If you are an American -- or indeed, any denizen of "Western Civilization" whose security and values are supposedly being "defended" on the far-flung fields of the Terror War -- then take a good, long look at what is being done in your name, with your money, by the ever-surging Peace Laureate and his War Machine. From The Times:

Covert troops who killed two pregnant women and a teenage girl in eastern Afghanistan went on to inflict “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” on the survivors of a botched night raid, a report by the UN said.

The family of the victims in Paktiya province have accused Nato of trying to cover up the atrocity after an investigation by The Times revealed that two men, who were also killed, were not the intended targets of the raid. One was a police commander and his brother was a district-attorney.

...The report, written in the aftermath of the February 12 attack, states: “As a result of the operation, five people were killed, two men and three women, all belonging to the same family.” There were about 25 guests and three musicians at the house on the night of the raid. They had gathered to celebrate the naming of a newborn child. It was only when a musician stepped outside to go to the lavatory at about 3.30am, that someone flashed a light in his eyes and he ran back inside shouting “Taleban”.

Witnesses said that Commander Dawood, the policeman, was shot with his son, Sediqullah, 15, when they ran across a courtyard. His brother, Saranwal Zahir, was shot trying to protest the family’s innocence. The three women were caught in a volley of fire behind him.

They had gathered to celebrate the naming of a newborn child. They had gathered in a family home, in their own country. They were not insurgents -- indeed, they at first mistook the Guardians of Western Civilization themselves as "Taliban," and sought to flee from them. But they were caught, shot, killed -- in their own country, in a family home, celebrating the naming of a newborn child.

The Times has more:

The UN report said that guests and injured relatives were then “assaulted by US and Afghan forces, restrained and forced to stand barefeet for several hours outside in the cold”. “Further allegations were also raised that US and Afghan forces refused to provide adequate and timely medical support to two people who sustained bullet injuries, resulting in their deaths hours later,” the report added. ...

Waheedullah, 22, one of the guests at the party who works as an ambulance driver in Gardez, said that he was dragged across the compound by his hair. “The Afghans said put up your hands. I stood up and I don’t know who was behind me. I was kicked from behind and fell over,” he added.

He saw a gunman with blond hair and a fair beard. “They were American special forces,” he said. The Afghan troops were using American rifles and wore patches on their sleeves with the local phrase for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force. The Americans were wearing “wood yellow” clothes, he said, which were different from the regular army’s green uniforms.

An earlier Times story on the incident reveals yet another outpouring of the usual slanderous lies from the occupation forces when one of their units has been caught in an atrocity. The original story told by NATO mouthpieces was that when the brave, unmarked covert soldiers appeared in the dead of night to carry out their courageous sneak attack on the sleeping village, they found the women already "tied up, gagged and killed." Then, while no doubt weeping salt tears at such a disturbing sight, the bold, courageous sneak attackers were set upon by "several insurgents," who were then killed by return fire from the brave, secret, non-uniformed night-stalking Defenders of Western Values.

NATO claimed that the women "were victims of an 'honor' killing" -- that is to say, they had been murdered by the dirty filthy primitive slaughterous wogs who populate the ghastly reeking hellhole that the Guardian Defenders of Civilized Western Values have come to liberate and enlighten. But as the Times drolly notes:

However, they did not explain why [if it was an honor killing,] the bodies would have been kept in the house overnight, against Islamic custom, nor why the family had invited 25 guests to celebrate the naming of a newborn child the same evening.

The NATO story was a brazen lie -- and was known to be a lie when the mouthpieces dribbled it from their lips like cud. There were no insurgents. There was no firefight. There was only a policeman, his brother, and three women shot dead in the middle of the night. But that didn't matter. The most important thing was that the first stories out of the gate on the atrocity fixed the "honor killing" motif in the public perception. (The miniscule portion of the public who gives the slightest, merest damn about civilians being killed in Afghanistan, that is.) Now, many weeks later, the truth comes out, but who cares? It's in some UN report, for God's sake, in a foreign newspaper. Such things have no resonance, no purchase, no meaning in the egotistical echo chamber of the Homeland.

