By Lina Thorne
Short answer: No. In fact, supporting the war only works against their liberation.
If you can’t stand the idea of The Handmaid’s Tale come to life; set in a dusty, third world country, and despise the thought of women being kept out of schools and in large respects the outright chattel property of their fathers or husbands, then in fact you must work as hard as you can to end the continuing U.S. occupation and war against Afghanistan (as well as Iraq, Pakistan, and the potential war against Iran that still lies “on the table”). The reality is that The Handmaid’s Tale continues… While the Taliban were and are harshly oppressive – they are cut from the same fundamentalist cloth as the Northern Alliance which the U.S. brought to power, and the current regime has meant even more acute suffering for most women living in Afghanistan.
Pro-war imperialists, including everyone from Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama to the truly laughable fascist types on FOX News have argued that the war in Afghanistan is necessary to bring the girls of Afghanistan a chance to be free. This is not about Clinton valiantly struggling to put women’s rights on the agenda and sometimes succeeding against all odds. This is not about Obama’s administration “fixing” mistakes made by the bumbling Bush/Cheney regime. This is about a war for empire, pure and simple. The rhetoric about the oppression of women provides a convenient excuse for the continued occupation but does not justify the war- not from the initiation nor the present day bombs still raining on wedding parties.
It’s more than the scandals that reveal that the mercenaries protecting the US embassy in Kabul have been buying and pimping women sex slaves in Afghanistan (which is, today, a major crossroads for international “sex trafficking” [read: slave trade]). It’s more than the recent law passed in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (the full name of the country post- U.S. ‘liberation’) that explicitly legalizes marital rape as well as forcing women to dress and make themselves up (while in the home, of course) according to their husband’s demands, outlawing the ability to leave the home without a husband or a good reason to do so, and automatically granting custody of children to the male relatives (fathers or grandfathers). It’s not just the fact that the government has been cobbled together from the same warlords and fundamentalists that ruled the country before, in a fragile and fraught coalition under the corrupt Karzai regime.
It’s the fact that the whole relationship between the U.S. and the region (as well as the world) has been about imperialist domination in one form or another. For instance, Zbignew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, has bragged about “giving the USSR its own Vietnam” in Afghanistan by funding and arming the Mujahideen in the then pro-Soviet Afghanistan in 1979. The Mujahideen, of course, is the movement that eventually overthrew the government of Afghanistan, gave bin Laden his political start, and evolved into the Taliban of Afghanistan. The entire war on Afghanistan was, in fact, conceived before 9/11 at least in part to address the needed stability in order to build an oil pipeline across the country (see also: Parts 2 and 3 of the series by Larry Everest: "A War for Empire—Not a “Good War” Gone Bad").
When we marched in the streets in 2001 against the bombing of Afghanistan, we not only chanted “our grief is not a cry for war” but also, “bin Laden, Saddam, Pinochet: all created by the CIA” (perhaps a little over-simplified, but a good teaching chant!). The hysterics in the aftermath of 9/11 were designed to focus the grief and anger without regard for history into blind support of Bush’s crusade – which, as we know, didn’t stop at Afghanistan, and had larger goals than Iraq.
This is not a time to “wait and see” what happens. It has been far too long, and far too many have died.
I just wanted to compliment you and thank you for your fine article which I read at cp today. The specific angle with with you discuss war and propaganda is very important and largely misunderstood by most people. A few random thoughts on the topic.
Have you read anything by Malalai Joya? She is an MP from Afghanistan who stands up and speaks truth on a daily basis. This link gives a quick summary of her views which I am sure you would appreciate.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=14879
Her credibility is beyond reproach and she is never ever talked about by our corporate media.
As far as propaganda, selling war to women and the talking point du jour that it is all about the school girls…………the trendy fashionable book right now \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’Three Cups of Tea\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ by Greg Mortenson is a classic example. Mortenson serves up steady messaging that we need to wage war in Pakistan/Afghanistan to save the girls. It is highly effective.
The idea that women will not respond to the Bill O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’Reilly bloodlust mindset means they must be wooed with other types of targeted propaganda. The school girl lie is working now, but back in 1990 it was the incubator story told by the crying sweet Nayirah of Kuwait who was the poster child for selling war to American women.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cohen1.html
I bet if you were to ask 10 women you know who are educated and pay attention to the news, that none of them will remember much about specifics of that war, but 10 of 10 WILL remember the horrifying ordeal of sweet little babies being ripped from their incubators by evil doers from Iraq. Why? Because that story was scripted and fabricated to get US women to support the war.
Given the awarness you demonstrate with today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s article, you probably already know about Nayirah. It has been my experience recently that most women do not know it was all a well cooridinated lie, and when they find out it becomes an \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’I Ching\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ moment.
It makes them much more open to accepting the ideas you are writing about.
In any case, keep up the good work and thanks again for a timely well written article.