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Bin Laden assassination sets stage for withdrawal from Afghanistan
April has been a bloody month for US forces in Afghanistan, with 45 Americans killed, compared to only 20 last April. And now the Taliban has announced the start of a "spring offensive" that may soon draw comparisons to the Tet offensive in Vietnam in 1968. Meanwhile US allies are doing less and less of the fighting in Afghanistan, reducing their share of casualties from 37% in early 2010 to only 25% so far this year. America is gradually being left to fight its war on its own - or not...
So the presumed assassination of Osama Bin Laden by American "spooks" in Pakistan comes at an interesting time. I say 'assassination' because it seems unlikely that the U.S. had any desire to take Bin Laden alive, and because President Obama said that he was killed after a fire-fight, not during one. This would be consistent with other U.S. 'kill or capture' operations, in which even 12-year old children have been summarily executed after being captured and flexi-cuffed by US 'special forces'.
Obama also suggested that Bin Laden's whereabouts had been known for some time, so the timing of the decision to kill him now seems noteworthy. The most serious obstacle that Obama has faced to withdrawal from Afghanistan is political. In Iraq, the "surge" created a narrative by which Americans could see the expulsion of US forces as some kind of victory. But the quest for a "victory" narrative in Afghanistan has always been more problematic, and a year of blowing up villages in Helmand and Kandahar provinces hasn't changed that.
The awkward truth facing US policy-makers on Afghanistan is that its future, like its past, lies in its relations with the great powers that surround it: China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran, not with the United States - as Brian Downing explained a few days ago in Asia Times: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MD27Df01.html
But, after claiming for ten years that the US had vital interests in Afghanistan that were worth fighting for, how could Obama all of a sudden say that we really don't? Killing Bin Laden provides the US government with precisely the narrative it needs to justify withdrawal from Afghanistan. "We've accomplished what we set out to do. We've avenged 9/11. We can leave with honor. We don't need to occupy the country. We can kill anyone anywhere anyway."
So, if you've been treating the US war in Afghanistan as an American folly that would persist against all reason and beyond your power to stop it, this may be the time to re-engage with the peace movement, call your Member of Congress, organize locally and nationally, and hit the streets. The administration is already committed to doing or saying something in July, and, with enough pressure from the public, what they say could just be "We're out of here!"
Nicolas Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq, and the local coordinator of Progressive Democrats of America in Miami (www.pdamerica.org).
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I'm a bit perplexed by the optimism
http://warisacrime.org/content/bin-laden-assassination-sets-stage-withdr...
and hope
http://warisacrime.org/content/killing-resolves-nothing
I read following the assassination of bin Laden.
The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. Do you expect them to renounce violence and stop playing football?
'The administration is already committed to doing or saying something in July, and, with enough pressure from the public, what they say could just be "We're out of here!"'
http://warisacrime.org/content/bin-laden-assassination-sets-stage-withdr...
Why are we conflating the rhetoric for public consumption with the reality on the ground?
Tomdispatch's Nick Turse reported in February:
"Last fall, it was reported that more than $200 million in construction projects -- from barracks to cargo storage facilities -- were planned for or in-progress at Bagram. Substantial construction funds have also been set aside by the U.S. Air Force to upgrade its air power capacity at Kandahar. For example, $65 million has been allocated to build additional apron space (where aircraft can be parked, serviced, and loaded or unloaded) to accommodate more close-air support for soldiers in the field and a greater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability. Another $61 million has also been earmarked for the construction of a cargo helicopter apron and a tactical airlift apron there."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175204/tomgram:_nick_turse,america%27ssh...
And mind you, that's just base construction.
Never mind the myriad other facets of the military-industrial-complex.
The anti-war movement needs a more rational approach.
Rather than expecting "victory laps" and finally, a cessation of hostilities, an understanding that the business of war suddenly consigned to obsolescence is at best an unrealistic scenario...
Glenn Greenwald put it best:
"...what, if anything, is going to change as a result of the two bullets in Osama bin Laden's head? Are we going to fight fewer wars or end the ones we've started? Are we going to see a restoration of some of the civil liberties which have been eroded at the altar of this scary Villain Mastermind? Is the War on Terror over? Are we Safer now?
Those are rhetorical questions. None of those things will happen. If anything, I can much more easily envision the reverse. Whenever America uses violence in a way that makes its citizens cheer, beam with nationalistic pride, and rally around their leader, more violence is typically guaranteed."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/02/bin_laden/i...
And this process, as cooler heads might expect, is already in motion.
Jason Ditz points out, at antiwar.com:
"...last night the message was ‘all’s well that ends well.’
This morning, however, it isn't even that, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reassuring the world that America’s assorted wars would continue in the wake of bin Laden’s death. Indeed, the killing is being presented less as a game-changer than as a vindication for the overall policy of endless war worldwide.
“You cannot defeat us,” Clinton insisted, while adding that the death of bin Laden some ten years after 9/11 proved that the US would “never abandon its pursuit of justice.” Incredibly, it seems bin Laden’s death has emboldened the hawkish Clinton, who also said the US would “boost” its counterterrorism efforts after the news."
