The Goals and Strategies of the US
This page includes some references to
formal statements by the Administration but, because those are
widely available, focuses on analyses by a variety of observers.
Also see the Afghanistan and US
Mideast and South Asia policy pages. The Chomsky/Hitchens/et
al conroversy is here.
New:
With the exception of the Analysis and Reflection section, links
older than October 12 have been archived.
Recent Reports
British
troop buildup blocked by Afghans November 20
US
strategy shifts to greater reliance on United Front ground troops
November 11 "Having first focused on winning over southern
leaders of the Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in the country,
the U.S. approach now is to use Special Forces on the ground
and bombers in the air to bolster rebel forces attacking Taliban
strongholds. With the fall of Mazar-e Sharif, a senior defense
official said, the Pentagon plans to take that tactic to other
parts of the country. "That strategy seems to be working,"
this source said. "Once we get the ability to coordinate
airstrikes, it gets pretty effective."
US psychological
operations team tries to fashion a message consistent with Afghan
culture November 8
Support
for US dropping world-wide as a result of bombing November
7 "A poll taken this week for France 3 television and France
Info radio, for instance, showed support among the French for
the U.S. military campaign has dropped to 51 percent, down from
66 percent shortly after the bombing began Oct. 7. Support also
has declined in Germany, where polls show more than 65 percent
of respondents now want the U.S. attacks to end, and in Spain,
where a poll for Cadena SER radio showed 69 percent of those
surveyed want the bombing to stop."
US
claims Taliban no longer capable of governing, reduced to pockets
of control November 5
US
considering Somalia as a target of anti-terrorist campaign
November 5
US
continues to prepare to send in more ground troops November
2
Powell says bombing will
continue over Ramadan November 1
Split
in US government over approach to Uzbekistan October 31
US-Iran
cooperation continues October 31
US commando
team prepares to seize Pakistani nucliear weapons if regime
threatened October 29 "Some of the government's most
experienced South Asia experts have doubts about Musharraf's
ability to maintain control over the military and its nuclear
arsenal in the event of a coup; there are also fears that a
dissident group of fundamentalist officers might try to seize
a warhead. The Army and the influential Inter-Services Intelligence,
or I.S.I., have long-standing religious and personal ties to
many of the leaders of the Taliban, dating back to Afghanistan's
war against the Soviet Union in the nineteen-eighties, when
Pakistan was the main conduit for American support." US
denies claim
Debate
grows within administration over resorting to assassinations
October 28
Threat Assessment (top) See
Security and Civil Liberties page
Position Statements (top)
Statement
by President Bush announcing bombing raids October 7
Column
by William Safire, calling for "preemptive retaliation"
against Iraq September 24 Included here because it is representative
of a "hawk" position both inside and outside the administration
that wants to target a series of countries after first attacking
bin Laden in Afghanistan. This group is opposed to a more limited
strategy proposed by Powell and others, which focuses on bin
Laden and his associates. For the hawks, Iraq should have been
reduced at the time of the Gulf War and, since it constitutes
an ongoing, developing threat, should be targeted now. Some
adherents argue that there either is or eventually will be evidence
linking Sadaam Hussein to September 11, while others say that
is not necessary. (if the page doesn't load, here
is a shorter version.)
Speech by President Bush, September 20 defining goals of
the campaign
New
York Times summary of President Bush's September 20 address
US Political and Diplomatic Response (top)
Israeli,
UK relations at most fractious point in years, September
25 Both the US and the UK are putting heavy pressure on Israel
to stop assassinations of Palestinians. "The row began
late last week when a senior Foreign Office source was quoted
in the Guardian describing Mr Sharon as being a cancer at the
heart of the Middle East conflict. The Israeli embassy in London
protested. The Israelis were unhappy with comments by Mr Straw
in a radio interview in which he referred to "Palestine",
which from the Israeli point of view is a diplomatic mistake:
there is no "Palestine", just a "Palestinian
authority", with the bulk of the West Bank still under
Israeli control. Furthermore, in an article published in the
Iranian press, Mr Straw wrote: "I understand that one of
the factors which helps breed terrorism is the anger which many
people in this region feel at events over the years in Palestine."
