"The truth, always the truth--at all costs"
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| 9018 07/15/2010 AFGHANISTAN IN RUINS, BUT IT WILL BACKFIRE ON AMERICA SAM HAMOD AND ANTHONY DiMAGGIO |
| THESE WARS WILL BACKFIRE ON AMERICA by SAM HAMOD,Ph.D Sadly, no in the GW Bush or Obama administrations has been willing to listen to those of us who understand the Muslim World, Afghanistan or Iraq--they have let the neo-cons lead them down the path to the destruction of America as well as the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. This war will end up boomeranging against America as more of those who have been hurt in those countries will find ways to get revenge for our attacks on their religion, families, tribes and countries and sadly and even more dangerously, America has alienated at least 70% of the Muslims in the world, which means they may come at us from South America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, you name it, but make no mistake, they will come and we will suffer the consequences of Bush's thoughtless and cruel war that has been extended by the Obama administration and its short sighted generals and politicians. Where are the George Washingtons, the Lincolns, the Jeffersons and the Adams'? Why are we so beset by dunces and ignoramuses who do not understand or care to understand other cultures? Where are the real moral and political leaders who have good sense? We have destroyed countries with no good results except anger at America. This is not the fault of the citizenry, but we shall pay the price with more attacks against our mainland and more dollars lost to pay for the profits of Halliburton, Blackwater, and sundry other corporations that profit from war, we all lose. The Taliban offered to turn Bin Laden over to us, but we refused their offer; Saddam offered to leave Iraq for a small price, but we refused the offer. Why? Ah, that is a great mystery to some, but to others of us who know the politics of war realize it was so that a lot of old weapons could be used, so that the pentagon could buy new weapons and so that certain corporations could make more money, as they did in Viet Nam, Grenada,Columbia, Nicaragua, Korea, Cuba, Chile, Somalia and other "hotspots"as we've called them, countries we've attacked or aided in attacking, often under false pretenses. , As Mr.DiMaggio points out in the article below, we have left a mess in Afghanistan,and Obama's rhetoric rings hollow when u look at the reality on the ground. But, in addition, I must add that we cannot win a war against Islam, and that is what Bush put us into when he bombed mosques and laughed, when he tortured prisoners beyond decency and he Geneva Conventions, when he allowed his generals to attack weddings and civilians and shrugged it off as "collateral damage," or less, and when he failed to take into consideration the religion and culture of the people he attacked. We cannot win against 38% of the world, that is the Muslim world; we are marked as the enemy, the same way that the neo-cons, and before them, Danny boy Quayle marked Islam as "our enemy in the 21st century" in a speech he gave near the end of his term as vice president. At the time, I thought it was an idea of what might happen, but in retrospect, it was that the right wing and the neo cons had a plan to make Islam the "enemy"in the 21st century, regardless of anything that Muslims might or might not do to become the "enemy." So here we are today,with no end in sight with these endless wars that we cannot win, where the cream of youth is being killed or wounded or coming home with stress syndrome and worse mental illnesses, where our economy is in tatters with a free fall for America and for the dollar, and our reputation in the world gone to hell in a handbasket, all because of some ignorant and immoral plan that was put into place by such ignorant and culturally biased and demented people as the neo-cons such as Wolfowitz, Perle, Lieberman, King, Schumer,Rumsfeld,Kristol, and their military allies such as Petraus, Gates, McChrytal and others in the Pentagon who are no-nothings, and such men who knew better, such as Colin Powell, and others of that ilk. THESE MEN WERE NOT SAVING AMERICA, THEY WERE AND ARE DESTROYING IT,with the help of zionist congressmen and senators who fear Islam and want to drive the Muslim nations into the ground. Thus, it has become a religious war whether we like it or not, with zionists, who claim to be Jews but are only wearing the mask of Judaism, and right wingers who claim to be God fearing Christians, but who have been bought off by the zionists, and politicians who go along with them, and generals who have political ambitions, all attacking Islam (at least that is what many Muslims and Muslim leaders have made clear from their perspective), but it is a war we cannot win because every Muslim who is devout believes that if he defends the religion against attack he will promptly go to Heaven, he will also get there if he defends his family, but will also be honored if he defends his tribe or country, which are but extensions of Islam and himself. Many of us spoke up and wrote articles trying to wake our country, America up--but it was to no avail, the neo-cons, the Bushite chicken hawks and now the Obama hollow men have refused to face reality, for whatever reason. But make no mistake about it, we cannot win in Afghanistan, Iraq and certainly cannot win against Islam. The best thing we