| Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) |
From: "Lysander Zimmerman" <LAMZ_-at-_sympatico.ca>
To: <anarchism_-at-_yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 22:35:43 -0500
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Morton" <command@interlog.com>
To: <cjazz@interlog.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2001 10:07 PM
Subject: World Bank Poised to Devour Afghanistan
World Bank Poised to Devour Afghanistan - Nov.25.2001
(Prisoners of War Slaughtered as Globalization Rushes In)
By Gary Morton
Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for genocide at an odd time. The
West's support for killers and killing right now makes him seem a
possible ally. The Northern Alliance that the US-led anti Terror
Coalition supports in Afghanistan has not been respecting the rights of
prisoners of war, summarily executing them by the hundreds. This week in
the USA, Rumsfield has been saying that he would prefer to see thousands
of the Taliban foreign legion killed in a siege of Kunduz. Some of these
troops were already blowing themselves up . and their stated reason
wasn't a religious one but rather that they knew they'd be tortured and
executed if they surrendered.
As I write this a report just came in that hundreds more prisoners
have been killed. These were Pakistanis, Chechens and Arabs that
surrendered Saturday. It's only a day later and they're dead. Western
news reports claim they seized weapons from the guards and 300 fighters
took part in a prison riot. U.S. air strikes on the prison were used to
kill the 700 prisoners. Footage from a German television crew inside the
compound showed guards atop walls firing down into crowds of prisoners
below.
A bit of common sense reveals this as a massacre of prisoners of war.
US air strikes have never been used to quell a prison riot before and we
have to ask how conditions could be so horrible that they couldn't stand
even one day of them.
Then there are the deaths of who knows how many Afghani civilians in
the bombing and resulting contamination by depleted uranium. Since the
West calls itself a liberator, perhaps there isn't much difference
between a liberator and an agent of genocide.
Rumours are that Osama bin Laden is hiding in caves near Jalalabad.
Since the Alliance advance Haji Abdul Qadir, who gave shelter to bin
Laden in 1996, has declared himself governor of Jalalabad again. So it
looks like bin Laden may be fasting easily there in conquered territory
while the flames of war burn toward the south.
Events have left bin Laden little more than a small man with kidney
disease, running for his life. George Bush and the US may have
undertaken an adventure to catch him, but they got blinded by the oil
and other riches the corporate powers of globalization can gain from a
conquered Afghanistan. Bush's main fear now seems to be that bin Laden
might be captured alive and then sing like a canary, exposing USA/CIA
corruption. To counter that he has granted himself Hitler-like powers to
prosecute and execute just about anyone in secret military tribunals.
Against this backdrop of totally unethical war, talks on a new
government start Tuesday in Bonn. The Northern Alliance has stated that
it is running the government and says it will be in Bonn under duress.
Former Afghan president Berhanuddin Rabbani has dismissed the conference
as merely symbolic. Alliance Warlords hold power in all of their former
enclaves and a grand assembly of tribal leaders may eventually appoint a
ruler.
The stated Bonn goal is to recognize ethnic, tribal and religious
differences. 30 delegates from four major Afghan factions sit down with
United Nations mediators to select 20 representatives of a broad-based,
multiethnic transitional government
The Alliance is unhappy with two of the groups the U.N. has insisted
on including: the Pashtun leaders, and the exiled intellectuals. It's
supports only the delegates of former king Mohammed Zahir Shah.
Hotels in Bonn will be teaming with representatives of the USA,
Britain and other forces of the New World Order and Multinational
Corporations. The U.N. is running the negotiations. Powerful outsiders
will be creating strategy, sending in messages, threats and economic
offers that amount to bribes. The delegates will likely be overwhelmed
by the bullying of international and corporate interests.
These international interests don't see a need for elections in
Afghanistan any time soon. They want to empower a weak federation
government so they can play all sides against each another. They claim
that outside entities will have to oversee the running of Afghanistan
for the foreseeable future. And the outside entities are really THE
WORLD BANK.
With each warlord and tribal leader holding his own army in
Afghanistan there is sure to be infighting and little respect for any
central government. This will create a convenient distraction and the US
can follow a local belt of fire strategy, with arms corporations
profiting from fighting warlords while making sure that none get too
powerful. Fighting against the Taliban will also continue and could last
for months or years.
As fighting continues, the World Bank will sink the nation into deep
debt through its loans. All development from oil pipelines to public
services will be by multinational corporations using the bank loans as a
form of corporate welfare. In this scenario Afghanistan will gain a
brief appearance of some development and prosperity, but it will vanish
as global corporations siphon off all of its resources and natural
wealth.
In the long run Afghanistan will likely be another nation that
exports food while many of its own people starve. All of its new
services from health care to water and sanitation will be corporate run
services that will be affordable to a small consumer class of wealthier
Afghanis. If women gain rights, for most of them it will be the right to
share poverty with their husbands.
Our media is presenting us with news of a victory for freedom and
democracy, as though a battle against terrorism has been won. If the
World Bank devours Afghanistan that won't be so . war will continue,
especially guerilla war, and some years down the road its people will
unite and rise against the West again.
Decency has suffered a great defeat as we now know that the economic
powers of the West have embraced the pursuit of greed as their religion.
Civil liberties and every form of human rights, even those small rights
for prisoners of war have been tossed out. They'll bomb and kill anyone
that gets in their way.
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