Margolis on our 'terror campaign' in Afghanistan

An interview with journalist Eric Margolis, noted libertarian and second generation millionaire owner of Jamieson Laboratories, purveyor of fine vitamins and skincare products:

Margolis on Why Afghanistan is a Martyr Nation

Embassy
October 29 2008

Q: Do you think we are in a long war with Islam?

No, I don't. The world of Islam and the West are certainly at loggerheads now, but it's not an irreversible trend, it's not inevitable and it can be ended...

Westerners don't realize it, but the West exercises an imperial control over much of the Muslim world.... We rule the Muslim world just the way the British ruled India. That's why my book is called American Raj, raj being the imperial rule.

What we call terrorism is actually the natives fighting back, what the British used to call the 'cost of empire.'

The anger in the Muslim world is not, like Bush said, because they hate what we believe. Freedom. That's bullshit. The anger is directed at what the West has been doing for the last 150 years...and at specific political questions starting with Palestine...

[Q: How did Canada get involved?]

"The U.S. dragooned it allies into the war. [Former Liberal deputy prime minister] Sheila Copps told us on TVO. She said the White House called and said 'Send troops to Afghanistan or Iraq, or don't ship anything across the border.' It was that kind of crude pressure...

Q: You're a military historian. Can the West hold Afghanistan?

"No. One of my maxims is 'never fight a war against people who live in the country you are fighting in.' Eventually they know you're going to go home. The Afghans are very happy to fight for 100 years. They really enjoy fighting.

"We can bomb the crap out of Afghanistan, as we're doing. It's really a terror campaign. Any village that's accused of harbouring Taliban is bombed by the U.S. (link)

Margolis says that former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps revealed that the white House had phoned and given the Canadian government a choice between Iraq and Afghanistan. This either adds to our knowledge of how Canada ended up in Afghanistan, or it goes beyond the available evidence.

My guess is the latter, as Margolis seems to make a habit of going beyond the evidence. For instance, he says that the Taliban "used to be our freedom fighters." This is a repetition of the fallacy that the Taliban are merely mujahidin with a new leader (Mullah Omar). While it is known that some early Taliban were former mujahidin, it is also the case that the Taliban at an early point in their development welcomed into their ranks many Pashtuns who were former communist army officers of the Khalq faction. (See William Maley, Fundamentalism Reborn, pp. 15, 54.) Thus, it's probably just as accurate to say that the Taliban "used to be the Soviet Union's freedom fighters."

Returning to Margolis' claim about the call from the White House, I can't find a transcript or video of Copps' appearance on TVO, but here is how Copps is quoted in Stein and Lang's instant classic, The Unexpected War:

"I was at the [Liberal government's cabinet meeting of Feb 4, 2003] when the decision was made, and there were two theatres playing out. One was in Iraq and the other was in Afghanistan and we deliberately made a decision to go to Afghanistan because we knew very shortly down the road we would be asked to participate in a US-led invasion of Iraq which we did not want to do and this was a neat political way of squaring the problem... of Canada-US relations. (Stein and Lang, pp 67-68.)

In the Stein and Lang book, neither Copps nor anyone else claims that the White House called and offered any such choice. Indeed, later revelations indicated that the US preferred not to have Canada in the Iraq war at all.

Atomic vets get the shaft

It is a story of contrasts. While Canadian military vets exposed to US atomic bomb testing are ignored and demeaned by Canadian government officials, that same government shells out big bucks and hoopla for a planned Remembrance Day vigil.

From journalist David Pugliese's blog:

Canada’s atomic veterans were exposed to radiation during multiple nuclear blasts in the U.S. as well as cleanup duties during a couple of accidents at the Chalk River nuke plant in the 1950s. Many have come down with various cancers and other illnesses which they attribute to their exposure….and they want compensation from the government because of that...

