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Accomplish the Mission: Bring the Troops Home
On May 1, the U.S. president addressed the nation, announcing a military victory. May 1, 2003, that is, when President George W. Bush, in his form-fitting flight suit, strode onto the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln. Under the banner announcing “Mission Accomplished,” he declared that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
That was eight years to the day before President Barack Obama, without flight suit or swagger, made the surprise announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. military operation (in a wealthy suburb of Pakistan, notably, not Afghanistan).
The U.S. war in Afghanistan has become the longest war in U.S. history. News outlets now summarily report that “The Taliban have begun their annual spring offensive,” as if it were the release of a spring line of clothes. The fact is, this season has all the markings of the most violent of the war, or as the brave reporter Anand Gopal told me Tuesday from Kabul: “Every year has been more violent than the year before that, so it’s just continuing that trend. And I suspect the same to be said for the summer. It will likely be the most violent summer since 2001.”
Let’s go back to that fateful year. Just after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress voted to grant President Bush war authorization. The resolution passed the Senate 98-0, and passed the House 420-1. The sole vote against the invasion of Afghanistan was cast by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Her floor speech in opposition to House Joint Resolution 64 that Sept. 14 should be required reading:
“I rise today with a heavy heart, one that is filled with sorrow for the families and loved ones who were killed and injured in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. ... Sept. 11 changed the world. Our deepest fears now haunt us. Yet I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States. ... We must not rush to judgment. Far too many innocent people have already died. Our country is in mourning. If we rush to launch a counterattack, we run too great a risk that women, children and other noncombatants will be caught in the crossfire. ... As a member of the clergy so eloquently said, ‘As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.’ ”
Ten years after her courageous speech, Lee, whose anti-war stance is increasingly becoming the new normal, wants a repeal of that war resolution:
“That resolution was a blank check. ... It was not targeted toward al-Qaida or any country. It said the president is authorized to use force against any nation, organization or individual he or she deems responsible or connected to 9/11. It wasn’t a declaration of war, yet we’ve been in the longest war in American history now, 10 years, and it’s open-ended.”
Lee acknowledges that Obama “did commit to begin a significant withdrawal in July.” But what does troop withdrawal mean with the presence of military contractors in war? Right now, the 100,000 contractors (called “mercenaries” by many) outnumber U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan.
Gopal says, “The U.S. is really a fundamental force for instability in Afghanistan ... allying with local actors — warlords, commanders, government officials — who’ve really been creating a nightmare for Afghans, especially in the countryside, [and with] the night raids, breaking into people’s homes, airstrikes, just the daily life under occupation.”
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald has partnered with anti-war veterans to produce “Rethink Afghanistan,” a series of films about the war, online at rethinkafghanistan.com. In response to bin Laden’s death, they have launched a new petition to press the White House to bring the troops home. Lee supports it: “I can’t overstate how important this is for our democracy—every poll has shown that over 65, 70 percent of the public now is war-weary. And they understand that we need to bring our young men and women out of harm’s way. They’ve performed valiantly and well. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, and now it’s time to bring them home.”
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
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52 Comments so far
Show All"Just as the dots were being connected from our national insolvency to the ravenous appetite of military mis-adventurism, along comes this “strategic victory” to provide the hot air needed to re-animate the limp and battered war-mongers flag." From a letter I wrote to my local paper yesterday.
This morning, trying to step far enough away from the jingoist hype that now pervades our airwaves so that I could see the real lasting (and desired?) effect, it became chrystal clear. Just as we had a chance to defund this cancerous war economy that is destroying any hope for the future, we see that there will be no reduction in military funding.
The killing abroad will continue, and the dismantling of the peoples' government at home will accelerate. So long, it's been nice to know ya - maybe we'll share the same gulag.
"But what does troop withdrawal mean with the presence of military contractors in war? Right now, the 100,000 contractors (called “mercenaries” by many) outnumber U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan."
Not much except it might free up our troops for the latest military flights of fancy our administration sees as "necessary".
