Afghanistan Airstrike Kills 80+ Civilians
It’s like the Iraq War, and Vietnam, and every other horribly expensive, counter-productive and deadly war the U.S. ever fought just goes in one ear and out the other. Eight years in Afghanistan, no end in sight, and little or nothing will have changed by the end.
Here’s the NY Times piece on the airstrike.
More Afghanistan reading:
Great piece on using the Powell Doctrine before starting a war. Taken from the linked McClatchy article, which I strongly urge you to read, the Doctrine goes as follows.
* 1. Is a vital national security interest threatened?
* 2. Do we have a clear, attainable objective?
* 3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
* 4. Have all non-violent policy means been exhausted?
* 5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
* 6. Have all the consequences of our action been fully considered?
* 7. Is the action supported by the American people?
* 8. Do we have broad international support?
Whole lot of Nopes there.
Finally, if you missed it, George F. Will’s take.
Well you know, collateral damage is an awful awful thing but it’s all in a good cause, right? I mean, they hate us because of our freedoms, don’t they?
The US govt is simply an imperialistic, insatiable war-machine monster that will always have some enemy, somwhere. Now it just happens to be one of the poorest, most backward countries on Earth. In 20 years it will be someplace else. Check out Chalmers Johnson’s “The Sorrow of Empires” for more on that.