The Protesters warned you

[annm4peace]

I began protesting 3 weeks after we attacked Afghanistan.

and haven't stopped since. I also write letters, sign petitions, call Congress members, commit civil disobedience, sit in court to support those who were charged for protesting.

I began protesting because I worked at a psych hospital and my first day of work was
when Desert Storm started in 1991. I am still affected by the storied that the Vets told and why the had PTSD.

There were millions who protested. We protested the Torture. The killing of women and children.

There were soldier who killed their own soldiers in 2003.

Listening to all the talking head say they are surprised makes me sick. It is like listening to Senators say they didn't there weren't weapons of Mass Destruction.


There will be more.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Is there any use to being in Afghanistan? Any contribution to the stability of the planet?

Any potential of something going very wrong if we left?

[rurallib]

5. Isn't there an oil pipeline that goes through eastern Afghanistan?

'nuff said.

[Buzz Clik]

7. There's energy interests all over the globe.

Very few of those countries border on a Muslim state with nuclear capability that is already on shaky ground.

It's not always about energy.

So, no -- it most certainly is not "'nuf said."

[Vincardog]

9. The only reason for being in Afghanistan is to build the pipeline across it

[Buzz Clik]

10. That argue was somewhat poignant 8 years ago. Not now.

Pipelines now exist that don't have to cross Afghanistan, and stability in that region is very, very important.

[Vincardog]

11. Why? Why Now?

[Buzz Clik]

19. Have you bothered to research the changes in the distribution of energy in the region?

Are you really totally unaware of the developments since 2002?

I really find it amazing that those who are the most certain about "it's for the oil and gas" are generally the least informed.

[Junkdrawer]

21. Pipeline-Istan: Everything You Need to Know About Oil, Gas, Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan....

As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific Ocean. It's there that the Liquid War for the control of Eurasia takes place.

Yep, it all comes down to black gold and "blue gold" (natural gas), hydrocarbon wealth beyond compare, and so it's time to trek back to that ever-flowing wonderland -- Pipelineistan. It's time to dust off the acronyms, especially the SCO or Shanghai Cooperative Organization, the Asian response to NATO, and learn a few new ones like IPI and TAPI. Above all, it's time to check out the most recent moves on the giant chessboard of Eurasia, where Washington wants to be a crucial, if not dominant, player.

We've already seen Pipelineistan wars in Kosovo and Georgia, and we've followed Washington's favorite pipeline, the BTC, which was supposed to tilt the flow of energy westward, sending oil coursing past both Iran and Russia. Things didn't quite turn out that way, but we've got to move on, the New Great Game never stops. Now, it's time to grasp just what the Asian Energy Security Grid is all about, visit a surreal natural gas republic, and understand why that Grid is so deeply implicated in the Af-Pak war.

Every time I've visited Iran, energy analysts stress the total "interdependence of Asia and Persian Gulf geo-ecopolitics." What they mean is the ultimate importance to various great and regional powers of Asian integration via a sprawling mass of energy pipelines that will someday, somehow, link the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, South Asia, Russia, and China. The major Iranian card in the Asian integration game is the gigantic South Pars natural gas field (which Iran shares with Qatar). It is estimated to hold at least 9% of the world's proven natural gas reserves.

....


http://www.alternet.org/world/139983/pipeline-istan:_everything_you_need_to_know_about_oil,_gas,_russia,_china,_iran,_afghanistan_and_obama/

Now, put up or shut up.

[Buzz Clik]

22. I've slammed your arguments into powder in the past. You think that a link to an opinion piece...

from an insane, leftwing online publication is somehow a substantive post?

The facts are in: the spooky, war-attracting pipeline was already built and did NOT go across Afghanistan. That pipeline across Afghanistan was proposed 20 years ago. And again 10 years ago. And all the American players evaporated prior to 9/11.

We do, indeed, fight wars over energy. Just not this one. Try again.

It's not just for the oil and gas. I am so very sorry.