That left the Israelis apoplectic because it linked the events
in New York and Washington to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
As
"Infinite Justice" is reconsidered, how does the Pentagon
come up with names? September 24
Wall
Street Journal on differences within the Administration, September
21
Threat
of US military response passed to Taliban weeks before September
11 attack
LA
Times: US likely to downplay "local" terror, September
22
September
21: the US lifts sanctions against India and Pakistan
September
21: San Jose Mercury on the difficulties faced by Pakistan in
aligning with the US
US Military Response (top)
Flash
movie describing the "Daisy Cutter" fuel air bomb
November 7 Site connects with several other useful movies
US
expected to target elite Taliban unit largely composed of non-Afghans
October 14
A
review of weapons and goals of the first phase of US bombing
October 14
US Public Response (top)
Polls
show decline in public confidence in war effort, sense of safety
October 30 "In one of the most striking shifts, only 18
percent of Americans said they had a great deal of confidence
that the government could protect them from terrorism; a month
ago, 35 percent had such confidence. A majority, 58 percent,
said they had a fair amount of confidence. The rest had little
or no confidence."
Newsweek poll: Americans
believe will suffer many fatalities in upcoming terrorist attacks
October 21 "A narrow majority of Americans (52%) believes
the U.S. should not reduce its ties to Israel in order to lessen
the acts of terrorism against us, marking a slight decrease
since the last Newsweek Poll (56%)."
Analysis and Reflection (top)
Noam
Chomsky on The New War against Terror "...I’m
talking about the Reagan-US war against Nicaragua which left
tens of thousands of people dead, the country ruined, perhaps
beyond recovery....Nicaragua did respond. They didn’t respond
by setting off bombs in Washington. They responded by taking
it to the World Court, presenting a case, they had no problem
putting together evidence. The World Court accepted their case,
ruled in their favor, ordered the…condemned what they called
the “unlawful use of force,” which is another word
for international terrorism, by the United States, ordered the
United States to terminate the crime and to pay massive reparations.
The United States, of course, dismissed the court judgment with
total contempt and announced that it would not accept the jurisdiction
of the court henceforth."
Edward Said:
Suicidal Ignorance November 18 "Whatever else it says,
Bush's America remains a unilateralist power, in the world,
in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, everywhere. It shows no
sign of having understood what Palestinian resistance is all
about, or why Arabs resent its horrendously unjust policies
in turning a blind eye to Israel's maleficent sadism against
the Palestinian people as a whole. It still refuses to sign
the Kyoto convention, or the War Crimes court agreement, or
the anti-land-mine conventions, or to pay its UN dues."
Interview
with Tariq Ali November 9 "Q.: How would you explain
the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism, or what other authors
have called "political Islam"? Tariq Ali: The
seeds of Islamism were sown by the United States during the
Cold War. From the 50s to the 90s of the last century they supported
the bulwark of religion against the Communist enemy. When the
Cold War ended the groups they had supported began to get restless.
They're funding and, in some cases, arms supplies had been cut
off. Then came the Gulf War or the Second Oil War as I call
it. Most of the Islamists chose this moment to break definitively
with the West and garbed themselves in nationalist clothes.
All over the world there is a big vacuum. In the Arab world
this vacuum is the loss of both radical nationalism and communism.
The Islamists consciously chose to fill the vacuum.
Fisk:
hypocrisy rampant in presentation of the bombing campaign
November 8 "Far more persuasive has been a series of articles
in the Pakistani press on the outrageous treatment of Muslims
arrested in the United States in the aftermath of the September
atrocities.One such article should suffice. Headlined "Hate
crime victim's diary", in The News of Lahore, it outlined
the suffering of Hasnain Javed, who was arrested in Alabama
on 19 September with an expired visa. In prison in Mississippi,
he was beaten up by a prisoner who also broke his tooth. Then,
long after he had sounded the warden's alarm bell, more men
beat him against a wall with the words: "Hey bin Laden,
this is the first round. There are going to be 10 rounds like
this." There are dozens of other such stories in the Pakistani
press and most of them appear to be true."
Unintended
consequences of military intervention October
30 "This unpredictable cycle of action and reaction has
thwarted U.S. policy in southwestern Asia for 50 years. It began
with attempts to contain the Soviet Union and control the oil-rich
fields of the Persian Gulf, and continues today in the popular
assault in Afghanistan to destroy the al-Qa'ida terrorist network.
In that half century, nearly every major initiative led to an
unexpected and sometimes catastrophic reaction, for which new
military remedies were devised, only again to stir unforeseen
problems. The cycle, regrettably, may be repeating again."
