Re: WHERE IS THE VICTORY

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

ALI KADRI wrote:
>
>  if the us is
> there to stay for oil and other strategic
> considerations, will this do it or is there more on
> the way.

Not being a mind reader, and motives _never_ being obvious in actions, I
simply do not know what the motives or goals of the criminal assault on
Afghanistan are.

The declared motives seem to have no connection whatever to the action
-- that is surely "they" (policy makers) can't really believe that
killing a few thousand or a few tens of thousands of Afghanistans will
have any effect on terrorism. (Especially since terrorism is really
difficult and occurs only sporadically, whether or not anything is done
to prevent it).

Oil: This seems to be the favorite. It could be, but it also is hard to
believe either (a) that such a fantastic enterprise as this war could be
carried out for the advantage of one small sector of u.s. capitalists
(it can't help more than one or two oil companies) or (b) that it is
really necessary for the u.s. to have military control over the sources
of its oil when all it needs is the money to buy it.

Sheer blundering incompetence: 'they' really don't know what they're
doing or why. This tends to be my favorite.

Imperial Dignity: As Pericles recognized 2500 years ago, an imperial
power has a tiger by the tail and has to keep a firm grip. Back in the
'60s some marxist analysts argued that the U.S. was fighting in Vietnam
for titanium, for offshore oil, or to provide a market for Japan so it
wouldn't trade with China. (No one then seemed to have fear of Japanese
exports to the U.S.) But probably it was imperial dignity (mixed with
blundering) that moved that war -- that is fear that other peoples would
emulate the Vietnamese. This I think is a more likely explanation than
oil for the present war: 'they' aren't defending a particular reward of
empire, they are defending the general right of empire.

Carrol


 or is this just a small trapesty on the way
> to bigger game in the war on terror.
>
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