Anyway, don't you know there's a health care vote coming up? Don't you know the most important thing in the entire world is how this vote by a pack of cranks, crooks and bagmen on a steaming mess of corporate pottage will affect the precious political fortunes of Barack Obama? I mean, my God, what if he only gets to sit in the White House coddling billionaires, cutting social programs and waging war for only three more years instead of seven? Isn't that infinitely more important than the lives of a few innocent people?

This, by the way, was the main argument offered by Dennis Kucinich, when he abandoned his opposition to the Obambazoole health care bill: "“We have to be very careful that the potential of President Obama’s presidency not be destroyed by this debate.” And he said this just days after he had introduced a bill to bring the Afghan War to an immediate end -- precisely because it was a pointless, destructive exercise in imperial power that was killing innocent people and breeding hatred and blowback against the United States. But in the end, it seems that "saving" the power of the man who is directing and expanding this murderous exercise is the most important thing -- as long as he is on your side of the political fence.

Here one recalls the searing insight of Maxim Gorky in April 1917:

"Politics is the seedbed of social enmity, evil suspicions, shameless lies, morbid ambitions, and disrespect for the individual. Name anything bad in man, and it is precisely in the soil of political struggle that it grows in abundance."

II.
And who were these people killed by our tough, bold, stubbly sneak attackers in their courageous, Homeric assault on a sleeping village at three o'clock in the morning? Afghans -- including a policeman -- who had bowed to main force and thrown in their lot with ... the Americans. From the Times:

An undated document seen by The Times that was presented by US forces to Commander Dawood, the dead policeman, praised him for his work and “dedication and willingness to serve the people of Afghanistan”. It said he would “ensure the stability of your country for many years”.

Commander Dawood’s brother, Saranwal Zahir, was a district attorney in Ahmadabad district, also in Paktia. The two married women were four and five months pregnant. The teenage girl, Gulalai, was engaged to be married this summer.

And what is the inevitable result of this magnificent feat of arms in service of the values of Western Civilization? The Times headline says it all: "Survivors of family killed in Afghanistan raid threaten suicide attacks."

Local elders delivered $2,000 (£1,300) in compensation for each of the five victims to the head of the family, Haji Sharabuddin, after protests brought Gardez, the capital of Paktia, to a halt. “I don’t want money. I want justice,” he said. “All our family, we now don’t care about our lives. We will all do suicide attacks and [the whole province] will support us.” ...

“Before, when I heard reports of raids like this and elders said [foreign troops] only came to colonise Afghanistan, I told them they are here to help us,” said Sayed Mohammed Mal, the vice-chancellor of Gardez University, whose son Mansoor was Gulalai’s fiancé. “But when I witnessed this in my family’s home, I realised I was wrong. Now I accept the things those people told me. I hate [foreign forces]. I hate the Government.”

... “My father was friends with the Americans and they killed him,” said Commander Dawood’s son, Abdul Ghafar, as he held a dog-eared photograph showing the policeman with three US soldiers. One of the Americans had his arm around Mr. Dawood. “They killed my father. I want to kill them. I want the killers brought to justice.”  ...

“The foreigners are always talking about human rights. But they don’t care about human rights,” said Gulalai’s father, Mohammed Tahir. “They teach us human rights then they kill a load of civilians. They didn’t come here to end terrorism. They are terrorists.”

Of course, we must excuse Mr. Tahir; no doubt he's a bit tired and over-emotional. We all know that Americans -- by definition -- cannot be terrorists. (Unless they are Muslim-Americans, that is.) Americans can only, at the very worst, make the occasional mistake -- and that only out of their admirably bumbling zeal to do altruistic good. And naturally, Mr. Tahir is far too primitive to comprehend the higher-order thought of Western Civilization, which finds its most apt expression in that elegant and subtle metaphor which encapsulates the quintessence of our enlightened values: you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

We are sure that one day, when the omelet of a free, civilized, enlightened Afghanistan -- happily connected to the world by peaceful ties of friendship and profitable networks of pipelines -- is finally cooked, he will be happy that his young daughter will be part of the sumptuous feast.
 

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Mike Smith said:

... I get my healthcare from the VA. They do a fine job. You meet a lot of vets while waiting for attention. I will tell you that endless war, with repeated deployments, and only the witnessing of the horrors such as you have described (forget participation) will ultimately leave us with PTSD as the number one illness in America, and a couple of generations of sufferers unfit for societal roles or in some cases life itself. This empire cannot go on without terrible, terrible consequences for everyone.