Despite Rep. Lee's contention those in the American military have not "performed valiantly and well." Because if they had they would not have "done everything we've asked them to do" and that is to have become part of an organization that is illegally occupying another country and terrorizing its citizenry with 500 lb. bombs and drone missiles.
Representative Lee states "the need to bring our young men and women out of harm's way." What she fails to mention in her patriotic statement is that those young men and women who are performing, in her words, so valiantly and well for their less and noble cause are causing much grievous harm to the people of Afghanistan. Why is Rep. Lee not expressing as much concern for the people of Afghanistan given the fact that they are on the receiving end of America's military firepower? If there were foreign soldiers in this country would she also proclaim that those soldiers were "performing so valiantly and so well"? One strongly suspects that she would not.
To borrow from one of Obama's favorite expressions, let us be clear here. The ones who should be garnering our sympathy are not the occupiers but those who are being occupied by our beloved military. The ones who should be held in high esteem are not the robots in the American military who carry out the orders that they are given by their commanding officers but rather those soldiers who courageously say NO to those orders. Unfortunately it is extremely unlikely that one will ever see a congress person or politician ever express those sentiments as that certainly would not be the politically correct thing to do in this super patriotic country that we live in.
Amen. Thank you. Well said.
"God forbid we reach the sick time when people oppose their own country as non-patriotic enemy's of free people."
There is no question that the United States government is an enemy of free people. In Afghanistan its military killed thousands of free, innocent people. Just to get to one man.
Patriotism is blind loyalty to the place where one just happens to have been born. As human beings our only loyalty should be to mutual empathy. I have much in common with the victims of American aggression, and fully oppose those who cause it.
The appeal to patriotism is what got these wars started in the first place. In practice, patriotism means serving the wishes of the ruling class. Working people worldwide have to get beyond patriotism and realize that more unites them than divides them.
IT IS CALLED Chauvinism. Chauvin was a French soldier who thought Napoleon could do no wrong.
They buried his body at sea?
Mafia hit. Throw a body in the ocean. No one will be able to find the body, no evidence, no dental records, no proof. Just a PR sham and another scam in corporate fascist state that is built on lies and propaganda.
Video:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1092.html
The "Mafia hit" comparison is striking and unavoidable.
Here's a comment I posted yesterday in response to a reference to that widely-disseminated and utterly creepy photo of the President and his minions gathered together in some Situation Room to watch the OBL assassination, like the Nazgûl rapturously clustered around a palantír:
_________________
The OBL hit could be an elaborate staged fraud, or it could be exactly what it purports to be: the Uncle Sam crime family belatedly whacking a former associate exactly like fictional teevee mobster Tony Soprano and crew whacked Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero-- right down to unceremoniously depositing the remains in Davy Jones' locker.
Neither version is exactly a lock on the moral high ground.
Joe Biden fingering his rosary beads, as if they're a lifeline to hoist him out of the depths of Hell: priceless!
Cosa Nostra hit is a fun analogy, but it's more like the dictators' Death Squad. The Rules of Engagement were obviously kill him on sight, no mention of "bring him back alive," which, if the accounts of the whole shebang were at all true, could have been done.
Bring 'Em Home! Yes! We! Can! (I believe this)
Give 'Em Jobs! Give 'Em Our Jobs! Yes, we... um...
"Demilitarization is Patriotic"... er,
We obviously have a lot of work to do if we're going to demobilize this hellbent hyperpower.
Rep. Barbara Lee DN interview (& more inspiration):
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/3/10_years_too_long_rep_barbara
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0502/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-but-no-peace-dividend
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2011/01/17/from-military-industrial-complex-to-permanent-war-state/
Give peace a chance.
With all due respect Amy, the oxymoron of the war on terror was never about Osama. You are too intelligent not to understand that truth. Osama was just another so -called bad guy that was used by the CIA for the racket called a war on terror. The real terrorists are in Washington D.C.!
Amy knows her place and boundaries. She stays well within them and her comfort zone. Still now, she gives the old 'Bush bad, Obama good' shtick.
