There must have been a bit of confusion in the German military headquarters. The Taliban has called for an investigation into a bombing ordered by the German commander in Afghanistan. That’s right, the Taliban who routinely bomb civilians, throw acid on little girls, and commit acts of terrorism as a matter of religion. That Taliban.
The air strike carried about by US planes killed dozens of people, including it appears some civilians. However, German and American commanders insist that many were Taliban fighters. German soldiers insisted that Afghan police were seen carrying away broken weapons from the scene.
There should an investigation, but the towering hypocrisy of Taliban calling for an investigation appears to have been lost on the media coverage of the story.
Imagine if the Hells Angels were in positions of power, and the people off in the hills were the Minutemen.
My thought is that the current problem in Afghanistan is the level of corruption in the Karzai government. When the US went into Afghanistan, we allied with the toughest fighters we could find. The Mujahadeen were later forced out by the Taliban. Now the Mujahadeen are back in power, as provincial governors, and in the inner circle. Abdul Rashid Dostum, for example, is back, and he was the General during the Dasht-i-Leili massacre of 2000 POWs, after the battle of Kunduz (wikipedia). Malalai Joya (wikipedia) has some choice words about corruption in the Karzai government.
Few people in Afghanistan are interested in getting the Taliban back in power, but Afghanistan needs and expects halfway decent government. To get that, the US has to take a second look at the people that the Russians were fighting, the Mujahadeen.
I find this hypocritical but interesting. Imagine the Taliban demanding an investigation by Saudi military into anything, or the same of Iranian or Israeli officials. It may well be a cynical attempt to manipulate Western media, but what if it isn’t. What if our adversary actually believes that the West would investigate and reach a just conclusion about the deaths of innocents. Say what you will, but even our most ferocious enemies of the past acknowledged our respect for seeking the truth and acting justly. That all changed with Abu Graib, Guantanamo, and the Bush/Cheney mob. With the ushering out of that disgraceful era, we may see a thawing of hatred and some return to the perception of the West as standing for more than capitalistic self-interest. No person perceives themselves as evil, justifying their actions in many ways and trying to live up to some sense of honor and dignity however misguided. We do ourselves and our cause an injustice when we fail to see what our enemies respect about us.
Would you legitimize Nazis if they came to the table asking for an inquiry?
Pol Pot and the Khemer Rouge?
Mao at the height of the Cultural Revolution?
Stalin and the GRU and KGB?
Jim Jones and the Guyana Cult?
Exactly how evil does a group’s actions have to be before legitimacy is never an option?
The Taliban want a seat at the table now? After taking Saudi men and money and training them to attack us?
Bullshit.
If they want legitimacy, let them roll over on their Saudi paymasters.
Short of that? Let ’em rot. They get what they deserve.
The Taliban want to tie up our resources in any way they can think of while carrying out their fundamentalist agenda. They are zealots. As a group of zealots, their composition as a group of individuals makes no difference as they are essentially cult members and all cults are run top down. Variance with the leadership in NOT tolerated. Control must be maintained to assure religious purity don’t you know. No zealot in the history of zealotry has EVER been interested in real actual diplomacy or compliance with court rulings contrary to either their belief/dogma or desired outcome (usually based on said dogma and/or wishful thinking). If they are resorting to the due process it’s because they see some advantage, possibly the chance of monetary damages in the future they can spend to further brainwash children in to armed little zealots. But if you think they want to be partners, to play by any rules except the ones they want to force on the world? That’s just Pollyanna talking. It’s a nice idea, but these are people who want you to die simply because you are a non-Muslim Westerner. Sorry. Reasonable motives cannot be assigned to unreasonable actors with anything approaching certainty. I won’t even go into the error of legitimizing repressive theocrats. But they should not be given the “benefit of the doubt”. They should be watched like rabid dogs. They will bite you if you let your guard down.
I’m in Martin Gugino corner on this one. My thinking was that this might be a public signal that they are willing to make an evolutionary step in their relationship with their opposers. It took 30 years for Hezbollah to be recognized as a valid political entity to be dealt with diplomatically. The Taliban is already at that point locally so why not move to legitimize yourself in a wider, Western arena?
The human ability to be blind to the irony of one’s own actions is limitless.