Krugman:
war bonds/tax cut plan inadequate, hypocritical October
24 "So if war bonds are made available, they will be a
substitute for . . . what? At best, they will offer the same
return as ordinary government bonds, but carry different decorations.
So people who buy war bonds will be doing no more for their
country than people who choose postage stamps with a patriotic
theme. At worst, war bonds will
offer a lower return than ordinary bonds. And if some people
buy them nonetheless, what will they finance? Here's where that
tax bill enters the picture. The remarkable thing about the
"stimulus" package that passed the Ways and Means
Committee on a straight party-line vote is that it barely even
pretends to serve its ostensible function. It consists largely
of permanent tax cuts, not the temporary cuts that you would
expect in a stimulus package. It systematically gives money
to those least likely to spend it — that is, to high-income
taxpayers, and above all to large corporations."
Molly
Ivins: Pursue the terrorists legally October 23
Against
a new cold war "Some have argued against any change
in U.S. foreign policy in the near term. International law expert
Richard Falk wrote in The Nation, "Whatever the global
role of the United States--and it is certainly responsible for
much global suffering and injustice, giving rise to widespread
resentment that at its inner core fuels the terrorist impulse--it
cannot be addressed so long as this movement of global terrorism
is at large and prepared to carry on with its demonic work."In
fact, the opposite is true: Now is precisely the tSime to address
these long-term issues.Here we can actually take a page from
"liberal" counterinsurgency experts who saw that the
best way to defeat movements of national liberation was to win
the hearts and minds of people rather than try to defeat them
militarily."
Between
mindless bombing and mindless pacifism
Liberals
stuck in scold mode
Try
the terrorists in court "Everyone heaved a sigh of
relief when there was restraint shown by the US and George Bush
acknowledged that this is a "different type of war".
And then the US embarked on a conventional war by bombing Afghanistan.
By doing so it may have played into the hands of the terrorists.
For terrorism to flourish there has to be a feeling of injustice
which breeds the anger and hatred needed to produce someone
desperate enough to kill himself for his cause."
Former
US ambassador to Iraq calls war plan "dumb" Transcript
of CNN Crossfire from October 8 "The difficulty that we
face is that I support -- because I understand how democracy
works -- we have to go out and do the sorts of things we are
doing. So we will mercilessly, viciously, effectively attack
and destroy all kinds of symptoms. When the rubble has settled
and the dust is gone, the disease is still going to be out there
untouched. Because we don't want to look at why, why it is that
all of these people hate us. It's not because of freedom. It's
not because Brittney Spears has a belly button or because we
export hamburgers. They hate us because of things they see us
doing to their part of the world that they definitely do not
like."
Pakistan:
Why They Hate Us "In dozens of interviews around this
country last week, Pakistanis across all tribal, religious,
and economic backgrounds spoke about U.S.-Pakistan relations
with a mixture of sadness and hostility. For 40 years, until
1990, Pakistan prided itself on being America's closest friend
in the region; U.S. policies in the last decade have erased
that trust. Among the many injustices Pakistanis feel have been
visited upon them by the U.S., the most commonly heard were:
U.S. backing of Israel, insufficient support in Pakistan's long-running
battles with India, and anger at U.S. sanctions imposed after
Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests. And in the conservative North
West Frontier Province bordering on Afghanistan, one heard spirited
defenses of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and a veritable fury
at imminent U.S. attacks on them."
The
new Saladin "As a figurehead he is in a win-win situation:
if he is captured or killed, he becomes a martyr, like Qutb,
whose menace increases posthumously; if he remains at large,
his heroic status is enhanced. Already he may be credited with
something no other Muslim leader has achieved: the eruption
of a damaging public row between the US and its closest ally,
Israel. "
Steve Perry: What to do? "My
modest proposal is as follows. If the U.S. wants to ensure the
safety of its domestic populace and more workable accommodations
to the emerging powers of the Middle East, it should proceed
along two lines. First bin Laden. Directly guilty or not, his
elimination is a foregone conclusion. So genuflect to his pursuit
by a clumsy spy satellite game of Where's Waldo? and cheer his
eventual
demise. Grunt a lot in public about the evils of terrorism,
but meanwhile take steps in the background to retool U.S. Mideast
policy. Take a step back from sponsorship of Israeli aggressions
against the Palestinians. The Israelis will balk but considering
the amount of U.S. aid at stake-$2 billion annually in military
aid, and nearly a billion in non-military support-they will
make their peace soon enough. Likewise, back away from the unconditional
support of Arab client regimes that repress their own people
in the name of continuing U.S. control of the region's oil supply.
