Index on Afghanistan: December 2006

by Sarah Meyer
Index Research

Regime Change

Colorado Indymedia

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Witches in Macbeth, Shakespeare

The United States has had an unsuccessful love affair with ‘Regime Change.’ Regime change for Cuba has been on the menu for over 40 years. One can be sure that present back-stage machinations for imminent regime change, following the death of Castro, are in rehearsal. Oil rich Venezuela has been added to the roll call. Will other blossoming socialist countries in Latin America be added to this “communist” regime-change list?

Following 9/11, the United States intentionally started upsetting the Middle East by initiating a war in Afghanistan. The 'War of Terror' is about protecting oil and Israel. Bush and Co. found their 'heroic' war feet. Bush passionately vowed to ‘get’ Osama bin Laden. But getting Saddam (Iraq) was more important for the neo-conservatives. ‘Democracy and Freedom’ remain the main media message to a mostly uninformed American public.

What about the present cauldron in Palestine? And Lebanon? Iran? And Syria?

Even Fox News is now using the US-created infernos as a positive PR point. I hope this story disgusts the reader as much as it does me. Odds Bush incorporates this ‘good’ news into his ‘new’ strategy? ‘But gee, folks, look what we have achieved to protect our interests and secure our future. … just a few hundred thousand more dead and we will have success.’

The US has encouraged ‘regime change’ within NATO, with propaganda that this is now a ‘global’ force when in fact it is a US-controlled force. The US also wants a US-controlled UN.

How much is Israel in collusion with the american regime-change programme? There is zero US govt./media info about Iran's oil and euro programme or indeed Israel's nuclear weapons. Can we have some chat about these problems now? To add a ‘fenny snake’ to the Middle East witches brew, a recent article said that foreign policy think tanks are brainstorming ways to stabilize (sic) the Middle East – they want Israel to be admitted into NATO. Clever? Wow! Another nail in the Middle East (bar Israel) coffin. Now Israel is lobbying for this to happen. So it will?

The UK was also cultivating regime change/civil war with neo-con plans in Iraq. Hopefully, Tony Blair, whose hubris disallows failure, will bring about his own announced regime change soon.

If the US cannot control the world’s resources they want through war or murder, then there is always blackmail. Here are two examples of that blackmail:

• US accused of using aid to sway votes in UN security council
17.12.06. Observer.

• U.S. pursues financial strategy against regimes it can't otherwise corral
26.12.06. A. Gearan, AP . Sign On San Diego

Now Bush and Co. are looking for a ‘new’ strategy - never having had (except for Bremer's poisonous imperial laws) a strategy to begin with. Perhaps the 'new' strategy will be to remove their Iraqi / Afghan puppets? For now, the 9/11 US mantra, ‘security,’ has been redrawn from the hat. But. With a twist. Osama and al Qaeda have been relegated to a corner.

“The extremists, the radicals would have safe haven from which to launch further attacks. They would be emboldened," Bush said following the almost three-hour meeting. "They would be in a position to threaten the United States of America."

Will this new definition of ‘terrorist’ soon include any citizen who disagrees with US policy? Will the public soon be threatened with martial law? Will they (we) be thrown into the new Halliburton prisons?

There are many countries in the world who now need protection against the intentional brewing (US) civil wars / regime changes. What is needed is for a ‘Great Birnam Wood’ to come to Dunsinane. For the country most needing the oft-mentioned ‘turning point’ is the United States. The removal of the present US administration would do more to stabilise our world than any neo-con dead-end brain-storm.

Does anyone remember the happier Peace-Corps-America days? Will anyone remember for a lifetime where they were when Junior Bush dies? Both the present US / UK regimes will leave a disaster wake that will cause future tsunamis for a long time. The US has infected the whole world in their moral morass. It is difficult to find compassion for those who regard morality with sarcasm and contempt.

Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

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AFGHANISTAN 12.06

1. Strategic Imperatives: Reports & Documents; Articles; Media
2. Military Contracts
3. NATO, General
4. NATO: participating countries Countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, UK)
5. Aid and Reconstruction
6. Opium
7. Human Rights, War Crimes: Documents / Reports; Articles; Case Studies
8. Some of the Dead in Afghanistan: ‘regrets’ are not enough.
9. References

Please also see other source material:

• Index on Afganistan to end 08.06.

