>[C]ivilian casualty _is_ the
> main reason to criticize the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan; we
> criticize them for having killed so many civilians and destroyed the
> Afghan countryside, not for having fought the CIA-backed mujahideen
> at all (in my opinion, the Soviets should have simply given Afghan
> socialists weapons, rather than directly waging war on mujahideen).
> I'm sure you don't like this asymmetry, but those who oppose US
> imperialism are not doing so out of what you might call
> bleeding-heart sentiments.
But Parenti never made this distinction, and neither did the pro-Soviet left, to my memory. "Wipe 'em out!" was all I heard back then; but if you have contrary evidence, I'm sure the list would be happy to read it.
> As for the feasibility of policing Al Qaeda and other terrorists, the
> alleged AQ members that the US government _has_ arrested have been
> mainly caught in Pakistan (where the highest ranking member Abu
> Zubaydah was arrested), Buffalo, NY, etc. -- in 95 countries, as of
> May 27, 2002: "Since last fall, 1,600 suspected operatives of
> al-Qaeda have been arrested in 95 countries" (@
> <http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/05/27/time.alqaeda/>). Just how
> many AQ members have been caught by US or NA or other forces in
> Afghanistan?
The members of Al-Q who weren't killed, fled to Pakistan, which makes sense, given that it was their main sponsor. As for Afghanistan, I once again turn to Ahmed Rashid's "Taliban," page 140:
"The Arab-Afghans had come full circle. From being mere appendages to the Afghan jihad and the Cold War in the 1980s they had taken centre stage for the Afghans, neighbouring countries and the West in the 1990s. The USA was now paying the price for ignoring Afghanistan between 1992 and 1996, while the Taliban were providing sanctuary to the most hostile and militant Islamic fundamentalist movement the world faced in the post-Cold War era. Afghanistan was now truly a haven for Islamic internationalism and terrorism and the Americans and the West were at a loss as to handle it."
That is, until after 9/11/01.
Now, however, it's All Saddam, All The Time.
DP