Afghan war most certainly was nation building

In announcing that August 31st would mark the end of the U.S. Afghan war, President Biden said “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. It is the right and responsibility of the Afghan people alone”.

Not true. The Afghan war was nation building 1.0. The 911 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers; 15 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from the UAE, and one each from Lebanon and Egypt. The ringleader was Osama bin Laden, also a Saudi, whose home country was the biggest supporter of Salafist jihadism, the ideological basis for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.

Saudi fingerprints were all over the 911 attacks, so much so the U.S. kept them from public view for years in their report on the attacks.

After 911 the U.S. had one job in Afghanistan, where much of the attack planning occurred: Kill them and get out.

That would have disrupted the U.S. war party’s true objective: remaking the entire Middle East as an American style sphere of influence. The real prize was Iran, a potential hegemon in the region viewed as an imminent and unacceptable threat to U.S. national interests.

The road to Iran started with Afghanistan, continuing on through Iraq and Syria, Iran’s neighbor an ally.

So Afghanistan, like Iraq seventeen months later, was marked for regime change to install a pro U.S. government. To do that the U.S. simply inflated the threat from an independent Afghanistan to justify an unnecessary war. Knocking off the Taliban government was so easy the U.S. was fooled into thinking we’d prevailed, allowing America to gin up a second senseless war in Iraq.

Nineteen years and nine months after a murderous and needless attack against the people of Afghanistan, which killed tens of thousands and wounded or made refugees of millions, the U.S. is calling it quits. Biden puts the best spin possible on our exit, saying he won’t send a third generation of Americans to fight a war with no different outcome than achieved presently.

A truer reason for leaving would better serve history. ‘The Afghan war was unnecessary, failed, and must be ended now’.

Book Pick: Bagman by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz

Short title, long subtitle: The wild crimes, audacious cover up & spectacular downfall of a brazen crook in the White House.

I, like many news hounds back in 73, was riveted to the 2 year long Nixon impeachment drama playing out in D.C.

But simultaneously a second White House crime drama was playing out in secret. The feds were investigating Veep Spiro Agnew’s bribery and extortion plot involving government contractors delivering cash to Agnew in the Maryland Governor’s office and lastly his White House office.

Watergate so overshadowed Agnew’s criminality it was little noted and quickly forgotten by most Americans.

That’s a shame. Agnew’s troubles came at a momentous time; possibly elevating him the presidency just as federal prosecutors in Baltimore uncovered an avalanche of slam dunk evidence that should have quickly removed Agnew from office just as the presidency was headed for vacancy.

But Agnew pulled a Trump playbook 45 years before The Donald turned it into a fine art of surviving his presidency by gaslighting his accusers and enlisting his base for unflinching support.

Agnew wasn’t creating new scorched earth tactics when advised of his impending indictment likely to imprison him. He was picked for Veep precisely for his personal, vicious attacks at all things progressive. He campaigned that way, he governed that way once elected, and like Trump, Republicans loved him for it.

Rather than cop a plea for a relatively small fine and prison sentence, Agnew held the Vice Presidency hostage, vowing never to resign. His strategy?

Attack the investigation as a witch hunt. Obstruct it behind the scenes. Attack the credibility of the Justice Department. Attack individual investigators in personal terms. Attack the media for informing the citizenry.

Sound familiar?

In the end Agnew traded his office for no prison time and a paltry fine, pleading ‘nolo contendere’ to one count of tax evasion.

Prosecutors led by Attorney General Elliot Richardson cringed at such a paltry penalty, but preventing Agnew from succeeding a soon to be impeached president took priority.

Most Americans today likely don’t know Spiro T. Agnew pioneered the tactics that nearly overturned the last election. Maddow and Yarvitz’s riveting history is a welcome refresher course in this momentous and fascinating history.

Only Uncle Sam can tamp down Chicago street carnage

The Mayor and Police Chief; indeed, the Governor as well, can hold daily press conferences on how they’re combating the grotesque carnage of Chicago’s mean streets.

But the victims and future victims would be better served if our collective efforts were directed at the only source that can make a dent in the weekly toll of 70 shot, 10 of whom die: Uncle Sam.

For it is centuries of national institutional racism that funneled millions of guns into huge pockets of poverty, crime, joblessness and despair containing millions of minorities shunned by privileged America.

A society doing that and allowing it to continue is ensuring that local and state authorities will continue to flail away at a problem far beyond their control.

Unless we as a nation stem the flow of unlimited guns and provide sufficient jobs, these twin drivers of grotesque violence will pile up the count of dead and wounded till the end of time.

Uncle Sam has the means, but has never had the will. Until he does, the police, doctors and undertakers may as well proceed with their work in silence.