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 Marie Cocco: The Death of Safia Ama JanPosted on Oct 9, 2006By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—In a world besieged by violence and bloodshed, the death of a single individual rarely stands out in the news. There are too many names to record, too little psychic energy left to exert on the question of just who is being killed in those faraway lands where the United States says it is determined to impose order on chaos. Yet Safia Ama Jan was killed late last month—gunned down by assassins as she left her home for work—and the world has a duty to take notice. Ama Jan was a 65-year-old grandmother, and a quiet powerhouse of a woman in Afghanistan’s poverty-stricken south. During the Taliban’s oppressive rule, she ran an underground school for girls. After the U.S. invasion and the reconstitution of an Afghan government based on democratic principles, Ama Jan became a provincial director for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Kandahar. That is, apparently, what made her such an inviting target—despite having covered herself beneath a burqa when she ventured outside her home. The Taliban took responsibility for the murder. The fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion conducted to avenge the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to overthrow the Taliban has just passed, overshadowed by the latest congressional scandal. The White House staged no celebratory show to declare this mission accomplished. Perhaps that’s because it isn’t. The Taliban has reestablished itself through much of southern Afghanistan, filling a void that the Afghan government and international observers long complained had been left as the U.S. military and its allies refused to extend their control there. For years, there has been little security outside the capital of Kabul. Regional warlords and militias operate with impunity, and the illicit poppy crop for opium grows. Advertisement That was then. This is now: “The situation of women remains dramatic and severe violence against them all-pervasive,’’ Yakin Erturk, the United Nations special envoy for violence against women, reported in February. “Reports of kidnappings and rape of women by militia and warlords continue to be widespread to the present day, including cases of executions by local councils. Thus, the rule of power rather than the rule of law continues to be the norm in Afghanistan.’‘ Despite the development of what is supposed to be a contemporary justice system, ancient custom—backed by threats of violence—determines the course of women’s lives. Girls are sold into marriage as young as 6 or 7. Local councils can order that women and girls be ceded by one family to another to settle a dispute. Widows are perceived as the property of their in-laws. Often, they’re forced to marry a brother-in-law even if he already has a wife. Violence inside the home is epidemic, the U.N. report says. It is believed to be at the root of increasing attempts by women and girls to commit suicide by setting themselves on fire. And what of the schools we Americans brag to have reopened? Despite progress since 2002, primary school enrollment is among the lowest in the world, the U.N. says, and only half as many girls as boys are in school. These were the concerns of Ama Jan, the causes for which she gave her life. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission says the slaying calls into question the credibility of claims by both the Afghan government and the international community that they are protecting women. No external power—not the United States nor any other—can quickly undo what centuries of oppression and decades of violent conflict have done to Afghanistan’s women. Yet this is what we promised, out of good will or the desire for a good public-relations gambit, take your pick. Now that we seem to have walked away from the commitment, our credibility has been buried alongside Ama Jan.  Previous item: Chris Hedges: Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse Next item: Molly Ivins: The Not-So-Great Texas Gubernatorial Debate New and Improved CommentsIf you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy. |
Three Questions Left Unanswered by Obama’s Counterterrorism Speech
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By I hate liars and I am annoyed by idiotic uninforme, October 15, 2006 at 4:59 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Cut the Christian Fundamentalist crap “Kiss”. All religions are fucked up. In fact, Christianity is just as tainted with blood in its own history as Islam is. Again, ALL religions are fucked up and are nothing more than man-made bullshit.
The fact of the matter is, your post completely fails to address OPERATION CYCLONE. You see, this operation proves without a shadow of a doubt that the United States Government was directly responsible for creating the modern-day Islamic Fundamentalism that is being massively propagandized today via the corporate media. The entire Islami Fundamentalist Extremist Boogeyman is a creation of Carter Administration so as to destablize the Soviet Union. Al-Qaeda is a CIA creation as well. Bin Laden was CIA asset back in the 80’s under the codename “Tim Ossman”.
