The British military in Afghanistan have asked that U.S. Special Forces be removed from Helmand province because of the high number of civilian casualties they are responsible for.[1] The British are having a hard time winning local support because the civilian deaths and injuries caused by U.S. forces far exceeds those inflicted by the Taliban. U.S. troops are more dangerous than the Taliban. In comparison, U.S. troops are more dangerous than the other NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan. Accidents do happen, but with U.S. forces they are becoming routine.
The U.S. military has little business in the War On Terror.
For one, it is not a war. It is a world-wide problem revolving around political extortionists who use drug trafficking, racketeering, and violence to promote their ideas. The terrorists are global gangsters, using tactics similar to those of Al Capone and the Russian Mob.
The productive approach is through global police work and the courts; on a personal level, where the struggle is carried out, face-to-face.
It is only in this manner that the democracies of the world and in particular the U.S. can succeed. The global community must be given a clear distinction between the terrorism of gangsters and the terrorism of the U.S. military machine. Presently, the gangsters are less frightening than the U.S. military. The strengths of democracy are more convincing than military violence.
The Army, Marines, and Air Force are sledge hammers being used to drive nails.
They are very efficient killing machines whose purpose is to smash other military killing machines. Their weapons are for factory efficient slaughter: machine guns, guided bombs and missiles.
Where do civilians enter into this picture? Wheat cut down before the scythe.
In addition, the greatest military violence is being made more remote, like telecommuting to work. It is not face-to-face. This lifts awareness and personal responsibility from the shoulders of the soldiers and pilots who distribute the bloodshed.
Dropping "precision munitions" from high altitude or firing 30mm automatic cannons from helicopter gunships at targets barely visible are two of the mainstays of our war of terror. It is a war of video displays and potential threats, where the humanity at the receiving end is obscured and then obliterated.
Now combat squadrons of Predator robot attack planes [2] with Hellfire missiles are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The pilots, sitting in air conditioned offices, use video monitors and joysticks to find and slaughter pixels hundreds or thousands of mile saway.
What is the difference between Afghani pixels and U.S. pixels: farmer pixels and anti-war protestor pixels?
Howard Zinn[3] once said that, "A country that treats others brutally, will treat its own people brutally." We are in grave danger that this careless violence will return home and be used against us.
We need to demilitarize the struggle against the terrorists and in doing so, stop supporting our own military terrorism; a terrorism that could be unleashed on all of us.
[1] British Criticize U.S. Air Attacks in Afghan Region , New York Times, 08.09.2007
[2] Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq, Associate Press, 07.16.2007
[3] Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train, Documentary, 2004