Let Them Eat Cake

The mass murder by air and land of Afghan civilians, including women and children, continues. It’s not only the U.S. military doing the killing, of course. But none of that murder of innocents would be happening, or would have happened, had Washington not, as Pilger and others have observed, first planned to invade and then moved to base-build in, and occupy, Afghanistan.

In a sheer quantitative sense, the United States has long since avenged 9-11, racking up hundreds of thousands of dead, wounded, and scarred innocents. It has long since avenged 9-11 in sheer destruction, laying waste to cities, villages, homes and hearths, industry, government and religious observance. The destruction and murder is now habitual, profligate and self-indulgent. To the world, the President of the United States – present and future – is an uncouth and supersized version of Marie Antoinette.

By what yardstick do we measure "victory" in Iraq and/or Afghanistan and when do we leave? We have rained bombs and bullets on Afghans and Iraqis for years. Occasionally, we hit the enemy and, more often, we hit the innocent. Have we killed or captured everyone there who wishes to do us harm? Probably not. Are there persons inside our country who wish us harm and are they a more immediate threat than Afghans and Iraqis? Probably so. Is it therefore reasonable to rain bombs and bullets on American cities which may harbor terrorists, even if we kill a few innocents in our efforts? No, but stay tuned.