IAC Factsheet on Afghanistan

...and this has to do with space exploration... how...?

(moderator, this is the second piece of off topic spam from this
individual in the last week.)

king_rodent (putting the eek in geek)

--- In ssi_list@... Bill Butler
>
> CC: laamn@... rplatkin@...
> RGRGP@... ekatz123@...
> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 18:31:09 -0800
>
> >This is a fact sheet from the International Action
> Center
> 2489 Mission St. Rm 30
> San Francisco
> 415 821-6545
> IAC-SF@...
> >
> >THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
> >Please forward and distribute widely for educational
> purposes.
> >
> >Question: Is the U.S. bombing campaign directed
> against "terrorists"
> >or the people of Afghanistan?
> >
> >Answer: A terrible crime was committed against
> innocent civilians on
> >September 11. But this is a war against the people of
> Afghanistan.
> >The U.S. and British are dropping thousands of bombs
> and firing
> >missiles on homes, schools, mosques, hospitals and
> villages
> >throughout the country.
> >
> >5,000-pound and 1,000-pound bombs are deliberately
> targeting every
> >major town and rural area. AC-130 planes filled with
> 70,000 pounds of
> >ammunition are firing huge Gatling-guns on the
> population in a steady
> >stream of bullets.
> >
> >Wazir Akbarhan hospital in Kabul was bombed on the
> first day and 13
> >women were killed in the gynecology department. 200
> people were
> >killed in the hospital in Herat. Red Cross facilities
> have been
> >bombed twice.
> >
> >Cluster bombs--one of the most terrifying and deadly
> of the U.S.
> >weapons--are now being used as bombing intensifies.
> Cluster bombs are
> >prohibited by international law because of their
> highly destructive
> >nature against humans and other living things.
> Hundreds of small
> >bomblets packed with razor shrapnel are dispersed at
> super-high
> >velocity over a wide area, ripping into people with
> devastating
> >damage.
> >
> >A report from the Sydney Morning Herald quotes Dan
> Kelly, head of UN
> >mine clearing in Afghanistan: "These bomblets can
> explode if the
> >villagers so much as touch them. It is a very violent
> death. You
> >don't get arms and legs blown off like you do with
> anti-personnel
> >mines, you get killed." Another proof that civilians
> are targeted is
> >the U.S. method of repeat bombing to kill rescuers as
> well. In
> >Jalalabad, the Sultanpur mosque was bombed during
> prayer. As
> >neighbors dug out the 17 victims who were trapped,
> the plane returned
> >to bomb minutes later, killing 120 people.
> >
> >Cluster bombs, depleted uranium ammunition,
> 5,000-pound bombs, fuel-
> >air explosives: this is the terror being unleashed by
> the biggest
> >military power in the world against one of the
> poorest and most
> >underdeveloped countries in existence.
> >
> >Question: What is the current state of the
> >Afghan people?
> >
> >Answer: The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is
> 43 years. Per
> >capita income is $180 per year. Only 13 percent of
> the entire
> >population has access to drinking water. Barely 12%
> of the population
> >has sanitation coverage. Literacy is about 20
> percent. The infant-
> >mortality rate is a shocking 247 deaths per 1,000
> live births. On
> >average, 16,000 mothers die in childbirth every year,
> one out of
> >every 17 births, the second worst maternal mortality
> rate in the
> >world.
> >
> >It's not just the bombs are killing people. The
> dislocation and chaos
> >of the war itself means huge numbers of Afghan people
> will die from
> >hunger, cold and disease. According to UNICEF
> officials, more than
> >100,000 Afghan children will likely die from
> war-related causes by
> >the end of winter.
> >
> >Question: Isn't the war in Afghanistan a defensive
> reaction to the
> >Sept. 11 attacks?
> >
> >Answer: After Sept. 11, the U.S. immediately targeted
> all of
> >Afghanistan and added to its "enemies" list any
> country or
> >organization that didn't fully support the U.S.
> government on
> >terrorism. Afghanistan agreed to negotiate but asked
> for proof of the
> >culpability of Osama bin Laden in the September 11
> attack. The Bush
> >administration responded that they wouldn't negotiate
> and they
> >refused to provide the evidence. Was it really
> because the U.S.
> >wanted to combat terrorism? Or is it because the U.S.
