 KABUL, Afghanistan, May 11 – Four Afghan protesters were killed and
more than 60 were injured today in the eastern city of Jalalabad in the
worst anti-American demonstrations Afghanistan has seen in the three
years since the fall of the Taliban. At least a dozen buildings were
ransacked and burned, including the governor’s office, several government
buildings, the United Nations mission compound, and a number of offices
belonging to aid groups.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 11 – Insurgents struck in northern and central Iraq
today in a series of bloody bombing attacks that killed at least 79 people
in three cities, and wounded at least 120 others, according to figures
provided by police and hospital officials. The attacks appeared to signify
an intensification of attempts by Sunni Arab militants to disrupt Iraq’s
newly formed Shiite majority government.
latest New York Times dispatches from (Afganistan) and (Iraq)
Whooops! Just when things were starting to settle down enough to get
back into business, this nasty holy war against Americans keeps coming
back like a bad dream. Especially in Afghanistan, which the theory of comparative
advantage tells us is the perfect place to produce some of Americas most
indispensable consumables, such as heroin and hashish. Before this latest
rash of bad news, Afghan drug production was skyrocketing, and the country
was well on its way back to the top of the intoxicant export business
worldwide.
In Iraq the situation has been more problematic. In Iraq, of course,
the business is oil. The oil is there, just waiting, reasonably safe
a mile underground. And from
some
points
of view, the longer it stays there, the more it will be worth, as we near
the endgame of the Great Petroleum Extravaganza that defined the 20th century,
and the first half of the 21st.
In the meantime, this holy war business
is attracting a lot of this Jihad riffraff out from under their rocks
to get their asses blown off before they figure out how to hit us where
we’re
unprotected.
Much
better
to be blowing them up in their countries, rather than ours. So we could
afford to sit on the oil, and clean up the vermin, except for the drip,
drip,
drip
of
blood,
and body parts flying through the air, and those damn bloggers who won’t
let people forget.
Ah, it’s a dangerous and twisted
game we are playing over there, and the body count is making it harder
and harder to distract attention from
what
is really
going on. Except that, maybe the body count, and the whole act in Iraq,
is distracting attention from what is really really going on.
Machinations within maneuvers with misdirection.
It was such an attractive concept, killing numerous dirty birds with
one stone, plus the deadliest military force ever directed against anyone,
anywhere. Getting rid of Saddam. Testing out all our new toys. Intimidating
the neighbors. Showing those pansy Eurotrash. Guaranteeing America’s
vital supplies of the two indispensable foreign-produced supplies
we need to survive in the 21st century; oil and drugs. And it was working
so nicely, especially in Afghanistan The Dowbrigade was actually
thinking of visiting on an upcoming vacation.
Ah, well, colonialism is long gone, and economic imperialism isn’t what
it used to be. Military occupation is still a steady standby in a crunch,
but even the Romans realized it was a lost cause in the long run. If you
can’t find a reliable and effective puppet to rule in proxy, the only
alternative is to not leave one stone standing. Watch and learn, boys
and girls.
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