Stupidity Watch: Politicians Play Games Around Afghanistan

August 20, 2009

R.F.Wilson writes: Absolutely meaningless presidential elections take place in Afghanistan, under the supposedly watchful eye of the occupying NATO forces.

No one needs these elections, apart from the politicians in America, Britain and some other NATO countries, who are pretending that they are busy installing democracy in a country that is still living in the rubble of the Middle Ages. The Afghan people do not need these elections, because they know the winners in advance and because they are too frightened to get killed outside the polling stations by the resistance fighters.The Western commanders on the ground in Afghanistan bang on how important it is for the democratic process to run smoothly. They have learnt their prepared texts well. They pretend not to notice that things are not exactly going the way they planned. Operation Panther Claw (what a silly name for a military onslaught that went disastrously wrong!) has supposedly pacified the resistance in the southern Helmand province where the majority of poppies are grown to produce opium. The American and British troops swept into the province, suffered the heaviest casualties in all of the eight years of occupation, and declared their mission accomplished.

What exactly has been done, no one knows. The resistance continues to operate in the south and is threatening anyone who decides to go and vote with death. The drug lords seem to be also busy, moving their stuff to underground factories that produce heroin, which is then shipped to Western Europe and other parts of the world.

But what is absolutely puzzling is the way politicians in the United States, Britain and some other countries involved in the occupation of Afghanistan are still insisting how important it is to stay there and see democracy triumph. They are playing their stupid macho games that suit the arms producers, of course, but pretty much no one else. It is now becoming really embarrassing to watch Western officials and generals talking absolute rubbish about Afghanistan. We cannot afford to withdraw, they say. It would be a disaster if we leave. Our troops in Afghanistan are protecting the safety of our own people. It is in our interests to see Afghanistan achieve peace and stability.

Blah, blah, blah.

Western politicians on both sides of the political divide speak in one voice on Afghanistan. They are all concerned with the terrorist threat, you see. They are all tough guys, who do not like to pussyfoot around and say it like it is. And they are saying that they ‘support our boys’ and that anyone who says a word against them is the enemy of the people. And some hotheads even say that the war in Afghanistan will last for decades. And on hearing that the death merchants open their champagne and rejoice.

I would like to ask all those patriotically inclined politicians in the west: would they like to send their children to Afghanistan, to help build democracy there? And why not, if they feel so strongly about it? Or they can go themselves and travel around the country and give public lectures about the benefits of human rights and democracy. And then we will see whether these politicians will be so keen on keeping the Western military presence in Afghanistan.

Politicians generally have one problem: they are never directly influenced by the decisions they make. For example, if former President George Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would have been forced to send their children to Iraq, as relief workers or librarians, they would have never started the war. Simple as that. They would have thought twice before sending thousands of men to die and condemning more than a million Iraqis to be killed. (Although Blair probably would have gone on with it as he was in it for the money.)

The point I am making is this: it is always good to link politicians to their stupid decisions. Then they will be forced to think carefully before they do something stupid again.

– End –

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