Afghanistan:
The U.S. Steps Up the War against the Population

May 18, 2009

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the current commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan will be replaced by General Stanley McChrystal, who was formerly the head of special forces operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

McChrystal is known for sponsoring the big propaganda lie concerning the death of Pat Tillman. So we know what kind of “reports” we can expect through his command!

More importantly, the appointment of McChrystal shows what plans the Obama administration has for Afghanistan. McChrystal is a “counter-insurgency” specialist, who proved in Iraq he can “soften up” and “bring in line” a population that is not necessarily willing to co-operate.

The recent bombing of a village in western Afghanistan confirms that the Obama administration has every intention to do the same kind of thing in Afghanistan. On May 4, U.S. bombs killed at least 147 civilians in the village of Granai–the greatest “collateral damage” so far in this war. The heavy aerial bombardment of the village took place hours after fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents had ended, ensuring that any fighters would have fled the village by then, and that only civilians would be left. And the bombs used by the U.S. military were so powerful that people were ripped to shreds.

U.S. military officials disputed the number of casualties, but they acknowledged that people’s houses were bombed and dozens of civilians were killed. By all appearances, this was a planned, vicious attack on defenseless civilians, intended to send a message to the Afghan population: don’t let insurgents into your village, or else you’ll be punished mercilessly.

This massacre was so brutal that even the U.S.-sponsored president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, was forced to publicly protest it and to demand that the U.S. suspend the bombings.

Despite all the public outcry over such “errors,” however, the Obama administration has reaffirmed its intention to step up the war in Afghanistan. Additional U.S. troops are to be sent in, raising their number up to 68,000 by next fall.

For decades, the big powers have been trying to impose their order in and around Afghanistan. The latest chapter of this bloody history, the U.S. war on that country, has only worsened and deepened the disaster for the Afghan population. This war must come to an end.