appropriate or wise, and it’s true that US soldiers sometimes do commit war crimes – we didn’t need these documents to tell us that. But that is a far cry ethically from a campaign to intentionally target civilians, which the Taliban has long specialized in, even if it’s not their only modus operandi in all cases.
Sy Hersh has hinted on some SpecOps terror campaigns against civilians in Afghanistan. I suppose that will come out eventually just like the terror campaigns in Vietnam.
The real question is: If this is all old news, then how can endless money and lives be poured into this shitmire without resistance?
Because “old news” is the memory hole down which war crimes are dropped in an open society.
This was the pattern under Bush; it remains the pattern under Obama. One of the reasons that failed and criminal policies continue is that, whenever the American public is reminded of their failure and criminality, the power elite declares that it’s all “old news” and has, ipso facto, already been dealt with (of course the first couple times the details were revealed, the same folks questioned their veracity).
Thanks for playing!
Yes. Also, how much “news” (at least to people in the know such as Charli Carpenter) were found in the Pentagon Papers, really?
Fair enough. The “general patterns” hold, I think my primary concern is how we frame the issue even when the “general patterns” hold. Unfortunately, too many people are unwilling to consider the alternative perspectives in this war, it’s always “good guys versus the bad guys”, and we are the “good guys”. Too much of that is dangerous, even when we generally hold the moral/ethical high ground (I believe we do).
I would say that, in regards to these documents, not everyone is an expert on this war, or human security, so how the story is told and how a largely apathetic public responds will really determine the significance of this event. We’ll have to wait and see.
If you want to hold the “moral/ethical high ground”, then stop invading and occupying countries and propping up corrupt governments. It really is that simple.
I agree but was more referring to how our troops operate on the ground in accordance with ROE, not why we are there in the first place. I am under no delusion that our troops aren’t any more susceptible, however, to the nightmarish tactics the Taliban forces demonstrate against civilians, but the consequences of said corruption for our side are generally greater. Mostly because our society demands it, which in turn constitutes what I believe a moral/ethical higher ground. However, one could also argue that I am delusional and our use of superior technology that still often creates collateral damage is no better than Taliban forces hiding behind a school or purposefully targeting civilian lives, or that our being there in the first place cancels out any good intentions our troops have on the ground.
Occupations are always fights between competing sources of legitimate authority. The US isn’t a source of legitimate authority in Afghanistan, but the US military can support a force that is. The Karzai government is not a legitimate authority. Inevitably military and political commanders use terror(see shock and awe and Fallujah 2004) in an attempt to coerce a captive population to do what they want.
I’m not even sure what the US government goal is in Afghanistan. I’m pretty sure they are fighting a war there to fight a war there.
Regarding the issue of how much of this is really new, the documents detail actual names of Pakistani security forces.
e.g., Gen. Hamid Gul who served as the head of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence.
Exactly right – I think also that “Taliban have been killing coalition troops with SAMs and the coalition has been covering it up” is also quite interesting.
Hamid Gul’s been suspected of involvement in this for some time, but it’s different, I think, to see names and dates.
[...] Wikileaks. The Daily Beast has what it thinks are the 7 most shocking secrets. Charli Carpenter is skeptical there’s much here we didn’t already already know. There’s more in the comments at [...]
When torrents were widely available, I downloaded a Canadian embed documentary on one of their units in Afghanistan. The unit was unable to get a water pump for a village well and so their hearts and minds campaign went to hell. At the end of the film, a US armored vehicle pulls up to the village, -flying the JOLLY ROGER – and kidnaps several young men. And that’s just one day in the life…
[...] (and others) have reacted with a collective, if knowledgable, shrug. Charli Carpenter’s take is typical (not to single her out, as she is generally very [...]
One angle I am more interested in…. does this count as whistle-blowing??
If the new information shows things that are commonly suspected but widely denied, where does that leave us?
Should Manning be prosecuted or protected?
Is Lamo just a craptacular snitch?
I think this paragraph from here is relevant:
Houston, TX – The Houston Texans signed Andre Johnson to a two-year obligation magnitude on Thursday, a deal that, according to the Houston List, makes him the highest paid far-reaching receiver in the NFL.
Johnson, 29, led the NFL in receiving yards the mould two seasons and had five years and $35 million unconsumed on his existing contract.
The Relate reported the proportions to be quality $38.5 million, including $13 million guaranteed. On normal, Johnson purpose at the moment make $10.5 million per year during the next seven seasons, not including performance incentives.
“I on all occasions said I wanted to participate in for one band, and to be capable to frivolity pro the Houston Texans in favour of my healthy life’s work is a tremendous honor,” Johnson said. “I everlastingly said I wanted to be business of something festive, and I knew that coming to a late constitution, things were going to be a slight rough in the creation, and now I think like things are enchanting that turn for us.”
The University of Miami-Florida product has fagged out his thorough seven-year race in Houston after the Texans selected him with the third total pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.
Johnson has recorded back-to-back 1,500-yard receiving seasons, including a 101-catch, 1,569-yard competition matrix year. He also scored nine touchdowns in 2009 to up his career comprehensive to 42 TDs in 102 games.
“Over the extent of the last two years, no person has played to the level that this under age man has as long that I’ve been about, other than the same other guy,” said mr big instructor Gary Kubiak. “What he’s been doing has been distinctive, and there’s a collection more to come. So, that’s going to be exciting.”
He has caught 587 passes in search 7,948 yards in excess of the progress of his calling, proper two of the numerous organization records he owns.
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