Nil by Mouth

So the only decent streaming

So the only decent streaming i can get is the BBC world news. Now we talk about retribution.

Now I’m nowhere near an expert on any of these complicated affairs of world politics, but that won’t stop me from pointing out a couple of things.

On Afghanistan

I hope against hope that in the news reports and patriotic speeches to come, there will be at least a smidgen of the history behind the Taliban situation. For instance that during the cold war the US government (the Reagan administration specifically) armed half of the Afghanistani people to the teeth. Meanwhile the USSR was invading and arming the other half of Afgahanistan to the teeth. And what insued was a bloody, brutal, and inhumane game of ideology between 2 superpowers that could care less about the people and land and Life of the pieces they were playing with.

And the cold war ended, The USSR had no soldiers left to send, and no money left to give. The US had nothing left to prove. And all that was left to Afghanistan was an unimaginable amount of weaponry. No governemnet, no schools, no rules, nothing. When a neighbor stole one’s last piece of bread, the only thing to do was pick up an M16 (paid for by either by US or USSR citizens) and blow his head off.

And that was the situation when the Taliban came to power. They are young, (because everyone older in Afghanistan is dead). They are fanatic (because they are desperate). They hate the US (because the US has screwed them).

And when I see petitions and outcries on the state of Afganistani women without any mention of this, i am Pissed. And now it is those “dirty arab backward terrorists” that are hiding the dirtiest backwardest arab terrorist. He was trained by the US folks. Let’s keep this in mind. We wanted him to go out and kill commies, which he probably did.

Now clearly I have no absolutely no respect or understanding for whomever is responsible for this, and I think the Taliban is fanatical, extremist, and just plain bad. But the thing is, we have to look at this with a more critical eye. I hope these things get discussed on the news and at dinner tables in the states. But I doubt it. And to be honest, I may be wrong on some of the finer points here, and I can’t give any great sources but an incredibly enlightening charlie rose i saw one evening.

I just hope we can look deeper on this one. Out of the ashes there is possibility. Endless possibility.

Notes:

Attacks Show That Political Courage Is the Only Real Defense

William Pfaff International Herald Tribune

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

BACKGROUND NOTES: AFGHANISTAN

PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

THE SOVIET WAR IN AFGHANISTAN:

HISTORY AND HARBINGER OF FUTURE WAR?

by

General (Ret) Mohammad

Yahya Nawroz, Army of Afghanistan

& LTC (Ret) Lester

W. Grau, U.S. Army

• Sep 12