Be prepared to deal flexibly with regimes ambivalent toward
traditional American domination of the Middle East. The first
Cold War is over, after all, and there is no countervailing
power to foil American access to the area's oil reserves."
The
Empire Strikes Back "But in terms of the actual balance
of forces, the bin Laden video looked to us more like political
obituary than a fearsome call to arms. Though there are plenty
of mountain caves for him to hide in and probably plenty of
bin Laden lookalikes roaming the Hindukush as decoys, it may
not be long before he's either sitting up there with Allah and
the houris, or writhing in the seventh circle of hell, depending
on which God you believe in. Included in Dante's seventh circle
are those who offer violence against self (the suicide bombers),
violence against neighbors, violence against God. The eighth
circle was reserved for ordinary fraud and the ninth for complex
or treacherous fraud, meaning that Dante got stung in some bad
business deals."
On
"limp liberal apologists" for the Taliban and the
need for a new policy towards Israel "On Afghanistan,
limp liberals only distinguish themselves from the old left
by adding rather more hand-wringing. Limp liberals are always
on the side of peace because it is more morally comfortable.
They claim a monopoly of pity, castigating the other side as
heartless armchair warriors. They hesitate because the outcome
is uncertain: no one can guarantee things will end well. But
they will never be to blame for anything, because they never
stood up for anything, always seeking third way escapes from
hard choices. "
Ariel
Dorfman: the coup in Chile, September 11, 1973 "Over
and over again I have heard phrases that remind me of what people
like me would mutter to themselves during the 1973 military
coup and the days that followed: "This cannot be happening
to us. This sort of excessive violence happens to other people
and not to us, we have only known this form of destruction through
movies and books and remote photographs." And words reiterated
unceasingly, 28 years ago and now again in the year 2001: "We
have lost our innocence. The world will never be the same."
Robert
Fisk: in the Middle East, Bush and Blair are not out-talking
bin Laden October 10 "Arabs listened with different
ears. They heard a voice which accused the West of double standards
and "arrogance'' towards the Middle East, a voice which
addressed the central issue in the lives of so many Arabs: the
Palestinian- Israeli conflict and the continuation of Israeli
occupation. Now, as a long-time resident of Cairo put it yesterday,
Arabs believe America "is trying to kill the one man ready
to tell the truth''. Arab civilians, usually uneasy about identifying
themselves when their views conflict with their government,
are now speaking more freely about their anger. "They say
their target is bin Laden,'' Samar al-Naji said in Jordan. "Then
they strike at innocent people in Afghanistan who have nothing
to do with terrorism. "They strike Muslims while ignoring
the acts of Israel, the terrorist state which is demolishing
Palestinian homes and killing women and children.''
The
bombardment begins, amidst worries about Bosnia "But
there's a fresh entrant shooting up the charts. Sunday's Los
Angeles Times carried a long analysis feature asserting that
Bosnia may be the "common cradle" of future terrorist
actions against Europe and America. The story points to Bosnia
as the source of a foiled terror attack on the Los Angeles International
Airport during last year's millennium celebrations, as well
as a more recent plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Paris. The
Times reporters further claim that al-Qaida operatives have
been fleeing Afghanistan for Bosnia en masse since the September
11 attacks, and that numerous among them carry Bosnian passports
to deflect the suspicion of international intelligence agencies."
Fisk
appeals to journalists to avoid sliding into patriotic obfuscation
October 9 "The Taliban have kept reporters out. But does
that mean we have to balance this distorted picture with our
own half-truths? So hard did a colleague of mine try, in a radio
interview the other day, to unlink the bin Laden phenomenon
from the West's baleful history in the Middle East that he seriously
suggested that the attacks were timed to fall on the anniversary
of the defeat of Muslim forces at the gates of Vienna in 1683.
Unfortunately, the Poles won their battle against the Turks
on 12, not 11, September."
