We have previously discussed Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated inclinations toward the Taliban and harsh treatment of women. Then there was Karzai’s recent position that women are worth less than men — presumably even those American women keeping Karzai and his corrupt family and friends in power. This week Karzai has added that Americans are “demons” and no better than the Taliban. Karzai then called for divine intervention to defeat the Americans and the Taliban — a dangerous call in a nation known for religious fanaticism: “Let’s pray for God to rescue us from these two demons. There are two demons in our country now.”
Karzai insisted that there will be no forgiveness for the Americans regardless of claims that the recent burning of Korans was done by mistake. Karzai has declared that those “Satanic acts that will never be forgiven by apologies.” He went out of his way to tell citizens that they should not believe this was an isolated incident. Noting that the recent massacre of civilians by an American soldier was just the latest atrocity committed by the American “demons.” That shooting, he insisted, “was not the first incident, indeed it was the 100th, the 200th and 500th incident.”
Karzai’s words will only encourage those people in the Afghan military who continue to kill Americans. We have had regular occurrences of Afghan soldiers turning their weapons on their fellow U.S. soldiers at checkpoints and military bases. Karzai’s statements will only reinforce the view that dying in such attacks are religiously justified and constitute martyrdom to secure a place in paradise.
Just for the record, the United States and its allies have lost 2,845 “demons” in Afghanistan fighting for Karzai and his people. Wounded personnel are over 7,000. Added to this sacrifice are the hundreds of billions spent by our government while we slash our own educational, scientific, and social programs across the country.
In the meantime, the Karzai family and its allies continue to be accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars. The U.S. has continued to pump in billions despite the widespread corruption — treating thefts as a cost of doing business in the country with only occasional efforts to curtail the practice. Yet, one Afghan official stated “Karzai wants revenge on the U.S. because of the systematic insults he has suffered, that he feels his family suffered, because of Kabul Bank.”
The Obama Administration continued the Bush policy in keeping forces in the country and spending billions as polls showed growing hatred toward the United States and growing instability in the Karzai regime. We continued this support as Karzai and his government embraced medieval religious practices and repeatedly denied basic rights to religious dissidents and women. The result has been years of support for a government that rejects the core principles upon which our nation is founded and has increasingly denounced our military forces as evil and the enemy. It is perfectly Felliniesque.
Source: NY Times
So true Dredd, so true. Glad to see the report. Wonder if it got any MSM coverage. Would that it could be used to counter the constant drumbeating about the “terrorist” threat.
Now they would have us watch neighbors, customers, collegues at work, etc And of course it’s in accord with the HomeSec and FBI missions. But the people at the top should be setting limits, but are not. Besides they have so many buddies as contractors, etc.
It will be soon a Stasi nation.
Thanks for the links.
ID:
most Indians in this country I know are doing pretty well. A good many are wealthy having taken advantage of the relative economic freedom we still enjoy. As a group of people they have done quite well here. From restauranteurs to high tech entrepreneurs, they do better than most Americans.
I dont know what their true thoughts about Americans are, but they have always been very kind to me and I have universally found them to be very good people. And the added benefit is that when you go to lunch or dinner you get to go to an Indian restaurant.
I dont thin it too much to say that Indians are a really great people at least from my personal experience.
Wow, we got in bed with an opportunistic schmuck and he turned on us? I am shocked! Really, I am!
idealist707 1, March 21, 2012 at 9:08 am
Dredd …
“I suppose that the powers that be in D.C. think being hated by 7,000,000,000 people in the world has no consequences.”
Let’s be clear, it is, in spite of Karzai’s rabble-rousing (which our leaders never do—irony), the people of the world do not hate Americans.
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There will never be 7,000,000,000 total, but the point is that there seems to be a foreign policy attempt to make it so.
Here is a mention of a congressional report from 2008:
(Decline of U.S. Reputation – Why?). There is a link to that congressional report which has the details.
The U.S. reputation has only gotten worse since 2008, for obvious reasons.
JT said:
” Karzai then called for divine intervention to defeat the Americans and the Taliban — a dangerous call in a nation known for religious fanaticism: ”
Professor,
From the above you appear to ignore or perhaps approve of the repeated religious prayers and sermons supporting our war there.
Prayers, are said in Congress, in churchs here, and chaplain call on God when praying for our troops there.
I am not defending Karzai.
I am condemning the hypocrisy of condemning prayer there and ignoring our own here. The civil war was perhaps our worst example, but should not be emulated by you.
It’s not your prayers, it’s your condemnation I oppose
As for fanaticism, talk about that to Santorum and his supporters, or to the evangelicals, Mormons, dominionists, atheists, etc.
When will you criticize them?.
idealist707 1, March 21, 2012 at 8:21 am
….
The wars for doing the right thing (forgot the technical term which Chomsky used …)
…
idealist707 1, March 21, 2012 at 8:27 am
Oh yes, they were “humanitarian motivated wars”.
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Absolutely unbelievably, it has been going on in plain sight for generations because of the great power of American Propaganda:
(Myth Addiction …). That quote was written in 1944, nearly seven decades ago.
Dredd quoted:
“(Salon). I suppose that the powers that be in D.C. think being hated by 7,000,000,000 people in the world has no consequences.”
Let’s be clear, it is, in spite of Karzai’s rabble-rousing (which our leaders never do—irony), the people of the world do not hate Americans.
They hate the man who walks down their village streets with a gun in his hand, whether he is Taliban or American. They understand it is our government who sends these soldiers. So don’t misunderstand them.
I get about 10 help visits a week, just now it is a Kurdish girl from Turkey and an Indian girl. They’re doing my laundry, etc.
