http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201231273433382365.html
| Decisions, not excuses in Afghanistan |
Spare us and the US public the apologies, the psychiatry, and more useless trials and meaningless investigations. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2012 12:11  |
 On Sunday, a US soldier murdered 16 civilians in Afghanistan's Kandahar province [Reuters] |
I am sort of glad President Obama didn't apologise for the recent US soldier killing spree in Afghanistan, leaving it to his "inferiors" to do the embarrassing bidding. Obama's failure to apologise was not for the same reasons as Newt Gingrich, who reckons the US president shouldn't apologise - rather Afghans should be making apologies for getting in the way of occupying their country, or for getting killed by US troops! Obama's campaign advisers have their own reasons for not wanting him to apologise: namely, forthcoming US screw-ups overseas will require too many apologies for an incumbent president, especially one who didn't "serve" his country. After all, it has been only days since Obama apologised for the presumed "accidental burning" of Qurans by US soldiers in what appears to Afghans as an anti-Islamic ritual. Obama's previous apology for past US mistakes is seen by his Republican opponents as "un-American". Leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised: "I will never, ever apologise for America." In the real world, President Obama shouldn't apologise because it's insulting to the memory of those who will continue to die as a result of Washington's shortsighted war policies in Afghanistan and its super(power) pride to admit defeat. Indeed, if it wasn't for the pain and horror caused to Afghan families, I would say repeated apologies are too boring to bear. This is a war, stupid. Invading another country and occupying it for more than a decade cannot come on the cheap, morally or humanely. This is not a diplomatic or PR challenge that requires media theatrics. It's a disaster that requires strategic and political decisions. Spare us the psychiatry babble If apologies are insulting to Afghan intelligence, the psychiatric argument is pathetic. Explaining the sergeant's shooting spree and the horrific killing of 16 civilians, including nine children, and badly injuring others isn't the culmination of mere mental distress. That's not to say US soldiers are not under pressure. They most surely are tired, frustrated, lost, depressed, and perhaps many are going crazy. Fighting unwinnable war thousands of miles away in unfamiliar lands, inhabited by a hostile population, is no picnic. Nor does it bode well for morale knowing all too well that the US will withdraw sooner if not later. Major Nidal Hasan, who worked as a psychiatrist treating troops returning from combat at the US' largest military base, was apparently broken by the testimonies he heard about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He's scheduled to be on trial this month for the killing of 13 soldiers and injuring many in a shooting spree at the Fort Hood base. Hasan reportedly didn't want to go to Afghanistan along with dozens of other mental health professionals needed in the combat area. According to one US army survey, counsellors cannot reach many of the 350-odd areas of Afghanistan where the US military is deployed, leaving one out of three soldiers in need of a counsellor unable to reach one. In short, US soldiers might be in bad need of mental health counselling. But, more importantly, it's the politicians who need political counselling and the generals who need strong political leadership. Trials and investigations The sergeant won't be surrendered to Afghan authorities. No surprise there. According to the status of forces agreement (SOFA) signed between the occupier and its client, even if the sergeant were held by the Afghans, they would have to turn him over to the US forces. The same applied to Iraq. No US soldier of the empire will be tried, let alone imprisoned in a client state. He will be tried in US courts. So what happened to those who did go on trial in the US? (Not so dissimilar from Israeli soldiers committing murder in Israel's occupied lands.) Take the case of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, of Billings, Montana, who was accused of exhorting his bored underlings to slaughter three Afghan civilians for sport in one of the most gruesome cases to emerge from the conflict. He was later convicted of murder, conspiracy and other charges in the deaths of civilians. According to news reports cited by Al Jazeera DC correspondent Tom Ackerman, although the US military jury sentenced Gibbs to life in prison, he will be eligible for parole in less than nine years! In another case, Frank Wuterich, the 2005 US squad leader who gave his Marines the order to "shoot first, ask questions later" in Haditha - causing the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians, including children - pleaded guilty to "negligent dereliction of duty", and was merely discharged from the Marine Corps. Likewise, all his companions had all the charges against them dismissed or were acquitted. In return for such a masquerade of justice, as usual, the US military promises to open an investigation into the mass murder as a way of preventing another - as if investigations can overcome or diminish the horror produced by a war killing machine, on or off-duty. President Obama and Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta called Mr Karzai, "expressing condolences and promising thorough investigations". Oh, now you're talking: "thorough investigations". Now that's impressive and assuring, right? Wrong! The 'right war' is wrong Afghanistan was supposed to be the "right" war, and Iraq the "stupid" one, according to Obama. Now the US is out of the latter and stuck in a 10-year war that seems to get worse by the day. Regardless of why this was ever considered "right", the horrific attacks of 9/11 withstanding, it has certainly gone terribly wrong. Despite President Obama's Af-Pak strategy, a big surge of troops and the successful killing of bin Laden, there is no end in sight to the decade-old occupation, the longest declared US war in recent memory. The whole strategy and endless jargon of the shift from counter-terrorism to counter-insurgency strategy (COIN) proved to be a farce. As I wrote back in August 2010 and as reported on Empirethe same month, getting the "job done" was hardly getting done at all as the war moved from one area of the country to another and the Taliban proved all but invisible. Nor is the Afghan army ready to take on the Taliban by itself. Indeed, according to observers I spoke to, it could be overrun soon after NATO withdraws from the country. And time isn't on their side. More importantly, there is no longer majority support for the war in the US. There's even less support in Europe. The wise and arguably the popular, decision to take now is to find a political exit and withdraw sooner rather than later. This is best achieved by involving all the regional players with a stake in Afghan security and stability. This, of course, takes more than