Democracy, a Death Sentence for Afghanistan

By Deanna Spingola
5 December 2006

I recently purchased a book that deeply saddens and troubles me. The old cliché – “a picture is worth a thousand words” is applicable to this book. Many of the photos in this book are of children, orphans – made older than their tender years by the daily deprivation of essential needs. They are beautiful children with dark, poignant eyes. Most of us will never experience, during our entire lives, the death and destruction that encompasses their vulnerable existence each and every day. This is a book every American must read – Afghanistan After Democracy. It depicts, through pictures, the horrific results of the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan.

The author of the book, Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki left Afghanistan, his homeland, in 1982 with what was left of his family. More than a dozen of his family members perished during the Russian onslaught which ultimately left more than 1.5 million Afghan civilians dead. The Russians retreated in 1989 and twelve years later the United States invaded.


"Suffer the little children to come unto me."
 

 

The benefactors of the illegal and immoral invasion of Afghanistan, which began October 7, 2001, were administration-friendly, multi-national corporations and oil. The initial recipients of the blood money were the weapons manufacturers. After destroying the infrastructure, “more than 70 American companies and individuals have won up to $8 billion in contracts for work in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two years, according to a new study by the Center for Public Integrity. Those companies donated more money to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush—a little over $500,000—than to any other politician over the last dozen years, the Center found.” (October 30, 2003) [1]

“Kellogg, Brown & Root, the subsidiary of Halliburton—which Vice President Dick Cheney led prior to being chosen as Bush's running mate in August 2000—was the top recipient of federal contracts for the two countries, with more than $2.3 billion awarded to the company. Bechtel Group, a major government contractor with similarly high-ranking ties, was second at around $1.03 billion.” [2]

“DU weapons were extensively used in both countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) as weapons of extermination of present and future generations, genocidal in properties. It is only the oil pipelines, oil wells and platforms and the contracts of Corporations which had to be secured; even as the livelihood and economies of both nations were destroyed. The war waged on Afghanistan was manifestly a war of aggression.” [3]

During the International Criminal Tribunal (essential reading) Bush’s criminal use of genocidal and omnicidal radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons in Afghanistan was addressed. “Professor Albrecht Schott, Scientist, World Depleted Uranium Centre, Berlin in an address titled ‘Consequences of the Military and Civil Use of Depleted Uranium (DU)’, at the public symposium on 'American Policy and its Consequences', has described Depleted Uranium as ‘A Weapon Against This Planet.’ Prosecution Document E-130; this leads logically to the word ‘Omnicide’ used by witness Leuren Moret, among other scientists while describing the effect of this weapon system; as going beyond the ‘silent genocide’ it has inflicted on the Afghan and Iraqi people.” [4]

 

Also presented at the tribunal: “The documented reports of Marc Herold and Dai Williams, Prosecution documents at Ex. E-118 and E-119; the Survey of the Uranium Medical Research Centre, Washington DC; Prosecution Document - E 120; the reports of Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki, Afghan Recovery Fund ... Prosecution Documents Ex. E-137 and E -138, among other documents; refer in detail to the widespread use and effects of DU weapons on the people in Afghanistan inflicting slow and painful death, termed the ‘silent genocide’ affecting the unborn, altering irreversibly the genetic code of all those exposed.” [5]

 

George Bush alerted India, Pakistan and Iran of his intentions to attack the Taliban and Bridas before 9-11 but did not notify the American citizens. This information was reported on June 26, 2001 in India newspapers. [6] Oil monopoly on the part of Unocal and the administration led to atrocious “war crimes committed on civilians, by indiscriminate bombings on the population, and on existing civilian infrastructure; on combatants and non-combatants alike.” The Taliban had never made a negative overture towards the United States. They are fundamentalists against such un-Islamic things as poppy growth and production of opium. Yet Bush and his criminal accomplices considered the resulting carnage as “collateral damage” in their mythical “just war” against terrorism. [7] Poppy growth and the resulting opium production are up since our invasion.