She's petty good at petitions though.
It just mystifies me why otherwise intelligent people just go along with the official story so easily. How many times does a POTUS (Dem or Rep) have to lie to us before these numbskull pundits catch on.
So true Paul; OBL is alive. Be vigilant. OBL is dead. Be vigilant. Alas.
Or another way of saying it to get a clear understanding of the actual reality we face would be. "The mission is to kill, now sign the petition to ask them to end killing." I think that the petition has already been signed and sealed, and it is the general and collective world wide approval of killing to solve our problems. They are not done with killing by any means, this is a sign that we are not done, and it is a mark of where most humans are in relation to killing and war, they are for it, not against it. We must kill to solve our problems until we learn how to change for new solutions or until we have caused so much destruction to humanity and especially the planet that sustains us that our problem will be solved by the laws of nature and her God.
The American public is growing tired of this war because it is now obvious they will never win no matter how long they stay in Aghanistan. Once the president decides which poor country to attack next the public will rally like the good warmongering sheep they are and be as enthusiastic as they are at the beginning of every war. Americans love onesided slaughters but not long drawn out stalemates.
"That was eight years to the day before President Barack Obama, without flight suit or swagger, made the surprise announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. military operation (in a wealthy suburb of Pakistan, notably, not Afghanistan)."
____________________
I'm not sure what to make of "without flight suit or swagger". It may merely be a deliberately ambiguous throwaway reference, a bit of rhetorical color or detail to spice up the drab factual narrative.
One can't draw the negative inference that this distinction was made to deliberately suggest that it's somehow an improvement-- that it makes Obama better than his predecessor.
But since the phrase is there, I may as well point out that it's not an improvement, or anything more than an idiosyncratic stylistic difference.
For all the personal probity and virtuousness that he displayed, Obama might as well have cartwheeled in wearing nothing but a Speedo and flip-flops.
;-)) ;-)) ;-)) ;-))
I feel this way: when the last US serviceman/woman steps from the last arriving plane on a US airfield and that person walks, on two good legs, to a waiting member of their family and puts both of their good arms around them, then I'll be more apt to say, "Mission Accomplished", because that, to me, is the only "mission" that matters-- bringing our troops home from this quagmire. Whether or not bin Laden was killed, I want us out of there.
This story is built on a false premise.
We did not go into Afghanistan to get OBL, the US gov. went in to obtain natural resources. More psych op.
I'm done with DemocracyNow.Org
No photos released--OBL died AGAIN? Give me a break!!!!
The invasion of Afghanistan was supposedly in response to the deaths of 3000 people in the World Trade Center.
I wonder how many Afghanis wish they had an army to invade the Uited States in response to the deaths of thousands of innocents killed by the U.S. military.
Getting the troops the hell out of Afghanistan will end the killing, but it won't bring to justice those who are responsible — which includes all the high level people from both the last and present administrations, from Bush to Obama.
Sorry, Amy, but that last quote by Barabara Lee is nauseating in its tone of American exceptionalism. It implies that just stopping the killing absolves those who were guilty of it, because they are, after all, Americans, and their victims are barely worth a mention.
Amy, if you were a real journalist, you would have asked a simple question:
Where is the evidence that the US killed Bin Laden? Where are the videos, photos, and independent analysts who were present to verify that the body was Bin Laden?
Or are you just excepting that Obama and the US Military will tell the truth about this alleged killing? Isn't that just being a stenographer to power?
I am more than willing to accept that they did it, but only if they prove it. Otherwise, the whole "DNA" analysis appears to be a cover story to avoid direct identification, and dumping the body in the sea assures no one will ever see the evidence. This is not "conspiracy theory", this is basic Journalism 101.
On both those two points, you failed miserably as a journalist. Please do your homework here.
Malatesta 1936
You have stated a basic and yet most relevant point. The irony is that Ms. Goodman has always complained, quite justifiably, in the past that the corporate media all too often end up being stenographers for those in power while the tragedy here is that she appears all too willing to accept what the government has said about the alleged death of Osama bin Laden. She has always stated that an independent media is necessary in order to act as a watchdog for those who hold positions of power. Yet she appears quite unwilling to challenge the official story.
