Obviously, our fighting men are capable of killing more Afghans. That is what will happen. A bigger Afghan body count may ensure USA anxiety relief, but only temporarily; it is a bad panacea for lasting peace. Perhaps America, after being held captive for eight years by George Bush, is suffering a collective Stockholm Syndrome. We are too traumatized to change course, afraid of accepting what we have done, and continue to do.
Pick up the Pulitzer Prize book by Samantha Power, titled ??A Problem From Hell ??America and the Age of Genocide ? . Because that is what we are talking about. The U.S. is fighting illegal wars, and we are killing tens, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people...because George Bush is an idiot.
Ms. Power, a foreign policy columnist at Time Magazine and professor at Harvard, asks the question: Why do American leaders who vow ??never again ? repeatedly fail to stop genocide? From first hand experience in Bosnia, she seamlessly reveals patterns of people and leaders, that happen with frightening historical regularity, and allows humans to slaughter others with impunity, using denial, excuses, and twisted rationality. The Armenian genocide by Turkey; Hitler's slaughter of Jews; Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia; the Kurds in Iraq; Hutus and Tutsi in Rwanda. None of these occurred in a vacuum; diplomats from the U.S and U.N. knew well what was happening. But they turned a blind eye to mass murder. For millions of people, it was too late.
How many Afghans need to die? They are trying to survive a bitter Hindu Kush Winter. They are as poor as dirt. It is their country. I do not care how many votes Obama got in his campaign to send more troops to Afghanistan. It is a fantasy. Teaching American kids to kill Afghans for peace is a stupid idea.
We must do better.
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