 

The U.S., with extensive military support, and Unocal, the California based oil and gas company, backed the installation of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996. Unocal, seeking monopoly control, began to negotiate their pipeline project which would run through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean from the oil-gas rich Central Asiatic Republics of the former USSR. [8] The U.S. government wants to dominate Central Asia in order to reduce dependency on resources from the Persian/Arabian Gulf, which it cannot control. [9] However, the Taliban did not control all of Afghanistan. The northern regions were still under the jurisdiction of the Northern Alliance, who was negotiating with Bridas, an Argentinean company. Unocal and Bridas have had a competitive history in Afghanistan during both Republican and Democratic administrations. The war of aggression against Afghanistan was to affect a regime change to benefit Unocal’s pipeline project. [10]

 

“On December 1, 2001, President Hamid Karzai, a resident of the United States over several years, a green card holder; the former official representative of Unocal to the erstwhile Taliban militia's de facto government in Kabul, was sworn in as head of the interim government ( officially called the Transitional Government of Afghanistan ). Unocal now directly controls the government of Afghanistan.” [11] The pipeline project will proceed. Along with Karzai, Bush also nominated another Unocal consultant and former Taliban defender, Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush’s Special National Security Assistant, as his special envoy to Afghanistan. [12] When nominated, no mention of his former Unocal association was mentioned.

 

Also noteworthy: “Condoleezza Rice served as an oil company consultant on Central Asia. After serving in the first Bush administration from 1989 to 1992, Rice was placed on the board of directors of Chevron Corporation and served as its principal expert on Kazakhstan, where Chevron holds the largest concession of any of the international oil companies.” [13] Chevron and Unocal merged in 2005.

 

The country is still occupied by the U.S. military, not for peacekeeping, but to guard pipeline construction personnel. The war was not about women’s voting rights, taking off their burqas, or spreading democracy. The burqa is an acceptable part of their rich culture. “The issue is survival not cosmetic shallowness as portrayed by the U.S. media cheering the Bush Administration propaganda campaign.” [14] In 2001, CNN aired its acclaimed TV documentary “Under The Veil,” which displayed the “oppressive conditions” that women allegedly endure in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. It was obviously a propaganda film for the oil pipeline. [15]

 

Afghan citizens exist in wretched, deplorable conditions, despite claims of reconstruction and humanitarian aid. War has destroyed the infrastructure of the country. The streets of downtown Kabul, notwithstanding cleaning efforts, are littered with garbage. “Due to lack of a sewage system, rainwater flows on the streets. When garbage men dig the filth out from the sewage-filled water channels in the city, they end up leaving the filth and rubbish on the side of the water channels to dry up.” [16] Pulmonary problems have increased as a result of this situation. Americans need not wonder why the citizens of Afghanistan are angry at our damned “democracy!”

 

From the book, Afghanistan After Democracy:

·        Five years on, the Afghan population is still devastated by relentless poverty

·        One in four children born in Afghanistan cannot expect to live to age 5

·        Children roam the streets for hours begging for money to buy a few pieces of bread

·        Close to 50% of the population cannot expect to live to age 40

·        Afghanistan has the lowest life expectancies in the world

·        Life expectancy for females is 44

·        More than 70% of the population is chronically malnourished

·        Less than a quarter of the population has access to safe drinking water

·        The electricity supply is accessible by only 10% of the people

·        Maternal mortality is among the leading causes of death

·        Fifty to seventy mothers die every day from birth complications

·        According to the 2006 World Health Report there is about one physician per 7,066 Afghans

·        There is about one soldier per 742 Afghans

·        Eighty-six cents of every dollar of American aid is phantom aid

·        There is corruption is high places – officials may be purchased

·        Crime has accelerated in three areas: (1) drugs, poppy growth is up (2) kidnapping for ransom, bodily organs and trafficking (3) prostitution

·        Under the Taliban, poppy growth was eradicated in 96% of the country

·         Murder and rape of Afghans by the military – also occurs in Iraq

 

       

On November 6, 2001, George W. Bush said the following about Osama bin Laden: “But this is an evil man that we're dealing with. And I wouldn't put it past him to develop evil weapons to try to harm civilization as we know it. And that's why our coalition is -- that's why I work hard to keep our coalition bound together.  And that's why we're going to keep relentless military pressure on him in Afghanistan. And that's why we must prevail. That's why we must win.” [17]

 

It is the height of hypocrisy to attribute one’s own characteristics to others. The U.S. is the largest single user of depleted uranium (DU) in weaponry – a huge threat to the entire planet. The U.S. is also the largest seller and exporter of depleted uranium weapon technology. The U.S. military, cannon fodder, are not informed about the DU hazard – it is not a part of their nationalistic brainwashing.

America’s public show of piety and religiosity contradicts the cloaked participation in sin. A majority of Americans claim to be Christian yet abortion, pornography, adultery, child abuse, pedophilia, rape, theft, shoplifting, embezzling and political treason is increasing. Yet, buoyed by nationalism and a militaristic bravado facilitated by media misinformation about the “axis of evil,” we have the unmitigated gall to purportedly cleanse the rest of the world of alleged sin.