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has offered them each $24,000, a generous amount according to the government. “All those who serve their country, past or present, deserve the respect, admiration and care of a grateful nation,” Mr. MacKay said in the announcement several months ago. (Mr. MacKay did not invite any of the vets to his speech where he announced the compensation package….his office said that was the job of the University of Calgary, the organizers of the event)

The vets responded to the offer that they’ll see the government in court.

What’s interesting is what the vets say are the ongoing attempts by DND to stymie them from getting some of the official documents that could help their legal case... (link)

Pugliese goes on to detail how DND is withholding unclassified documents from these vets and instead referring them to a painfully slow appeals process - for vets who are an average of 77 years old.

For edification, consider the upcoming spectacle for Remembrance Day, with vigils and nighttime projections on government buildings in Canada and London UK, complete with the Queen's participation. Pricetag: over three hundred grand:

Veterans Affairs Canada's Community Engagement Partnership Fund has generously contributed $340,000 towards the production of the national Vigil on the War Memorial in Ottawa, the simultaneous webcast of the event, and support for the coordination of other Vigil sites. (link)

The difference is of course that dead soldiers (and nearly all WW1 vets have passed away now) are more politically useful than living ones, who may have a thing or two to say about how politicians make hay of their experiences. Of course, remembering WW1 is more consistent with the "Canada fights" mantra than recalling the Canadian Forces' history as atomic guinea pigs for the Americans.

The Taliban's shadow government

Once again, a foreign correspondent finds that the Taliban have a very significant presence, providing governance that the Afghan government cannot, and gaining popular support for doing so:

Afghans turn to Taliban shadow gov't
Parallel administration defies Canadian troops with separate court system, mass events

Tom Blackwell
National Post

KANDAHAR, Oct 27 - They mete out justice in their own courts, ban schools and even organize large religious gatherings, like one that drew thousands of people just outside Kandahar city recently.

As Canadian Forces continue to fight and die throughout Kandahar province, the Taliban have quietly set up parallel governments only kilometres away from the provincial capital, local residents say.

Large swaths of the province for which Canada is responsible have fallen increasingly under the control of the insurgents...

A panel of three or four judges in Maiwand district, for instance, has for the past year been issuing prompt rulings on civil and criminal matters, said one man.

"The Taliban announced to the villagers that if they face any kind of problems, they should come to the court and they will find a transparent judgment," he said.

"They deal with a number of cases: land disputes, family disputes, loan disputes, robbery, killing, fighting ... and the people are happy with them."

In Zhari, the insurgent court has sentenced 27 people to death, said a resident of that district.

Surprisingly, the farmers said the Taliban have issued no edicts against radio and TV or even shaving beards -- all things banned under their government -- though the villages tend to eschew such behaviour out of fear, anyway...

The men spoke of deep frustration at having to choose between insurgents they say are often too harsh, government officials who are crooked and ineffective, and NATO forces who bring them little more than warfare...

"We see trouble from the Taliban, from NATO and from the Afghan government."

All asked that they not be identified, and none would meet directly with a foreign journalist, for fear of repercussions.

They said about 70 per cent of the districts of Zhari and Maiwand, both west of Kandahar city, are under Taliban control...

For the Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan early this month, the Taliban invited people to a special prayer in Senjaray, 15 kilometres west of Kandahar city. Thousands came, with the insurgents handling security.

"It was amazing, and shameful for the current government," he said.

Taliban courts move from place to place, hearing complaints and seeking out witnesses before delivering a decision, which the people tend to heed, said the farmer...

The Taliban do have willing supporters in these areas, including young people who enjoy the insurgent life because "they have guns, power and money, plus motorbikes," said the second Maiwand farmer. But others "don't like to kill people, they don't want to fight." (link)

In recent posts, we have seen that many respected journalists have related similar assessments of the Taliban and the support they receive from locals:

• (Oct 2008) Graeme Smith reports that the Taliban's power is growing on account of their "position[ing] themselves as the best enforcers of security in rural Afghanistan."

