BY SHAY CULLEN
MANY people believe in the sanctity of the human person with rights and dignity to be protected and preserved. This is not true for many more who kill and murder and execute their perceived enemies.
Those that declare war and invade other nations are also guilty of bringing death and destruction. There is no “good” war. In the end, after millions are dead and wounded, peace is negotiated and made, and life returns to normal.
Why then fight the war in the first place and not negotiate a settlement of differences before violence is inflicted? That is because war is very profitable for weapons manufacturers. A prolonged “endless” war is the best thing ever for the industrial military complex.
This industry dominates and greatly influences American politics and the US economy. It is what President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation about in 1946. He called it a danger to the nation.
The permanent armaments industry is today immensely greater and more powerful. It needs, and perhaps, promotes continuous wars to sell more arms to prosper and grow.
The politicians, the arms manufacturers and traders get their political candidates elected who seemingly work continually to support military interventions. This is the great wrong behind all wars: immense greed fuelled by lies, ambition and power. The American people are mostly duped into believing that their national security is always under threat and a super strong military, always at war, with real or imagined enemies, is necessary.
The futility of the Afghan 20-year unwinnable war has brought incredible suffering and death to millions of civilians and soldiers and generated hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people. The invasion was launched primarily to deprive Al Qaeda terrorits a haven in Afghanistan, which was then controlled by the Taliban. When that was achieved, the occupation continued and was prolonged mostly for the glory of US career generals and the benefit of the US industrial military complex and a few thousand corrupt Afghan politicians and their cronies.
The immorality of it is staggering. We do not live in a just or moral world. The disaster is still unfolding as thousands of people are rushing to the airport to escape the Taliban on US and UK planes.
According to research by Brown University, the number of innocent Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire or killed by suicide bombers is a shocking 47,245 men, women and children. Countless others are wounded, having lost arms and legs and they will suffer for the rest of their lives. Besides, half-trained 66,000 Afghan army and police were killed.
The number of Taliban and other opposition fighters that were killed is 51,191. A total of 164,436 Afghan people died in this avoidable war.
In Afghanistan, in the 20-year war, as many as 2,448 American service members were killed up to April 2021. An additional 3,846 U.S. contractors, civilians and mercenaries were killed, and as many as 1,344 service people of the NATO alliance died also. The number of aid workers killed is 444. Seventy-nine journalists were also killed. A total of 8,161 needless deaths.
How could a mostly unpaid guerrilla band of fighters, armed mostly with AK-47s, RPG rocket launchers, home-made bombs and riding pickups and motorbikes with walkie-talkie radios, defeat the greatest, most powerful sophisticated well-paid army, air force and navy in the world, the best funded and most expensive? (To be continued)/PN