> made a
> >calculated decision to use the terrible Sept. 11
> attack as
> >justification for a Pentagon move to expand its
> domination in the
> >Middle East and South/Central Asia?
> >
> >The real motive for the 1991 U.S. war on Iraq and
> continued sanctions
> >against the Iraqi people is to maintain full control
> of the
> >Persian/Arabian Gulf oil. Two-thirds of the world's
> known oil
> >reserves lie in that region. The U.S. Gulf War
> allowed the Pentagon
> >to establish numerous military bases in Saudi Arabia,
> United Arab
> >Emirates and elsewhere.
> >
> >What is less known is the vast interests of U.S. oil,
> banking and
> >military corporations in South and Central Asia as
> the next strategic
> >region for oil and natural gas exploitation.
> >
> >The Caspian Region--made up of Tajikistan,
> Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
> >and Azerbaijan--has a potential value in oil and
> natural gas of more
> >than $5 trillion. These former Soviet states share a
> border with
> >Afghanistan, and are precisely the countries that the
> U.S. military
> >has now established bases and troops. The U.S.
> militarization of the
> >region began before September 11; now it is going
> full-scale.
> >A Unocal Oil Corp. spokesperson, Vice President John
> J. Maresca
> >testified to the House of Representatives Committee
> on International
> >Relations, February 12, 1998. He said, "the Caspian
> region contains
> >tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves .proven
> natural gas reserves
> >. equal more than 236 trillion cubic feet. . [oil
> reserves] estimates
> >are as high as 200 billion barrels."
> >
> >The CIA "set up a secret task force to monitor the
> region's politics
> >and gauge its wealth. Covert CIA officers, some
> well-trained
> >petroleum engineers had traveled through southern
> Russia and the
> >Caspian region to sniff out potential oil reserves.
> When the policy
> >makers heard the CIA report, [then Secretary of
> State] Madeleine
> >Albright concluded that 'working to mold the area's
> future is one of
> >the most exciting things we can do.'" (Time magazine,
> May 1998).
> >The Pentagon has been seeking to link the region's
> governments into a
> >military alliance connected to NATO's so-called
> "Partnership for
> >Peace." These former states of the Soviet Union
> became open to
> >unbridled exploitation for their oil and gas
> resources by firms whose
> >directors are ex-U.S. military and political leaders.
> Former Reagan,
> >Bush and Clinton advisers like Gen. Brent Scowcroft
> and Zbigniew
> >Brezezinski, former White House Chief of Staff John
> N. Sununu; former
> >Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, Secretary of State
> James Baker,
> >former Clinton treasury secretary, Lloyd Bentsen, all
> have become oil
> >and gas company executives involved in the Caspian
> Region.
> >(Washington Post, July 6, 1997)
> >
> >Question: Isn't the U.S. trying to stabilize the
> region by
> >eliminating a "network of terrorists"?
> >
> >Answer: This is the most dangerous myth of all. More
> war, bombing and
> >assassinations will only create more violence, death
> and economic
> >crisis. But the death of thousands in New York must
> not be used to
> >justify what the United States is doing in
> Afghanistan and to hide
> >what it has done and continues to do to the Iraqi and
> Palestinian
> >people.
> >
> >There is enormous anger in the Middle East that every
> month, between
> >8,000 and 12,000 people--5,000 of them children under
> five--die in
> >Iraq as a direct result of the U.S. sanctions. This
> has gone on for
> >11 years! This crime of genocide has been hidden from
> the U.S. people
> >but it is well known among the people of the Middle
> East.
> >Over 800 Palestinians have been killed and 16,000
> seriously wounded
> >since the second Intifada began in September 2000.
> Their homes are
> >bulldozed as they try to defend themselves against
> the brutal and
> >long-standing Israeli occupation of their land. Every
> bullet, every
> >helicopter, every F-15 and F-16 came from the United
> States. Every
> >year, the U.S. continues to fund Israel by $4
> billion. This is
> >unabashed terrorism, and more and more people in the
> world are
> >calling for an end to U.S.-Israeli oppression of the
> Palestinian
> >people.
> >
> >Question: Why does the anti-war movement say that
> there is also a war
> >at home?
> >
> >Answer: Thousands of Arab people, South Asian people
> and Muslims have
> >been violently attacked inside the United States.