• Nato: The Bathtub of Unreadiness

• Afghanistan: NATO is now US-ATO

• Index on Afghanistan September 2006

• Index on Afghanistan October 2006

• Index on Afghanistan November 2006

I would be grateful, if you use any sources from Index on Afghanistan, if you give credit to Index Research. Thank you, Sarah

1. Strategic Imperatives: Reports &Documents; Articles; Media

ARTICLES

Coming and Going

Stephen A. Cambone to Resign
01.12.06. US DoD. Cambone was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the under secretary of defense for intelligence on March 7, 2003. Prior to March 7, he was the director, program analysis and evaluation, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Cambone held that position from July 1, 2002. On July 19, 2001, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy. He held that position until July 1, 2002. Prior to that, he served as the special assistant to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense from January 2001 to July 2001. (No mention is made of his war crimes trial in Germany)

Top General in Mideast to Retire
20.12.06. LA Times / Truth Out. Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to retire and will leave his post in March

New NATO commander raises questions
08.12.06. RADIO NETHERLANDS. Human rights groups have expressed concern over the appointment of NATO's new military chief who was sworn in at the Alliance's military headquarters in Belgium on Thursday. General Bantz John Craddock, who is taking over from General James Jones as Supreme Commander of all NATO forces, has a long and glittering military career. But there is one major stain on his otherwise impeccable military record - Guantanamo Bay. (NB: google earlier index research articles about this appalling appointment)

Air war costs NATO Afghan supporters
18.12.06. R. Morarjee, Christian Science Monitor. At a large gathering with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in this southern city last Tuesday, Abdul Ghafar sat among hundreds in the audience, clutching a piece of paper. On it were the names of 20 members of his family killed two months ago in a NATO airstrike.

Afghan District Makes Own Deal With the Taliban
02.12.06. C. Gall/ A.W. Wafa, NY Times.

Afghanistan: A job half done
04.12.06. L. Doucet, BBC.

(Oops. Apologies. I inadvertently deleted files between 04 and 18 December.)

Afghanistan: Bush’s Other War
18.12.06. P. Gasper, Monthly Review. Just as in Iraq, Washington promised that the invasion would bring about liberation for the local population -- particularly women, who had suffered severe oppression under the Taliban -- democracy, respect for human rights, stability, and prosperity. Now, more than five years later, it is easy to see just how hollow those promises were.

Dark Days Ahead for Kabul
20.12.06. S. Tisdall, Guardian.

Pentagon wants $99.7 billion more for Iraq, Afghanistan
20.12.06. A. Taylor, AP / Dailynews.

Soldier accused of passing secrets – papers
21.12.06. Peterborough Now.

Afghanistan Experiences Worst Year Since Taliban Ousted
21.12.06. Playfuls.com. Over 3,900 people, including over 1,000 civilians, were killed in the militancy in 2006, four times the death toll of 2005.

Pakistan to mine and fence Afghan border
26.12.06. Financial Times

Afghan landmines won't deter militants
29.12.06. Professor J. Trevelyan, Letter to the Guardian

2006: year of bloodshed in Afghanistan
26.12.06. Hindustan Times. The year 2006 witnessed the killing of over 3900 people, representing a four-fold increase over the 1000 deaths last year. / Those killed included about 1000 civilians. More than 115 suicide attacks accounted for 270 Afghan civilians and 17 international soldiers killed. 180 NATO soldiers have been killed in action against the Taliban, this year.

Taliban will never accept defeat, says Mullah Omar
29.12.06. Asian Age.

AP Interview: 'Higher levels of fighting' coming in Afghanistan, top US general says
30.12.06. AP / IHT.

Rights official presses for Afghan war crimes prosecutions after Saddam hanging
30.12.06. The Jurist.

US presence in Afghanistan source of instability
30.12.06. IranMania.

When will British troops come home?
31.12.06. R. Whittaker, Independent. ‘What are our troops doing in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are they fighting a "war on terror"?’

US will be defeated in Afghanistan: Former CIA hand


MEDIA

Video. Never Mind the Taliban. 01.12.06, Channel 4. 25 min.

French Troops Had Bin Laden in Sight
19.12.06. A (French) documentary says French special forces had Osama bin Laden in their sights about three years ago but their US superiors never ordered them to fire.

