- Aug 10, 2001
- 10,420
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SAY ANYTHING
Mon Apr 1, 9:03 PM ET
By Ted Rall
"In ten years or so we'll leak the truth
But by then
It's only so much paper"
-Dead Kennedys, 1982
DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN-Writing for the website SpinSanity on October 15, Bush apologist Brendan Nyhan ridiculed my "absurd suggestion that the war [in Afghanistan] is `solely' about an oil deal, trivializing the overriding motive of the attacks-going after Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and the regime that harbors bin Laden."
Nyhan's widely-circulated hit piece, commissioned by one of those outfits run by liberals so anxious to seem "non-partisan" that they mostly bash liberals (beware the man who says he's fair), was one among a volley of attacks that rained down on progressive commentators who dared to whisper three painfully obvious truths:
First, even before the 9-11 attacks, the well-oiled Bush Administration (bad pun intended) planned to take over Afghanistan one way or another. The only question was how and when it would be carried out.
American-aligned Kazakhstan sits atop the largest untapped oil reserves on earth, but can currently get its crude only as far south as Turkmenistan. Karachi, Pakistan's port on the Indian Ocean, awaits American oil tankers. Between lies Afghanistan; thus Unocal Corporation's $1.9 billion plan to run an 870-mile pipeline to link the Turkmen oil refinery at Charjou to Karachi. Trying to unify fractured Afghanistan under a regime (any regime) that would ensure the safety of a U.S.-sponsored pipeline, President Clinton funded the Taliban from the origins in 1995 until their "guest" Osama bin Laden bombed two American embassies in east Africa in 1998. The Unocal plan was shelved until September 11th gave Bush the pretext he needed to begin bombing and regain momentum for the pipeline plan.
Second, the ersatz "war on terror" has little to do with reducing, much less preventing, terrorist acts by Islamic extremists. The CIA has itself to blame for funding and arming these "evil doers" in the first place; the advantage of creating your own enemies is that you get to know them well in the process. Had the Third Afghan War actually been motivated by vengeance, Rumsfeld & Co. would have targeted groups in the countries that carried out the 9-11 attacks-Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. Had it been prophylactic, the DOD would have bombed the biggest guerrilla training camps, which were, and still are, in Pakistan. And if the State Department had wanted to deny extremist groups the vast majority of their funding-millions of tiny donations collected in mosques throughout the Arab world-it would have denied them their most potent and legitimate rallying cry: unlimited U.S. support for Israel's home-grown terrorist Ariel Sharon.
Ninety-nine percent of the estimated 5,000 to 15,000 Afghans killed by U.S. bombs had absolutely nothing to do with 9-11. That's an atrocity, it's even worse than 9-11 and Arabs know it. Thanks to George W. Bush, you and I are now significantly more likely to die in an attack by Islamists. Remember: to the rest of the world, we are terrorists.
Third, Nyhan takes me to task for "the insinuation that U.S. policymakers don't care about the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks or the oppressed women of Afghanistan." Insinuation, hell. I'll say it loud and clear. Let's take the last part first. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, more than half that time with direct or indirect American financing. Yeah, you say, but that was under Clinton. And yet, for the first seven and a half months of his presidency, Bush never issued a single statement criticizing the Taliban's treatment of women. During that period, he found numerous opportunities to discuss tax cuts, fast-track signing authority on free trade and countless other inanities. Long-suffering Afghans, it seems, only matter to U.S. policymakers insofar as they affect The Great Pipeline Project.
What about the 9-11 victims? Well, it was the Bushies who rushed through legislation depriving survivors of their right to sue the government or the airlines. When push came to shove, Bush sold out the victims for a few millionaire airline CEOs. Let's all repeat it together: the victims, American and Afghan, have been used by this vile, cynical administration to line the pockets of its corporate sponsors. And now our soldiers are dying, not for nothing, but while carrying out orders that are making things even worse.
rest of the editorial
Mon Apr 1, 9:03 PM ET
By Ted Rall
"In ten years or so we'll leak the truth
But by then
It's only so much paper"
-Dead Kennedys, 1982
DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN-Writing for the website SpinSanity on October 15, Bush apologist Brendan Nyhan ridiculed my "absurd suggestion that the war [in Afghanistan] is `solely' about an oil deal, trivializing the overriding motive of the attacks-going after Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and the regime that harbors bin Laden."
Nyhan's widely-circulated hit piece, commissioned by one of those outfits run by liberals so anxious to seem "non-partisan" that they mostly bash liberals (beware the man who says he's fair), was one among a volley of attacks that rained down on progressive commentators who dared to whisper three painfully obvious truths:
First, even before the 9-11 attacks, the well-oiled Bush Administration (bad pun intended) planned to take over Afghanistan one way or another. The only question was how and when it would be carried out.
American-aligned Kazakhstan sits atop the largest untapped oil reserves on earth, but can currently get its crude only as far south as Turkmenistan. Karachi, Pakistan's port on the Indian Ocean, awaits American oil tankers. Between lies Afghanistan; thus Unocal Corporation's $1.9 billion plan to run an 870-mile pipeline to link the Turkmen oil refinery at Charjou to Karachi. Trying to unify fractured Afghanistan under a regime (any regime) that would ensure the safety of a U.S.-sponsored pipeline, President Clinton funded the Taliban from the origins in 1995 until their "guest" Osama bin Laden bombed two American embassies in east Africa in 1998. The Unocal plan was shelved until September 11th gave Bush the pretext he needed to begin bombing and regain momentum for the pipeline plan.
Second, the ersatz "war on terror" has little to do with reducing, much less preventing, terrorist acts by Islamic extremists. The CIA has itself to blame for funding and arming these "evil doers" in the first place; the advantage of creating your own enemies is that you get to know them well in the process. Had the Third Afghan War actually been motivated by vengeance, Rumsfeld & Co. would have targeted groups in the countries that carried out the 9-11 attacks-Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. Had it been prophylactic, the DOD would have bombed the biggest guerrilla training camps, which were, and still are, in Pakistan. And if the State Department had wanted to deny extremist groups the vast majority of their funding-millions of tiny donations collected in mosques throughout the Arab world-it would have denied them their most potent and legitimate rallying cry: unlimited U.S. support for Israel's home-grown terrorist Ariel Sharon.
Ninety-nine percent of the estimated 5,000 to 15,000 Afghans killed by U.S. bombs had absolutely nothing to do with 9-11. That's an atrocity, it's even worse than 9-11 and Arabs know it. Thanks to George W. Bush, you and I are now significantly more likely to die in an attack by Islamists. Remember: to the rest of the world, we are terrorists.
Third, Nyhan takes me to task for "the insinuation that U.S. policymakers don't care about the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks or the oppressed women of Afghanistan." Insinuation, hell. I'll say it loud and clear. Let's take the last part first. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, more than half that time with direct or indirect American financing. Yeah, you say, but that was under Clinton. And yet, for the first seven and a half months of his presidency, Bush never issued a single statement criticizing the Taliban's treatment of women. During that period, he found numerous opportunities to discuss tax cuts, fast-track signing authority on free trade and countless other inanities. Long-suffering Afghans, it seems, only matter to U.S. policymakers insofar as they affect The Great Pipeline Project.
What about the 9-11 victims? Well, it was the Bushies who rushed through legislation depriving survivors of their right to sue the government or the airlines. When push came to shove, Bush sold out the victims for a few millionaire airline CEOs. Let's all repeat it together: the victims, American and Afghan, have been used by this vile, cynical administration to line the pockets of its corporate sponsors. And now our soldiers are dying, not for nothing, but while carrying out orders that are making things even worse.
rest of the editorial
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