Jacqueline Marcus: Ah, Mr President? You Forgot to Mention the Opium and the Pipeline in Your Speech
BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Jacqueline Marcus
Last night, I listened to Obama's warnings about the Taliban and suddenly an image of the German War Machine came to mind -- as if the Taliban were waging a Worldwide War with as much sophisticated weaponry as the U.S. military complex. But the truth is -- we're talking about a hundred or so rebels hiding in the mountains.
Afghanistan is the third poorest country in the world. How long will Obama and our politicians invoke "9-11" for justification to invade this part of the world? It's been nearly 10 years! If it's about revenge, we GOT it! The U.S. killed 3,000 Iraqis right off the bat -- on the first day; tragically, the Iraqis had NOTHING to do with 9-11, as is the case with the poor Afghani peasants who don't have water or electricity. These are people who tend to their goats and are happy if they HAVE goats. Now the death toll is estimated at a million or more lives murdered and maimed from this immoral war. So PLEASE! Stop exploiting 9-11 for an unjustifiable occupation. Sarah Palin scares me a hell of a lot more than some guy riding around on a camel in Afghanistan's mountains shouting "Jihad." Americans have a higher risk of being killed by criminals on the streets right here in the U.S. than they do from some abstract threat. Upshot: any war that was started by Dick Cheney can't be good or right.
There's more to this story than what is being told. Let's see if we can connect the invisible dots:
After reading The New York Times article "Obama Issues Order for More Troops in Afghanistan," it's pretty clear that soldiers were sent to protect certain resources viz. poppy fields. This explains an escalation of troops to the "opium-rich Helmand Province."
"A senior Defense Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a plan that had not been formally announced, said Monday that the first additional troops would be thousands of Marines sent to opium-rich Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold in the south of Afghanistan. The Marines will begin to arrive in the region in January, the official said, and will be followed by a steady flow of tens of thousands…"
And then there's this bit of breaking news regarding the brother of Mr. Karzai:
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.
The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai's home. The financial ties and close working relationship between the intelligence agency and Mr. Karzai raise significant questions about America's war strategy.
According to this report, "The CIA's practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban."
Perhaps the CIA's practices also suggest that they're involved in possessing control of the Afghan opium trade. If so, that provides a tangible, monetary reason for occupying Afghanistan -- it would also explain why 43 countries want "in" on the action. After all, opium is used for pain pills, a necessary medication for surgeries, injuries, and major headaches after listening to Presidential speeches.
One can induce from fact a) poppy fields to fact b) opium to fact c) a very valuable commodity. Oh -- and let's not forget fact d): it's also worth a LOT of $$$$.
We can also induce from these facts that the U.S. military has been called in NOT to stamp out the lucrative drug trade, On The Contrary! Rather they are there to protect Afghanistan's poppy fields currently under Taliban control. That's believable; the boogey man stuff is not believable. And then there is the little matter of the oil pipeline:
In 2008 the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement for TAPI, or the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan Pipeline to India, was given a loan contingent on conditions being secure enough for construction in southern Afghanistan along the pipeline route. It has to be cleared of land mines with the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces eliminated.
Obama predictably talked about exit strategies and more Bush-like, familiar excuses, but the truth is -- the cat's out of the bag on the CIA's…shall we say… "interest" in Afghanistan's heroin trade. One can also induce from the above facts that there is a demand interest on the part of pharmaceutical companies for this valuable opium, which is worth LOTS of money, billions and billions and billions.
When President Obama looks to the camera and says: "We're not there to occupy Afghanistan and we're not there for Afghanistan's resources…" with such sincerity and conviction, it raises two possibilities: 1) He can't say the truth for obvious reasons. It would mean that we're sacrificing our troops for Afghanistan's opium and the binding "TAPI pipeline" contract that Cheney, the gambler, bet the entire country on. It just doesn't make for good copy, if you know what I mean? Or 2) he really believes what he's saying, and that his advisors have successfully persuaded the President that this is a just war. And then there's the third possibility that he knows the truth, but is simply following orders, orders that can be traced back to Rumsfeld and Cheney and is scared of the real boogey men.
BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
Jacqueline Marcus' book of poems, Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She is a regular guest contributor to BuzzFlash.com. She taught philosophy at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California, and is the editor of http://www.ForPoetry.com. She is currently promoting green technologies (solar & wind) on the island of Maui. www.GoSolarMaui.com. She is currently working on a new book: Corporate Media and the Erosion of a Civil Society.
