Reaper and Predator Drone Imagery on Blue Abrash Ground, 2016. Wool rug. Collection of Kevin Sudeith. Courtesy of the Gund Gallery. https://www.uvm.edu/fleming/warp-war-rugs-afghanistan
Reposting this press release with insightful analysis of the Biden Administration's statements on allegedly withdrawing from Afghanistan. If you value the work of the Black Alliance for Peace, as I do, consider supporting them financially. As a white ally who appreciates their labor, I make a monthly donation here.
APRIL 13, 2021—Press reports were circulating April 13 that the Biden-Harris administration will not abide by the Doha agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. forces by May 1, violating a key component of the peace agreement negotiated by the previous administration. It appears the Biden-Harris administration is floating September 11—the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack—as a likely date to end the second longest U.S. war.
The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has consistently demanded U.S. adherence to the Doha peace agreement. BAP even organized an International Day of Action on Afghanistan on April 8 to help raise the public's awareness on the issue.
While BAP continues to gather information on this reported proposal, we are concerned that what is being floated by the corporate media will result in increased hostilities between the Taliban and U.S. forces, providing a pretext for increased U.S. military involvement. BAP has detailed how powerful forces within the administration and among the foreign policy elite are trying to find ways to keep a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to support broader geostrategic objectives, primarily countering Chinese influence. Some of these issues were laid out during the April 13 episode of "Voices With Vision" on WPFW (89.3 FM in Washington, D.C.).
As an internationalist organization, BAP wonders if U.S. private contractors and NATO coalition forces from other countries—both of which outnumber U.S. military personnel—will remain in Afghanistan. What role would the United States play once troops are removed? We also ask where else U.S. troops will be sent as the cold war on China is ramped up, Russia continues to be agitated and Africa remains a hotbed for U.S. military activity. We question if devastating sanctions would be slapped on the people of Afghanistan after a U.S. pullout, as in the case of 1970s Vietnam and Iraq after the 1990s bombing campaign.
For all of these reasons and as we gather information on what appears to be an attempt to test the U.S. public's reaction, BAP continues to demand the United States and NATO pull all troops and contractors, and end all involvement. And we insist the United States respect the human rights of the Afghan people and colonized people the world over, including inside its borders.
"Cloud of darkness" was trending on Twitter when I got up this morning. It means one thing to gamers but this boomer couldn't help but feel it probably was a reference to our collective future governed by the president-elect's cabinet picks.
Putting female warmongers in prominent roles to please Democrats already trained to regard the warmongering Hillary Clinton as a desirable "leader" is absolutely unsurprising. What's only mildly surprising is the weak, insincere protestations sponsored on corporate media outlets like CNN and MSNBC.
Cutting the mic of commentators who question the wisdom of appointing, say, Rahm Emmanuel, is entirely in character for these manufacturers of consent.
Did folks catch latest censorship from the Clinton News Network (CNN) where the new Congressman Elect Jamaal Bowman was cut ( technical difficulties) right when he started to criticize the possible selection of Rahm Emmanuel to Biden's right-wing cabinet. https://t.co/0TetVofEPB
To get back to my original point, trying to spin corporate hacks who peddle weapons to Israel and Saudi Arabia while unwilling US taxpayers pick up the tab as feminists is laughable. Well, it would be laughable if it didn't fool so many liberals. Identity politics has been a potent management tool for keeping the brunch eating masses stupefied while the soul and treasury of the US is hollowed out by austerity to pay for endless wars.
Real feminist leaders like Kathy Kelly have been speaking out during this transition on the urgency of ending the 19 year war on Afghanistan.
link to video on YouTube if embed does not work for you
Here's she's joined by moderator Ann Wright, another peace leader, as well as Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen, and Arash Azizzada to discuss the prospects of this happening before Biden gets into the White House.
Democrats in Congress and generals at the Pentagon are putting up resistance, of course. If the cash doesn't flow to weapons manufacturers, how will the campaign contributions and/or cushy corporate posts flow?
When you're in the weapons business -- as the US government surely is -- endless wars is your go-to marketing scheme.
