"Today's Rant"

Following is an e-mail I recently received from a British national working in the Middle East.

Cowboy Bob

March 17, 2009

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"Today's Rant - Inspired by news of the troop increase in Afghanistan."

So who's kidding who here? In this current age of excessive PC (political correctness) we all seem to have been consumed by the desire (imposed or voluntary) not to upset anyone over anything, for fear of being labeled as anything from uninformed to racist. In this mindless rush to protect the sensibilities of any group, or individual, whose agenda does not include criticism of any sort, we appear to have lost the right or the ability to call a spade a shovel.

Take Barack Obama for example (let me finish this sentence before jumping to incorrect conclusions); here is a new president, committed to bringing the 'Boys' home from Iraq as promised, suddenly wanting to increase the presence of US troops in Afghanistan. Now why would anyone who actually wants the troops out of harms way, want to immediately send them into a similarly dangerous area.

We know it isn't for their good, because they will certainly die and in probably higher numbers than the British and others are currently sustaining. This is the lot of the American GI. At some point during their training (one does assume that these bodies in uniform do get trained despite evidence that whatever they got didn't sink in) they appear to be taught that they are both invincible and at a higher point in the food chain than any national of any other country they are sent to protect, or fight. This unfortunate arrogance does tend to piss off a great deal of normally passive people, directly resulting in the average GI becoming the embodiment of everything everyone hates about America and Americans, and consequently a target.

(I diverge for a second, but can anyone tell me if the average American is deaf? There must be some explanation why they seem oblivious to their volume in a restaurant when the nearby tables are treated to their conversational prowess and opinions whether they want them or not.)

We also know that the western style of democracy just isn't applicable at the current stage of development of a country like Afghanistan. It's a bit like trying to impose this style of democracy on a tribe in the Amazonian rain forest. They already have a system that actually suits them well, but we - in our infinite wisdom - believe ours is better, without learning how theirs works. It is a bit like the British Raja 'educating' the natives, only to find themselves a hundred or more years later, mourning the loss of culture and heritage. Why do we fail to see, from the example of Saudi Arabia, that you can buy all the artifacts of civilization, but they are pretty useless without the two thousand years of experience to make them work?

It was only a few years ago that the British were being encouraged to leave Iraq to the USA (around the time of "to the victor goes the spoils" attitude of the US) when they thought it was still profitable to hang in there. The Brits were being 'given’ Afghanistan to play with. As usual they were being left something that was of no real value to the US - so what is new there?

So why this sudden interest in Afghanistan? Well actually, the sudden interest is in America. The land where deregulation of the financial sector allowed the spawning of the world's fiasco that will eventually affect every person on the planet (with the exception of the bastards who created it and who are now still receiving bonuses bigger than most of us earn in a lifetime). The very last thing that America needs right now is another two hundred thousand battle worn soldiers rucking up on their doorstep looking for their old jobs back (many of which no longer exist) and a heroes welcome. Where would Obama's rescue package go with a whole new army to feed back in the homeland? I doubt the DOD would roll over and transfer their costs to a domestic budget.

The obvious solution is to keep them as soldiers and send them far away from America where they can rustle up a bit of patriotic support for the new missionary mission to educate the savages into the ways of American democracy. Teaching them that if they are friendly to the US, buy all their products and basically toe the line - that is democracy US style.

The answer then is that the real reason is socio-economic, in America’s interest at this troubled time. There is no problem with that, every one is doing it, but then, please, don't try and kid the world that this is some new humanitarian mission to bring democracy to the bunch of warring tribes that have been kicking the shit out of each other for a few centuries (and will probably still be kicking the shit out of each other long after we have gone). It's all about money and unemployment figures, so stop asking the rest of the world to stump up more "help" for the American cause in Afghanistan, when all that is really meant is "please legitimize us being there in greater numbers".

I think we have all given legitimacy to America's abhorrent foreign policy for quite long enough. We backed the illegitimate war, we supported the thieving American Companies that delivered less than thirty percent of the value of their contracts to the Iraqis and now we are supposed to play second fiddle to the US because they have no where else to put their unemployment problem other than Afghanistan.

Grow a spine and admit that is the basis of the new frontline, and then pick up the tab - bodies and all.
--
Peter
Kuwait