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +9

Harpfool said:

The penny finally dropped... Dave Lindorff (http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/496) has connected all the dots on the puzzle of these continuing "accidents": "In Pentagon propaganda parlance, this is referred to as “winning the hearts and minds” of the people, but in reality, the US military doesn’t give a damn about hearts and minds. It simply wants the people to become unwilling to hide or support the enemy fighters it is facing. If it can accomplish that by making people afraid, then that is what it will do, and making people afraid is much easier than “winning hearts and minds.” How do you make people afraid of supporting or hiding and protecting enemy fighters like the Taliban? You terrorize them. You bomb their homes. You conduct night raids on their homes. You bomb their weddings and their excursions to neighboring towns or markets. You shoot them when they get too close to your vehicles. Statistics show that the US has, in both Iraq and now Afghanistan, routinely killed more civilians than actual enemy fighters. That tells us all we need to know about what is really going on. America is fighting a war of terror against the people of Afghanistan. No amount of feigned public hand-wringing by the blood-stained Gen. McChrystal, or of assertions that he is going to assume direct control (from whom? are we to assume that they were operating without direction before?) of the Special Operations troops in the country, will alter that fact. Civilians--including especially women and children--in Afghanistan will continue to die in prodigious numbers because that is how the US fights its wars these days. The people of Afghanistan know this. That’s why the majority of them want the US out of their country. It’s Americans who don’t know the truth, and it’s Americans who are really the target of statements from the Pentagon and from Gen. McChrystal claiming that the US is taking steps, nine years into this war, to “reduce civilian casualties” in Afghanistan. It doesn’t help that news organizations like the New York Times propagate that propaganda..." We only hear about a few of these incidents, and only because of a few (non-American) reporters like Jerome Starkey (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7060395.ece)

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +10

Sean O'Neil said:

... sadly, several of my predictions on Afghanistan are coming true. http://pezcandy.blogspot.com/2010/02/prn-gets-lowdown-on-afghanistan.html I may be off on the destination ski resort idea -- but then again, I may not. There are some great snowy mountains in Afghanistan. And no doubt we're going to end up building a big complex there including airstrips etc. Like in Iraq, but on a smaller scale. The murder, rape, torture -- this is how America acts, no matter what President Peace Prize may tell us or suggest to the contrary. And look at the wonderfully diverse crew who support it -- Black man (Obama), White woman (Rodham-Clinton), Black woman (Rice). Truly we have destroyed the gender and race barriers. Or wait... did Bush do that with Colin Powell and Condi Rice? I can't remember. The meat grinder is running only at about 1/3 speed now. They need to step it up if we're gonna win hearts and minds.

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +6

Debbie(aussie) said:

	... I feel so ashamed and frustrated, so terribly angry and useless. let the empire end. What will it take? When will they see?
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March 20, 2010
Votes: +6

scott douglas said:

... Well. You know. Death Squad Action. Operation Phoenix. School o' the Americas. Sunni ethnic cleansing via Joint Special Operations Command activities in support of Ministry of Interior forces in Baghdad... The Death Squad is the quintessential state(or-elite-elements)- sponsored terrorist organization. Anyone can see that indiscriminate killing is the point. If anyone can be killed on the merest whispered or misconstrued or mistaken suspicion, well, then, everyone had better keep his or her or her little baby sister's head down, eh? Got that? Good. That my fellow citizens don't want to know about it, that they don't really object when they do hear about it, that government officials can now openly proclaim before members of congress that American citizens themselves may be subject to extra-judicial murder at the whim of the Executive or his duly appointed henchman, well: That I don't any longer know how to address. I heard an exasperated clerk tell a customer the other day that 2+2=4 anywhere in the world! The customer continued to argue violently, of course: That is, the assumption that light will dispel darkness begins to appear to be just that -- a naive bit of sing-song fairy-story-telling with which we keep our bloody feet moving on the long punishing march to the human-threshing machine... Lemonade, anyone?!