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/05/02/clinton-vows-wars-will-continue/
In the light (or darkness, if you will) of these remarks by Obama's lead rabid pit bull, where is the optimism on regards Afghanistan now?
---The Bikemessenger
Hey kidz!!! The assassination of someone ObamaCo tells us is "Osama been PhotoShopped" also sets the stage for yet another Zionist False Flag attack . . .
. . . a NEW "New Pearl Harbor" . . .
And now what we've all been waiting for . . .
Abe "You're An Anti-Semite if WE HATE YOU" Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League has released his official Zionist Commissar/Politruk statement . . . ;-)
(clipped headline and article from ADL website)
"ADL: Death of Terrorist Mastermind Osama bin Laden 'Critical Blow' in War Against Terrorism - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called the killing of 9/11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in Pakistan 'a critical blow' against the Al Qaeda network and a significant turning point in the war against terrorism."
(full ADL press release)
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/TerrorismIntl_93/6029_93.htm
We see that Abe Foxman and the ADL continue to promote the "BIG LIE" that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were responsible for the attacks of 9-11:
(clipped text from above ADL article)
"The death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. forces in Pakistan strikes a critical blow against the Al Qaeda network and is a significant turning point in the war against global terrorism. His killing nearly 10 years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, orchestrated by Al Qaeda, shows that no act of terrorism on U.S. soil or against U.S. interests abroad will go unanswered and the United States will never waver in its efforts to bring terrorists and their supporters to justice."
As with all Zionists I've seen reporting on this story, Abe Foxman and the ADL apparently have no problem with the complete lack of "Due Process of Law" in that he applauds the military that assassinated this individual, whomever he was, instead of capturing them alive and making them stand trial in a court of law.
(clipped text from above ADL article)
"We (the ADL) extend our congratulations and appreciation to President Barack Obama and the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Services and intelligence community who engaged in a relentless pursuit of this mortal enemy of freedom and peace."
More disturbing is the continued "seeding" storyline that we saw emerging a couple of weeks ago as summarized by Veterans Today:
(clipped headline and article from Veterans Today)
"BREAKING: OBL death means 'nuclear hellstorm' vows KSM! - U.S. claims of a successful military operation that killed Osama bin Laden (OBL) come on the heels of a story out of Guantanamo Bay, according to which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) said that Al-Qaeda is prepared to launch a 'nuclear hellstorm' against the United States and United Kingdom in the event that OBL was killed or captured."
(full story)
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/01/breaking-obl-death-means-nuclear...
This is how Abe Foxman and the ADL spin it:
(clipped text from above ADL article)
"The death of such a significant figure in global terrorism inevitably raises concerns that those sympathetic to bin Laden will now seek to retaliate against the U.S. and its allies in the West, or against Israeli or Jewish targets. One recurring theme of bin Laden's videotaped messages was a special hatred for Israel, often expressed in anti-Semitic terms. . . We must remain vigilant against the ever-present threat of new acts of terrorist violence inspired by his death."
We must ask ourselves "Which stage is being set by this obvious Zionist Mass Media Psy-Op?"
So, are we looking at a "Best Case Scenario" where POTUS Obama is saying, "We declare VICTORY with honor . .. now, we are getting the hell out of Afghanistan before we suffer the same fate as the FORMER Soviet Union"?
- OR -
. . . are we looking at a "Worst Case Scenario" where the Zionists are preparing for yet another "New Pearl Harbor" to launch World War III?
For some reason, the words of Dr. Alan Sabrosky of the U.S. Military College just keep ringing through my head:
"The Zionists are playing this as an all-or-nothing exercise. If they lose this one,
they’re done….."
- Dr. Alan Sabrosky, former Director of Studies at the US Army War College
I don't see the Zionists "getting on board" with my "Best Case Scenario" of using this "Osama been PhotoShopped" Psy-Op to "Declare Victory with Honor" and get the hell out of the middle east theater before we completely bankrupt the Republic.
However, I can definitely see the Zionists "going for broke" to get their "Greater Israel" agenda back on track by once again tricking WE THE SCHMUCKS into neutralizing their enemies for them. .. This time with Syria, Libya, Yemen and most notably Iran.
We know that there are at least two "broken arrow" missing nukes from the South Africa/Israel deal and at least one more from the Minot AFB episode. We also know that the Israeli consulate in NYC shows up as a radioactive hot spot for some reason.
"By Way of Deception, You Shall Make War"
- Motto of Israel's MOSSAD
Stay tuned kidz . . . this is definitely getting interesting . . . ;-)
"But the band's on the bus,
And they're waiting to go.
We gotta drive all night
And do the show in Chicago... or Detroit.
I don't know, we do so many shows in a row.
And these towns all look the same.
We just pass the time in the hotel rooms
And wander around backstage.
Till those lights come up,
And we hear that crowd,
And we remember why we came."
- "Roadie Song/Stay" by Jackson Brown
peace.