 

War and killing are not new; look at the last century: “This century (1900-2000) was the bloodiest in all history. More than 170 million people were killed by governments with ten million being killed in World War I and fifty million killed in World War II. In regard to the fifty million killed in World War II, it is significant that nearly 70 percent were innocent civilians, mainly as a result of the bombing of cities by Great Britain and America.” [18] The object of war is death.

 

      

 

According to Marion Falk of the Manhattan Project, “The purpose of weapons used by the military is not only to injure and kill the enemy soldiers, but the purpose is to kill, maim, and disease the civilian population because it reduces the productivity of a country and pretty soon a lot of their resources are going to be used for taking care of sick people.” [19] Depleted uranium is a very, very, very effective biological weapon. This is the primary purpose for using it. It isn’t because it is cheap!

 

Without contrived hatred, Wall Street money, and the Reichstag fire, Nazism would have died in the beer halls of Berlin. Without contrived hatred, obligatory nationalism, and a might-makes-right mentality, ordinary people would not arbitrarily bomb homes, engage in torture*, or any of the other unspeakable behavior executed upon vulnerable foreign strangers. Propaganda dehumanizes the alleged enemy, desensitizes Americans and gives license for our brutal savagery in our wars of aggression in the name of “fighting for our freedoms,” the epitome of doublespeak.  *The object of torture is torture. George Orwell, 1984.

 

If Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Boeing, top weapons producers, openly promoted profit-producing war with expensive advertising campaigns instead of leaving it to their government accomplices, no one would enlist. And what would Raytheon’s ads extol – their Bunker Buster, model GBU-28, capable of solving America’s nuclear storage problem and sucking all of the oxygen out of inhabited underground facilities? Mobilization for war would be implausible without propaganda. Given the results, 9/11 was a great recruiting success. It took a while longer and millions of PR dollars (taxpayer’s funds) to associate 9/11 to Iraq.

 

Beginning on October 10, 2001, America indiscriminately dropped “deadly 1,000 lb. CBU-87 ($14,000 a bomb) and the wind-corrected CBU-103 cluster (fragmentation) bombs upon ‘soft targets’ (vehicles and people) in Afghanistan.” Within 11 weeks we had dropped 1,210 cluster bombs “each containing 202 BLU-97 bomblets.” These bombs cost $60 each and are designed for maximum damage. America dropped these bombs in 103 cities of Afghanistan and possibly as many as 128. Unexploded bombs become landmines which can detonate years later. Given the rate of detonation failure, it is estimated that “48,884 yellow soda-can sized, yellow-colored deadly sub-munitions now litter the villages, paths and fields of Afghanistan.” [20]

 

When the deadly cluster bomb, originally made by Aerojet General in 1983, explodes, “the steel splits so you get hundreds of high-velocity steel fragments traveling at the speed of a rifle bullet. They can kill or injure people from over 100 meters (330 feet) from the point of detonation.” [21]

 

The U.S. military also bombed alleged Taliban front lines with 15,000-pound bombs called BLU-82 “daisy cutters,” believed to be the world's largest bombs. It “creates a mist of ammonium nitrate and aluminum, which ignites in an explosion that incinerates everything within up to 600 yards, the news service reported.” [22] Between October 7 and December 10, 2001 at least 3,767 Afghan civilians were killed by American bombs – an average of 62 innocent deaths each day. But Osama bin Laden escaped. “It does not include military deaths (estimated by some analysts, partly on the basis of previous experience of the effects of carpet-bombing, to be upwards of 10,000), or those prisoners who were slaughtered in Mazar-i-Sharif, Qala-i-Janghi, Kandahar airport and elsewhere.” [23]

 

After proper programming, otherwise ordinary individuals are mentally equipped and ready to avenge and destroy. Osama bin Laden, intelligence asset of the United States for many years, was the alleged culprit – the poor Afghans are what – collateral damage? “Bin Laden actually officially broke with the US in 1991 when US troops began arriving in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. Bin Laden felt this was a violation of the Saudi regime’s responsibility to protect the Islamic Holy Shrines of Mecca and Medina from the infidels.” [24]

 

Stephen Hawking, renowned theoretical physicist and professor, said: The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. [25]

 
All photos courtesy of Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki from his book: Afghanistan After Democracy


[9] The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection, By Ron Callari, Albion Monitor. Posted on: February 28, 2002.

[14] Afghanistan After Democracy by Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD., p. 78

[16] Afghanistan After Democracy by Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD., p. 74

[25] Truth, Honesty and Lies Quotes

 

 

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