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Back to the point
Where was the line about natural gas pipelines and opium in Obama's speech? Where is this truth that we begged for from the Bush Administration, and were promised by the Obama campaign? Obama's advisors knew what we wanted, and they told us they would provide it if we elected them. What we are getting is Bush II. It must make Obama feel anxious and disoriented to turn about face so abruptly, but he will get used to the new direction. They all do. It's up to Buzzflash and the other media to bring the truth to the people who want to know. Up until now the MSM has no interest in doing that, and even Buzzflash has to publish a Guest Commentary for any mention of the underlying strategic interest in Afghanistan absent in the President's speech.
Hmmmmm.....
A hundred or so rebels? What planet do you live on? A hundred thousand would still be a number falling far short of reality.
The difference between Nixon and Reagan
Some people have said that Nixon was raised Quaker and knew the difference between right and wrong. He just made his choice. Reagan was too evilly stupid to worry about it.
A couple times I got the feeling that when Obama looked into the camera he knew he should be wearing a purple leisure suit with adequate gold accessorizing to properly sell this stinking smack and gangsta war. So, I still give him consolation prize in thinking maybe he's an intelligent person with a conscience. I just wish he'd start acting like it. But, then, I wouldn't want the Secret Service to back off from me rounding a corner in Dallas either.
"Sounds of the German War-machine" - how sad, but true...
_"Last night, I listened to Obama's warnings about the Taliban and suddenly an image of the German War Machine came to mind -- as if the Taliban were waging a Worldwide War with as much sophisticated weaponry as the U.S. military complex."_
thanks for that. It is truly awful how HORRENDOUS America's press & media are, and how completely and wholly the "Democrat" Party is now the party of Neo-Con warmongers and Goldman-Sachs treasury looters.... the IDENTICAL folks who powered the Bush-Cheney march to disaster.
Let's get real... is there ANYTHING SUBSTANTIVE that Pres. Obama has done, that has not met with the tacit approval of the Lieberman/Kristol/Wolfowitz Neo-Cons?
Obama has spent the past year doing to main things: #1. pouring trillions of taxpayer dollars down the corrupt gullets of GoldmanSachs & JPM-Chase; and, #2. WHITEWASHING the ABYSMAL legacy of Cheney & Bush.
Everything else is window dressing, yes, Supreme Court Justice what's-her-name is an improvement over a Bush appointed troglodyte, but that will be IRRELEVANT as Obama TRADES WOMEN's REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS DOWN THE RIVER to obtain a SHAM, Insurance & Big-Finance written Health Care 'reform' bill.
For god's sake, it's bad enough that BILL KRISTOL steered the United States into BOTH the illegal Iraq invasion, AND the choice of SARAH PALIN as John McCain's running mate..... Now, it looks like OBAMA is TAKING DICTATION from Kristol as well, which, with Rahm Emanuel as Obama's Rasputin, is actually the case.
Obama would RATHER KILL AFGHANS, than clean up the ROTTEN LEGACY of Bush & Cheney's BOTCHED occupation of Afghanistan, and illegal lies-to-war against Iraq.
"SOUNDS OF THE GERMAN WAR-MACHINE" indeed, this time being driven by the Likudnik "Israel First" neo-cons.
Right Wingers
Why would Sarah Palin scare us more than the "jihadists"? Simple. It is not "jihadists" that have driven this country to the verge if bankruptcy. It is greedy corporations like AIG and CitiBank who were given a free pass by the Bush administration. jihadists are not responsible for our lack of health care, or our high unemployment rate. Sarah Palin would finish the job and all of us will be foreclosed on and living on the street while a few rich CEOs own it all. Bush has already done the job for Bin Ladin. All he had to do was sit back and watch while we went into financial ruin! Under a Palin administration we would also become a "Christian Nation", which means look out if you're Jewish or Muslim or Atheist or even the "wrong kind" of Christian. Reverend Wright would be stoned. Gays would be subject to harsh prosecution. Women would be "subservient" to their husbands. War prisoners would not get fair trials, because right wingers don't believe in the American justice system. Women who got abortions would be thrown in jail. Come to think of it... sounds kind of like a "jihadist"! Anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Muslim... anti anything that is not exactly like them. No thanks! I don't want to live in a country like that. I believe in the United States of America. So, right wingers, start your fundamentalist country somewhere else. Iran sounds like it would be more aligned with your "fundamentalist values".