But the current occupant of the White House has shown less business acumen than some expected. Instead, he has appeared to focus on his image. Challenges like managing a public health crisis resulted in fatal damage to his persona as leader, but the remaining weeks do offer some opportunities for legacy repair.
Ending the war in Afghanistan (which Obama promised to do but never did) could be just the ticket.
Pardoning Julian Assange, jailed in the UK for the crime of actual journalism on Obama's watch and since, would also be a winning move and, as an in-your-face to his rival and predecessor, likely to appeal to the outgoing chief executive.
Are mercenaries with extra sets of teeth about to descend on Afghanistan? Ok, I'm kidding about the extra sets of teeth, an urban legend associated with the Hessian mercenaries hired in the 1700's by the British empire to help lose a war on a distant continent. The real mercenaries hired as personnel needed to "privatize" the war inAfghanistan will be ordinary humans endowed with killer robots instead of surplus dentation. Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is a good buddy of the demagogue with bad hair in the White House. Heir to an Amway fortune -- along with his sister, the odious Secretary of "Education" Betsy DeVos -- Prince can shrug off lawsuits against his minions. Recently one of those who slaughtered civilians in Baghdad found some belated justice, but that won't bring any of his victims back to life.
One of the biggest changes to the military in my lifetime has been the retirement of Beetle Bailey in favor of contractors who employ people to peel the potatoes. This has had several effects.
It has caused the cost of military operations to skyrocket. This has been compounded by the exorbitant cost of flying killer robots, mechanized engines of death that have steadily replaced humans who have inconveniently soft bodies and emotions like compassion.
It has indemnified the Pentagon from being held legally or financially responsible for the war crimes it funds, plans, sets in motion, and then disavows.
His boss's decision to go with the mercenary option also may have caused General "Mad Dog" Mattis to quit his government position as Secretary of "Defense" earlier this month.
Aftermath of a suicide bomb last month in Kabul. Such attacks were unknown before the U.S./NATO invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. (Photo: Getty)
The war on Afghanistan has dragged on for 17 years, and the people of Afghanistan are currently less secure than ever.
But hey, yes, let's send in even more expensive killers for hire. They are vetted soldiers who've found a way to make a living out of killing while churning out enormous profits for their CEOs. That's the American way!
Is it alarmist to suggest that corporate welfare for the 5th largest weapons corporation in the world will lead to WWIII, as did Portland's the bollard in its February issue? I don't think so. The giant warships known as destroyers that are built by General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine are indeed sent to menace China. Destruction of a UN World Heritage Site coral reef over the last several years to create a deep water port for those destroyers on Jeju Island, South Korea was resisted vigorously by the people who live and fish there. They did not want their coastline used as a staging area for a showdown between their powerful neighbor and the U.S. -- of which South Korea is a client state since it was partitioned during the Cold War. One of the best quotes I've ever seen from the many articulate protesters who have gathered at BIW warship christenings[sic] was from Peter Morgan, a Veteran for Peace. He reportedly told the Portland Press Herald of a warship that cost $4.1 billion to build, "I’m not sure how the destroyer addresses terrorism, exactly." Hmm... Yesterday I noticed news that the U.S. government is set to borrow $955 billion in 2018, a huge increase over previous years. This is likely in response to revenue lost because of the tax "reform" that slashed taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals. Much of what is borrowed will funnel back to those same corporations in the form of lucrative contracts to build massive weapon systems. And those same corporations will give campaign contributions to the legislators who voted for their big tax break. When I protested at BIW with a sign that said WAR = DEBT I meant this literally. Today faux news is reporting that ISIS is "defeated" and that the U.S. will be redeploying troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. (What could go wrong?) ISIS, a direct result of the U.S. invading and occupying Iraq, has largely been funded by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. If it is "defeated" I'm guessing this means its funding streams are drying up. With China and Russia as enemies to justify mad borrowing that funds "defense" spending, who really needs Islamic militants? If the U.S. is indeed pulling troops out of Iraq (as they've promised many times to do) I'm guessing it may have something to do with the fact that "our" moderate rebels shot down a Russian warplane over Syria a couple of days ago. As we hold our breath in fear of nuclear war, this is an alarming development. Chris Busby of the bollard has the sense to connect the dots of LD1781, which is a bill before the Maine Legislature to provide a $60 million tax break for GD/BIW, and the threat of global war. I was arrested while holding the WAR = DEBT sign in front of BIW's gate. Justice Dan Billings just ruled that the shipyard was wrong to exclude me from a public event just because they didn't like my message. Also that the Bath Police Department was really wrong to be taking its orders from BIW.
