Forgive me but I tend to be rather short with "left" tactics and strategy that presuppose this to be some sort of legitimate self-defense action rather than an imperialist war.
However, even if this war did have some degree of legitimacy - but Pilger has already said it's not about ObL but about OiL - we still have no business discussing military tactics. First of all, we're not qualified (hence my crack about Sandhurst), and I doubt anyone is, seeing how the rapid NA advance took everyone by surprise. Hitchens is going to look even sillier than he does now when Kabul blows up again, just like it did the last time the NA took it. All those cheering the "success" of US tactics will look glum indeed if the Afghans - not necessarily the Talibs - start filling up US body bags through the winter. We would really be assholes to root for a massive US troop commitment if that turned out to mean blowing up civilians from the ground rather than from the air, or a bunch of MyLai's and "free-fire zone"s rather than "kill boxes". And that brings me to the second reason: Endorsing a military move means endorsing - at the very least - its immediate consequences. Do we trust the Pentagon that much? Do we really want to put our John Hancock on all the future corpses and devastation?
What military tactic would further the demise of the imperialists? Big batallions? Blitzkrieg? Tactical nukes? Anything we say will be hogwash, nuts, or worse.
Hakki Alacakaptan
|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
|| [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Greg Schofield
|| Hakki, just as this arrived so did an article by Pilger which
|| looks at the very thing Chris suggests " it is worth reviewing
|| the question of tactics and strategy of the left."
||
|| Pilger below simply follows the military and political struggle
|| and draws out the contradictions. There is no simplistic
|| anti-war sentiment here, indeed one aspect is that it is a
|| continuous comment on the inability of the ruling class to move
|| sensibly and implied is the demand for NO MORE SUPERPOWER
|| rather than no more war.