If any religion is guilty of imperialism it is Christianity. Have you ever heard of the Crusades by any chance? Before you go spouting of some moronic uninformed post that has absolutely NO TRUTH to it, you should really examine your subconscious mind that has been severely conditioned into harboring negative biases towards the Islamic Religion. Every word in your post has every indication of such a specific bias and it is clouding your logic. If it you had any sense of logic and honesty in you, you would have acknowledged the FACT that OPERATION CYCLONE really did exist.
The TRUTH is, Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden, Islamic Extremism, and modern-day “Terrorism” are all creations of the United States Government. 9/11 was an inside job. That is a FACT. It was the Neo-Cons “New Pearl Harbor” as they like to put it.
Go to page 51 of PNAC’s Rebuilding America’s Defenses (which was written in the year 2000):
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
They state the following: “]“Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor.”
You see “Kiss”, sheep like you are SO NAIVE because all you see and all you WANT TO SEE is a simplistic world in which there are nothing but 2 sides (which according to you are composed of “Freedom” versus “Islamic Terrorists who hate Freedom”). You are so deceived m8, really you are. You and all the sheep who believe anything your dishonest lying treasonist false flag operating PNAC infested Government spoonfeed you through their shill-controlled corporate media. WAKE UP fool. And DO SOME VALUABLE RESEARCH instead posting absolute bullshit.
Report thisBy M Michael, October 10, 2006 at 8:04 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
If it is true the taliban and alqaeda have done, it is interesting to notice the next article to knwow who is created those guys and who are they working for.
Info on Al Qaeda from Zbignew Brezinski - Guess who created the bogeyman Al Qaeda!!!!
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Written by Thomas R. Ascher
Monday, 09 October 2006
“Politicians are like diapers. They should both be changed frequently and for the same reason.”
This is a quote from an International financial newsletter I subscribe to, that has been right on target for the last 16 years: (The author of this newsletter was in US Military Intellegence for many years and owned his own large brokerage firm for some years, is now retired and publishing):
“It might interest you that Zbigniew Brzezinski said on July 3, 1979, that
unknown to the public and Congress that President Carter secretly
authorized $500 million to create an international terrorist movement that
would spread Islamic fundamentalism in Central Asia to destabilize the
Soviet Union. This was called ‘Operation Cyclone’, which fostered Osama bin Laden and eventually cost $4 billion. The funds created Islamic training schools in Pakistan. Some were sent to the CIA’s training camp in Virginia where the al Qaeda of tomorrow learned their skills. Some were recruited in the U.S.. In Pakistan they were directed by MI6 and trained by the SAS. The winners in this 28-year odyssey are western politicians and transnational elitist corporations.”
The truth of these efforts and history are unknown to the American public. Even if fully-explained, half of our fellow countrymen wouldn’t believe it. Operations such as ‘Operation Cyclone’ have been operating for years. A good example of this is the ‘School of the Americas’ at Fort Benning, GA whose graduates committed some of the worst atrocities in the region’s history. This is not Democracy.
Report thisThis is just a crude form of exploitation so that Zionists can continue to rule our lives. We have mentioned a number of times that the Bush family was involved with others in financing of Adolph Hitler. George W. Bush’s grandfather was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from being a financial backer of National Socialism, which is the marriage of corporate and government interests. In 1942 his company’s assets were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act, and that has led to a civil action for damages being brought against the Bush family by two former
slave laborers at Auschwitz. The evidence has also prompted one former US
Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator’s action should
have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
New documents declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazi’s plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with German businesses that financed Hitler’s rise to power. These profits helped establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty.
Source: ZioPedia.org
By KISS, October 10, 2006 at 8:36 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I’m sure I have no answers on how to change bad behavior of Muslims. Killing mothers, grandmothers sisters and daughters is no different than dispatching a dog or cat. How does one educate a people, who for eons of stupidity and prejudice, have Allah telling them this is good? Blindly, Bush took us into this quagmire and his religious beliefs now have us bogged down in a war than cannot be won. And can you believe this, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world? How dreadfully sad.
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