Comments on: SOS Afghanistan – Are the SAS on a doomed mission?

By: Walter Logeman

Walter Logeman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:24:05 +0000

This article makes it sound as if our “Provincial Reconstruction Team” activities are progressive and SAS is just support for US war. Both are different faces of the same thing, US Imperialism. All the talk of 9/11 and Taliban is just so much veneer for something much more brutal. No amount of PRT will really cover up the true nature of the brutality of drones killing civilians everyday.

I don’t want to see NZ as part of US global domination, either as some benign cover-up or as straight out agression.

This is not to say the PRT is not doing “good work”. The better their work the worse it is in the big picture. They can come home & do good work.

By: rob

rob — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:47:41 +0000

Thanks Gordon- great analysis coming out.
It was easy to support the initial invasion as the Taliban government was clearly repressive and nasty. But all too soon it was evident the US- rushing towards Iraq- was not interesting in the long slow grind towards long-term political improvement.
The Taliban were dreadful, but they did impose a large measure of order over a landscape long deemed ungovernable. There was some rule of law- harsh, barbaric, but at least a little predicable. Sadly, this will continue to make many Pashtun Afghans nostalgic for that time.
Let’s hope Obama will start to push for the approach that’s necessary if there’s to be any chance. We should be sending this message to Clinton- winning is one village at a time- with wells and health clinics and schools- and then for as long as it takes. Large-scale military pushes play directly to the strengths of insurgencies.
I don’t think NZ should simply give up. But it is blind obedience- Blair-like poodleness- to swap our small, but fairly successful efforts at building something positive for a unit of SAS. I would almost prefer both were deployed. That would indicate we play our own game, and we take a long-term strategy seriously.

By: stuart munro

stuart munro — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:13:21 +0000

Nice work Gordon; Johnson’s article is excellent too.

By: Osama Bin Ladin

Osama Bin Ladin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:25:09 +0000

I Think You should leave our people alone..

By: Tim Shadbolt

Tim Shadbolt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:24:00 +0000

By: Adam Bogacki

Adam Bogacki — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:33:34 +0000

Gordon, have you spent any time in Afghanistan ?

When I was there people proudly described how their ancestors had wiped out two British expeditionary forces. Central governments controlled cities and connecting roads – most of the time.

I have fond memories of buzkashi in Mazar-i-Sharif and the walls of Balkh
and the hospitality of ordinary Afghan people.

I would not, however, wish to go back there today.

By: Clare Swinney

Clare Swinney — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:52:04 +0000

Have we forgotten why the US went into Afghanistan in the first place? Wasn’t it to look for Osama bin Laden who was blamed wrongly for the attacks of 9/11? The FBI has stated they have no evidence to tie him to 9/11, and the nanothermite, a highly advanced substance found in the World Trade Centre dust, put the last nail in the coffin of the official story of 9/11.
Refer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tf25lx_3o

So what is really going on?
Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries http://www.infowars.com/western-governments-funding-taliban-al-qaeda-to-kill-us-troops-destabilize-countries/

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:47:34 +0000

Just to point out: The Council On Foreign relations is an NGO which was created in 1921 by the British, with help from the Rockefeller international banking family. The CFR’s goal is to buy out all democrats and republicans in order to destroy United States national sovereignty, and to bring in global dictatorship. The CFR is NOT part of the US government.