NYT Reporter: I was assaulted by ‘Pakistani’ Agents
26.12.06. blogs ABC news.

Canada pulled reporters from Afghanistan after Aust complaints
31.12.06. ABC. ‘According to the documents, several of Canada's allies had complained the country's policy on embedded journalists was too liberal.’

PERSONAL NOTE FROM SARAH MEYER. Nevermind CNN, Fox, BBC, Channel 4, Sky. If you want to watch real news, no celebrities, read Al Jazeera English. There is also a link to watch it live. Superb discussions and analysis. It is shocking that most americans are unable to see this programme. One has to assume this is not only because of cowardly sponsors but also American governmental fear of 'foreign' reality seeping into educated awareness. The 'new' Bush strategy should add Jazeera to the networks to counterbalance the obvious Pentagon psychobabble.

2. Military Contracts

Computer contractor lands major NATO deal
02.12.06. Orlando Sentinel. Science Applications International Corp., long a prominent computer-systems contractor for the U.S. government, has landed its first major deal with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the company said this week. … $95 million contract.AL

Bush loses another ally as UN ambassador Bolton resigns in face of Senate hostility
05.12.06. J. Borger, Guardian. The White House yesterday bowed to Senate opposition and gave up its attempt to keep its controversial ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, in his job - the latest sign of President George Bush's diminishing authority. Mr Bush issued a statement denouncing the senators, including a Republican moderate, who had blocked Mr Bolton's confirmation process in the chamber's foreign affairs committee.

U.S. report says Afghan police unfit for duty
05.12.06. Xihuanet.

U.K. Spending on War in Iraq, Afghanistan Rises to $16 Bln
06.12.06. Bloomberg.

Bush has created a comprehensive catastrophe across the Middle East
14.12.06. T. Garton Ash, Guardian. In every vital area, from Afghanistan to Egypt, his policies have made the situation worse than it was before

Pentagon eyes $468.9 bln budget for fiscal 2008
15.12.06. Reuters / Washington Post. The Pentagon is likely to ask for an additional $100 billion to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars early next year.

Contractors Lost in Pentagon Bureaucracy
19.12.06. SFGate. The Pentagon is still struggling to get a handle on the unprecedented number of contractors now helping run the nation's wars, losing millions of dollars because it is unable to monitor industry workers stationed in far-flung locations,

Dutch Arms Exports Reach Record 1.2 Billion Euros In 2005
28.12.06. Playfuls.

3. NATO, General

Debating "War and Peace" behind Closed Doors: NATO's Riga Security Conference
26.11.06. M. Chossudovsky, globalresearch.ca. ‘Although Israel will not be represented at the Summit, NATO has developed in the last two years a close working relationship with Tel Aviv, which in practical terms provides Israel with a "de facto associate membership" within the Atlantic Alliance. The NATO Riga Summit will launch NATO's Rome based training program for its Mediterranean partner countries and members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI). The latter includes a number of Arab countries as well as Israel.(see map below.)’

US Troops Will Be Forced Out of Afghanistan Like the Soviets
12.12.06. Hekmatyar speaks. Iran daily.

Troops face risk of failure in Iraq and Afghanistan, say MPs
13.12.06. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. British troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are too thin on the ground, do not have the equipment they need and there is a significant risk they will fail in their mission, a cross-party committee of MPs warns today.

Sharp NATO conflicts over Afghanistan
13.12.06. P. Swartz, Guardian (Australia). The NATO summit, which took place in the Latvian capital of Riga in the early days of December was marked by bitter divisions between the US on the one side and France, Germany, Italy and Spain on the other.

NATO troops struggle to find “Taliban” fighters
27.12.06. Video. CTV.

NATO Launches New Offensive In Afghanistan
15.12.06. CFRA. ‘It's being billed as a show of unity and strength. Operation Falcon's Summit is about to begin in Afghanistan. NATO says the major offensive against the Taliban will focus on the war-torn Panjwaii district of Kandahar province.’

NATO Proposed As Security Move
18.12.06. Mediafax. Growing instability across the Middle East has prompted foreign policy think tanks to brainstorm ways to stabilize that region. One idea circulating in Washington last week called for admitting Israel into NATO, The Washington Times reported Monday.

NATO military leader says force in Afghanistan is 2,500 troops short
21.12.06. T. Shanker, IHT.

