Skip to main content

Clay Burell's Library tagged 911 →  View Popular

21 Oct 08

Service: Online Only: The New Yorker

A photo that should become iconic. Read the tombstone closely, including its symbol.

www.newyorker.com/...slideshow_080929_platon - Preview

iraq terrorism bush racism 911 islam usa

18 Oct 08

How We Lost the War We Won : (Afghanistan) Rolling Stone

A fascinating and insightful piece of investigative journalism into the heartland of Taliban territory. Chilling at times, and troubling in what it shows about US prospects for "winning" the war.

www.rollingstone.com/...print - Preview

terrorism democracy bush 911

  • The Bush administration is placing its hopes on presidential
    elections in Afghanistan next year, but everyone I speak with in
    Kabul agrees that the elections will be a joke. "The Americans are
    gung-ho about elections," a longtime nongovernmental official tells
    me. "But it will only exacerbate ethnic tensions." In Pashtun areas
    controlled by the Taliban, registration would be virtually
    impossible, and voting would invoke a death sentence —
    effectively disenfranchising the country's dominant ethnic group.
    "You can't fix the insurgency with an election," a senior U.N.
    official tells me. "It's a socioeconomic phenomenon that goes well
    beyond the border of Afghanistan." Real elections would require the
    cooperation of the Taliban — and that, in turn, would require
    negotiations with the Taliban. The war, in effect, is already
    lost.
  • Officials on the ground in Afghanistan say it is foolhardy to
    believe that the Americans can prevail where the Russians failed.
    At the height of the occupation, the Soviets had 120,000 of their
    own troops in Afghanistan, buttressed by roughly 300,000 Afghan
    troops. The Americans and their allies, by contrast, have 65,000
    troops on the ground, backed up by only 137,000 Afghan security
    forces — and they face a Taliban who enjoy the support of a
    well-funded and highly organized network of Islamic extremists.
    "The end for the Americans will be just like for the Russians,"
    says a former commander who served in the Taliban government. "The
    Americans will never succeed in containing the conflict. There will
    be more bleeding. It's coming to the same situation as it did for
    the communist forces, who found themselves confined to the
    provincial capitals."
    • It's worth remembering that the US supported Afghan and Islamic "freedom fighters" against the Soviet occupiers, and among those with US/CIA support was Osama Bin Laden. - on 2008-10-18
    Add Sticky Note
  • 3 more annotations...

A Just War? Hardly, by Noam Chomsky

  • Just War theory, international law history. Good summary of US war crimes. - cburell on 2006-10-03

A-Morning-Berg.mov (video/quicktime Object)

  • Berg's father stuns CNN by not celebrating Zarqawi's death, but instead condemning US foreign policy for being the ultimate cause of the problems. - cburell on 2006-10-03
1 - 20 of 38 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page

Selected Tags

Related Tags

Diigo is about better ways to research, share and collaborate on information. Learn more »

Join Diigo