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Slaughter East of Gardez
August 10, 2002 thepeoplesvoice.org
Posted by the EDITOR
The media may try to put a patriotic spin on the war in
Afghanistan, but in reality America is carrying out a brutal massacre. The few news
reports that we are allowed to hear tell us that hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda forces
have been killed in five days of fighting and American military officials proclaim that
they will "exterminate" the remainder. The most advanced and
horrific tactical weapons in our arsenal have been brought to bear against this poorly
armed band of fighters. We are dropping 2,000-pound "thermobaric" vacuum bombs
which create a cloud of exploading poisonous gas, sending a powerful shock wave throughout
a cave or tullel complex, obliterating everything and everyone inside, Al Qaeda, Taliban,
women, and children.
What the media describes as a "battle" at Gardez
is actually an open slaughter. The words used by America's military high command to
describe the fighting provide insight into the thinking of our leaders. Major General
Frank Hagenbeck, commander of Operation Anaconda, told reporters, "In the last 24
hours, we have killed lots of Al Qaeda and Taleban. I won’t give you
precise numbers but we’ve got confirmed kills in the hundreds."
He continued: "Conservatively speaking right now, I’m convinced from the
evidence I’ve seen that we’ve killed at least half of those
enemy forces.... As long as they want to send them here, we’ll kill
them here. Should they go somewhere else, we’ll go with our Afghan allies and
coalition forces and kill them wherever they go." Only homicidal and
psychotic individuals are so obsessed with killing and use of the word kill so frequently
when speaking.
The Local population in the vicinity of the fighting
including those hostile to the Taliban report that American bombs are killing innocent
women and children. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, revealed his cold heart when asked
about the fate of these women and children. He told journalists, "We have assumed
that where you find large numbers of Al Qaeda and Taliban, that there may very well be
noncombatants with them who are family members or supporters of some kind." Afraid to
admit that the United states intends to exterminate the women and children along with the
men, Rumsfeld makes the excuse that civilians were there "of their own free will,
knowing who they’re with and who they’re supporting and who they’re
encouraging and who they’re assisting." With that little quip his conscience is
clear.
Between 500 and 800 AlQaeda and Taliban fighters face off
against The American led force of 7000 men which includes soldiers from the 101st
Airborne, the 10th Mountain Division, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark, and
Norway, with thousands of reserves standing by. The Taliban and Al Qaeda troops, low on
ammunition, are armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and heavy machine guns.
Their small hand held weapons are virtually ineffective against the Goliath forces
surrounding them.
The Washington Post stated, "US
commanders have used the most devastating conventional weapons in the US air arsenal to kill enemy troops,
including Air Force B-52 and F-15E bombers and Navy carrier-based strike aircraft, along
with AC-130 gunships, were used in military strikes this week". America has delivered
a merciless and continuos pounding on Taliban positions to "soften up" the
enemy. Many army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and more than a dozen Apache and AH-1
Cobra attack helicopters have been used in the attack.
The corporate American media continues to peddle their
propaganda that the massacre east of Gardez is a difficult fight for our military. There
have been Eight US and seven Afghan casualties as compared with hundreds of confirmed
Taliban and Al Qaeda casualties. The battle has ended and America's continued presence in
Afghanistan now serves as a smoke screen for the recession and Enron, and it also provides
the Bush administrationa with a political life preserver. The White House wants the public
to believe that this is a hard fight against 800 rag-tag men and their wives and children,
hiding in the freezing caves. The cynical Bush administration and their media mouthpieces
are proving that nothing is sacred by using the eight dead American soldiers for their
propagandistic purposes. The dead soldiers are idolized with a flag draped over their
coffins and delivered on a 747 jet received by 20 marines in full dress uniforms and a
film crew. A far cry from the rotting body bags our soldiers came home in from the Viet
Nam war. The media and Bush are using the dead soldiers as martyrs to stoke the flames of
war and anger within the American public.
A Washington Post editorial said, "Remember the
Fallen," and "all were willing to risk that grim trip back in a flag-covered
coffin to defend the United States. The battle these men died in ... is essential to the
Afghan campaign. That campaign is supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans and
recognized as just by most of the nations of the world. From a political point of view,
the American casualties must be accepted as a necessary sacrifice; President Bush has
frequently said that they will be inescapable if the war is to be won."
One must wonder where these people get their numbers. We
are told constantly by the media that we support this war, yet the same media also told us
that Bush was overwhelmingly ahead in the polls when Gore actually won the majority vote.
Just like our electoral process this war is also a great hypocrisy of lies. All of the
Americans presently dying in Afghanistan serve only as hamburger meat in the gears of the
oil companies, the defense contractors and the transnational corporations.
Since September 11 America has killed 5000 innocent women
and children in Afghanistan with bombing. Hundreds if not thousands more will be killed by
the US and our allies in the pursuit of American geopolitical interests in the region.
America's reckless actions will inevitably bring about the destabilization of the Middle
east and cause changes far beyond the limited minds of Cheney and Rumsfeld, and of course
the puppet mind of Bush.
Now we are awash in a patriotic media frenzy, but
eventually it will become evident that America has committed a brutal and criminal
campaign in Afghanistan that we must answer for in the world community. From this day
forward other countrys will look upon our political and military leadership with great
suspicion, as more countries now regard America with hatred and contempt.
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