Two more NZ soldiers killed in Afghanistan - why are we occupying this corrupt narco state for America's war of terror?
Two more NZ soldiers dead and 6 injured. What on earth are we doing propping up this corrupt narco state for an American war of terror?
We all know that we are losing in Afghanistan, that we never in fact 'won it' and with Key's Government slavish worship of America, we are wedded to their interests and not ours.
Our forces are called a 'reconstruction team' to create the perception that they are all out there building schools and clearing wells. It's a purposeful misperception. An independent report on the so called 'reconstruction building' that NZ has done in the area suggests the work is little more than a PR stunt.
They are soldiers occupying a country that has killed every occupation force that has tried to hold it. They are soldiers propping up a corrupt narco state. They are soldiers handing civilians over to known torture units.
They are our soldiers, and we are responsible for their actions and we are responsible for these deaths.
As I do every time we lose a soldier, here is James K Baxter's poem that sums up the contempt we should feel towards our political leaders who are so quick and gung ho to commit NZers to war...
The Gunner's Lament
A Maori gunner lay dying
In a paddyfield north of Saigon,
And he said to his pakeha cobber,
"I reckon I've had it, man!
'And if I could fly like a bird
To my old granny's whare
A truck and a winch would never drag
Me back to the Army.
'A coat and a cap and a well-paid job
Looked better than shovelling metal,
And they told me that Te Rauparaha
Would have fought in the Vietnam battle.
'On my last leave the town swung round
Like a bucket full of eels.
The girls liked the uniform
And I liked the girls.
'Like a bullock to the abattoirs
In the name of liberty
They flew me with a hangover
Across the Tasman Sea,
'And what I found in Vietnam
Was mud and blood and fire,
With the Yanks and the Reds taking turns
At murdering the poor.
'And I saw the reason for it
In a Viet Cong's blazing eyes -
We fought for the crops of kumara
And they are fighting for the rice.
'So go tell my sweetheart
To get another boy
Who'll cuddle her and marry her
And laugh when the bugles blow,
'And tell my youngest brother
He can have my shotgun
To fire at the ducks on the big lagoon,
But not to aim it at a man,
'And tell my granny to wear black
And carry a willow leaf,
Because the kid she kept from the cold
Has eaten a dead man's loaf.
'And go and tell Keith Holyoake
Sitting in Wellington,
However long he scrubs his hands
He'll never get them clean.'
James K Baxter
1965
There is no military solution in Afghanistan.
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posted by Bomber @ 11:10 am
3 comments
3 Comments:
Back in 2001, I could understand the desire to catch Osama Bin Laden if he was the one responsible.
But invading and occupying Afghanistan looked pretty dumb.
So it has proven to be. Just one more Bush failure inflicted on the world...and Afghanistan in particular.
What do the polls on this war say? Do National voters and John Key cheerleaders still support it? FWIW (which is nothing) I was against this war from day one. My parents got upset about this, since they believe we should just do whatever our US "friends" want. Fortunately, they have since seen the light - which is that Afghanistan is where empires go to die.
It always interests me to see what people like you are thinking. I think to be honest people like you have asked every question in the book, but one. Did anyone ask if us soldiers want to be there? The answer is we do. I'm seen grown men cry because they have been told they can't deploy to Afghanistan with us. I've seen guys leave the army abruptly because they don't think they're going get the chance to go over. This isn't the minority of the infantry corp. - it's the majority. The army as a whole performs better if they know they are going overseas, if you don't believe that go have a look at a rotation doing their Pre-deployment training, they are all volunteers, they are all keen and all of them know the risks. This so called "great injustice" that the government subjects us to is non-existent. They make us fully aware of the risks, we know this through our training and by the constant talks and seminars they give us before going anywhere. If you were to see the amount of chances they give us to bail out before an operation you'd be surprised. The fact is people like my friends who have died in that place knew what the score was. We all did and still do when we get out of the back of the Hercules in Bamyan, Kabul or Bagram. But we do. Because complainers won't. They don't and never will. So when you quote poets and the like remember why they have the right, because they at least stood in the mud, in the blood. You may never understand why we are there. You may never understand why people like us want to be there. Because in your mind you'd never know why someone would run into the darkness for a complete stranger as we do. You just have to open your eyes when you get there. There's the question you should ask. Because each time we hear you guys protest, you sure as hell aren't protesting on our behalf. We are volunteers. We have seen the faces of our brothers, the tears of men, women and children in that place. We know why we are there to the depths of our core. To us it's not even a choice. When your patrol commander rallies you up and tells you you're heading into the fire you don't protest, you don't say anything... but the words "Are we there yet" And we do it proudly. Because people like us gave up selfishness a long time ago, we dedicated ourselves to an idea that one day things might be okay. We devoted ourselves to the idea that if a bully whacks someone, by God you better do something to help them. And if for nothing else then at least go there to protect your fellow brothers, my late friend proved that saving his mate in a fire fight there. You won't ever understand that notion. You can't. As much as a television set can understand how to be a vacuum. So if you want to write a blog, write one about something you know. Don't cop out and write what everyone else is. Originality is essential for all advances. Tell me who said that and we'll see if you're as smart as you are trying to sound. Being and Is are two different things. Out.
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