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +5

derekmann said:

when you have insomnia you are never really asleep, and you are never really awake; everything becomes a copy, of a copy, of a copy.... ok, so i ripped that off .... does it not describe this long national nightmare we are going through, even as i type that statement i confirm my membership in narcissistic nation. because after all, isn't it all about us? we are a nation which from the very beginning was founded on slavery, denied the vote to those without property, or who were the wrong sex, race, and on, and on.... we disregarded the rights of the native americans (now isn't that a nice sanitary term for genocide), and once we had finished conquering this continent, we turned our attention elsewhere. the united states has been misusing the military for a hundred years, stomping around the world enforcing our will, all under some propaganda smokescreen or another; and what has it got the common man? not a lot. now the multinationals have benefited greatly, they can jet away with their ill-gotten gains, all the while ignoring fly-over country. but wait, i digress, didn't someone say something about some afghans getting killed? i almost forgot. oh yeah, kind of like at my lai? all cuteness aside, we have been doing this for a long time, doesn't matter who the latest victim is (except to the victims), we plow right ahead. the constitution states that congress shall have the power to declare war, whatever happened to that? leaving aside any discussion of our commander-in-chief, our "elected" representatives are supposed to have a handle on this. our war machines are so powerful that we keep getting away with it, but for how long? being a typical self centered american i wonder, when does this kind of thing cost us so much blowback that we stop it? all wars are dirty, the populace has always suffered, even back in the day when there were things called battlefields, but now the battlefoeld is everywhere. this latest piece of nastyness just shows how out of control we have gotten, and once again, one must ask, how much are we hurting ouseleves? that seems to be the only thing americans understand, self interest. but i question even that.

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +7

philip said:

	... I find it interesting some of the comments here are getting negative marks. Well i guess the trolls are out doing there thing. Screw you trolls. Long die the empire!!
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March 20, 2010
Votes: +8

davidly said:

	... It seems like whistling in the graveyard, but at least you're whistling the right tune, Chris. If I could only get around paying sales tax I'd have all of my bases covered.
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March 20, 2010 | url
Votes: +1

philip said:

... Debbie {aussie} Take heart. You are not alone. Although none of us will ever meet, we are bonded by truth. We all feel the same shame, anger and uselessness. It is unfortunate we cannot have a convention of Chris Floyd fans. What a party that would be. I love reading the comments of the Grandma Jefferson's of the world, and like minded people. What a sick world when our friends are people we have never met and never will.

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March 20, 2010
Votes: +5

Debbie Kimlin said:

	... Thanks Phillip. Too true! :)
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March 21, 2010
Votes: +1

Grandma Jefferson said:

Convention... What a lovely idea, Philip. And I agree, it is so sad that none of us will ever meet in this naughty world, but it's one small consolation that the mechanism exists for us to "meet" here, at this warm little campfire in the midst of a storm-blasted glacier field. This place, Chris, and the wonderful minds who congregate here, keep me sane. Being an ancient old crone, I never thought to see the end of civilization. It's hard to accept, and yet, history teaches us nothing is more natural, or inevitable. So we cluster here in the little light and warmth left to us, railing with Chris against the encroaching darkness. It's the human thing to do, after all. And I'm grateful for the privilege of being admitted to the peerless company.

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March 21, 2010
Votes: +5

Harpfool said:

I'll bring marshmallows...no wait! Is that an incoming asteroid?!?! I too am glad to be at this little campfire, though most of us seem to be either cute kittens or entities with q-mark faces. Oh well, you're good company nonetheless... I note that scientists claim to have confirmed that an asteroid ended the era of the dinosaur, which "marked the end of the 160-million-year reign of the dinosaurs and allowed mammals, and eventually humans, to become the dominant species on earth." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/sciencepaleontologydinosaur)- An aside: check out the comments section for a few laughs and a good representation of the intelligent universe. The asteroid must have put a damper on the ambitions of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Too bad everyone else had to die as well. My point: Note in the article that the measuring stick for the power of the destruction is the atomic bomb. Seems to me that our latter day power-hungry T-Rexes are intent on laying maximum destruction on the world at large. Perhaps this will pave the way for ants or spiders to become the dominant species on earth. Too bad the innocent humans will have to die as well. But that's what innocents do in this world of ours, isn't it?