It's the karmic debt of our warmongering for profit that worries me most. Sixteen plus years in Afghanistan and no end in sight. U.S. bases proliferate around the globe. Africa is crawling with Pentagon outposts established during the Obama administration. People want foreign military bases out of their countries: Okinawa, Italy, Germany, Australia, and so on. Politicians in the U.S. will go on claiming that Pentagon contracts are a good jobs program. They are not. The Ottoman Empire, the British Empire and the French monarchy found what happens when a nation keeps borrowing to fund wars it cannot afford. The German and Japanese people found where the road led from committng their national manufacturing might to weapons and death dealing. The U.S. is on that same road right now, and more corporate welfare for weapons manufacturers will only hasten our demise.
The announcement that more resources would pour into the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan confirms that, no matter who is in the White House, war profiteers are in the driver's seat of U.S. government. Photo: TheNewsDoctors.com
It's no surprise that the swamp got the demagogue with bad hair to embrace imperial overreach and come out as a supporter of ramping up the 16 year war in Afghanistan. War profiteers like Erik Prince of Blackwater -- which made a bundle on the U.S. war in Iraq -- are insiders in a regime that has incorporated ever more military personnel into supposedly civilian posts like Chief of Staff. War profiteers like Lockheed meanwhile pour millions of dollars a month into lobbying members of Congress who are alleged to represent the people.
How to fund these long, expensive, designed not to be winnable wars? A recent action alert from my union, the National Education Association, gives a hint:
The FY 2018 education funding bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recently is a frightening read in its disregard for the welfare of the millions of students who attend public schools, and the educators who teach in them.
The House spending bill:
Cuts education spending by $2.4 billion.
Completely eliminates Title II (within ESSA), which funds class-size reduction, professional development, and more.
Slashes 21st Century Community Learning Centers that provide afterschool services to students most in need.
Fails to increase funding for Title I, despite record numbers of low-income students in need of the services it provides.
Third grade teacher Teresa Danks made international news this summer by literally begging for the $2,000 or so she spends annually in her classroom. She's been a teacher in for decades and her annual salary in Oklahoma is around $35,000. She says: “I want the proper tools to do my job well. I wouldn’t ask somebody to build my house with a spoon.” I've objected to U.S. imperial wars on the basis that they're morally wrong, that they're racist, that they churn out tons of carbon pollution, that they harm or kill soldiers and their families, and that we can't afford to pay for them.
"Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production" Globalresearch.ca
I could also add that the occupation of Afghanistan specifically is fueling the U.S. heroin crisis by making the byproduct of opium poppies cheap and readily available (ka-ching goes the CIA cash register). All these pleas have fallen on deaf ears. There is no reason to believe that the militaristic cabal brought the demagogue with bad hair to heel will listen to the voice of the people. My government no longer represents me. But it hasn't succeeded in silencing me yet, and so as another school year begins -- when hungry children who need sneakers and backpacks and a safe place out of the weather come trundling back to school -- I say: BRING OUR WAR $$ HOME!
465,000+ number of Syrians killed by civil war since 2010
1,000,000+ number of Syrians injured by civil war since 2010
12,000,000+ number of Syrians driven from home by civil war since 2010
13,210 number of Syrian refugees accepted into the U.S. in 2016
50% share of Syrian population driven from their homes by civil war since 2010
1,000 estimated number of civilians killed by U.S. airstrikes in March, 2017
9number of children shot and left to bleed out by U.S. Special Forces in Yemen January 29, 2017
$20,400,000 compensation package for Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy in 2015
$19,000,000 compensation package for General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic in 2015
$22,500,000,000 total cost of three Zumwalt destroyer battleships built by General Dynamics at Bath Iron Work in Maine $30,510,000 net worth of Maine's congressional delegation in 2014 #1 rank of General Dynamics among campaign donors for Maine's senators in their last election year 28% share of children in Maine whose families receive public assistance
12 number of civil disobedients arrested at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in 2016
9 number of civil disobedients arrested at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to date in 2017
#Aegis9 about to be arrested on April 1, 2017 at christening [sic] of destroyer ship
Drone protesters Sharon, Chris, Toby, Shirley, Barry, and Cathy. All but Barry crossed onto the base.