They would do well in the birther movement.
re: the article.
One presumes that the Taliban as a group is diverse as is any group. One need not take this request as a sign of hypocrisy. A call for an investigation is a call for contact with reality. Nice for a change.
Anonymously Yours re: NO FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WAS AT THE ALFRED P…
The Murrah building was the federal building. I think you must be mistaken.
They must be Republican Taliban: “It’s not breaking the law when we do it”.
Buddha,
There’s an anecdote that some of the original horn-line performed under Nom de axes because they wanted to still be able to get gigs playing jazz.
One has to go a ways to find better songwriters and musicians than Fagan and Becker. Steely Dan is one of the tightest bands in the history of recorded music. That’s bold praise but justified. You players know what I’m talking about, no matter your instrument.
You’re a fool to do their dirty work, oh yeah, but you’re equally foolish not to give Steely Dan a listen.
Buddha,
Is it just a coincidence that NO FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WAS AT THE ALFRED P. MURRAH BUILDING NOR WAS ANY REGULAR SCHEDULED FEDERAL EMPLOYEE AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ON THE DAY OF THE BOMBING.
You know the reason that we don’t bomb the Saudi’s the Bush/Cheney/Haliburton and Exxon have too much invested. Did I mention the American Bankers? What a shock it would be for our economy. Maybe because we have a presence there, the Japanese, Koreans and other countries are pleased that they do not have to do any of the dirty work no more. Oh yeah. I feel a YouTube coming up, but I am forgoing the compulsion. I can’t, the devil made me do it:
So the Taliban are as hypocritical as we are?
Apparently we ARE having an effect !!
“Why haven’t we bombed Riyadh, Saudi Arabia?”
because the Saudi Royal family owns 3/4 of our government through campaign contributions.
Bush did the right thing he only got the countries wrong. The leadership of both Saudi Arabia and Iran should have been asked nicely to step down, if they refused then they should have been forced to go.
Bush’s grandfather, I believe, was in bed with Hitlers Reich and Bush and his father were in bed with the Saudis. I guess the Bush family never met a dictator they did not like unless they could not line their pockets. And it pains me to say that as someone who voted for Bush twice. But time has a way of showing you the error of your ways.
These neoconservatives are a bad bunch. A combination of theocrats and low level statists. We agree with sharing the wealth we just don’t want to share too much and make sure the lions share of what we redistribute comes from the middle class, leave us rich folks alone.
Buddha,
It is just a coincidence that 90% of the 9/11 attackers were Saudi’s and that the Saudi money is still flowing to al-Qaeda. You are supposed to disregard the country behind the curtain.
That’s funny. I was thinking about filing a complaint about a bombing too. I was thinking about filing about a bombing we didn’t do that really really does need to happen.
Why haven’t we bombed Riyadh, Saudi Arabia?
They ARE the ones who paid for and manned the 9/11 attacks and prop up the Taliban.
Why haven’t we blasted Saudi Arabia and their theocratic terrorist “royal” family into rubble? Why is there still a building larger than an outhouse standing in that country?
It’s not as if there is any doubt about who manned and financed the operations. It’s not as if they haven’t done everything that they can to irritate the region in addition to attack us. It’s not as if they didn’t kill Americans on American soil. It’s not as if they didn’t use their fascist money to buy the Bush Administration outright.
Everyone should ask every member of the Bush Administration this very question every time they appear in the media. Nice it up if you like, but the question needs to be asked. My preference is that you NOT nice it up and ask it in as confrontational a manner as possible.
Often.
And once that question is addressed, then it might (might!) be possible to give a damn what the Taliban thinks or wants about anything without laughing in their retrograde, repressive, idiotic, 12th Century bearded faces. Turn over your masters, morons, and we might cut you some slack. Otherwise? Good luck with that.
Little early but I thought that I would bring this up,off topic but:
“Congress weighs change in Web ad privacy
Proposed legislation would give consumers more control over information
updated 11:41 a.m. ET, Mon., Sept . 7, 2009
WASHINGTON – The Web sites computer users visit, the search queries they conduct and the products they buy — along with all the personal details they reveal on social networking pages — can give companies insight into what Internet ads they might be interested in seeing:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32722562/ns/technology_and_science-security/