• (Oct 2008) Nir Rosen relates his experiences embedding with the Taliban.

• (Oct 2008) Elected senator from Logar says the population supports the Taliban.

• (Sept 2008) The Times (UK) reports: "[I]t is now the Taleban, with their reputation for brutal but impartial justice, who appear to be gaining ground in this war of popular perceptions".

• (Sept 2008) The Washington Post's Pamela Constable reports: "More and more, people here look back to the era of harsh Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, describing it as a time of security and peace."

• (Sept 2008) Experienced observer Jean MacKenzie notes that many of the Kabul literati are beginning to view the Taliban as a "legitimate resistance."

• (Sept 2008) Visiting a Taliban command centre in Kandahar, one journalist witnesses the insurgents' tolerance toward liquor and music. He offers "an urgent lesson for Nato: these local, Afghan fighters enjoy real support. It is simply wrong to say it is just coercion and terror."

• (Aug 2008) Respected journalist and author Jason Burke reports from outside Kabul, where "the Taliban are winning support by building a parallel administration, which is more effective, more popular and more brutal than the government's."

• (August 2007) IWPR reports from Taliban-ruled Musa Qala district in Helmand where the Taliban had allowed schools to operate, allowed men to shave their beards, and other relatively moderate policies.

Canadian Forces in action

The Washington Post has an interesting, close-up view of a Canadian Forces operation in Zhari district, just West of Kandahar city. This district, along with Panjwai next to it, is the primary area of operations for the Canadians, and has been since summer 2006 when they abandoned Arghandab district to the north.

Note, near the end, that the Canadian troops control only a third of each of those two districts. These two districts - out of 16 in the province - are the focus of Canadian efforts on account of them being the most densely populated in the province, after Kandahar city.

Canadian Troops in Afghanistan Measure Success Inch by Inch

By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Foreign Service

ZHARI, Afghanistan, Nov 2 - The company of Canadian soldiers set off from the small base in southern Afghanistan a few hours before dawn. Combat boots crunching along the wide plains of the Kandahar desert, they moved slowly in a long line into the moonless black ahead...

The soldiers' target, a Taliban bomb-supply compound, was only a little more than two miles away. But it took the contingent of 200-plus troops about three hours to march from the cemetery to the insurgent stronghold. That is the way the war is being fought in southern Afghanistan: inch by inch...

"The bottom line in Zhari and Panjwai is that we own about a third of those districts. The other two-thirds aren't owned by the Taliban, but I call them contested," Thompson said. "If you're out there, you're going to get into a scrap. There are firefights, and there's combat every day in Zhari and Panjwai." ...

The first shot rang out a little before first light as dozens of Canadian soldiers crept to the edge of a wide irrigation ditch. Someone shot a wild dog that was attacking a group of soldiers approaching the main compound. Two helicopters swooped overhead. A contingent of Canadian tanks rumbled loudly over the fields in the distance. An Afghan interpreter shouted into a megaphone that anyone in the compound should come out unarmed. The show of force was met with silence.

The only sign of insurgents was the frantic chatter that crackled over a radio monitored by an Afghan interpreter with the Canadian troops. As the Canadians pushed deeper into the web of Taliban compounds surrounding their objective, a panicked voice commanded someone to move the bombs out of the compound. The radio went dead for a few minutes. Then came the crack, crack, crack of automatic gunfire. A rocket-propelled grenade landed a few hundred feet from a line of Canadian soldiers returning fire into the leafy thicket of grape fields.