[Junkdrawer]

23. You've never posted a damn thing but a pipeline map that EXCLUDED...

Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A legend in your own mind.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. Surely there are other, more accessible, sources of oil

And, sorry, I don't see Obama fighting for oil.

[Vincardog]

17. What do you see Obama sending more troops to Afghanistan FOR?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

18. Certainly not for oil.

BEST SCENARIO: He percieves a genuine threat. He said as much during the campaign

MIDDLE SCENARIO: He's buying political capital with a national electorate still enamored with fantasies of a strong military fighting for God and Country. If he doesn't pick a fight over recaling the troops right now he has the time and political capital to move on healthcare and climate change and other stuff we need.

WORST SCENARIO: If he doesn't keep up the generals quit, the MIC cuts off the money spigot to the dems leaving the door open for the GOP to race in come 2010 or 2012 making Obama impotent or even impeachable (not that he's done anything illegal they'll just have the magic formula of axe to grind plus votes).

I think it's a blend between the BEST and MIDDLE scenarios.

Still, even if the MIC is an issue I cannot imagine any oil company--even one as despotic as Halliburton--going through all this trouble just for oil when there is so much to be found elsewhere for less cost and certainly far less hassle. Even still, pipelines can go around things and one need not pacify an ENTIRE nation for a strip of land that the locals would probably rather have the jobs and money a pipeline would bring. It's not like American companies have had any compunctions to paying 3rd world laborers 1/20th what they pay Americans. That's a big increase for the locals and big savings for the corporations. A pipeline could probably BUY peace in Afghanistan.

Look, I oppose the war. I've never been in the military but the war has touched my life in very personal ways and some nights it leaves me crying it hurts so bad. I want this war to end but I am not ready to buy into the notion our President is a tool of imperialist oil companies. It doesn't make sense for them and it is certainly not the kind of man I voted for last year.

[Greyhound]

24. It's not oil, it's natural gas and it has to go through Afghanistan to avoid

Russia, Iran, or China.

Obama is doing what he was appointed to do.

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. Sounds like a threat to me

"There will be more." Care to amplify?

[SoCalNative]

3. I don't think it's a threat

I think there will be more incidents like this and it won't just be people of the Muslim faith committing them.

With all of the damaged goods we're producing sending people there for multiple tours and not providing proper care and support upon their return, I'm surprised that this hasn't happened more frequently.

[annm4peace]

4. Watch"Torturing Democracy"

I support Vets for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Courage to Resist, Iraq Veterans Against the War.

There are hundreds of thousands of veterans and active military who are in Severe mental illness.

Yes I can "Amplify" The pain these Veterans are in is "Amplified".. more than any other.

The were over used and abused and as Rev Wright said. "The Chickens have come home to Roost".


Since 2002, there have been articles and books, and also documentaries that the longer we are in these countries the worse the mental illness will be for our Veterans.

[Flaneur]

13. I'd call it a prediction, not a threat, but that's just me.

I'm not especially paranoid.

[AspenRose]

15. Your sig line sounds like a threat

Just sayin'.

[Mira]

6. K&R sadly the re-integration of all these damaged people will continue to

harm the fabric of our society.
The estimates of the returning soldiers who are not physically damaged are that one third is affected emotionally and mentally.
Walking wounded among us.
I also believe there will be more such incidents, there already is more violence in the families of people returning from war.

[la_chupa]

8. a whole generation is damaged now

nice work W

It bothers me when I hear how they're over there "protecting our freedom". Not to slight the job the US Military is doing at all, but no one can seem to tell me exactly what freedom of mine they're protecting.

[malaise]

14. Excellent post

K & R

[SIMPLYB1980]

16. .

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

20. We be so fucked!

[Mari333]

25. knr I was protesting it back then also, for naught

I remember the insanity back then, and the ugliness. an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. We freak out when we are hit but never question the policies that got us into trouble in the first place.
the USA never looks in the mirror.