Terror 'Attack' that Wasnt

Afghanistan cannot be surrendered as a training base of unlimited potential to terrorists as it was prior to 2001

said Prime Minister Rudd. But what if war against and occupation of Middle Eastern countries is the cause of terrorism?

And what if the war in Afghanistan, nearly ten years old already, goes on for decades?

And also, it was the US, not Australia, that was attacked on 9/11. Australia does not want or need to get involved in the imperialist wars of the US or any other country. The proper response to terrorist incidents is police action under international law and redressing the grievances people have, not random war and killing of people and countries that may or mostly may not have had anything whatever to do with it.

This statement of motive for the alleged attack against an army base is plain enough and typical for the jihadis:

One of five men charged with plotting the alleged suicide attack, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, delivered a defiant outburst when he appeared in a Melbourne court on terrorist charges yesterday.

''You call us terrorists,'' he said. ''I've never killed anyone in my life.''

But he told the Melbourne Magistrates Court the Australian Army ''kills innocent people'' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his rant, Fattal, 33, also said Israelis forcibly took land from Palestinians and said he wanted to leave Australia.

So why doesn't Mr Rudd:

1. Withdraw all Australian forces permanently from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East generally.

2. Stop supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and call for boycott, divestment and sanctions if Israel does not withdraw all soldiers and settlers behind the 1967 Green line.

The Australian Government will obviously do no such thing, and the reason is that we are not committed to a 'war on terror', we are committed (virtually as an appendage, not even with the dignity of UK 'spear carrier' status) to the global hegemonic ambitions of the United States. In this sense Rudd is no different from Howard.

In continuing the war effort against Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and condoning the occupation of those countries and of Palestine Rudd is simply creating a motive for vengeance and thus directly exposing Australia and Australians to an unnecessary risk of terrorist attack, small though that may be.

Afghanistan cannot be surrendered as a training base of unlimited potential to terrorists as it was prior to 2001

said Prime Minister Rudd. But what if war against and occupation of Middle Eastern countries is the cause of terrorism?

And what if the war in Afghanistan, nearly ten years old already, goes on for decades?

And also, it was the US, not Australia, that was attacked on 9/11. Australia does not want or need to get involved in the imperialist wars of the US or any other country. The proper response to terrorist incidents is police action under international law and redressing the grievances people have, not random war and killing of people and countries that may or mostly may not have had anything whatever to do with it.

This statement of motive for the alleged attack against an army base is plain enough and typical for the jihadis:

One of five men charged with plotting the alleged suicide attack, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, delivered a defiant outburst when he appeared in a Melbourne court on terrorist charges yesterday.

''You call us terrorists,'' he said. ''I've never killed anyone in my life.''

But he told the Melbourne Magistrates Court the Australian Army ''kills innocent people'' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his rant, Fattal, 33, also said Israelis forcibly took land from Palestinians and said he wanted to leave Australia.

So why doesn't Mr Rudd:

1. Withdraw all Australian forces permanently from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East generally.

2. Stop supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and call for boycott, divestment and sanctions if Israel does not withdraw all soldiers and settlers behind the 1967 Green line.

The Australian Government will obviously do no such thing, and the reason is that we are not committed to a 'war on terror', we are committed (virtually as an appendage, not even with the dignity of UK 'spear carrier' status) to the global hegemonic ambitions of the United States. In this sense Rudd is no different from Howard.

In continuing the war effort against Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and condoning the occupation of those countries and of Palestine Rudd is simply creating a motive for vengeance and thus directly exposing Australia and Australians to an unnecessary risk of terrorist attack, small though that may be.

Terror 'Attack' that Wasnt

More boat people on the way

Pakistan faces biggest refugee crisis since 1947:

Aid groups have warned of a human tide of up to 500,000 people fleeing their homes. The UN said an estimated 200,000 have fled the Swat valley and its main town, Mingora, in the past few days alone, while another 300,000 are poised to flee if they get the chance. This would create a total of one million people forced from their homes by fighting in the past 12 months. It represents the biggest internal displacement of people in Pakistan since independence more than 60 years ago.

In addition to the refugees primarily from the ruined countries of Iraq and Afghanistan that have made the desperate journey by boat to our shores in recent years, it seems likely there will now be a bunch more.

If Howard were still in power we know what to expect: the ugly and racist demonization of regugees as terrorists, sleepers, child-drowners leading to the cruel abandonment at sea or imprisonment in concentration camps. With Rudd it is slightly more civilized, Rudd will only blame it on people-smugglers.