My sister activist Toby Blome connected the dots in an email this morning:
On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the very day that activists were at Beale Air Force Base protesting endless wars and illegal drone killing, a U.S. Drone attack killed 13 civilians and wounded 14 others in Afghanistan.
Initially the Pentagon claimed that most of those killed were "suspected militants," but a day later they are admitting to most or all being civilians. (story here) Who will be next?
Toby pointed me to an account of the arrests and the rationale for being arrested by Sharon Delgado on her blog post "Campaign Nonviolence Action at Beale" which I repost here:
This morning I was arrested with four other women at Beale Air Force Base after crossing onto base property. We were taken by military bus to a building on base, given citations, and released. We may be given an arraignment date and we may go to trial, although in recent months all charges for peace activists have been dismissed.
We were wearing blue scarves and we had #enough written on our hands because we took this action in solidarity the Afghan Peace Volunteers and their blog Our Journey to Smile. Afghan Peace Volunteers is a group of young people working for peace in Afghanistan. I became aware of them when peace activist Kathy Kelly came with us to Beale a couple of years ago. Our blue scarves and the #enough banners and words written on our hands are a response to their invitation “Join us to say #enough.”
Before we were arrested, each of us explained what we have had enough of. I explained that I have had enough of drone warfare. (Beale is the home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that identifies targets for armed Predator and Reaper drones.) I have also had enough of the U.S. Air Force Vision for 2020, which is geared toward “full spectrum dominance” for the purpose of “protecting U.S. interests and investments” as “the globalization of the world economy… continues, with a widening between “haves” and “have-nots.”
I have had enough of the U.S. military enforcing a global order that is enriching the already wealthy, protecting the privileged, exploiting those who are vulnerable, causing massive suffering, and destroying this beautiful earth. #Enough war. #Enough “accidental” (or incidental) killing of children. #Enough suffering. #Enough extrajudicial killing. #Enough.
We also took this action in coordination with the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions. Over 700 separate Campaign Nonviolence Actions have taken place in recent days.
I note that yesterday Congress overrode Obama's veto of what's being called the "Sue the Saudis" bill that allowing families of those who died on 9/11 to seek relief in the courts. Obama presumably vetoed it because Saudi Arabia is a key ally of the U.S., a country to whom billions of weapons are shipped regularly. Similar to our other good buddy in the region, Israel, Saudi Arabia has a horrendous record of human rights violations. From RT's report on the veto:
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has argued that allowing JASTA to become law could lead to US being sued in foreign courts and subjected to an “intrusive discovery process.”
Can I get an Amen?
Perhaps some good will come of the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism" law. Perhaps a court case will involve some authentic disclosure of facts surrounding the fire bombing of the World Trade Center in 2001.
Perhaps it will also set a precedent for victims of state-sponsored terrorism and their families to sue the governments responsible -- including their own.
Launching a warship at Bath Iron Works is always an occasion for Maine's congressional delegates to pledge allegiance to military contracting and the jobs thus created. (Photo: AP, 2014.) The next launch and christening of a warship in Bath is set for October 31. Details of how to join a planned protest may be found here.
Two related news items caught my attention this morning. One is a puff piece on the efforts of my state's freshman representative on behalf of "the HUBZone [which] provides an advantage in acquiring federal government contracts to any qualifying business." Specifically, for businesses at the re-purposed Brunswick Naval Air Station. Maine's two senators are on board, too, all working to amend the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the scope of a favorable climate in which to do the business of weapons development, including drone testing.
