SCN: Lesson for anti-war

Sun Oct 7 23:35:55 PDT 2001

(Thread of TuanMD and J Johnson)

--> Is this satire or a hoax?
--> A 700 Club feature?
--> In what medium did the original appear?  References?

On Fri, 5 Oct 2001, 13:48:05, TuanMD wrote:
> Anti-War Demonstrators Should Think Twice
>                                   Wednesday, October 03, 2001
> By David Horowitz from FOX News
>
>                            I am a former anti-war activist who helped
> to organize the first campus demonstration against the war in Vietnam
> at the University of California, Berkeley in 1962. I appeal to all
> those young people who participated in "anti-war" demonstrations on
> 150 college campuses this week, to think again and not to join an
> "anti-war" effort against America's coming battle with international
> terrorism.
> [snip]

A most succinct evaluation re. the above is chapter five
in Barbara Tuchman's
_The March of Folly: from Troy to Vietnam_, NY: Knopf, '84
(SPL 909.08 T79M),
as well as providing context with the continuity of the book.
(Tuchman is the author of _The Guns of August_.)

"Ignorance was not a factor in the American endeavor in Vietnam
pursued through five successive presidencies, altough it was to
become an excuse.  Ignorance of country and culture there may
have been, but not ignorance of the contra-indications, even the
barriers, to achieving the objective of American policy.  All the
conditions and reasons precluding a successful outcome were
recognized or foreseen at one time or another during the thirty
years of our involvement.  American intervention was not a
progress sucked step by step into an unsuspected quagmire.  At no
time were policy-makers unaware of the hazards, obstacles and
negative developments.  American intelligence was adequate,
informed observation flowed steadily from the field to the
capital, special investigative missions were repeatedly sent out,
independent reportage to balance professional optimism--when that
prevailed--was never lacking.  The folly consisted not in pursuit
of a goal in ignorance of the obstacles but in persistence in the
pursuit despite accumulating evidence that the goal was
unattainable, and the effect disproportionate to the American
interest and eventually damaging to American society, reputation
and disposable power in the world."  (Tuchman, '84. p.234.)

_The Pentagon Papers_ need only be mentioned.

Great quotes from the Monday evening (10/1)
Washington News Council forum at Town Hall, 8th and Seneca:

"I wish they would just get this war going so I can plan my Thanksgiving
vacation."
 -Kim Murphy, Northwest Bureau Chief, LA Times

"Anyone who criticizes U.S. policy at this point is an irrelevant
intellectual and frankly, profane."
-Lt. Gen. James Hill, Commanding General, I Corp and Fort Lewis, U.S. Army

TuanMD, Thank you for providing a ref. link for your post
>
Subject: SCN: What America can expect in a war against terrorists.

Dr. Tony Kern, a former USAF Lieutenant Colonel, authored the
following letter about what America can expect in a war
against terrorists.
[snip]
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/tonykern.htm
[snip]
>

Malcolm Taran
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 00:15:12 EDT
From: MTap706180 at aol.com
To: 911peace <911peace at scn.org>
Subject: FW: Brzezinski admits: Afghan Islamism was made in Washington

For those of you who have not read _Rogue State_ and are interested 
in doing that, there is a link in this article to a website where 
part of it is posted.  Reading even only the introduction will be 
educational.

cheers
Mary Elynne

http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/brz.htm

Ex-National Security Chief Brzezinski admits: Afghan Islamism was made 
in Washington [DC]

Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National 
Security Adviser in 'Le Nouvel Observateur' (France), Jan 15-21, 1998, 
p. 76 
Translated by Bill Blum
=======================================

A couple of thoughts about the Brzezinski interview below. First, it 
flatly contradicts the common justrification for U.S. actions in 
Afghanistan during the 1980s: that the U.S. simply aided forces 
resisting Soviet imperialism. Brzezinski makes clear that the Soviets 
were baited into sending forces to Afghanistan; thus their actions were 
defensive. Moreover, and the U.S. used the violent Wahhabi (Saudi 
Arabian) form of Islam to create a monster-movement which plagues the 
world today. For more on this, see 'Articles Documenting U.S. Creation 
of Taliban and bin Laden's Terrorist Network' at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/docs/doc.htm

Here's the interview:

Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his 
memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began 
to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet 
intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to 
President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that 
correct? 

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid 
to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet 
army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded 
until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that 
President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the 
opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote 
a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion 
this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention. 

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But 
perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to 
provoke it? 

B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we 
knowingly increased the probability that they would. 

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they 
intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in 
Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of 
truth. You don't regret anything today? 

B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the 
effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to 
regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I 
wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the 
USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry 
on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about 
the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. 

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic 
fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists? 

B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or 
the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the 
liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? 

Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic 
fundamentalism represents a world menace today. 

B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to 
Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a 
rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading 
religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in 
common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan 
militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing 
more than what unites the Christian countries. 

***

Note: There are at least two editions of 'Le Nouvel Observateur.' With 
apparently the sole exception of the Library of Congress, the version 
sent to the United States is shorter than the French version. The 
Brzezinski interview was not included in the shorter version. *

Translated from the French by Bill Blum, author of "Killing Hope: US 
Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A 
Guide to the World's Only Superpower" Portions of the books can be read 
at: http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm 

= = = = = = = = = = = =
Further Reading
= = = = = = = = = =

Brzezinski is very much a part of the U.S. foreign policy establishment 
today, and the strategy he helped develop is crucial to U.S. government 
actions today. See:
'Why Washington Wants Afghanistan' by Jared Israel, Rick Rozoff & Nico 
Varkevisser at http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/afghan.htm 
'NATO Buildup in the Balkans: Part of a Deadly Game' by Jared Israel at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/farish.htm 
'Why is NATO Decimating the Balkans and Trying to Force Milosevic to 
Surrender?' By Jared Israel and Nico Varkevisser at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisn.htm

[end]

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