The firefight was over in minutes. The Taliban fighters faded into the countryside as the Canadians poured into the compound, which was packed with dozens of huge mortar shells, ammunition shells and what appeared to be ingredients for homemade bombs. After a careful sweep of the area, Canadian military engineers set charges around the bomb storage site and the compound was blown up. (link)

Coalition kills 16 civilians, say locals

While many western news sources reported the US-led coalition's claims of killing 12 insurgents in Wardak province, none of them relayed accusations by locals that many civilians were killed. Only in the Afghan press do such testimonies see the light of day:

16 civilians killed in Maidan Wardak operation
Habib Rahman Ibrahimi and Sher Ahmad Haidar

GHAZNI CITY, Oct 28 (PAN) - The US-led coalition forces say they have killed a dozen Taliban fighters in an operation in the central Maidan Wardak province, but local residents say 16 civilians were killed in a joint operation by US and Afghan forces.

A statement from the coalition forces said on Tuesday they killed 12 militants Monday and detained one while securing the site where a Coalition helicopter was forced to land in Wardak province after taking enemy fire...

However, eyewitnesses in Saiadabad districts Haftasiab area, where the operation took place, said 16 villagers were killed in bombing by foreign troops accompanied with ground operation by Afghan forces.

Muhammad Ibrahim, a resident of Dandoki village, said seven children were killed only in his village in bombing by foreign forces.

The children were in front of a mosque when foreign planes dropped bombs on them.

After this, government troops took out villagers from their homes in Haftasiab area, tied their hands to their backs and shot them dead, said Ibrahim.

Muhammad Tahir, another resident of the area, said he counted 16 bodies killed in the military ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces on Monday.

He added that a security contractor company guards were also with the Afghan forces that killed the civilians. (link)

Locals pelt soldiers with rocks

The Canadian Press reveals popular anger at our troops in Afghanistan:

Assessing Afghan security no easy task for troops

KANDAHAR, Oct 21 (CP) - Dozens of smiling children skipped along behind the heavily armed Canadian soldiers as they walked slowly through Kandahar’s dusty streets and muddy lanes, some trying out their hesitant English, some limited to a shy “hello” and a wave.

One of the soldiers, sweating in in full battle dress, glanced around with a wry smile.

“It isn’t always this friendly. When we drive LAVs (Light Armoured Vehicles) down this road, we get pelted with rocks. Just pelted.” ...

“It’s difficult, there’s no doubt,” sighs Capt. Jean Breton of the Toronto Scottish Regiment, who’s learned to balance what he’s told with what he sees around him.

The patrol’s strategy is simple: walk down the road, taking care to maintain good battle order, and talk to anyone who’s willing...

Breton also tries to assess the people’s awareness of their local government. He asks everyone he meets if they’ve even heard of the city official who’s supposed to be the district manager. Out of 15 people, only one had heard of Abdul Qadar... (link)

Related:

• (Sept 2008) Afghans see occupiers.

• (Sept 2008) Occupation ever more unpopular.

• (Aug 2008) An American soldier comments: "I don't see thumbs up anymore, sir... Only thumbs down."

• (June 2008) The Toronto Star's Rosie DiManno says that "hostility... is rapidly replacing the warm welcome that most Afghans had originally given their 'liberators.'"

Kambakhsh case developments

Journalism student Pervez Kambakhsh, imprisoned for the past year, catches a break for once:

Afghan Journalist's Death Sentence Commuted

KABUL/PRAGUE, Oct 21 (RFE/RL) - An appellate court in Afghanistan has commuted the death sentence of student and part-time journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh but ordered him to spend 20 years in jail for distributing an Internet article that questioned Islam's treatment of women.

Kambakhsh's lawyer immediately challenged the court's logic in handing down any prison time for the 23-year-old from northern Afghanistan.

"I am not convinced by the court session because witnesses didn't say a word relating to the distribution of that anti-Islamic article of which he is accused -- they [witnesses] were simply discussing some classroom arguments with no logical connection to this case," lawyer Afzal Noristani told reporters after the verdict, according to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.

"Moreover, an individual that was presented as an eyewitness to the primary court -- who has been forced to testify -- has admitted to providing false information," Noristani said. "I would perceive today's verdict as an attempt at conspiracy, since no credible evidence has been provided to the court."