As you correctly note, raising questions is something that should be taught at the basic level of Journalism school. It is mystifying and sad to see Ms. Goodman of all people allowing this story to go on the air while uttering nary a murmur of protest and/or not having guests on DN! who could point out the numerous flaws that are present in the official story of bin Laden's death.
If you are such a fucking genius, please figure out how to post your comments just once.
Amy seems to have been swayed by the opposite party as to believe this story that Laden was just killed? He was done in years ago, his fake tapes came out each time Bush's rateings went down, and now Obama needs a boost. Most know by now Laden was targeted when he refused Bush the oil pipe line, otherwise Laden, as well as the Taliban, and the CIA formed group ,---al Qaeda would still be on the payroll. Bush would have continued calling the Taliban the freedom fighters as his father did. Interesting that Laden's family were, and still good Bush family oil friends, & were on visit with Bush Sr. on 9/11, and somehow the suppose terrorists of Laden managed that no planes of any kind except the ones we know about,-- and no planes were allowed to fly after the hits Except the Laden family. This was pure revenge because a Bush was refused, just like the revenge against Saddam, Bush's friend of 8 years refused a command, so the lie to invade Iraq. Do research as to who the Real terrorist are. What country has been invading one nation after another, since 2001? --and used the same excuse as was done in Germany 1933? Their Reichstag and our 9/11 to use as a reason to invade,and discriminate against a nation.
May he rest in peace. I'll rejoice at no one killed in an illegal war. Shouldn't his body have been given to his family? Crazy Horses body was...
Now can we focus on the enemy whose fruits caused 911? Corporate American Empire. Minds, blood and souls have been boiling in the Arab World (We still don't understand...) since after WW2 we went into the Middle East for "their oil." (What is our oil doing buried under their sand?)
http://youtu.be/n7Fzm1hEiDQ
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Evolution-Number-Nine-by-Michael-Dewey-110215-430.html
Obama says they killed Osama but won't let us see the pictures so we have to take his word for it. Aha yeah, like we took Bush's word that Saddam had WMD's.
To be generous, I guess a young black dude swimming with fat old white sharks had better do what he's told.
WAYFINDER: Profound & moving post. I do ask these questions in my own soul, and sometimes with people who I feel can handle such direct examinations. For a while I've spoken of our nation as an occupied territory, of a silent coup that's almost seamlessly replaced the essence of what once leaned towards democratic representation with a complete set of expensive counterfeits. "I can't believe it's not butter," is a fit motto for our times. Of course we might instead substitute any number of legal or political terms to replace butter. "I can't believe it's not guns AND butter?"
Thank you for taking the time to lay out a powerful "case."
As a past President had said,We will leave Korea as soon as their army is strong enough to defend itself 50 odd yrs ago.Plan on the U.S.to be in the mideast at least that long
So much is happening in America right now. I can just imagine a Goldman Sachs wizard going up to Obama and telling him about a stupendous plan he cooked up to distract everyone from the economy and get some serious kudos in one fell swoop - let's pretend we killed OBL! Brilliant! So they go into the compound opposite the military base in Pakistan, take OBL and drop a body into the ocean and they think "Done" they got away with it. But Pakistan asks what the heck were they doing there on sovereign land; one minute they say OBL used women as a shield, then they say he didn't, people ask how they got DNA proof in such a short time, the Pakistani people start objecting to their government for not protecting their sovereignty and the ploy unravels more as the days pass by. Obama's popularity rises into the stratosphere of course because this is what is valued by the public and Trump, McConnell, Boehner and all at Fox News suddenly develop laryngitis. America is quaking with economic problems. The problem at the root of it all is the way we fund elections. But don't lose hope, all those billions and they can't fool everyone. We need to find ways around the destroyers of lives and of hope. We've seen what they have to offer and it's junk. We need new blood and every single representative that voted to go to war should be immediately dismissed. Their judgement has been proven to be reprehensible putting their own careers above the lives of their fellow countrymen and women. We need people who can bring our economy back not just cut important services - there's befuddled thinking for you! We can build a fabulous economy with the brains we have here and the people that want to work and invest. We can have everyone in electric cars made here and we can all have our homes run on clean renewable energy. We must be cohesive and stand together in strength against anything that harms us like wars, and maintain an insistence that our troops come back home now. Loudly and with conviction. Which is more than spineless hearts in expensive suits are capable of doing. And they know this too.
