Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The war on terror hobbles on
And a Happy New Year to you too. I don't know what gets me angrier - another imperialist adventure by the U.S., or the Liberal media swallowing it whole.
Harkening back to the grand tradition of the Cold War, the U.S. has started another proxy war, sponsoring an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia to topple the Islamic forces. This is for the usual 'war on terror' reasons: the Islamists oppress women, suppress freedoms and so on. And indeed they do. But as any anti-imperialist worth her salt knows, the U.S. is highly selective when it comes to human rights. As one refugee notes,
Freedom, gentle freedom! - Some of the 1000s of casualties of the U.S.-backed invasion
The Somali government is bankrolled by Zenawi, who is in turn bankrolled by the U.S. The "balance of democracy" is with the War On Terror, which Zenawi is a trusted flunky for. The Islamists were not, hence they had to go. And of course, oil is involved. As former UN envoy Salim Lone argues,
Trust me, I know what I'm doing - Somali government troops
But then, why shouldn't the Islamists be the ones resisting? They're the ones who got CIA training and then spread it through the world. They had the misfortune to outlive their usefulness, but were smart enough to piggyback their reactionary agenda onto anti-imperialism.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that "Ethiopian forces" have driven the Islamists out. Not a word on why they invaded, why the Islamists were there in the first place, or the Americans' role - Bush called for invasion publicly, and the US military base in Djibouti provided logistical support. The CBC couldn't totally ignore that the Islamists had ended 16 years of warlord terror - "But," said the announcer, "The Islamists have promised an insurgency, to turn Somalia into another Iraq." And it was on to the next item. There was so much else to say, I was left struggling for air.
Who turned Iraq into Iraq? Who killed 655,000+ people? Let's see: prior the U.S. invasion - small-scale tyranny at the U.S.'s behest. Post-invasion - large-scale tyranny and death, at the U.S.'s behest. The CBC's lesson is: imperialist invasion and destabilizing governments don't kill people, resisting invasion kills people. I'm used to the bourgeois press erasing the past, but while it's still happening?
Last night CBC radio featured a half-hour roundup of 'chickens in the news'. On its analysis program, mind. Orwellian justifications for murder or pablum, take your pick.
Why do they hate us? - U.S. soldier winning hearts & minds in Somalia, 1992
On a similar note, Robert Fisk's latest project is to investigate the links between Iraqi death squads and the U.S.'s 'El Salvador' option: organizing proxy gangs of murderers. That would put a rest to the "whatever country we invade, we find its citizens have been killing each other since the dawn of time" argument. Notice how the press and government always blame kidnapping and murder on people with fake police uniforms? It's not official government policy to encourage sectarianism, U.S. sponsored death squads, or the bitter fruit of funding Islamists for so many years. Just bad apples who don't know what 'Baghdad's Finest' really means.
Harkening back to the grand tradition of the Cold War, the U.S. has started another proxy war, sponsoring an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia to topple the Islamic forces. This is for the usual 'war on terror' reasons: the Islamists oppress women, suppress freedoms and so on. And indeed they do. But as any anti-imperialist worth her salt knows, the U.S. is highly selective when it comes to human rights. As one refugee notes,
The US has turned every stone to get Sadam Hussein executed for crimes of 183 people years back (he may deserve that) but still is supporting [Ethiopian prime minister] Zenawi who ordered the killing of thousands of Ethiopians (he pleaded only 193 of them recently), so where is the balance of democracy.
Freedom, gentle freedom! - Some of the 1000s of casualties of the U.S.-backed invasion
The Somali government is bankrolled by Zenawi, who is in turn bankrolled by the U.S. The "balance of democracy" is with the War On Terror, which Zenawi is a trusted flunky for. The Islamists were not, hence they had to go. And of course, oil is involved. As former UN envoy Salim Lone argues,
The real goal of course is to gain a direct foothold in another highly strategic and oil rich region by installing a client regime in Somalia. The US had already been violating the UN arms embargo on Somalia by supporting the warlords who drove out the UN peace-keepers in 1993 by killing 18 US soldiers, in order to push out the Islamists.Once again, Islamists bear the brunt of resisting Empire - They get all the credit. This is thunder that should be rumbling on the Left - we are the natural enemies of imperialism, and unlike the Islamists, we don't answer with chauvinist populism, like closing movie theatres and beauty parlours.
Trust me, I know what I'm doing - Somali government troops
But then, why shouldn't the Islamists be the ones resisting? They're the ones who got CIA training and then spread it through the world. They had the misfortune to outlive their usefulness, but were smart enough to piggyback their reactionary agenda onto anti-imperialism.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that "Ethiopian forces" have driven the Islamists out. Not a word on why they invaded, why the Islamists were there in the first place, or the Americans' role - Bush called for invasion publicly, and the US military base in Djibouti provided logistical support. The CBC couldn't totally ignore that the Islamists had ended 16 years of warlord terror - "But," said the announcer, "The Islamists have promised an insurgency, to turn Somalia into another Iraq." And it was on to the next item. There was so much else to say, I was left struggling for air.
Who turned Iraq into Iraq? Who killed 655,000+ people? Let's see: prior the U.S. invasion - small-scale tyranny at the U.S.'s behest. Post-invasion - large-scale tyranny and death, at the U.S.'s behest. The CBC's lesson is: imperialist invasion and destabilizing governments don't kill people, resisting invasion kills people. I'm used to the bourgeois press erasing the past, but while it's still happening?
Last night CBC radio featured a half-hour roundup of 'chickens in the news'. On its analysis program, mind. Orwellian justifications for murder or pablum, take your pick.
Why do they hate us? - U.S. soldier winning hearts & minds in Somalia, 1992
On a similar note, Robert Fisk's latest project is to investigate the links between Iraqi death squads and the U.S.'s 'El Salvador' option: organizing proxy gangs of murderers. That would put a rest to the "whatever country we invade, we find its citizens have been killing each other since the dawn of time" argument. Notice how the press and government always blame kidnapping and murder on people with fake police uniforms? It's not official government policy to encourage sectarianism, U.S. sponsored death squads, or the bitter fruit of funding Islamists for so many years. Just bad apples who don't know what 'Baghdad's Finest' really means.
