Saturday, July 31, 2010

Endangering our troops

The intervals between iterations of this fatuous phrase in the press are getting shorter and shorter, thanks to the recent WikiLeaks release of documents concerning the Afghan war. The idea, apparently, is that, when someone tries to break the cycle of imperialist adventurism by telling even a fraction of the truth about what's actually going on, they are "endangering our troops."

By definition, the original decision to start two wars after 9/11 -- which have so far killed more than 5,000 Americans and countless people in at least 3 Middle East countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) -- did NOT endanger our troops. This, despite the fact that the wars were unjustified, ineptly planned, under staffed, and totally mis-managed by the Bush administration. And despite the fact that the last several months -- since the Obama surge -- have seen the highest number of troop casualties, with still no apparent epiphany about freedom and democracy from either the Afghans or the Pakistanis.

Now, thanks to WikiLeaks, everyone, from the President to the press are expending more hot air on whether Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is endangering the troops than on the sordid reality of what he has uncovered about America's perpetual war in Afghanistan.