Kambakhsh and relatives have said they suspected his prosecution was the result of a private vendetta by an influential local warlord... (link)

Britain's Independent, which headed a campaign calling for Mr. Kambakhsh's release, adds interesting details:

The appeal court decision was seen as a major legal victory for Mr Kambaksh. According to the defence team, as well as a number of other legal experts, the court had the power to uphold or set aside the death sentence, but it had no right to "arbitrarily" impose a jail term...

During yesterday's hearing, one of the prosecution's main witnesses, a fellow student, Hamid Ali, appeared to withdraw his testimony against Mr Kambaksh, who was also prevented by the judge from addressing the court over his protestations that an alleged "confession" had been beaten out of him.

After the hearing, Mr Kambaksh said: "I was, of course, hoping to be freed, but the fact that they have said I no longer face the death sentence is a big relief..."

Amnesty International appealed for Mr Kambaksh to be freed. "There are no legal grounds for either his conviction or this sentence," said Sam Zarifi, its Asia Pacific director. "While it can only be a positive step that he is no longer on death row, he should be freed immediately." (link)

Related:

• (July 2008) Kambakhsh languishes in prison.

• (April 2008) Kambakhsh's appeal gives new hope.

• (Feb 2008) Press repression continues as Kambakhsh hopes for transfer to Kabul.

Dead civilians are predictable outcome

An Op-Ed by Guardian editor Seumas Milne:

Civilian dead are a trade-off in Nato's war of barbarity
The killing of innocent Afghans by US bombs is the result of a calculation, not just a mistake. And it is fuelling resistance

Seumas Milne
The Guardian, October 16 2008

... By far the most comprehensive research into Afghan casualties over the past seven years has been carried out by Marc Herold, a US professor at the University of New Hampshire. In his latest findings, Herold estimates that the number of civilians directly killed by the US and other Nato forces since 2006, up to 3,273, is already higher than the toll exacted by the devastating three-month bombardment that ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. And over the past year civilian deaths at the hands of Nato forces have tripled, despite changes in rules of engagement...

It is that equation that makes a nonsense of US and British claims that their civilian victims are accidental "collateral damage", while the Taliban's use of roadside bombs, suicide attacks and classic guerrilla operations from civilian areas are a sign of their moral depravity. In real life, the escalating civilian death toll is not a mistake, but the result of a clear decision to put the lives of occupation troops before civilians; westerners before Afghans.

Dependence on air power is also a reflection of US imperial overstretch and the reluctance of Nato states to put more boots on the ground. But however much the nominal Afghan president Hamid Karzai rails against Nato's recklessness with Afghan blood, the indiscriminate air war carries on regardless. Given that the US government spent 10 times more on every sea otter affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill than it does in "condolence payments" to Afghans for the killing of a family member, perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise. (link)

Rapes continue as military drags feet

From the Toronto Star:

Critics slam Afghan rape probe
Investigation drags even as more soldiers accuse Afghan allies of abusing young boys

Oct 19 - The Canadian military's National Investigation Service is telling some witnesses it could take up to two years to investigate claims by Canadian soldiers that they've seen Afghan soldiers and interpreters raping young boys near Canadian bases outside Kandahar...

Canadian investigators, who were initially slow to move on the claims, saying they lacked formal complaints, began reviewing the allegations in July at the request of military police...

Soldiers who allege they have witnessed assaults are continuing to return home from Afghanistan seeking trauma counselling.

The latest soldiers to request counselling are from a group of about 30 based in Newfoundland, said a senior military source who asked not to be identified. A medical officer is scheduled to go to Newfoundland to help the soldiers later this month.

In June, the Star reported that several Canadian soldiers had complained about the abuse of Afghan children to military officers in Afghanistan and chaplains and medical staff in Canada.

The first soldiers to complain said their allegations were ignored.

John Pike, an analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank, said a two-year timetable is "preposterous." ...