Analysis
of early US Taliban policy emphasizes oil interests October
7
Robert
Fisk doubts evidence released so far will convince most Arabs
October 5
Russian cooperation
will give them free hand in Chechnya
Controversy began with Noam Chomsky explaining the attacks within
the context of US foreign policy. Christopher Hitchens responded
by arguing that critical emphasis must be placed on the terrorists
as representative of Islamic fascism
Noam
Chomsky on the attacks and US Mideast policy
Christopher
Hitchens: the Face of Islamic Fascism "But the
bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face,
and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate
about "the West," to put it in a phrase, is not what
Western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own
system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its
emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of
religion from the state. Loose talk about chickens coming home
to roost is the moral equivalent of the hateful garbage emitted
by Falwell and Robertson, and exhibits about the same intellectual
content."
Alexander
Cockburn questions Hitchens' analysis, argues anger over US
policies motivated terrorists "In fact, if I had to
cite what steeled the homicidal and suicidal resolve of the
kamikaze bombers, my list would surely include the exchange
on CBS in 1996 between Madeleine Albright, then U.S. ambassador
to the United Nations, and Lesley Stahl. Stahl: "We have
heard that half a million children have died [in Iraq]. I mean,
that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know,
is the price worth it?" Albright: "I think this is
a very hard choice, but the price? We think the price is worth
it." They read that exchange in the Middle East. It was
infamous all over the Arab world."
Chomsky
offers critique of Hitchens
Hitchens' response to Chomsky
Alex
Callinicos reponds to Hitchens
Doug
Kellner on the "Blowback" phenomenon also reviews
media coverage immediately after the attacks on September 11
Edward Said on the
necessity of skepticism, views of US policies October 2
Demand
that Afghani allies sign a contract on rights for women
September 28 "Primitive Middle Eastern religions (and most
others) are much the same - Islam, Christianity and Judaism
all define themselves through disgust for women's bodies. There
are ritual baths, churching, shaving heads, denying abortion
and contraception, arranged marriage, purdah, barring unclean
women access to the altar, let alone the priesthood, letting
men divorce but not women..."
Still
waiting for clear statement of US war goals September 28
Slate:
is this a war for and against freedom? September 28
Will
national solidarity undercut international labor cooperation?
September 28
The
war on terrorism: who will pay, who will profit? September
27 examines maneuvering to gain a share of increased Pentagon
funding
Long-term
commitment to Afghanistan necessary to contain terror September
25 "Rubin said the Taliban's grip on power is becoming
increasingly fragile in the wake of the September 11 terrorist
attacks against the United States. Discipline within Taliban
ranks is unraveling, and the movement's soldiers are starting
to engage in looting, Rubin said. Opposition elements within
Afghanistan are "looking for signs to move against the
Taliban," but first want assurances that the Taliban supporters
in Pakistan will not engage in reprisals."
Hitchens
defends his assertion that the attackers represent an Islamic
fascist tendency September 25
Robert Fisk argues for international tribunal, not war September
25
A
former US ambassador on counterterrorism expresses his misgivings
"The most important deficiency in US counterterrorism policy
has been the failure to address the root causes of terrorism.
Indeed, there is a tendency to treat terrorism as pure evil
in a vacuum, to say that changes in foreign policy intended
to reduce it will only "reward" terrorists."
A
cautionary note: will oil interests become interworked with
the war against terrorism? for background, read
this
The
category of terrorist is very broad, at least according to the
FBI
Naomi
Klein on popular tolerance of collateral killing of noncombatants,
September 24
Edward Said: Black September,
Collective Passions
Interesting
flash movie encouraging caution in military reprisals
Physicians for
Social Responsibility urge international cooperation, defunding
antimissle program
Noam
Chomsky on the attacks and US Mideast policy
Jack
Goldstone, University of California, Davis Posted September
18, he sees two distinct viewpoints in administration circles,
including one he attributes to Colin Powell, and offers some
predictions.
Robert
Fisk, columnist for the Independent, Britain Posted on September
16, he fears the Administration is walking into a trap. His
analysis of the links of the attacks to US Mideast policy is
trenchant, including a report on a visit to a missle factory
in Georgia.
Letter from
poet Robin Morgan, September 19
Jay
Demerath, Amherst importance of a bully pulpit, as opposed
to bullying and war-mongering.
Ahmed
Rashid writes on US regional policy, Washington Post September
21
From
Libya to Afghanistan: Five decades of intervention by Vijay
Prashad
September
11: A Day That Will Live in Infamy in the US and Chile by
Roger Burbach
Appeal
by 600 Israelis and Palestinians (September 17, 2001)