A U.S. military drone visiting Brunswick Landing
This is seen as wonderful and desirable because of the holy grail of creating more jobs in my struggling state. Ever since NAFTA and CAFTA passed, jobs are wicked scarce in Maine. Who dares question a scheme to create employment? The larger news item has been rolling out over the last few days, thanks to a whistleblower who provided U.S. taxpayers and their victims with the cold details of how bureaucrats order assassinations.
Source: "The Kill Chain" by Cora Currier in The Intercept. GCC = Geographic Combatant Command; SECDEF = Secretary of Defense; PDC/PC = Principals’ Deputies Committee/Principals Committee; CoM = Chief of Mission; CoS = Chief of Station
Ordering strikes in Somalia and Yemen goes through a series of steps, such as compiling a so-called baseball card with the stats of a desired human target, according to "multiple interviews conducted" with Department of Defense officials.
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill described for Democracy Now! how a target was selected and evaluated in Afghanistan. Also why kids were bombed for providing context that made an adult male target appear to be especially tall and therefore presumably Arab: "it turned out that he was of average size, and that the people around him were children. They killed them all." The disconnect between creating jobs on the one hand and killing children to do so on the other runs deep in the U.S. taxpayer psyche. "Kill them over there before we have to kill them over here" is the rationale I've heard blandly repeated for years, despite extensive testimony that drone strikes create far more terrorists than they eliminate according to those in the know. But as Upton Sinclair wrote in 1935, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." And in 1944, "Fascism is capitalism plus murder." Job creation sounds so much more appealing, doesn't it?
Citizens disgusted by the U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan protested on Saturday, October 10 in front of Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine. Bombing hospitals is a war crime under the Geneva convictions, and the Pentagon spokesman who called this ‘collateral damage’ is likely well aware of this fact.
Humanitarian activists staged a 'die-in' in front of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, calling for an independent investigation into the bombing of a MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Mercy Hospital To Be Location For Oct. 10 Protest
Of U.S. Bombing of Hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan
Portland, Maine –– Citizens disgusted by the U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan will protest on Saturday, October 10 in front of Mercy Hospital at 5:00pm.
CODEPINK Local Coordinator Lisa Savage said, “Bombing hospitals is a war crime under the Geneva convictions, and the Pentagon spokesman who called this ‘collateral damage’ is likely well aware of this fact.”
Some protesters plan to wear scrubs to highlight the fact that staff of the hospital were killed and injured during more than 30 minutes of bombing. Patients, including children, were also burned to death or otherwise injured during the air strike on the only free trauma hospital in the region. Doctors Without Borders has since announced that it is withdrawing from Kunduz, possibly from all of Afghanistan.
The action in Portland is part of a national wave of protests.
In Washington DC on Oct 6 before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about Afghanistan, Dr. Margaret Flowers was arrested for speaking out against the recent US bombing of a Doctors Without Border hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Dr. Flowers was holding a sign which read “BOMBING HOSPITALS= WAR CRIME”.
Dr. Flowers, a pediatrician and candidate for the U.S. Senate seeking Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s seat, was with members of the peace group CODEPINK at the hearing who were wearing “bloodied” doctors garb with “bloody” hands to draw attention to the culpability of hearing witness General John Campbell, who is responsible for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“There needs to be an independent investigation into the hospital bombing in Kunduz because targeting hospitals is against international law,” Dr. Flowers said from the Capitol Hill jail. “People should be held accountable for violating the law.”
The protesters were also calling for a U.S. commitment to rebuild the hospital, provide health care for the injured parties and compensate the families of the deceased. They delivered a petition to General Campbell signed by over 5,000 members of CODEPINK.
Several members of Doctors Without Borders attended the hearing. "Only an independent investigation will give us answers as to why a hospital was bombed and why the bombing continued for more than 30 minutes after Coalition and Afghan forces were informed that they were bombing a humanitarian hospital. The 22 civilians killed in this attack, including 12 staff of Doctors Without Borders deserve a transparent investigation," said Ella Watson-Stryker, who was named Time Magazine person of the year for fighting Ebola with Doctors Without Borders.
For more information on the Oct. 10 protest at Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine contact CODEPINK Local Coordinator Pat Taub, 207-542-7119, pparee2011@gmail.com.