Like ALL of these foreign helpers, all non-Europeans, they show their apprreciation of the American people and occasionally their distaste for our government. Both the girls today are well-educated: the Indian one knows about the Harappan culture, Sanskrit, and the modernization of India, where they are more and more ignoring their own cultural past.
So if you see some in America, take the chance to talk to them. They know much more than you think. The opportunities are there to be had.
The fight for the spotlight and profit within the American media is more than healthy, I feel. Re: Greenwalds comment.
Sorry, that was Dredd’s comment I quoted. Apologies for wrong (tillskrivelse) writer name. But the ,u ideas are clearer than the comment source, and perhaps more important.
I reed the comments as far as Carol, and then stopped as I don’t want to play tagalong after the others.
Now have begun reading and will comment on them. With eventual embellishment.
Gene H. said:
“That’s a nice reflection of our government’s value system (similar to the way that high government officials who commit egregious crimes are immunized, while those who expose them are aggressively prosecuted).”
What I tried to say in my address to JT. We praise and refer to our “core values”, when in fact the government does not give a damn about them, as the recent and not so recent (patriot act) laws show.
In addition, I don’t believe Bales is guilty of anything other than taking an offer from the CIA to be the fall guy, while they executed an mercenary (Libyan?) multi-person op, since as mentioned they púrposely staged it so as to leave incontrovertible evidence that it was more than a one-man job.
Thus giving Karzai the finger in front of all the Afghanistan people.
What out is left to him except to declare America non-grata?
Demons, it may be an old expression but it is one used by Christ many times. And it sure fits us in the eyes of the world where we have been declared by the peoples thereof as the greatest terror threat to mankind.
Suck on that!!!!
The night raids and drone strikes will continue until morale improves.
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yes, perhaps Mr. Karzai is correct…
Oh yes, they were “humanitarian motivated wars”.
And the our casualty versus their civilian casualty (collateral) losses was meant to be those incurred in Iraq, after Bush did his speech on “Mission accomplished” on the aircraft carrier.
Geez, what a despicable figure he was then, and is.
I sure we could collect our coins for a worthy cause, but I dare not say which, but you know I’m sure.
Talk about war crimes.
JT:
“We continued this support as Karzai and his government embraced medieval religious practices and repeatedly denied basic rights to religious dissidents and women. The result has been years of support for a government that rejects the core principles upon which our nation is founded and has increasingly denounced our military forces as evil and the enemy. It is perfectly Felliniesque.”
The professor insists on saying medieval. I would insist on saying Abrahamical. Or if I had the knowledge: Semite, Sumerical, Harrappan, or just plain patriarcha.
Which brings us aroung to modern America and the Republican surge.
But we are there not because of our nobleness, no, it is simply good business for the MIC, it keeps the TIC supplied with a motivation, and it secures our oil (Afghan as potential transit land) and now mineral resource for rare earth metals.
So trumpeting out our losses without showing the corresponding civilian casualties smacks of????? jingoism, well it smacks of one-sided arguments.
I have full respect for our troops, but not our leaders.
Nor for the CIA mercenary ops who with purposedly mixed weapons took out 16 civilians at night outside Kandahar. Why the mixed weapons? To show Afghans that it was more than the one gunman as in the USA story, and to thumb their noses at Karzai. Which is why Karzai is so hot.
It is a game with mirrors. We took out Bin Laden with heicopters and troops in Pakistan. We could have taken him out when he was in Afghanistan, but we “kept” him there as an excuse for war. It’s that simple.
The figures on collaterl damage are an even higher ratio to our losses, but that’s another story.
The wars for doing the right thing (forgot the technical term which Chomsky used—-english empire term from 1800s) were BS from the beginning, and still are today. It’s so ironic that they use our democratic basis as motivation, while now the Prez can kill us all whenever and whereever he pleases. All the other civil rights violatition they have done are too long to list. Claining they are saving other peoples while suppressing their own, for ex OWS, etc.
Your hatred JT of medieval types should be instead directed to partriarchical types. But that includes many countries.
As was painfully obvious with the Bush Presidency, he is just a figurehead now. And this was confirmed by the Obama administration running Bush’s third term.
180,000+ war contractor’s, all paid in CASH, (kickbacks anyone?) are now in competition to see who can deplete the US treasury the fastest.
Obama’s only “change” is to even more tightly secure the reins of dictatorship. Making peaceful demonstrations illegal, & signing this bill into law against the first amendment.
Karzai: Americans Are “Demons”
No Mr Karzai, Americans in general are not, just the ones in the background running our government!
That shooting, he insisted, “was not the first incident, indeed it was the 100th, the 200th and 500th incident.”
Where is Wikileaks when…..oh yeah, Manning is in the klink.
But it would be nice with some tactical reports to get ev. “collateral damage” reports from out side. How many do you think there would be during a 10 year war? More or less than 500?
Only if the Republican women’s rights haters agree to do a Jonestown.
But first they have to repeal the laws they’ve made.
And will sing “ain’t gonna do war no more….” as their swansong.
Chances?
But a da capo of the the helicopters lifting would be nice to see.
Yes, Afghans should be more grateful for being invaded and occupied for ten years.
The night raids and drone strikes will continue until morale improves.
Glen Greenwald points out one of the things that outrages the world, not just Karzai alone:
(Salon). I suppose that the powers that be in D.C. think being hated by 7,000,000,000 people in the world has no consequences.
OK
Can we have a massive bug out from Afghanastan like we did from Saigon? I think there is about the same level of support for the war as there was then.
Reminds me of “No One Gets Out of Here Alive”… Unfortunately….. Even Bush couldn’t trust Karzai…..and he knew it..