Source: We Must Know
Category Archives: Afghanistan
US Sponsored “Islamic Fundamentalism”: The Roots of the US-Wahhabi Alliance
By Benjamin Schett (thanks to Hajer Naili for sharing this post with us)
The alliance between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia helped spread the ideology of fundamentalist Sunni Islam all over the globe. The majority of its victims are not citizens of Western countries, but citizens of countries that U.S. elites consider a threat to their economic and geopolitical interests. Many victims of Sunni extremism (often called Wahhabism or Salafism[1]) are in fact Muslims (often with a secular leftist or nationalist political background), moderate Sunni or members of Shiʿite Islamic faith.
This article addresses the history of Wahhabi fundamentalism and the examples of Afghanistan in the 80s, as well as the current situation in Syria. Both cases illustrate America’s responsibility for the destruction of secular, socially progressive societies in the Islamic world and elsewhere.
The Origins of Wahhabism
Wahhabi ideology serves U.S. interests for several reasons. Its followers’ archaic perception of society makes them reject any kind of progressive social change. Therefore they are well equipped to push back socialist, secular or nationalist movements, whose independence-oriented policies are a threat to America’s geopolitical agenda. Although Wahhabism certainly is not representative of the majority of Sunni Muslims, Wahhabi Muslims are Sunni extremists, which causes them to maintain an extremely hostile stance towards Shi’te Islam. Continue reading
Dommages Collatéraux : la face cachée d’un terrorisme d’État
Par Guillaume de Rouville
La démocratie ambiguë – de Guillaume de Rouville
Lors des guerres menées par les États-Unis depuis la chute du mur de Berlin au nom d’une certaine idée de leur puissance, est apparue une notion, celle de « dommages collatéraux », qui a été utilisée par les organes des relations publiques du Pentagone pour justifier et faire accepter aux opinions occidentales des actes de guerre provocant des victimes civiles. Ces dommages collatéraux ne seraient pas souhaités par la puissance militaire qui déplore ces tragiques erreurs, fruits de renseignements erronés ou d’une technologie défaillante.
Or, a y regarder de plus près, on s’aperçoit que la plupart de ces actes de guerre ayant détruit la vie de milliers de civils en Afghanistan, en Irak, en Libye ces dernières années [1], ne sont pas des erreurs, des dommages collatéraux d’une entreprise militaire qui ne prendrait pour cible que des soldats en uniforme appartenant à la partie adverse, mais bien des actes délibérés visant à tuer des femmes, des enfants et des hommes sans défense.
On pourrait se demander dans quels buts de telles horreurs seraient entreprises. La doctrine militaire répond : pour imposer la terreur source de toute obéissance. Continue reading
CIA, RAW complicit in Balochistan unrest, says Noorani
Illustration of the imperial goal of division
Under a well-thought-out conspiracy, sectarian organisations in Balochistan are targeting Ulema of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-Pakistan (JUP) and are assassinating them.
This was disclosed by Shah Muhammad Owais Noorani Sidiqui, Senior Vice-President, Jamiat-e-Ulema-Pakistan, while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club Tuesday afternoon.
The latest, he said, was the murder of Maulana Habibi which was just four or five days ago.
He said that over the last four years eight noted scholars of the JUP had been eliminated but their assassins were still at large and roaming scot-free most brazenly.
He called on the Government of Pakistan to immediately clamp on the heinous activities of the proscribed sectarian outfits.
He said that the JUP had evidence that the US CIA, India’s Raw, and Israel’s Mossad were jointly conducting subversive operations in Balochistan, including sectarian killings, to create dissension in the province and soften the ground for their subversive activities, but, he said, the cruel irony was that the Government of Pakistan, despite being fully aware of the heinous activities of these foreign intelligence agencies was totally silent on the issue.
He said that it was sad to see that the government’s writ was nowhere in evidence as the concerned authorities were not implementing the Supreme Court’s orders on the situation, including that of missing persons.
Noorani ruled out any let-up in the Balochistan unrest and said that the situation just could not improve as long as the Supreme Court’s orders were not implemented, a general amnesty was not announced by the army, and Akbar Bugti’s killers were not brought to justice. He called for immediate trial of former president General Pervez Musharraf in this regard, along with former prime minister Shaukat Aziz. He demanded immediate implementation of the Supreme Court’s orders to check kidnappings for ransom, target killings, and the general unrest in the province.
He, in particular, implicated the US CIA in the case of the missing persons.
While Noorani was holding a press conference inside the KPC, a demonstration by the Baloch Human Rights Organisation for the recovery of missing persons and against the operation in Balochistan was being held outside the club. The demonstration was largely participated in by women, young men, the aged, and children, mostly the offspring of the missing persons. They were holding aloft placards denouncing state terrorism and the ongoing operation in Balochistan.
Addressing the participants, speakers said that state terrorism was slipping out of control in the province and in this regard, cited the frequent bombings of the civilian residential areas, destruction of houses by setting them afire, destruction of livestock, forced disappearances, recovery of mutilated corpses, and other gross human rights violations.
Source: The News
“Pentagram”: 2,000 US Dead In Afghan War (How About 10,000 !)
Image from ISAF photostream
2,000 dead Americans: The toll of the Afghan War (so far)
The United States’ war in Afghanistan reached a new milestone this week when the death toll of Americans killed in the decade-long Operation Enduring Freedom reached 2,000.
