Kill to Liberate

Since long-ago times, invasions of foreign lands were undertaken beneath noble banners and not taken seriously except by those who were sane. Invasions are not intended to provide the people of the invaded lands with freedom, democracy and welfare, nor to rescue them from the darkness, but, rather, for “imperialistic” reasons such as looting, hegemony and influence.

Americans came to Iraq in order to get rid of the weapons of mass destruction that nobody was actually convinced even existed. When they didn’t find anything, they started talking about liberating Iraqis from the rule of the tyrant as if it had been a great achievement, even though its price was millions of killed, wounded and displaced people and even though the Americans placed the country into the hands of the hordes of thieves who have been practicing the worst kinds of plundering in history – and we must not forget that the occupiers were also participating in some of these activities.

Afghanistan was invaded because of Osama bin Laden. In addition to that target, the Americans were also waving banners of freedom, democracy, women’s liberation and the clearing of drugs from the country. And now, after more than 10 years of occupation, they are offering Afghans nothing but death, subjugation, poverty and even an even higher rate of drug production. At the same time, the status of women hasn’t changed — she still wears a burqa and lives in misery, which is more the result of poverty than the impact of the injustice of men.

For a few weeks now, Americans have been busy trying to rectify the murder of 16 Afghans, including nine children, who were killed by an American soldier’s bullets. During that time, the killer was transferred to America to be put on trial. However, he was charged and later released, reinforcing that, in reality, the execution of the law did not mean anything. That is why the spectacle of killing and subjugation will continue.

Does the problem lie only in the obsessed killer who inflicts his sadism on the innocent? British writer Seumas Milne answered this question in his article for The Guardian. Milne noted that the killing was the inevitable result of the occupation, pointing out that what happened was not an isolated event, but, rather, one episode in a long series of crimes committed in Afghanistan and in the similar – or maybe even uglier – invasion of Iraq.

The writer reviews several episodes of the invasion in Afghanistan, including the recent burning of the Holy Quran by American soldiers and the episode in which we watched soldiers urinate on the corpses of Afghan citizens.

The writer also mentions the members of a U.S. unit who, last year, killed Afghan civilians. After the killings, those individuals and dismembered the corpses for entertainment and kept some body parts as souvenirs.

Also last year: An unprovoked British soldier stabbed a 10-year-old boy. At this very moment, British soldiers are being tried for filming the torture they inflicted on Afghan children. Milne also points out that documents released by WikiLeaks present about 21 cases of Afghan civilians killed at the hands of the British.

Therefore, these are normal practices for the occupiers, especially those blue-blooded individuals who regard the nations they occupy with contempt. And we cannot forget here that we are talking about the crimes that have been discovered – while numerous other crimes have not been and never will be discovered. Nor can we forget what happened in Pakistan, where American drones killed large numbers of families, calling them terrorists, although it has recently become apparent that they were innocent and had no connections to any violence or weapons.

When Americans tried to rid themselves of the burden of their crimes, they offered $500 for each (killed) Afghan citizen while, at the same time, they set the price for the life of the Westerner killed in the Lockerbie bombing at $100 million. What could possibly demonstrate a greater contempt for a Muslim than that?

This is our conflict with the West: They cooperate with us from a position of superiority and they are interested in our issues only for the sake of their own interests. That has been proven by the West’s initiative in Libya – an oil-rich country – and their abandonment of the Syrians who are being murdered and massacred, even though they would be glad to see the fall of Bashar Assad. This is happening because Syria’s destruction is in the interest of their ally – the Zionist occupier. This situation is advantageous for Assad’s regime because he can explain it as a plot against his government, which is in opposition to Israel!

We can only add that, just as the Americans left Iraq after paying an exorbitant price, they will also leave Afghanistan. Their pleas for dialogue with the Taliban are proof of the impasse they have put themselves in. Because here is a society that knows neither humiliation nor defeat, a society that always rises to fight and resist until victory can be claimed, for as long as it takes and as many victims as it costs.