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March 21, 2010
Votes: +1

Grandma Jefferson said:

Actually... I like to change my avatar periodically, but my profile page lacks an "Edit" button, for some reason. I had one up awhile back of somebody's grandma giving the other side of the jackboot to some police type, but took it down as too violent & shocking to the young minds and tender sensibilities here. My sweet husband, Phylter, on the other hand, has no such reticence, and proudly sports a cunning kitteh, packing a rifle, and obviously taking names. Of course, if the Edit comes back, that could change.... ;-)

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March 22, 2010
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Phylter said:

	Harpfool... Kittens with weapons... It's hilarious. Grandma J and I have had cats for years and KNOW that if they had opposable thumbs they would relinquish using claws and embrace firearms. In any case, the avatars are just whimsy.. Anyway, as usual, Chris helps us stay sane in this Armed Madhouse, to steal from Greg Palast...
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March 22, 2010
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Jimmy Montague said:

	The Age of Dinosaurs -- The Age of Dinosaurs never ended. Sen. Bob Dole is still alive.
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March 22, 2010
Votes: +1

Donald Paulus said:

An oasis of sanity in a vast desert of mean spirited madness, that's what Empire Burlesque is for me. This is the most sensitive, perceptive and intelligent blog that I have ever found. I also would love to meet those wonderful souls who blog here (trolls excluded, of course). Alas, our paths will probably never cross. My journey is that of a shaman/healer trying to help the sick and the injured, the beaten and the oppressed. When I help a discarnate reach the other side or remedy the ailments of the physically or psychically afflicted, then, it it like walking through paradise with angels at my side. Life is so incredibly precious, that's why America's actions sicken me so. We have become that which we have fought so hard against - a predatory nation. Will God ever forgive us?

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March 22, 2010
Votes: +2

John Zientowski said:

What we have become... We are being ruled by sociopathic, psychopathic war criminal cretins - in our presidency, in our congress, in our military and in our corporations. Putting this in perspective from an earlier era, I’m including some excerpts from James W. Douglass’ book ‘JFK and the Unspeakable - Why He Died & Why It Matters’ - Pages 278-279. Nor, later, in August 1963, had his advisers ever seen Kennedy so determined as he was to win Senate confirmation of the test ban treaty. He gave the reason for his determination in his televised appeal for the treaty on July 26, 1963: 'This treaty is for all of us. It is particularly for our children and our grandchildren, and they have no lobby here in Washington.' He emphasized what was especially at stake: 'children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with poison in their lungs.' In retrospect, one of his most memorable statements was: 'The malformation of even one baby - who may be born long after we are gone - should be of concern to us all.' This article truly shows what we have become: http://www.uruknet.info/index....ize=1&l=e.

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March 22, 2010
Votes: +2

scott douglas said:

... Great thread, as they say in bloglandia. Good to see Sean back in the mix. And Grandma J and her paramour, as always. Montague is my personal guy-check so that I know when I have gone too soft to be relevant (HA!). Chris has an insatiable appetite for the exposure of the deepest, most heinous corruption -- especially that which basks fat, naked and bloody on the very Riviera as though all were right in the World -- and he always manages to spark a wide, in the round discussion of the latest horror show perpetrated by our wonderful overlords and their unquestioning yet deeply disquieted followers -- some of which stumble in here, I am certain...Keep up the good work! I love Camp's homemade marshmallows (Sean, you are a Northern Virginia school-lad like me - do you remember them?), but I have not seen them in almost thirty years...we need some of those for the campfire at our Chris Floyd convention...

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March 22, 2010
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Sean O'Neil said:

	... Scott -- not NoVA, but Monkey Co MD. The Free State's suburbs, not the Confederacy's suburbs!
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March 22, 2010
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john kelley said:

The Age of Dinosaurs The Age of Dinosaurs did indeed end. And if you ask most any bona fide physicist, ecologist, biologist, physiologist, volcanologist, geochronologist, glaciologist, etc., he or she will tell you that the demise of human life is pretty much assured as well, and that this will be just one more small part in an endless chain of natural catastrophes. Perhaps while waiting for this neutrino rapture human consciousness will evolve enough to banish the possibility of riddling childrens bodies with bullets.