What Prescott Bush failed to accomplish with the planned right wing fascist coup against FDR has finally taken place..."There has been a corporate coup d'etat, and they won."
The War Industrial Complex is merely the most effective mechanism with which to facilitate the transfer of wealth from the working class and the poor to those at the top yet devised...well...that...and deregulating the banks turning them into casinos.
The system is broken...giving the illusion of choice...of democracy... where there is none. Until the two party oligarchy is changed...it matters little who is the president...save for who can marry whom.
Access to the web should be exactly like the public library . Free to the public ! Access to information is absolutely that which facilitated the freedom we now enjoy . "Free-dom." I see bumper stickers that say, " freedom is not free ! " This idea is erroneous. Those who gave their lives in the struggle against oppression paid such a price that those , which for whom they fought , would not have to. Freedom IS free to me ; it is a priceless gift, given to me in sanctity by the unbelievably courageous people who came before me , and those who give it still . They paid , and pay , the bloodnote , that we may enjoy a thing called " free"dom . Let us honor their sacrifice . It is now up to everyone who can read this to step up and foot the bill for the children of today and , the children of tomorrow . Freedom will be free for my son . Until he grows enough , and learns enough , to be able to foot the bill himself . Isn't that what responsible people do ? P.S. please write your state and federal legislators and demand a free wireless digital public library !
Amy, we love you
, BUT s top avoiding the ONLY issue. IT;s 911. As a New Yorker you know all the lies of the government story. The bldgs. were imploded and you know it. All the lies and wars flow from that black op. Start the true investigation everyday on your program. There are plenty of experts to call on. Let;s dismantle the real "evil" empire.
Amy knows.... but will not touch 911 with a ten foot pole. I have supported Democracy Now! financially and have send her numerous e-mails about 911 being an inside job and I get a thank you for a donation, but never an answer. Looks like someone has gotten to Pacifica. Maybe it would jeopardize their license. Like you say, there are many experts to call on like Dr. Griffin and Dr. Steven Jones to name a couple. These are not conspiracy nuts but reputable scientists. There are also over 1,100 reputable architects and engineers who question the official canard. One has to be extremely gullible to believe WTC # 7 was brought down in its own footprint, in a matter of seconds because of anything but explosives. I have no evidence, but it may be that the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania was suppose to hit WTC # 7 and something went wrong. May not be true, but could be true.
Nice to know someone is riding beside me. Nice post, NEWZFLASHER! Paul
The "war on terror" is a myth. It is about corporate appropriation and control of resources. "Osama bin Laden" is a boogeyman to get the television-guzzling, politically & culturally illiterate American public whooped up for their lovely war as if it were a football game. It's about greed, money, and power.
Bring the troops home now.
Omigosh! I work in a mental hospital, but I swear I have not seen nearly the number of paranoids in this hospital as on this posting. Whew! You guys really are a trip.
Amy, I watch your show every day. What evidence is there that Bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11?
I recently listened to your broadcast on 9/11/2001. When I first saw the buildings crumble in dust into their own footprints I could see that something was wrong with the idea that that was caused by the impact of the airplanes on the upper stories of the buildings. What I saw with my own eyes never was explained. You didn't seem to notice the incongruity that day, and, sadly, have never allowed Democracy Now! to cover the story of 9/11 in a critical way.
There is no way a man in a cave in Afghanistan could have caused what was seen that day in Manhattan and Washington.