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December 17, 2009 - Issue 355
 
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Chasing the O’s
The US War Strategy in Iran and Afghanistan
By Jamala Rogers
B
lackCommentator.com Editorial Board

 

 

It seems ironic that our Nobel Peace Prize President would increase war efforts in Afghanistan. In a minute, the United States will have two full-fledged wars going on with a back-drop of a near-Great Depression economy. And if the US policy in Iraq to the public was unclear, the Afghanistan mission has topped it.

Many of us eventually figured out that our military involvement in Iraq was never about the preservation of democracy and US internal security.  It was about the oil.

Most military intelligences sources agree that there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan. So does it make military and financial sense to send more 30,000 troops and spend $30 billions of money that the federal coffers don�t have?

What�s the big deal on Afghanistan, a poor country that appears to be a mountainous heap of nothing? It�s all about the opium. Afghanistan is the world�s top producer of opium; some estimates are as high as ninety percent.

A few months before the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Big Daddy Bush gave $43 millions to the Taliban government. Although the purpose of the money has been disputed, the belief is that the Taliban used it against US citizens not only on September 11 and to fund their activities since then.

Add to this ugly fact that the Bush family business relations with the Bin Laden family goes back a couple decades. That�s why it came as no surprise that we now find out Baby Bush had a chance to get the notorious Osama Bin Laden but failed to do so.

If it is indeed true that there is $250-$300 billion from opium sales flowing into Wall Street and US banks annually, there�s a lot more at stake than trying to stabilize a corrupt government. It won�t be the first time illegal drugs were part of the US military equation. Can you say Ollie North and the Contras?

Billions of US taxpayer dollars have supposedly gone to the War on Terrorism with a hefty portion of it going into the individual pockets of people like Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his brother, Ahmed, an alleged drug lord. Or to former Pakistani President Musharraf who received a billion a year while in office but could only account for one third of it.

I guess I should mention here that the opium production dramatically increased since the US allegedly replaced the Taliban government. According to a 2007 United Nations report, Afghanistan multiplied its yield by nearly 50 percent from 2006 and pushed global opium production to a new record high.

So if I sound a little bit skeptical about US success in Afghanistan, you�ve been paying attention. President Obama is basically using the same failed approach that his predecessor did�then being vague about the mission and the exit strategy as well as being vague on the total cost in money and lives

I nearly lost it when listening to President Obama�s speech on why we need to escalate the eight year in Afghanistan and heard him say:  ��we have not sought world domination...we do not seek to occupy other nations... we will not claim another nation's resources.�

If you believe that revisionist piece of history then I have a country to sell you. Oh, I forgot--the US has already been sold.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member Jamala Rogers is the leader of theOrganization for Black Struggle in St. Louis and the Black Radical Congress National Organizer. Click here to contact Ms. Rogers.

 
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