But Rudd just like Howard cannot dare speak the awful truth: that the direct cause of the massive refugee crises in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is the Whitepowers' military assault on those countries, an aggression in which Australia has shamefully taken and is taking a direct part.

Pakistan faces biggest refugee crisis since 1947:

Aid groups have warned of a human tide of up to 500,000 people fleeing their homes. The UN said an estimated 200,000 have fled the Swat valley and its main town, Mingora, in the past few days alone, while another 300,000 are poised to flee if they get the chance. This would create a total of one million people forced from their homes by fighting in the past 12 months. It represents the biggest internal displacement of people in Pakistan since independence more than 60 years ago.

In addition to the refugees primarily from the ruined countries of Iraq and Afghanistan that have made the desperate journey by boat to our shores in recent years, it seems likely there will now be a bunch more.

If Howard were still in power we know what to expect: the ugly and racist demonization of regugees as terrorists, sleepers, child-drowners leading to the cruel abandonment at sea or imprisonment in concentration camps. With Rudd it is slightly more civilized, Rudd will only blame it on people-smugglers.

But Rudd just like Howard cannot dare speak the awful truth: that the direct cause of the massive refugee crises in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is the Whitepowers' military assault on those countries, an aggression in which Australia has shamefully taken and is taking a direct part.

More boat people on the way

Ruddspeak: War Escalation is 'Exit Strategy'

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A 50per cent increase in troop numbers in Afghanistan will help Australia get out of the war-torn country more quickly, Prime Minster Kevin Rudd says.... The extra soldiers would take Australia closer to its exit strategy building Afghan security forces until they are able to provide their own security but Mr Rudd could not say when troops would come home.

Appalling doublespeak from Rudd. Like Obama, it is possible Rudd believes the delusion about Afghanistan being 'the good war'. Perhaps he thinks now that the Russian invasion was also a 'good war'?

Even Hugh White, usually a reliable supporter of Imperial policy, is now openly calling the Afghan war "an unwinnable and an unnecessary and an unpopular war", and pointing out that the increased troop levels "in terms of the impact it'll make on the ground, in Oruzgan Province, in and around Tarin Kowt, and in terms of the difference it'll make to the broader situation in Afghanistan, I don't think it counts for much. I think the chance of this making any real difference to the situation there is pretty low"

According to White this obviously futile effort, that "is being lost", is being done for "political strategy". Bearing in mind that this is a real war, where real people are being killed, both Australian soldiers and Afghanis, to knowingly wage an unwinnable war for "political" reasons can only be described as despicable behaviour. Human lives obviously dont count for much in political calculations.

All Australian troops (in fact all Whitepower troops) should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. And a law should be passed banning the deployment of Australian forces anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. We have since Gallipoli in 1915 long since forfeited any credibility and have shown ourselves time and time again to be merely and appendage of Anglo-Saxon empire.

link

A 50per cent increase in troop numbers in Afghanistan will help Australia get out of the war-torn country more quickly, Prime Minster Kevin Rudd says.... The extra soldiers would take Australia closer to its exit strategy building Afghan security forces until they are able to provide their own security but Mr Rudd could not say when troops would come home.

Appalling doublespeak from Rudd. Like Obama, it is possible Rudd believes the delusion about Afghanistan being 'the good war'. Perhaps he thinks now that the Russian invasion was also a 'good war'?

Even Hugh White, usually a reliable supporter of Imperial policy, is now openly calling the Afghan war "an unwinnable and an unnecessary and an unpopular war", and pointing out that the increased troop levels "in terms of the impact it'll make on the ground, in Oruzgan Province, in and around Tarin Kowt, and in terms of the difference it'll make to the broader situation in Afghanistan, I don't think it counts for much. I think the chance of this making any real difference to the situation there is pretty low"

According to White this obviously futile effort, that "is being lost", is being done for "political strategy". Bearing in mind that this is a real war, where real people are being killed, both Australian soldiers and Afghanis, to knowingly wage an unwinnable war for "political" reasons can only be described as despicable behaviour. Human lives obviously dont count for much in political calculations.

All Australian troops (in fact all Whitepower troops) should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. And a law should be passed banning the deployment of Australian forces anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. We have since Gallipoli in 1915 long since forfeited any credibility and have shown ourselves time and time again to be merely and appendage of Anglo-Saxon empire.

Ruddspeak: War Escalation is 'Exit Strategy'