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March 22, 2010
Votes: +1

Debbie(aussie) said:

... This is a great place to visit. I have learned so much and found a voice for the way I so often feel. Currently, with all the HCR stuff going on, I have wondered if the citizens of the US are suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome, at least the more 'progressive'ones (for you Sean). Instead of getting mad as hell they seem to want to see something good, where it really and truly doesn't exist. I imagine that when it comes to Aus I maybe the same,but gawd I hope not. Best wishes to all who come here for a chat and to Chris, please don't ever stop.

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March 22, 2010
Votes: +1

Mike Smith said:

... Debbie, Yeah, something like Stockholm Syndrome. Not me though. It would be evil and Machiavellian, but if I ran the R’s I’d float a Medicare buy-in amendment this week. Throw the whole Republican gang behind it. It would whistle through and the R’s would rule the world, or the D’s would have to totally vote against it and stand naked before the citizenry. Would the R’s throw the insurance companies onto the tracks? Shit yes. They’d throw their mothers onto the tracks. That’s what’s kind of appealing about them. They play to win and have no souls. Of course, the D's don't score highly either when it comes to souls. Over time, Medicare would bleed the life out of the insurance companies. The R’s follow this up with a pledge to protect SS and Medicare and offer hard actions. That would destroy whatever was left of the D’s. The R's would even get to keep their wars. The D's don't seem too concerned anyway. What a world.

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March 23, 2010
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Neil McLachlan said:

Gidday Debbie I'm a Kiwi living in Sydney and like you I love Chris's blog. At least between him posting an article and me reading it, there isn't already 750 comments making mine redundant and invisible. Yes, I'm looking at you, Huff Post and Greenwald. I also respect Chris a lot as he has managed to keep his integrity intact since the election, unlike so many blog owners who have embraced every predictably corrupt change of policy that this Administration has made. I've always wondered, though, why there seems to be very little in the way of comparable discussion sites with .com.au domain-names discussing our own monumentally inept parties.

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March 25, 2010
Votes: +0

Sean O'Neil said:

... Neil, I've been reading Chris Floyd for a long time. I would call it an insult to compare him to Daily Kos, Huffington Post, firedoglake, or any of the "leading" blogs here in AmeriKKKa. There are only a few bloggers who write with the passion and informed intensity of Mr Floyd. Arthur Silber is one. I would suggest you start your own Australian blog criticizing Aussie politicians and politics. All it takes to create a good blog is honesty, passion, and steady conviction, mixed with some good writing. You won't match Chris Floyd out of the gate, but you can try to catch him as he goes. It also helps to talk to people in person, of course. But if Australia is anything like America now, with extremely short attention spans, writing seems more effective at communicating political truths and frustrations. I don't know many Americans who will sit down with me for 2 hours to discuss something political. Maybe it's slightly better in Australia?

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March 25, 2010 | url
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Neil McLachlan said:

... Thanks for replying Sean. I don't think I've visited Kos or FDL in literally years, but I do visit Huffington when I want to know who's cleavage looked best at the Oscars. Really that whole site is a mess and it's a tragedy that while she does have some genuinely worthwhile people writing there, she also seems to have no standards whatsoever and will publish or link to absolutely anything. But I was just citing it as an example of the pointlessness of even having a comment system when the comment counts typically exceed a thousand on any worthwhile article. I discovered Chris's blog from a link on Glenn Greenwald's Salon Blog. Glen is an amazingly consistent and hard-working blogger but he does tend to focus exclusively on the legal or constitutional aspect of any given topic. But this site is great. Chris is passsionate, relentless, fearless and most importantly right. I found both of Arthur Silber's sites through here and although he's not posting much any more I have greatly enjoyed working my way through his archives in recent weeks. As for starting something similar in Australia, well I can quickly think of a dozen reasons why not, it will take me some time to dismiss each of them. The most resilient will be the fact that my own country isn't anywhere near the point of self-immolation that the US is. As for the average length of a political conversation with any random Australian - I suspect it would be shorter than yours, but also considerably less passionate. People here really don't give much of a shit about politics other than tax rates and possibly healthcare. For god's sake - we are about to implement the most restrictive internet filtering system in the free world and I can't find anyone who cares.

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March 26, 2010
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