The US Department of Defense reports this week thatCpl. Taylor J. Baune, 21, of Andover, Minnesota lost his life in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday. The marine wed his high-school sweetheart earlier this year, only to be deployed overseas by the military and killed just three months later. The Pentagon has not released information about the cause of death.
OBAMA Using Wars To Repay Campaign Donors
By Kimberley Dvorak, The Examiner
As the 2012 presidential race heats up and campaign donations pour into the candidate’s war chests, voters should pay attention to the “fog of war” contributors. Last month President Obama signed an Executive Agreement, at the dismay of most Americans, to remain in Afghanistan for another 10 years. This wartime news labeled the embattled President as a flip-flopper as well as a DC insider. His once “sterling” image of “hope and change” vanished with the swipe of his presidential pen and transformed him into just another “business as usual” presidential incumbent.
Traditionally wartime presidents reap big defense contractor rewards in the form of campaign donations, and by the looks of the pre-election contributions, Obama is poised to be the winner. According to Open Secrets.org, the defense industry is hedging its bets and lavishing the incumbent president with a two-to-one margin over rival GOP presidential wannabe Mitt Romney.
Since 1999 the defense industry has more than doubled its niche in the American manufacturing sector. The industry guru’s have deduced that campaign donations of $200 million can produce a return on investment of billions in lucrative Pentagon contracts. The defense lobbying effort certainly pays out high returns and the forecast confirms smooth sailing.
So why would President Obama risk his “Nobel Peace” prize and commit more resources to the Middle East? The answer lies with big campaign donors. Obama’s new Afghan War 10-year commitment makes a lot more sense after examining his major donors. It turns out that defense contractors are among the President’s largest supporters. To be fair, the money usually follows the party in power, but it appears defense contractors are hedging their bets and donating huge sums of money to President Obama’s reelection coffers.
Black Op Down: The Mythical Raid on Bin Laden’s Compound
New EU ‘Army’ on the Ground in Somalia and Afghanistan
Mystery Surrounds European Union Raid in Somalia … All is not apparently as it seems with the story of the raid. The European website DefenseReport claims that the Haradheere raid was carried out not by helicopters, but by actual EU troops on the ground. If true, this would mark a new, dramatically different approach … – EdsWorld (5/15/12)
Since December 2008, the EU has kept five to 10 warships off the Horn of Africa in an operation known as Atalanta. NATO has a similar anti-piracy flotilla known as Ocean Shield, and other countries — including the United States, India, China, Russia, and Malaysia — also have dispatched naval vessels to patrol the region … – AP (5/15/12)
Others points on Mr Hollande’s agenda include … plans to promote wider EU defence co-operation, including the prospect of a Euro Army long resisted by Britain. [He] will also argue that EU countries should abandon austerity measures to boost growth. – Daily Mail (5/17/12)
FAREWELL PARADE FOR AFGHANISTAN SOLDIERS OF HQ EUROCORPS … Due to the deployment of Eurocorps soldiers to Afghanistan from beginning of January 2012 to January 2013, the Deputy and Acting Commander of Eurocorps, Major General Walter Spindler, will give a Farewell Parade on 4 January 2012 for the soldiers. – Eurocorps.org (12/21/11)
EU ground troops have reportedly been employed in an attack on Somalia. The occasion was a raid against Somali pirates and EU helicopters were used as well.
Didn’t know that the EU had an army? Welcome to the 21st century.
Not only may the EU have placed troops on the ground in Somalia, but “Eurocorps” – the EU’s standing army based in Strasbourg – has headed over to Afghanistan for a one-year stint.
The Real Lords of Afghan Poppy Fields & Heroin Distribution Hubs
Facts, Myths, Smugglers, and the International Dudes
By Sibel Edmonds, Boiling Frogs
Yesterday this so-not-news news made the headlines: Central Asia Key to Afghanistan Heroin Smuggling – UNODC. The headline was followed by these so-not-accurate descriptions and statements [emphasis mine]:
A new report by the United Nations drug agency sheds light on the nuts and bolts of narcotics transit from Afghanistan through Central Asia, highlighting the former Soviet republics’ lackluster efforts at interdiction.
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The 106-page report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), released this month, describes how smugglers traffic heroin and opium from Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer, to Russia, the world’s largest consumer. Ninety tons of highly pure heroin, roughly a quarter of the substance exiting Afghanistan, passes through Central Asia annually. Yet in 2010 authorities in the region seized less than 3 percent of it. And despite international efforts to help, that number keeps falling.
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You see, these kinds of reports never reveal the so-called culprit smugglers. And somehow these reports always get the role of the so-called international efforts backwards. What do I mean? How do you describe the situation when the smugglers are high-level international dudes, the large part of the international efforts are to increase not decrease the smuggling exerted by the same smuggling international dudes, and the international cosmetic show put on in pretense of international efforts to decrease smuggling are performed by the same international smuggler dudes who’s efforts are to increase the smugglings?
NATO & Obama To Continue Killing In Afghanistan
CHICAGO — President Barack Obama promised Monday to end the Afghan war “responsibly” as he and other NATO leaders prepared to give formal approval to a plan to shift international forces from a combat to a support role next year.
