Saturday, December 12, 2009

Afghanistan: Won't Get Fooled Again!


New World Notes News
Vol. 2 No. 49 -- December 13, 2009

Note: Entries in this blog are not transcripts of the radio
program. Rather, they are informal essays concerning the
program installment and its subject.

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #93, December 15:

Afghanistan:
Won't Get Fooled Again!

Executive summary

Three fine minds (& my own) cut through the BS about why "we" are rampaging across Afghanistan. Hartford activist Steve Fournier questions why Hillary Clinton calls Afghan suicide bombers "cowards" while the U.S. is bombarding wedding parties with aerial drones controlled from Nevada. Political scientist David Model (read aloud by me) lucidly explains the real reason for this war. Last, in a rousing speech, Afghan activist and ousted MP Malalai Joya--a young woman--brilliantly denounces the cruelty and hypocrisy of Bush, Obama, Karzai, the warlords, NATO, and the Taliban.

What is past is prologue

In 1964, when President L.B. Johnson ordered a large increase in U.S. military personnel in Vietnam, few Americans alive knew anything about the war's most obvious ancestor: the U.S.'s Philippine War of (circa) 1898-1905. The "large increase" in troops was called an "escalation" back in the 1960s, not a "surge." Political/military "Newspeak" was in full flower back then . . . but still less resplendent than it is today!

After the Philippines adventure, the powers-that-be waited 60 years (overlooking Korea) before serving up more of the same in Vietnam.

In 2003, so eager were the P-T-B to control the oil of the Middle East, that they launched the Iraq bloodbath/quagmire only 30 years--just one generation--after the end of its Vietnam predecessor.

(I recognize that "end" is a debatable term, as Vietnamese people are still being born deformed and dying young from the gazillion gallons of toxic defoliants the Americans sprayed on their country. To say nothing of the descendents of the GIs who did the spraying.)

In 2003, millions of American citizens retained vivid memories of the horrors of Vietnam. So launching the equally-unnecessary Iraq bloodbath/quagmire was a gamble. Which, however, has succeeded to the satisfaction of the powers-that-be.

Hartford activist/lawyer/Green politician Steve Fournier

I have certain doubts about the Nobel Peace Prize, but President Obama certainly deserves this decade's Chutzpah Up the Wazoo Award for starting yet another Philippines/Vietnam/Iraq combination bloodbath/debacle only six years after the launch of the last one--and before that one has come close to ending!

If you liked our little Iraq adventure, you're gonna really like the Great Afghanistan Escalation. And you'll simply love the Af-Pak Donnybrook! Coming soon to a theater-of-war near you!

Department of Adolescent Humor:

I said that David Model reveals the main reason that "we" are bombarding babies in Afghanistan. I don't want to tease the reader, but I don't want to spoil the suspense, either. So I'll just give a hint about the actual main reason: Afghanistan is Trouble with a capital T, which rhymes with P, which stands for . . . . No, not Pool, you knucklehead!

I'll give you another hint.

Three teenaged guys (circa 1965) were chatting about who was the sexiest woman in the world. One (let's call him Tinker) opines, "Marilyn Monroe, without a doubt!" Evans rebuts, "Nah, don't be a jerk: it's Brigitte Bardot!" Chance pipes up, "You guys are both full of [solid waste]. It's a well-known fact that the sexiest woman in the world is Marilyn Pippilini!"

Tinker and Evans are nonplussed. They exclaim in unison, "What?! Who the [heck] is Marilyn Pippilini?! "

Chance pulls out his wallet. Next to the rolled condom is a clipped newspaper headine. He shows it to Tinker and Evans. It reads,

Three Hunded Men Lay
Maryland Pipeline

This is one of two jokes from my adolescent years (circa 1965) that I still remember. The other doesn't bear repeating. All those dozens of Elephant Jokes . . . gone!

Recent offering by David Model

Notes and links

Steve Fournier's jeremiad recorded exclusively for New World Notes. See Steve's "Curent Invective" at http://www.currentinvective.com/ .

David Model's essay, "NATO's Chimerical Enemy in Afghanistan," from CounterPunch, condensed & edited for radio by K.D. Here's the original: http://www.counterpunch.org/model11132009.html.

Malalai Joya's speech in Vancouver on November 14, 2009, was recorded for CFRO by Alex Smith--http://www.ecoshock.org/. See also http://www.stopwar.ca/. About half of Joya's speech is reproduced in this installment of NWN. For the whole shebang and/or Q&A, see here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/37338.

Malalai Joya's recent book is Raising My Voice. Jonathan Steele's interesting review of it in The Guardian is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/15/afghan-activist-malalai-joya

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "oppressive yoke") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Malalai Joya


Coming soon -- Tuesday debut dates on WWUH shown:

  • December 22 -- Christmas Special ... including reflections on the sack of Fallujah (5th anniversary) and the sack of Gaza (1st anniversary)
  • December 29 -- Potpourri . . . including Israel's secret weapon in Palestine . . . the U.S.'s bloody foreign policy since 1898 (if not 1756) . . . and Obama, "the Banksters," & dancin' to The Monster Crash. Happy New Year!

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):


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