No Win Scenario

Troops Guarding Poppy Crop

I would like to bring up a subject of the criminality perpetuated by governments of the world.  How the monopoly of control intertwines into power of the state, military, corporate and civilian lives. To expose how those with all the control over violence and force, flaunt their power and lies in the face of an uneducated distracted public.  I am going to focus on one example today, Afghanistan and Iraq occupations.  Anyone keeping up with the latest news around NATO/US forces in Afghanistan should be aware of some of the recent headlines and news.  It seems an almost split decision in American government/military to pull troops out of the Iraq region this summer or to increase favorable opinion to keep the forces there longer.  It has to be in the Obama administration’s best interest to at least fulfill one of his campaign promises and get the troops out, otherwise they will most likely suffer from the growing change of favor among US citizens towards their government.  Recent elections have shown a trend towards removing incumbents from office and most assuredly the same will happen to more politicians in the coming House of Representatives elections.  Democrats could be facing the voting block if the people do not see the troops being removed from Iraq this year.  With increased surges ordered into Afghanistan I really do not see this as much of a relief in troop deployment to the area, but just a redistribution.

There is incentive to increase numbers into Afghanistan despite the political backlashing however.  Organizations like the US Marines and Army have been admittedly protecting Afghani poppy fields for some time now.  This highly profitable crop provides opium that is illegal in many places in the world but paid top price for on the drug market in the production of heroin and other drugs.  Drugs that because of their illegality by governments makes them the most profitable trade in the world.  The production of opium was almost eradicated during the Taliban reign until the US forces came into Afghanistan where production is now at a high again.  CIA and other military forces funnel this drug money out to pay for their operations globally, as they did with cocaine in the past.

Also in recent news was a release of old Intel of very rich deposits of valuable minerals in Afghanistan, worth at least $3 Trillion.  This information is not really news to anyone as the Soviets knew this during their occupation of Afghanistan.  The country is not suited for the extraction of these complex substances either so most believe the release of this information into the mainstream was to provide an incentive for the billions that was going up for vote to be spent in the next budget for the war there.  As if the money from these minerals extracted would come back to the government coffers (taxpayer’s money) anyway.  Most likely the money would be funneled through the pockets of western bankers (JP Morgan) and others with the means of getting this material from the earth and turning a profit on it.  Greasing the hands of those in the government who are most likely current or former employees (agents, aides, advisers, board member, ceo, etc) of said western business that get the government contracts to go build and work the region.  True that is all speculation but would not be far from the truth of most regions the American Empire has entered into over the decades.  Check out whistle blower John Perkins and how he describes the system at which governments, global corporations, and intelligence networks have run this game in many countries already.  In a criminal system such as the government, individuals can have the best interest of their wallet over their oath of office or any sense of respect for others.  At worst their punishments will be public humiliation or losing their seat of election or employment, whilst maintaining wealth and power obtained from these criminal practices.  Bernie Madoff being a recent exception, yet can one say his prison time really recoups the losses felt by those who invested in his schemes?

So basically we have a situation in where we have been able to reveal some of the pieces on the global political chessboard and based on these pieces one can wonder the outcome of occupation in Afghanistan.  Will Obama and others try to buy some more time in office by making the popular move to get the troops out?  Or will the longest war in American history find a continued unjustified reason to exist?

Asked to describe what an American victory would look like in Afghanistan, [CIA Director Leon] Panetta said: “Our purpose, our whole mission there, is to make sure that Al Qaeda never finds another safe haven from which to attack this country. That’s the fundamental goal of why the United States is there. And the measure of success for us is: do you have an Afghanistan that is stable enough to make sure that never happens.”

At the start of the article I got this quote from Director Panetta states the Al Qaeda forces in the country to be around 50 or less.  Seems telling that we are not getting the whole story of the Afghanistan occupation here.  9 years over 1,800 allied military casualties and the best estimates of around 6,500 civilian known casualties just for 2007-2009 (Guardian).  Continued drone strikes into neighboring Pakistan killing civilians, a 30,000 troop surge and we are told there are 50 or less bad terrorists in Afghanistan with a time table end date set at a condition to be determined by those in control, not the people.  Remember all of this links back to one big bad man who the government’s conspiracy theory states planed the take down of several American jets, two buildings and less than 3,000 people.  When do we feel safe enough?  How many more soldiers and civilians need to die for a disguised lie of freedom that is actually our own prison we create each time we shed true freedoms in the name of protection?