Mullah Omar Pledges to Expel NATO
29.12.06. AP.

4. NATO: Participating Countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
France, Germany, Italy, UK)

BELGIUM

No more troops for Afghanistan, says Belgian minister
27.12.06. Pak Tribune.


CANADA

Ignatieff wants young Canadians to go to Afghanistan to support democracy
30.11.06. Cnews.

Wikipedia
Ignatieff “has argued that western democracies may have to resort to "lesser evils" like indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, and pre-emptive wars in order to combat the greater evil of terrorism. He states that as a result, societies should strengthen their democratic institutions to keep these necessary evils from becoming as offensive to freedom and democracy as the threats they are meant to prevent.[15] In the context of this "lesser evil" analysis, Ignatieff discusses whether liberal democracies should employ coercive interrogation and torture.”

Canada doesn’t see safer Afghanistan in next year
21.12.06. Yahoo. ‘Parliament backed a motion from Harper in May to keep Canadian troops in the country at least until February 2009 but he is under pressure now from the opposition either to pull out or to put less emphasis on war and more on aid.’

Canadian efforts in Afghanistan shift into reconstruction mode
29.12.06. Pak Tribune.


DENMARK

Afghan Torture Allegations Upset Denmark
06.12.06. ZAMAN.


FRANCE

France to withdraw 200 special forces from Afghanistan
17.12.06. AP / IHT.

France to allow troop redeployment in Afghanistan
18.12.06. Reuters. France, which is pulling its special forces soldiers out of Afghanistan, said on Monday it would temporarily redeploy its remaining troops anywhere in the country for emergencies.


GERMANY

Germany sends 100 more armored vehicles to troops in Afghanistan
13.12.06. English People.

Germany to deploy reconnaissance aircraft in Afghanistan
21.12.06. English People.

Why Germans Won’t Fight
25.12.06.


ITALY

PRODI: CONTINUE AFGHANISTAN MISSION
28.12.06. AGI.it

SASSARI BRIGADE: PARISI, IN FEBRUARY WILL GO TO AFGHANISTAN
29.12.06. AGI.it.


UK

Morale of Royal Marines serving in Afghanistan plummets
30.11.06. Zee news. ‘The morale of British Royal Marines serving on the front line in Afghanistan has plummeted after a 3,000 pounds allowance was deducted from their wages, following a "dreadful blunder" by Royal Navy administrators. ‘

Troops under investigation for Kandahar shooting spree
09.12.06. D. Walsh, Guardian. British military authorities are investigating allegations that Royal Marines shot indiscriminately on Afghan bystanders following a suicide bombing last weekend. At least two people died and five were wounded by shots fired from a supply convoy that raced through Kandahar after coming under attack. … The British convoy pressed towards the city centre. At the busy Martyrs Square junction Abdul Rahim stopped his motorcycle to let it pass. More gunfire rang out, sparking panic. Bystanders dived into shops for cover, he said. Abdul Rahim tried to push his motorcycle back but it was too late. The first bullet passed through his upper back. The second pierced his side and lodged near his spinal cord. Grimacing with pain, the 35-year-old spoke softly from his bed at Kandahar hospital. "The British say they came to bring peace to our country. What kind of peace is this?" he said.

Not enough troops for training excercises
29.12.06. Graeme Wilson, Telegraph. ‘The Army has been forced to cancel more than 60 training exercises in the past year amid growing concern that the armed forces are being stretched to breaking point by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.’

5. Aid and Reconstruction

photo: AP, Rodrigo Abd
Taken from The We

Iran to aid Afghanistan on judicial grounds
13.12.06. isna.

Poor families in Afghanistan get $8.5M in Canadian funding
20.12.06. CBC.

Italy pledges $9 m aid to Afghanistan
24.12.06. Pak Tribune.

Afghanistan's forgotten drought
25.12.06. CNN. While the eyes of the world are focused on the international military coalition's continuing struggle with the Taliban, Afghan children are dying because of a little reported drought which has hit huge areas of the country. The U.N. says 1.9 million people are at risk because of the drought and along with the Afghan government has appealed for $76 million for food aid.

6. Opium

Photo taken from www.hongpong.com

Governor of Afghanistan's biggest opium-producing province replaced; 5 killed in violence
18.12.06. AP.

