Eric Margolis
LewRockwell.com
December 21, 2010
After nine years of war in Afghanistan, costing over $100 billion in taxpayer money and 700 American lives, the full truth about this murky conflict remains elusive.
The government and media have colluded to paint the picture of a noble, patriotic, heroic, flag-waving American crusade in Afghanistan that is, alas, very far from reality. As the 19th century cynic Ambrose Bierce pointedly observed of patriots – “the dupe of statesmen; the tool of conquerors.”
And now we are being told by senior administration officials that al-Qaida’s new base and center of activity is…wait for it…in Yemen!
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If that’s the case, why are 150,000 US and dragooned NATO troops still in Afghanistan? CIA chief Leon Panetta recently admitted there were no more than 50 al-Qaida personnel in Afghanistan.
What, then, are American and NATO troops doing there? The oil and gas of the nearby Caspian Basin and a desire to exclude China from the resource-rich region seems a likely answer.
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Three interesting reports about Afghanistan emerged in Washington last week.
First, a political whitewash issued by the Obama White House claiming the war was going well and some US troops might be withdrawn next year. This ‘don’t worry be happy’ summary was trumpeted by the pro-war New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other members of the government-friendly US media.
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