Afghanistan, Iraq/Direct Action at Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday February 26, 2003 13:41 by path in exile - non-aligned rhizomix at dublin dot com

Just some random thoughts on the coming war...

TAKE DIRECT ACTION - STOP ALL WARS

Anyone remember the first stop on George Bush's merry-go-round "War on Terrorism"? That poverty-stricken, totally fucked country, Afghanistan? You probably dont because it isn't in the "news" much these days. Lets just take a quick look at what happened there over a year ago, and what the current situation is.

Over a year ago, the US went and fought the Taliban without any sort of UN mandate. In the aftermath of Sept 11th, the US was pretty much given a free hand to do what they wanted. Nobody really complained, everyone agreed that the US was justified in its carpet bombing campaign. There were a few of the usual anti-war actions in Dublin, but this was the beginning of direct actions down in Shannon. This brought some attention to the fact that the airport was being used by the US military, along with Indymedia reports, (e.g. http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=2338) But by the time we'd opened our eyes up to what was happening under our noses, the Taliban had supposedly disintegrated and the US had won their war.

So what happened to Afghanistan? Bush sent troops in to avenge the WTC attacks. The country had been liberated, but I wonder if the 5000+ Afghan civilians killed in the indiscrimnate bombing would beg to differ. For a detailed analysis of the US bombing, read http://www.cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm

Anyway, the US always claimed that this wasnt about revenge. They even changed the name of the operation from "Infinite Justice" to "Enduring Freedom", if my memory serves me right. So how much enduring freedom is the global policeman guaranteeing in post-war Afghanistan?

Well, as it turns out, not much. The Bush government "forgot" to ask for any reconstruction aid for Afghanistan in its 2004 budget, but the US Congress managed to get their act together and cobble together a $300m package. Whether this is actually honoured or not remains to be seen. With the US economy in near freefall and Bush quite happily running up deficits, I'd be surprised if this aid reaches Afghanistan. Forgive me if I'm sounding preachy, but Tony Blair's words about the world not forgetting about Afghanistan again like it had many times before, ring so hollow.

Afghanistan has hardly been radically transformed either. Lacking a true international peacekeeping force, the country hasnt changed much, with tribal warlords running the show. There's also a huge amount of weapons still hanging around. Occasionally there are attacks on US special forces, but the US Military is unsure who these people are any more. Their policy of arming factions ("You say you're not Taliban? Oh OK, what can we get you?") who they considered to be on 'their side' means that the country is constantly on a knife edge, awaiting some violent coup.

So, the US has finished most of its dirty business for now in Afghanistan. I cant predict the future, but there's a notion that time runs in cycles, and American foreign policy just seems to go round and round. Over 20 years ago, the CIA armed, trained and financed factions in Afghanistan, and afterwards left them to their own devices to try and repair their country. This particular faction turned out to be the forerunner of Al-Qaeda, so maybe in another 20 years time, you'll have CIA-trained members of the Northern Alliance crashing planes into buildings. But I'm getting off the point here.

Now, the Bush administration is dipping its toes into Iraq. This buildup of forces is much bigger than the leadup to Afghanistan. At the last count I think there were roughly 200,000 troops deployed in the region, waiting for the green light. And when they get that green light, you can bet we'll see it live on CNN, they'll have their cameras perched on top of a 'smart' bomb, you'll be able to follow the action right until that baby hits its target. And its a smart bomb, right? Nobody gets killed by accident, right? Have a read of Chapters 3, 4 and 5 at http://www.hrw.org/reports/1991/gulfwar/ from the 1991 Gulf War.

So once they've done their thing (again) of bombing places and invading with troops, does anyone really BELIEVE that the Bush Administration is going to help install some sort of liberal democratic system? What exactly did the US go to war for in 1991? To restore democracy in Kuwait? To oust Saddam Hussein? To help the Kurds? None of the above were achieved. Can anyone answer that at all? Iraq has been a total mess since 1991, the population enduring misery and poverty. The US told the people to overthrow Hussein, but then got out of the country after "bombing it back to the stone age". The US did not care for the last 12 years to sort it out. Once they've had their spectacle, they'll pull out - just like every single other war they've fought for the last 50 years, and leave a gigantic, fucked up mess for the locals to spat over.

The US will roll into Iraq pretty soon. I'd love to think they wouldnt what with the huge opposition, but I would rate myself as being realistic not pessimistic this time. There'll be civilian casualties a-plenty (not that you'll know about it - http://www.fair.org/activism/fox-civilian-casualties.html), and the war machine will eventually move on to somewhere else, wherever it can find tenuous links to Al-Qaeda and exploit them through propaganda and mindless mantras (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/02/06/iraq_poll/index_np.html).

Lets say ENOUGH to this bullshit! We dont want to be any part of a war on Iraq, that will kill innocent civilians. Mass Direct actions at Shannon will hopefully encourage all carriers of troops to go elsewhere. We dont want any part of an Empire that wanders into other countries at will and fucks them up without any regard for international laws or treaties - which Bush certainly does not. Lets be genuinely neutral! Lets occupy that runway to say that WE DONT WANT A PART OF YOUR WAR. STOP KILLING PEOPLE NOW.

p.s. Harney this is not an "Anti-American" article. America has many beautiful things about it, and genuine inspiring aspects of its history and culture - black rights, civil rights, womens rights, one of the biggest antiwar movements ever (Vietnam), Watts 1965, techno & house music, crimethink, Noam Chomsky, Seattle N30, critical mass, the internet - but the State has never chosen to be anything but unashamedly capitalist and war mongering. the state and/or the government does not equal the people. i dont like you or your pitbull McDowell but that doesnt make me anti-irish.

p.p.s. And I do not give a flying fuck about American businesses in this country, they screw up the environment, and they're all going to leave in a few years time when the IDA tax grants run out and they can pay people in eastern europe a third of the wages they pay in Ireland (its called "globalisation" you see), we are better off without them. I could go on about less work for all, more jobs for all, minimising consumption, allowing more time for the things that give us a soul - time for art, conversation, craic with friends and family, but that's another day's work... and I should really go to bed now.