"Sarah Palin scares me a hell of a lot more than some guy riding
This attitude of being more scared by a domestic right-winger than by a jihadist is just what concerns me about the Progressives. It seems Progessives have come to believe that we are no longer in any danger from jihadists in a country that is on the brink of being taken over by them. A country that has a nuclear weapon arsenal and the capacity to use them. I am concerned because I have the impression that Progressives have no comprehension of all the players in this dangerous situation and, in fact, have come to believe that we, simply, are no longer in any danger because the wars have gone on for so long with no resolution and so, there must not be any resolution, and therefore, the danger has gone away. The author's recognition that organized crime plays a HUGE part in this situation does not automatically make ME believe that we should just let the jihadists and the criminals take over control of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan. And make no mistake, PAKISTAN is where Obama's vision is set. PAKISTAN is the only country that can collapse into terrorist anarchy and threaten the rest of the world. The smuggling and production of heroin is NOT a threat to our national security. Who owns, or does not own, the oil pipeline in that part of the world does NOT pose a threat to our national security. Jihadists taking over the country of Pakistan DOES and THAT is what this is all about.
Oh come on
So I guess despite the billions we've spent and continue to spend on a nuclear arsenal and missile defense systems and weapons systems is all wasted. We are at the mercy of a hundred cavedwellers who must be supergeniuses who can destroy the USA anytime they want so we must devote all of our dwindling resources to counter these ne'er-do-wells. Obama's speech could have been delivered by Dick Cheney. More people die slipping on sponges than are killed by terrorists but this vague threat is tailormade for a military-industrial complex intent on sucking every last drop of blood from our dying nation.
Corrections/additions w/thanks
Good one, thanks. Except the TAPI pipeline is for natural gas, not oil. Russia wanted that natural gas badly. We want to keep Russia from ever getting it. That's why we funded the covert ops to defeat Russia in Afghanistan (with arms bought from Israel). Just this past winter, Eastern Europeans literally froze to death in some cases as Russia stopped its natural gas transports to Ukraine http://bit.ly/6m04R7.
On opium: morphine (from opium) is very expensive when it appears on your hospital bill. Why doesn't Big Pharma pay opium producers well in the first place and alleviate the grinding poverty in Afghanistan? I imagine because the CIA needs to get it first, to trade for arms directly, or to sell and launder the cash to buy arms indirectly, for their covert ops in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Mid East. Just review some history on Iran/Contra - it's especially useful as we watch our govt support the first Latin American coup in 20 yrs (since Chavez defeated Bush's attempted coup of Venezuela) in Honduras, this time. Honduras' U.S. military base is where the Iran/Contra drug-for-arms swaps took place. Honduras' Pres. Zelaya was going to close that military base - and raise the minimum wage, which would hurt former United Fruit (of Guatemala coup infamy) aka Chiquita, and Dole.
So tell me again, Mr. President, why all these maligned and btw Muslim people would surrender? We rob them, kill them, use them like so much toilet paper by propping up govts that serve us marginally and them not at all, and toss in some paltry "development" aid. If another nation's govt did that to us, would we just say "fine, you win"?
As it is, they don't need to win - not the war, not even one battle. As it was in Nam and w/Russia, they just have to drain our treasury dry http://bit.ly/5e039G. So how's our treasury doing lately?
If we spent $30 billion in aid-with-no-ties for Afghanistan alone, for literacy and green energy and to buy their natural gas at market rates directly from them, the war would be over. The corrupt war profiteers over there would simply switch to the black market for profit.
Oh, and another little aside: China's loving this. We borrow from them to continue this "war", they use the dough to buy copper mines in Afghanistan, and sit back while we go bankrupt protecting their mines! http://bit.ly/5w4Vmo
Kandahar is evidently a strategic stronghold.
It's a hardly a coincidence that Kandahar, which is in the area where Karzai's brother helps recruit a paramilitary force directed by the CIA, is a major city on the TAPI pipleline route.
Incidentally, if you click on the article's "little matter of oil piplines," you'll see contiguous areas concentrated with land mines surrounding the pipeline route, which were originally placed there by the Soviets.
War Pigs!
I really hope this does not mean another year of terror and bombings for the Afghan people. And for what.. to protect pipe lines and poppy fields? If we are going to spend all that money over there, why don't we spend it helping them re-build their country? A re-building of spirit and humanity is much more powerful than an occupational army. Cut down those poppy fields and build some schools and hospital. Guess I am just too much of an idealist for the military industrial complex.
oil and gas pipeline industry
I'm against war!
I've worn a 'wage peace' bracelet from the AFSC (Quakers) since 2004 because of the war in Iraq. Pakistan's nuclear weapons worry me. If they fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, we could be in big trouble.
I don't know if Obama's current plan for Afghanistan will work but I hope he is successful. If Bush/cheney had not moved troops out in 2002, the problem in Afghanistan could be over. We need to bring our troops home ASAP and this might be the means to accomplist that goal.