Another bizarre tragedy in Afghanistan. A rogue US solder snaps. He went AWOL and killed 16 civilians including nine children. Words cannot convey how strange and how sad this event really is. Why on earth would he do that? Obviously he snapped but to kill allies, civilians at that, clearly is treason.
There should be a fair trial but this is not a civil matter. It is a military matter. It should be determined if there really was just one shooter or multiple shooters. If found guilty then they should face the firing squad. Sorry if that sounds extreme but that kind of treason in a time of war puts all of his fellow soldiers at risk not to mention the outrageousness of the atrocity all on it's own.
Justice is not possible. There is no way to bring back the lost loved ones. Some might argue that 16 Americans should be executed not just one, to which I respond, which ones? 15 random Americans should be lined up and murdered? That would not be just. It would perpetuate the injustice until we are all blind.
If one person committed murder than that person should be put to death, not 15 random people. Clearly something went wrong that needs to be addressed. There was a rogue shooter at a US Army Base in the States. Instead of shooting fellow soldiers or fellow students at school, this lunatic shot foreign civilians. Equally shameful.
Without minimizing the atrociousness of the tragic event, I will add that the Taliban have also murdered many more than 16 civilians in many of their suicide attacks. We should recognize the seriousness of the tragedy and remember the enemy has done worse. That in no way minimizes what this solder has done. It just reminds us that there isn't one good guy and one bad guy in this conflict. Mistakes are made but evil does perpetuate and we are morally bound to resist it.
Suicide attacks kill 20
Bombing toll hits 78 dead
Taliban bomber kills nine people
12 dead in three Afghanistan bomb attacks
As for the tragic situation in Afghanistan, I will note that the current president who would not be president if the allies hadn't invaded, just endorsed a law that allows husbands to beat their wives and forbids women from leaving home without a male escort. That is not the sign of an enlightened moral nation. It is an extremist defiantly bragging about being a neanderthal. That has nothing to do with God or Islam.
It makes us wonder why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. A mission isn't wrong because it's hard or because there are many casualties. If Bin Ladden was responsible for 9/11 then it would have been the right thing to do. I just don't believe Bin Ladden was responsible for 9/11. I think the invasion was really about reversing the Taliban's decision to give the contract for the Central Asia gas pipeline to an Argentina firm named Bridas instead of the UNICOL.
Letting girls attend school is a basic right in a civilized society. Yet returning Afghanistan into the world largest producers of Opium after it was almost completely shut down has been a tragic bi product of the invasion.
"Why on earth would he do that?"
ReplyDeleteApparently there was a serious head injury in a vehicle rollover in 2010, and some "issues" related to that, but later he had been cleared to return to duty. I'm pretty sure that decision will be re-examined now.
"to kill allies, civilians at that"
Civilians yes. Allies not so much.
"Remember the enemy has done worse."
Everyday.
"That has nothing to do with....Islam."
Has everything to do with it. This stuff is all mandated by Sharia Law. Care to guess where those laws are found. That's right, the Koran.
The idea that these attitudes have nothing to do with Islam is an amazing lie that is told every day. Perhaps it's the frequency that has people believing it. It's still a law. ALL of this barbaric shit "is in the book".
"...a basic right in a civilized society".
Afghanistan is not, has never been, and shows no promise of being that anytime in near future. I have not been there myself, but I least I get my info from dozens of people, civilians and military alike, who actually have. NAMBLA has a chapter there. It's called the whole country.
I actually agree that we should have been long gone from there, 1 year tops. Kill everything needs killing and go home. Forget nation building among people whose loyalty is to a tribe, it doesn't work.
Great post, right on the money again, AK...
ReplyDeleteWe went to Afghanistan to install a friendly (to us) government which will allow foreign corporate interests to exploit mineral reserves and possibly run an oil pipeline through the country. Keeping soldiers on the front line also drives military R&D and arms sales, and most industrial nations have large chunks of their economies tied up in the arms industry. It makes a twisted sense to keep fighting, no matter what the reason is.
ReplyDeleteJohn Ralston Saul wrote an excellent trilogy of essays starting with Voltaire's Bastards (which is more encyclopedia than essay), and I can't recommend reading it enough. You can even take a look at it in PDF format before you commit to buying or borrowing it. He's a Canadian with a corporate background and has the ability to pull the whole picture apart for an illuminating analysis. Like anything else, it's not gospel. Take what you can and leave the rest for the vultures to pick on.
752 page PDF file: https://www.scribd.com/doc/49632638/Voltaire-s-Bastards-copy
No, we "went there" to kick the crap out of the Taliban for harboring Bin Laden, which was accomplished handily in a few short months. AFTER that, we installed a friendly (to us).... :the rest of your post here:
ReplyDelete"Staying there" was what led to a resurgence of the Taliban. Afghans are understandably not hot on foreigners coming and not leaving at some point. The Taliban now is not the same folks as 10 years ago. Most of them are long dead.
Sorry.
DeleteYou were "deployed there", or however you want to say it.
I realise any argument we might have which could potentially sway either of us in any direction has been completely negated by swapping invective language, and like I've said elsewhere, I am sorry for my role in the loss of this opportunity.
That said, I welcome any criticism which is presented with a minimum of implied derision. If you can show me the error of my ways, or feel you can, please try to illuminate me.
I'm not proposing marriage to you, I'd just like to get along. From here out, I won't be responding with derogatory remarks. It really does demean me as much as it does you (and vice versa) to get involved in such petty shit about topics which deserve a little more weight than the flabby armed back hand of internet insult.
I'm calling truce. I don't give a shit if that makes you think I'd rather be brushing my ass length hair a thousand times while reciting Depak Chopra affirmations, reading about Che in the Congolese jungle (I tried, but lacked the creativity to see anything valuable or even dig up some gem which wasn't just a rumination of paleo-Marxist jibber jabber), or creating a water bong out of Mastodon tusk and fimo clay.
The truth is, it's much more rewarding to me if I can challenge how I think, and that's a tall order when all of your friends are in the choir. So please, don't take future questions as indictments of your beliefs. At the root of it all is just my desire to understand, and sometimes it's too easy to let emotion suppress intellect.
Thank you.
BS. All the bad things the Taliban did didn't matter as long as they were going to give the contract for the Oil Pipeline to UNOCAL. As soon as they gave the contract to Bridas, an Argentina firm, all of a sudden the Taliban were bad, Afganistan was invaded and the contract was reversed. The invasion of Afghanistan was about oil just like Iraq was.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this instance of mass murder considered an anomaly? The entire "mission" in Afghanistan is rogue and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been slaughtered. This is, sadly, simply business as usual for the occupying forces.
ReplyDeleteThat's not the account I'm familiar with: Although an agreement with Unocal-led corporation CentGas was reached, the deal was forfeited in January 1998 in favour of one with Bridas. Instability in Afghanistan delayed construction of the pipeline, however, and following the United States Invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Bridas contract was rescinded in favor of the former one with Unocal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridas_Corporation
ReplyDeleteAnother source claimed the Texans were wining and dining the Taliban in hopes of winning the contract as late as three months before 9/11.