The lies they tell part two

(of an occasional series)

On September 2nd 2004, George W. Bush received the presidential nomination of the Republican Party for the second occasion, in order to run as incumbent, a race he won.

At the time, under his orders, US military forces had been present in Afghanistan for almost three years, since just after the tragedy of the Twin Towers.

In his acceptance speech to his party, he told them:

" Our strategy is succeeding. Four years ago, Afghanistan was the home base of Al Qaida... Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror."

And:

"In Afghanistan, terrorists have done everything they can to intimidate people, yet more than 10 million citizens have registered to vote in the October presidential election, a resounding endorsement for democracy."

And:

"So our mission in Afghanistan and Iraq is clear. We will help new leaders to train their armies, and move toward elections, and get on the path of stability and democracy as quickly as possible. And then our troops will return home with the honor they have earned."

And also:

"Our men and women in uniform are doing a superb job for America. Tonight I want to speak to all of them and to their families: You are involved in a struggle of historic proportion. Because of your service and sacrifice, we are defeating the terrorists where they live and plan, and you're making America safer. Because of you, women in Afghanistan are no longer shot in a sports stadium. Because of you, the people of Iraq no longer fear being executed and left in mass graves."

Today, the Observer newspaper has revealed how famine in large areas of Afghanistan has forced families into selling their children in order to survive.

Afghani heroin now provides 90% of the world's supply, poisoning people in Ireland, America and everywhere. Under the Taliban, opium production was banned, and in the year America invaded, 2001, Afghanistan regained its position as the world's biggest supplier of opium almost immediately.

Newborn twins died today in a bomb attack in the Khost province of Afghanistan. Attacks on civilians by Islamic extremist insurgents against the American-led occupation are expected to increase again once the weather warms up in Spring.

However, even coalition forces admit that they are losing the population to insurgent support because of the amount of civilian deaths they are responsible for. So high is the level of murder of innocents by coalition forces, that it has led to calls in Canada for an immediate withdrawal of their troops.

The murder of babies, the sale into sexual slavery of girl children, the beheading of schoolteachers, the massacre of civilians by all sides, the roaming bands of insurgents in control of large swathes of the country...

The strategy is not and never was succeeding. The country is deteriorating into a worse state than either the Taliban or the Soviet occupation ever created.

Afghanistan is anything but a resounding endorsement for democracy.

The troops who have caused such a high toll of death among the civilian population of Afghanistan have accrued no honour whatsoever.