Surge in overdoses blamed on powerful Afghan heroin
26.12.05. Yahoo / resist.com. A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed on an influx of highly potent heroin from Afghanistan.

Afghan heroin supply on rise across America
27.12.06. G. Therolf, LA Times

Doubts grow as sprayers target Afghan poppies
31.12.06. Michael Smith, Times on Line.

7. Human Rights: Documents / Reports; Articles; Case Studies

DOCUMENTS

Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project (DAA)
April 2006. Human Rights Watch Report. The DAA Project has to date documented at least 330 cases in which U.S. military and civilian personnel are alleged to have abused detainees, ranging from beatings and assaults, to torture, sexual abuse, and homicide. Among the cases:

At least 600 U.S. personnel are implicated (numerous cases involve more than one perpetrator). Military personnel comprise over 95 percent of those implicated (at least 570 people), and at least ten CIA or other intelligence personnel are implicated, and approximately twenty civilian contractors working for either the military or the CIA.

At least 460 detainees have been subjected to abuse, including people held in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantánamo Bay.

The majority of the approximately 330 cases took place in Iraq (at least 220 cases), followed by Afghanistan (at least sixty cases), and Guantánamo Bay (at least fifty cases).

U.N. adopts treaty banning countries from secretly abducting perceived enemies
21.12.06. Reuters / LA Times. ‘The General Assembly adopted a treaty Wednesday that would ban nations from abducting perceived enemies and hiding them in secret prisons or killing them.

The United Nations received reports of about 535 disappearances last year, many of them in Colombia, Nepal and the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya.

The treaty has been under negotiation since 1992. The measure was approved by consensus and will come into force 30 days after 20 countries ratify it.’


ARTICLES

Bush guilty of `high crimes' in terror war - former UK judge
30.11.06. irna. US President George Bush is guilty of "high crimes under international law" in the war on terror, says one of Britain's most eminent judges. Former law lord Steyn also accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of complicity in war crimes, saying Blair backed Bush "however lawless and outrageous the means adopted." In a speech to the UK Bar Council, the representative body for barristers, Steyn cited the creation of the US Guantanamo prison camp, secret CIA prison camps, CIA `extaordinary rendition' flights of prisoners, and the invasion of Iraq as examples of the Bush administration's crimes.

Denmark accused of handing over Afghan prisoners to US
02.12.06. International News. ‘Danish opposition parties on Friday accused their country’s defence ministry of handing over prisoners in Afghanistan to United States forces who allegedly later abused them.
“The army took prisoners and handed them over to the Americans. Already at this point the Americans had been accused of treating prisoners badly,” the opposition Unity Party said in a statement.’

26 Afghans released from U.S. military prison in Afghanistan
07.12.06. AP.

US releases 17 more Guantanamo detainees
The Jurist. Seven of the newly-freed detainees have been transferred to Afghanistan.

Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
20.12.06. Washington Post. U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.
More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force. Earlier Army studies have shown that up to 30 percent of troops deployed to Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the latter accounting for about 10 percent

46 Guantanamo Suspects OK'd for Transfer
23.12.06. SF Gate.

In Search of a Criminal: Donald Rumsfeld’s Name Tops the List of Accused of War Crimes
-25.12.06. A. Garamfalvi, Legal Times.

8. Some of the Dead in Afghanistan

U.S. troops kill Afghan officer; NATO investigates incident
03.12.06. AP, contra costa times. An American troop convoy fired on Afghan policemen in waning daylight in eastern Afghanistan, killing one officer and wounding another, officials said Saturday. A NATO spokesman said a policeman in civilian clothes touched off the incident Friday evening by firing at the convoy, but an Afghan district police chief said no officers shot their weapons.

2 Americans, 5 Afghans killed as bomber hits security contractors
06.12.06. sandiego.com. The bomber struck as the victims exited the Kandahar offices of the Houston-based U.S. Protection and Investigations security company, said Rohullah Khan, a company official. Three other people were wounded, he said.

U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan
08.12.06. AP, Forbes. As of Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, at least 295 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. … There was also one military civilian death and four CIA officer deaths.

Four civilians killed in NATO air-strike in Afghanistan
11.12.06. The news. The civilians were killed during a "mid-scale" operation launched this week against militants in Laghman province just east of Kabul, local police chief, Abdul Karim Omeryar said.