psychology, investigation and apologies. It takes leadership. and like it or not , the push to push the US out may be coming like a tsunami wave..... The massacre of 16 villagers by a US soldier has triggered angry calls for an immediate American exit from Afghanistan as Washington tries to negotiate a long-term presence to keep the country from sliding into chaos again . Just days before yesterday's attack, Kabul and Washington had made significant progress in negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement that would allow American advisers and special forces to stay in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014. But securing a full deal may be far more difficult now after the shooting spree in villages in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban heartland, which killed mostly women and children. "This could delay the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement," an Afghan government official told Reuters. The attack, the latest American public relations disaster in Afghanistan, may be a turning point for the United States in a costly and unpopular war now in its eleventh year. Afghanistan's parliament condemned the killings, saying Afghans had run out of patience with the actions of foreign forces and the lack of oversight . Popular fury over the killing spree, which brought demands that the United States withdraw earlier than scheduled, could be exploited by the Taliban to gain new recruits. "We have benefited little from the foreign troops here but lost everything - our lives, dignity and our country to them," said Haji Najiq," a Kandahar shop owner. "The explanation or apologies will not bring back the dead. It is better for them to leave us alone and let us live in peace." Anti-Americanism, which boiled over after copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, were inadvertently burned at a Nato base last month is likely to deepen after the Kandahar carnage. "The Americans said they will leave in 2014. They should leave now so we can live in peace," said Mohammad Fahim, 19, a university student. "Even if the Taliban return to power our elders can work things out with them. The Americans are disrespectful." The civilian deaths may also force Afghan President Hamid Karzai to harden his stand in the partnership talks to appease a public already critical of his government's performance. The partnership agreement, which Washington and Kabul have been discussing for more than a year, will be the framework for US involvement in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014. Without a pact that keeps US advisors or special forces here, there is a danger that civil war could erupt again in Afghanistan because ill-trained Afghan forces would be unable to keep insurgents at bay. The Kandahar violence came just days after the United States and Afghanistan signed a deal on the gradual transfer of a major US-run detention centre to Afghan authorities, overcoming one of the main sticking points in the partnership negotiations. "The Americans are not here to assist us they are here to kill us," said Najibullah, 33, a house painter in Kabul. "I hate the Americans and I hate anyone who loves them, so I hope there is no long-term partnership between our countries." Afghanistan wants a timeline to take over detention centres and for the United States and Nato to agree to end night raids on Afghan homes as preconditions for signing the pact. Civilian deaths are one of the main sources of tension between Kabul and Washington. US officials warned of possible reprisal attacks after the villagers were killed in the likely "rogue" shooting. Washington has rushed to distance the shootings from the efforts of the 90,000-strong US force but faces growing criticism at home and abroad about its conduct of the war. "The US Embassy in Kabul alerts US citizens in Afghanistan that as a result of a tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province involving a US service member, there is a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days, especially in the eastern and southern provinces," the embassy said in an emergency statement on its website and the view from Afghanistan - looks like they aren't being the rogue soldier story..... http://outlookafghanistan.net/news?post_id=3652 WJ Shut in Protest Over Killings KABUL - In a protest against the brutal slaying of civilians by US troops in the southern province of Kandahar, Wolesi Jirga (WJ), the lower house of parliament, was closed on Monday. Sixteen civilians, including women and children, were killed on Sunday morning, and 11 of their bodies burnt after the killing by American soldiers in Zangabad area of Panjwae district. Angry lawmakers in the capital condemned the cruel attack on ordinary people in Kandahar and at about 11 am decided that the parliament building would be closed as a protest for a day. Public representative from Kandahar, Hamidzai Lalai, urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his vice presidents to resign from their posts as they failed to maintain proper security for their countrymen. Lalai also rejected US officials' claims that the killings was executed by a single mentally unstable soldier since it was carried out five kilometers away from the US military base and he later returned to his base after the incident. Another MP from Kandahar, Mullah Syed Mohammad Akhund, said that US troops intentionally carried out the attack. "If Karzai doesn't take urgent step toward the case, he should be responsible to the people or the Wolesi Jirga should be closed," he said. He called on the MPs to show their moral support against such gruesome attacks and be ready for any kind of sacrifices to avert such incidents. "Americans lie that the soldier suffered mental disorder. If he was mentally (unstable) he had to shot US soldiers first," an MP from Logar, Mohammad Akbar Stanikzai voiced out. Wolesi Jirga Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi also condemned the tragedy, ordering security and justice commissions to dispatch a delegation to the province to probe the massacre soon. The lower house of Parliament also issued a declaration, terming the act of US soldiers as inhumane and a serious crime, and Afghans could not tolerate such tragedies anymore. The resolution letter also demanded public punishment for the criminals so that it would serve as a strong deterrent to others. After reading the letter, public representative from western Herat province, Nazir Ahmad Hanifi chanted slogan "Down to America", which was only supported by Lalai, while other MPs remained silent. Resolution letters alone would not prevent Afghans from being attacked, but lawmakers protest in front of US embassy in Kabul would be more effective. " I believe demonstration would have good results. If others are afraid to conduct the rally, I am ready to lead the protest," he concluded. US president Barak Obama, in a telephonic conversation, told Karzai that they would investigate the killings, while US defense secretary said that they would punish the soldiers involved in the attack. (Pajhwok) |
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