The Masscres Do Not Matter; War Skirts the Abyss

Barack Obama and David Cameron held a meeting, afterwards moving to the idyllic scenery of the White House’s Rose Garden to talk to the press. In contrast to their peaceful surroundings and without really taking into account the highly turbulent events that took place in Kandahar, where an American sergeant trained as a sniper killed 16 Afghan civilians, both were clear in stating that the war against the Central Asian nation will go on.

Both the American president and the British prime minister gave the cold shoulder to popular outcry, including that of their own citizens, as well as to the Taliban’s threats, which announced its thirst for revenge. This cold shoulder was also given to President Hamid Karzai’s petition, to his ally against the government of Kabul and to the people of Afghanistan – who were, once again, outraged.

The retreat will be slow and prolonged over time. Obama, referring to the next summer, noted, “There will be a robust coalition presence inside of Afghanistan during this fighting season to make sure that the Taliban understand that they’re not going to be able to regain momentum. After the fighting season, in conjunction with all our allies, we will continue to look at how do we effectuate this transition in a way that doesn’t result in a steep cliff at the end of 2014, but rather is a gradual pace that accommodates the developing capacities of the Afghan national security forces.”

As if to say, “Yes, sir,” Cameron – always a few steps behind Obama – reaffirmed his support, asserting, “Afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for al-Qaida to launch attacks against us.”

Nothing seems to stop them, just as nothing stopped a U.S. sergeant from shooting on Sunday, Mar. 11, in Kandahar province, in spite of the nine children who dropped dead from his killer bullets. After all, it was barely a landmark in the criminal’s day to day existence. In this case, the 38 year old soldier, who had 11 years of experience in the Army, had the endorsement of three missions in Iraq in addition to this one in Afghanistan. How much more might he have achieved by following orders in those wars, rather than by his “own initiative,” as they make it seem to be in every malicious scandal?

The propaganda machine follows the path of the solitary rise. And in righteous boasting, some publication of its vast press makes a statement for the gullible, like this one: “The United States said Monday that an investigation is underway. It must be fast, transparent and conclusive so that Afghans can see that America is committed to justice and responsive to their outrage.”

The well-known publication dictated that the punishment must be swift and the answer was, indeed, fast. The unidentified sergeant was removed last Wednesday from Afghanistan, which had cried out for justice, and sent to Kuwait for the time being – one more arrogant move against an angry and suffering nation.

They simply sweep their trash under the rug. This man will be freed, like many other “individual” scandals in these wars. But what they should do is take a closer look at their own actions and see every detail of what might be considered as one more step towards the edge of the cliff for that empire.

Only now, as already stated by Tocqueville in 1831, the North Americans simply cannot tolerate, nor even care to hear, fundamental critiques about America. Nevertheless, some day this madness will end.