Afghan president weeps for dead civilians
10.12.06. AP/IHT. 'This nation and this country doesn't have the power to rescue itself. Neither can we tell the terrorists not to come from Pakistan, nor can we tell the coalition forces not to kill our children in the fight against terrorism,' Karzai said, adding in a breaking voice and with tears in his eyes, 'the oppression has gone beyond its limit.' Nearly 4,000 people have died in Afghanistan this year due to the insurgency and anti-terrorist operations, including over a thousand civilians.

NATO slashes Taliban death toll
Courier Mail. The real toll was “seven or eight,” ISAF said. (Who were the other dead ‘Taliban’?)

Afghan child killed by NATO soldier
27.12.06. CBC.

AFGHANISTAN: Kandahar residents support UN call for NATO to do more to avoid civilian casualties
20.12.06. Reuters

"65 Taliban insurgents" killed in Kandahar
21.12.06. Gulf Times. "Fifteen Taliban insurgents," including two high-ranking commanders, were killed in occupied Afghan province of Kandahar, while Nato occupation forces claimed killing around 50 more suspected Taliban during an operation started earlier this week in the same province.

Afghan civilian killed by NATO soldiers
27.12.06. Belfast telegraph. The Afghan was at least the eighth civilian to be killed since November 15 by gunfire from Nato soldiers on public roads.

Maryland Reservist killed by police after refusing deployment to Iraq
30.12.06. WSWS. A 29-year-old ex-soldier who had served 12 months in Afghanistan, upset over orders to deploy to Iraq, was shot to death December 26 after a night-long standoff at a house in Maryland. James E. Dean was notified earlier this month to report to Fort Benning, Georgia, on January 14, 2007, for service in Iraq.

Afghans protest killings by US-led troops
31.12.06. Gulf News.

9. References

Hobson’s Choice

Democracy, a Death Sentence for Afghanistan
29.11.06. D. Spingola, Peoples Voice. This is a book every American must read – Afghanistan After Democracy. … The benefactors of the illegal and immoral invasion of Afghanistan, which began October 7, 2001, were administration-friendly, multi-national corporations and oil. The initial recipients of the blood money were the weapons manufacturers. After destroying the infrastructure, “more than 70 American companies and individuals have won up to $8 billion in contracts for work in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two years, according to a new study by the Center for Public Integrity. Those companies donated more money to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush—a little over $500,000—than to any other politician over the last dozen years, the Center found.” (October 30, 2003) [1] it depicts, through pictures, the horrific results of the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan. The author of the book, Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki left Afghanistan, his homeland, in 1982 with what was left of his family. More than a dozen of his family members perished during the Russian onslaught which ultimately left more than 1.5 million Afghan civilians dead. The Russians retreated in 1989 and twelve years later the United States invaded. … During the International Criminal Tribunal (essential reading) Bush’s criminal use of genocidal and omnicidal radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons in Afghanistan was addressed. “Professor Albrecht Schott, Scientist, World Depleted Uranium Centre, Berlin in an address titled ‘Consequences of the Military and Civil Use of Depleted Uranium (DU)’, at the public symposium on 'American Policy and its Consequences', has described Depleted Uranium as ‘A Weapon Against This Planet.’ Prosecution Document E-130; this leads logically to the word ‘Omnicide’ used by witness Leuren Moret, among other scientists while describing the effect of this weapon system; as going beyond the ‘silent genocide’ it has inflicted on the Afghan and Iraqi people.” [4]

Scott Ritter, Target Iran, Nation Books, September 2006.

Photos and commentary on Afghanistan at 'The We"

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“the oppression has gone beyond its limit." Karzai, 12.12.06.

Bring out the nails because, drunk with delusions of grandeur and self-adulation, the Empire seekers made a bad choice in Afghanistan as the launching pad of their dream by ignoring the warning of Sir Olaf Caroe, the last British governor of North West Frontier Province of bordering Pakistan, who said: “Unlike other wars, Afghan wars become serious only when they are over.” Jason Miller, Thomas Paine’s Corner, Bring Out The Nails.

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The url to Afghanistan December 2006 is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2006.html

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

TAGS: Index Research, Afghanistan, NATO, War Crimes, Guantanamo, Regime Change, Military Contracts, Opium, Rumsfeld, Cambone, B. Craddock,