[Peace-discuss] Afghanistan - upcoming Oct 9 elections cannot mask corruption and misery - see new Herold report

[Charles Jenks]

http://www.traprockpeace.org/marc_herold_04sep04.doc (doc version)
http://www.traprockpeace.org/marc_herold_04sep04.pdf (pdf version)

"War as Peace in Afghanistan" by Marc Herold

You may now download this special report on war in Afghanistan, updated
September 4, 2004, by Marc Herold, leading researcher on impact of war on
civilians in Afghanistan.

On the eve of 9/11, we see that Afghanistan - a country the US invaded in
its 'war on terrorism' - continues to be racked by violence. It's October
9th elections will likely be used as a spectacle by the US - "to be sold to
the American people" in an attempt to show that Afghanistan is a shining
light of US policy to create democracy through invasion.

In the year after Secretary Rumsfeld declared that major combat activity had
ended in Afghanistan (May, 2003 to June, 2004), between 1355 and 1600 had
been killed there by the war, including up to 361 civilian deaths. Herold's
thoroughly documented report shows that it has become a country where homes
are destroyed to create mansions and the central government - as in the days
of Soviet occupation - has little control outside major cities.

³Bombs continue to fall, villages continue to be raided, homes continue to
be broken into by U.S. troops, innocents continue to be abducted (and some
tortured in the Afghan gulag[46]), prisoners continue to languish in Afghan
jails under conditions for some which ³violate every standard of human
rights² even according to the U.N[47] , Afghans continue to die, the Taliban
continue to attack government personnel and buildings, opium continues to
expand as the crop of choice accounting for almost one-half of Afghanistan¹s
gross domestic product[48], corruption is rampant at every level....² Marc
W. Herold

"The one striking 'success' of the United States has been its ability to get
Afghans to do the fighting and be killed."





Charles Jenks, attorney at law
President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-1633; Fax 413-773-7507
charles at mtdata.com
http://traprockpeace.org