[Peace-discuss] Linda Polman on "Afghaniscam": is U.S. "Aid" Making Things Worse?

[Morton K. Brussel]

I'm puzzled by your response; we seem to be talking at cross purposes. In principle, I'm not opposed to all U.S. wars, for example one in which the U.S. would be attacked militarily by a foreign power not in response to an American attack. Indeed, what I've said is that the "details" of what HAS happened ought to be a basis for ignoring counterfactual arguments. If the evidence already exists abundantly, that is sufficient reason to infer that continued policies of the same sort will (probably) yield similar results. Are you saying that most Americans, especially "intellectuals"—those that read—are not yet aware of the facts of the U.S wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, e.g., the U.S. casualties/costs in the current wars/occupations, not to speak of Iraqi/Afghan/Pakistani casualties and costs? 

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but we are not talking about the same thing, it seems. 


On Sep 20, 2010, at 5:55 PM, Robert Naiman wrote:

> You're certainly right that, as an individual, once you've decided
> that you're opposed to all (US) wars, to decide how you stand on a
> particular US war you no longer have to consider any detail of the
> case at hand.
> 
> But polls show that's not where the majority of Americans are. At least not yet.
> 
> Therefore, the details of the case at hand are still relevant.
> 
> Moreover, if the details of the case at hand extend, then making the
> specific case extends to the general case.
> 
> So, for example - the case for any particular war often includes a
> story about how US aid is going to be very beneficial for the people
> of the country in question.
> 
> If it's dubious, as a general claim, that US aid is necessarily
> beneficial, then that undermines the general case for war any time US
> aid is invoked.
> 
> On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 5:46 PM, Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu> wrote:
>> Many interesting questions here. Counterfactuals always throw sand into the gears of human/government machinations.. It occurs to me that one should learn from experience in any given situation. In Iraq and Afghanistan and many other world situations, we already have firm evidence of what has been done, those killed and displaced, those whose health has been ruined, the destruction of communities and infrastructure, etc. That should be the basis on which we should/can judge what should be (or not be) done. Many of us have seen the ill effects of western/U.S. policies promoted in the interest of benevolence, and we have learned thereby to distrust all such benevolent claims. That is a practical approach which does not depend on counterfactuals.
>> 
>> --mkb
>> 
>> On Sep 20, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>> 
>>> The concerns raised in Linda Polman's new book, "The Crisis Caravan:
>>> What's Wrong with Humanitarian Aid?" should inform debate in the U.S.
>>> about what we are going to do now in Afghanistan. A greater focus on
>>> humanitarian assistance has sometimes been counterposed as an
>>> alternative to our current war policy, but Polman's book shows that it
>>> is not that simple. Western aid sometimes does more harm than good,
>>> particularly in situations of armed conflict, particularly when aid
>>> exacerbates the armed conflict that caused the humanitarian crisis
>>> that the aid was supposed to address. As Polman recounts, this has
>>> happened even in situations where the Western aid intervention was not
>>> part of an explicit war policy, such as the support of Hutu refugee
>>> camps in then-Zaire in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. In
>>> Afghanistan, Western aid is currently part of a policy of intervention
>>> in an ongoing civil war. A likely pre-condition for U.S. aid in
>>> Afghanistan to do more good than harm is that it implement a policy of
>>> national political reconciliation based on a negotiated resolution of
>>> the civil war.
>>> 
>>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/linda-polman-on-afghanisc_b_732088.html
>>> 
>>> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/20/1651/90549
>>> 
>>> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/713
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Robert Naiman
>>> Policy Director
>>> Just Foreign Policy
>>> www.justforeignpolicy.org
>>> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>>> 
>>> Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
>>> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> 
> Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern

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