> Homes, mosques and
> >stores have been defaced. People of Arab and South
> Asian descent have
> >been put off airplanes. Main media outlets, like the
> Wall Street
> >Journal, have called for legitimizing racial
> profiling. This is
> >racism pure and simple. After Timothy McVeigh blew up
> the Oklahoma
> >City Federal building in 1995, killing 168 people,
> there was no
> >campaign to take white males off of airplanes because
> people
> >felt "uncomfortable in their presence." White men
> were not rounded up
> >and held without charges. Since September 11,
> however, more than 800
> >people, mostly of Middle East origin, have been
> detained for up to
> >five weeks, many without charges.
> >
> >Under the rubric of anti-terrorism, ultra-racist
> Attorney General
> >John Ashcroft has pushed through the so-called
> anti-terrorism bill,
> >labeled USA Patriots Bill. Only Senator Russell D.
> Feingold, Democrat
> >of Wisconsin, voted against this bill in the Senate,
> arguing that it
> >allows unconstitutional searches and punishes
> individuals for vaguely
> >defined associations with "possible terrorists." This
> bill legalizes
> >racial profiling, eliminates due process for arrested
> people, allows
> >the government to vastly expand the definition of
> terrorist to
> >potentially include millions of people who might want
> to protest.
> >U.S. government policy, and allows the government to
> detain
> >immigrants without charges. In addition, it
> eliminates basic privacy
> >rights, allowing the government to have nearly
> limitless authority to
> >carry out electronic surveillance and wire taps of
> anyone it
> >deems "suspicious."
> >
> >Question: Is it true that the U.S. is considering
> legalizing torture
> >against suspects in detention?
> >
> >Answer: Shocking, but true. The FBI and the Justice
> Department under
> >John Ashcroft are considering using torture as an
> approved policy of
> >the United States against those in detention who
> assert their legal
> >rights to remain silent. According to the Washington
> Post, the U.S.
> >government is discussing using "pressure tactics,
> such as those
> >employed occasionally by Israeli interrogators to
> extract
> >information." (See www.justiceonline.org for more
> information.)
> >Israeli-style pressure tactics is just a euphemism
> for torture.
> >According to a 1998 report by B'Tselem, an
> Israeli-based human rights
> >organization, interrogation tactics include a
> combination of sleep
> >deprivation, isolation, psychological torment and
> direct physical
> >force, including beatings, violent shaking, painful
> shackling and use
> >of objects designed or used to inflict extreme pain.
> A prisoner may
> >be shackled to a specially modified chair (to cause
> pain) with his or
> >her head covered with a filthy sack that has an
> overwhelming stench
> >of vomit or human refuse. Interrogations routinely
> span months, with
> >constant intermittent periods of interrogation and
> force lasting for
> >days without interruption.
> >
> >Question: Is the Pentagon censoring the news?
> >
> >Answer: Almost all news presented on television and
> in the mass media
> >is only the information the Pentagon wants you to
> know. The Pentagon
> >is well aware that during the Vietnam War when the
> people learned the
> >truth about the war and that the government was lying
> to them (1970
> >Pentagon Papers, etc.), people turned against the
> war. The U.S.
> >government's National Mapping and Imaging Agency has
> signed a
> >contract giving it exclusive control over all
> satellite imaging of
> >the war in Afghanistan. They bought the commercial
> rights to all
> >satellites on October 7, the day the bombing of
> Afghanistan began.
>
> >Question: If Bush's bombing war is not the answer,
> what is the answer?
> >Answer: The tens of thousands of troops that occupy
> Saudi Arabia and
> >the Persian Arabian Gulf should be removed. The
> people of the region
> >perceive the U.S. as an occupying, colonial-type
> force. The U.S. must
> >immediately end the policy of economic sanctions on
> Iraq. It must
> >stop providing Israel $4 billion a year to occupy
> Palestine. Instead
> >of destroying pharmaceutical factories, like the Al
> Shifa factory in
> >Sudan that it destroyed with 17 cruise missiles in
> 1998, the U.S.
> >should lift its economic sanctions against Sudan and
> the other
> >countries of the region. If there is to be peace, the
> people of
> >Palestine and the people who suffer U.S. military
> occupation in the
> >region must enjoy genuine self-determination and
> justice.
> >
> >(If you would like a formatted copy of this factsheet
> or more info
> >about available anti-war educational resources,
> please call the IAC
> >at 415-821-6545 or reply to this email. Also, check
> our national website at
>
> http://www.iacenter.org
>
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