can do is to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and apologize, and live according to our alleged moral code as democratic and just American people. If not, then we shall all pay a terrible price for our ignorance,arrogance and for allowing the neo-cons and zionists to lead us down this wrongful, immoral and despicable path to the destruction of our once great America. Some attack those of us who tell the truth, people like Paul Craig Roberts, Joseph Stiglitz, Lendman, Seymour Hersh, Marjorie Cohn, Chalmers Johnson, K.Gajenra Singh, but we are the real patriots, not those wh lie to us and have taken us into and continue to keep us in immoral and unwinnable wars that are destroying our nation in every way. But we are the real patriots who want to save America by speaking up and speaking the truth into the lies that our "leaders" tell the public and the media that trumpets their lies and keeps intelligent experts off the air so taht the truth cannot be known by the American public. c: sam hamod,july 15,2010 Dr.Sam Hamod is a patriotic American who believes in our Constitution, is against wrongful wars, and who knows our American culture and the Muslim mind; he has written and spoken for years to help keep us on a moral path, but his voice, like so many others, was not listened to. He is the founding editor of www.todaysalternativenews.com and has been a professor at many major universities. ---------------------------------------------------------- Obama's Rhetoric Undermined By On-the-Ground Reality Afghanistan in Ruins By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO Violence in Afghanistan spiked in 2010 in light of the U.S. “surge,” its targeting of the Taliban, and growing attacks on Afghan civilians. Attacks reached an all time high since the U.S. invaded in 2001, according to the group Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM). ARM estimates that more than 1,000 civilians have been killed this year, with another 1,500 injured, while the Taliban “has become more resilient, multi-structured and deadly.” The U.S. is said to be responsible for approximately one third of all the civilian deaths, although Taliban forces were found to have incited more than 60 percent of all deaths. The recent ARM report from this month represents an important admission from those on the ground that the U.S. promise to help “stabilize” Afghanistan and reduce violence and terrorism remain more rhetoric than reality. The 140,000 troops the U.S. has added to Afghanistan appear to have increased the threat to Afghans by causing an escalation of violence to the point where the country is further spiraling out of control. Recent social indicators from the United Nations indicate that Afghanistan remains one of the worst off countries in the world. Life expectancy is at a pitiful 44 years, as the country ranks the second lowest in this area (behind only Niger) in all countries throughout the globe. The 2009 UN Human Development Index finds that Afghanistan remains in the bottom 10 percent of countries in terms of its Gross Domestic Product, in the bottom 20 percent in terms of literacy, in the bottom four percent in life expectancy, and in the bottom 30 percent in child malnutrition. Afghanistan excels in one area, however: outmigration. Afghanistan actually finishes in the top 30 percent of countries in terms of people leaving the country, a damning indication of the dangers civilians face throughout the U.S.-NATO occupation. The Afghan war’s popularity is at a historic low as of mid 2010. Americans appear to be recognizing that the situation in the country is not improving, but in fact worsening in terms of Afghan civilian and U.S. soldiers’ lives lost. Growing public opposition is a testament to the weakness of Obama’s rhetorical defense of the war, which is becoming less convincing each day. According to Newsweek polling, the percent of Americans opposing Obama’s handling of the war increased by a whopping 26 percent from just 27 percent of Americans in February to 55 percent in June. According to Washington Post-ABC polling, while 52 percent of Americans thought the war was “worth fighting” immediately following Obama’s December 2009 speech, that figure fell to 44 percent by early June 2010. General opposition to the war as not “worth” it reached a majority of Americans by April of this year. U.S. casualties throughout 2010 have been the worst in the war’s history. They averaged 32 per month, compared to the average of 26 per month in 2009 and 13 deaths per month in 2009. U.S. casualty rates have actually increased steadily every year since 2001, a sign of the increasing toll the war is exacting on the American people. The story of growing U.S. deaths, however, has remained largely under the radar in the American press, which has rarely featured any stories about the historical levels casualties since it first emphasized the topic in late 2009. It appears that journalists have learned well the lesson not to “rock the boat” for a war in which both parties are strongly supportive, despite the growing public rebellion. C: SAM HAMOD AND ANTHONY DiMAGGIO 7.15.10 Anthony DiMaggio is the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a daily online magazine devoted to the study of media, public opinion, and current events. He is the author of When Media Goes to War (2010) and Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (2008). He can be reached at: mediaocracy@gmail.com |