The NIS has interviewed soldiers such as Cpl. Travis Schouten, a Sarnia native who in 2006 was based at Forward Operating Base Wilson in Afghanistan.

Schouten said he heard an Afghan soldier raping a young boy at one of the outposts near Kandahar and later saw that the boy's lower intestines had fallen out of his body, a sign of trauma from the assault. Schouten has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome and the military intends to have him discharged.

A Canadian military chaplain has said she has heard similar accounts from other soldiers.

And Lt. Col. Stéphane Grenier said he counselled a British soldier who said he watched a young boy being raped by an Afghan soldier while his senior officer concluded a meeting nearby with Afghan army officers.

The Afghan rape allegations are the subject of two investigations.

Besides the NIS, a military board of inquiry is also examining the rape claims. (link)

Related:

• (April 2008) Canadian Forces officers look the other way when rapes are committed.

• (September 2007) Al Jazeera: "Even Afghanistan's formal justice system does not clearly define rape as a separate crime, including it under the offence of "zina" or adultery, pederasty and violation of honour."

• (August 2008) Afghan government representatives commit child rape, says Afghan human rights organization.

Afghans seek a solution without guns

From Anand Gopal:

Afghanistan's emerging antiwar movement

KABUL, Oct 20 - In a musty room near the edge of town, a group of bearded men sit on the floor and heatedly discuss strategy. The men are in the planning stages of an event that they hope will impact Afghan politics – a peace jirga, or assembly, that will agitate for the end of the war between the Taliban and Afghan government by asking the two sides to come to a settlement.

"People are growing tired of the fighting," says Bakhtar Aminzai of the National Peace Jirga of Afghanistan, an association of students, professors, lawyers, clerics, and others. "We need to pressure the Afghan government and the international community to find a solution without using guns."

Mr. Aminzai is not alone in his sentiments. As violence and insecurity grow in this war-ravaged nation, a broad network of peace activists have been quietly pushing for negotiations and reconciliation with the Taliban.

This push coincides with recent preliminary talks in Saudi Arabia...

[B]ut many peace activists are critical of the Saudi talks. "We want reconciliation with the Taliban through a loya jirga," or grand assembly of Afghans, says Fatana Gilani, head of the Afghanistan Women's Council (AWC), a leading nongovernmental organization (NGO) here. "We don't want interference from foreign countries or negotiations behind closed doors," she says.

Like the AWC, many local NGOs have incorporated antiwar activities into their routine and are joining with other civil society groups to promote the idea of dialogue. The AWC convened a "peace assembly" this past Spring and invited members of the Afghan government and the Taliban to attend. It has also run seminars and conferences in Kandahar, the Taliban's heartland, promoting negotiation.

The National Peace Jirga also organized a series of peace assemblies in recent months, drawing thousands of people. The meetings often feature fiery speakers who condemn international forces for killing civilians – but who also criticize the Taliban.

"Afghanicide – the killing of Afghanistan – must be stopped," says Israir Ahmed Karimizai, a leader of Awakened Youth of Afghanistan, a prominent antiwar group. After seeing the violence grow sharply last year, Mr. Karimizai and a group of friends formed Awakened Youth with the aim of creating a movement that is independent of both the government and the Taliban. In late September the group headed an initiative to observe International Peace Day with speeches, rallies, and a pledge from both the international forces and the Taliban to lay down their arms for one day...

For Ms. Gilani and other peace activists, this doesn't mean however that they let the West off lightly, however. "We are against Western policy in Afghanistan," she says. "They should bury their guns in a grave and focus on diplomacy and economic development." (link)

Related:

• Fatana Gailani, from a leading Afghan family, profiled.

• (December 2007) Afghans support negotiations, says opinion poll.

• (April 2008) Afghans support negotiations while outsiders scorn the idea.

• (September 2007) More on negotiations.

• (April 2008) More here.