NPR has been sending crack reporter Rachel Martin to Afghanistan to accompany military bigwigs so that she can dutifully repeat what they say. And she doesn't fail.
On Tuesday morning she provided a positive account of her trips in Afghanistan with "Major General John Campbell...the U.S. commander in charge of the area in the eastern part of Afghanistan right along the Afghan-Pakistan border." She stated:
- "So as you can hear, clearly this is an issue that gets under Campbell's skin: corruption. And it's another part of the war that commanders are trying to get a handle on." [Of course, as always on NPR, the corruption they're talking about is Afghan corruption - since the Americans involved in the Afghanistan War are above reproach.]
- "But in other places where Campbell's troops are operating, they seem to have captured the momentum at least for the time being."
- "General Campbell is adamant. He says that they are making progress every day. He sees examples of this progress, but it's really a mixed bag."
- "Vowell says part of the reason violence is up is because the Pakistani military has pressured insurgents on its side of the border, and now they're being pushed over here into Afghanistan. Stirring up the hornet's nest is what some military officials call it. And Secretary Gates told U.S. soldiers in Kunar that it's working."
- "The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said the Taliban still has areas where it can operate freely, but there have been gains."
[Gates]: "...And as a result, more and more Afghan people are able to live without being terrorized."See, the first step of saving the Afghan people has been accomplished with the gentle boots on the ground of the super-careful, relationship-building US military. Good thing the US isn't leaving Afghanistan anytime soon - otherwise the poor Afghans would be terrorized all over again.
[Martin]: "That is just the first step. The next goal is getting Afghan forces to take responsibility for providing security one province at a time, and ultimately for the Afghans to take full control of the security situation by the end of 2014."
9 comments:
In the great tradition of propaganda, at least the Nazis had Leni Riefenstahl, a great director. The Soviets had great composers.
Us? We got NPR.
I bet if there was a DRAFT there would be a lot more than a tiny amount of comments on these Afghanistan stories. Either these wars are worth fighting or they aren't. The "greatest military the world has ever seen" apparently can't defeat the Taliban - (or whatever achieving "victory" means any given moment).
Sometimes I think the war isn't fought with the idea of actually being won. If it were won, then it would be over and the gravy train of corruption would just stop. No one wants that! Not the "contractors", not the military, not the Taliban and certainly not NPR! (along with the rest of the incestuous media)
Yeah,I heard the back and forth with Steve Inskeep this week, and I found it pretty amazing. I thought: the yearbook editor goes to war, and all is swell.
"General Campbell is adamant. He says that they are making progress every day. He sees examples of this progress, but it's really a mixed bag."
..and the cat escaped a long time ago.
"Either these wars are worth fighting or they aren't. "
They are obviously very much worth fighting for Blackwater/Xe, GE, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and all the other companies that continue to rake in the dough.
..and for all the people in the US (engineers, scientists, etc) who work for these companies.
In the US, there is a huge economic disincentive working against the absence of war.
It doesn't much matter whether the "enemy" is "defeated" or not because as soon as one enemy is "vanquished", a new bogey-man is "invented" to keep the war machine rolling along.
A draft might change that but it is very unlikely that such a draft would ever be reinstated because as it stands now, the privatization of our wars is HUGELY financially beneficial to the military contractors, who represent a well funded lobby AGAINST reinstatement of the draft.
The more war is privatized, the less likely the draft becomes -- which works out just fine for Congress and the President as well, for which such a reinstatement is essentially a political "third rail".
It would be hugely unpopular with the public, most of whom prefer NOT to get their hands dirty from -- or even KNOW about -- their wars.
Though few would actually admit it, the attitude is obviously "Better to let a few poor 'volunteers' (saps) do all the dirty work, get killed and maimed so we can all enjoy the good life here at home and never have to see any of the stuff that actually goes on."
The latter is the most perverse part of the whole thing.
When many (not all, but I suspect a rather large fraction of) folks in the US claim they "support our troops", what they are really saying is they support being able to ignore what is going on in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and other places around the world and continue to go on "living their lives" unaffected by it all -- going to the mall and movie theater, drinking lattes at Starbucks, etc.
It's actually a very sick -- and morally bankrupt-- attitude.
Dear Sir or Madam,
Another fine deconstruction of more insane propaganda. Why can't the NPR "Ombudsman" respond - point by point - to critiques like this one? I've been wondering (and begging for it) for years.
Keep up the good work,
Benoit Balz,
NY, NY
La Show had a great (imo) bit yesterday where Afghanistan Public Radio Presents Kharzi Talk played. Not only does he bust on US "policy" but busted NPR for their running crap like Car Talk. You would think that the weekends would be the place for NPR to shine in the "public affairs" area. But no, they descend into drivel like Car Talk.
The other day someone posted about lack of knowledge on the part of NPR listeners and financial supporters (not the Capitalists but the rank and file). This is partly by design but . . . the "public" really doesn't want to know about the collapsing American empire and the total (imo) domination of government and, increasingly civic life, being controlled from board rooms. As long as they listen to NPR all's well. NPR: We said what we were told to say! Send money!
Loved the yearbook editor comment.
La Show had a great (imo) bit yesterday where Afghanistan Public Radio Presents Kharzi Talk played. Not only does he bust on US "policy" but busted NPR for their running crap like Car Talk. You would think that the weekends would be the place for NPR to shine in the "public affairs" area. But no, they descend into drivel like Car Talk.
The other day someone posted about lack of knowledge on the part of NPR listeners and financial supporters (not the Capitalists but the rank and file). This is partly by design but . . . the "public" really doesn't want to know about the collapsing American empire and the total (imo) domination of government and, increasingly civic life, being controlled from board rooms. As long as they listen to NPR all's well. NPR: We said what we were told to say! Send money!
Loved the yearbook editor comment.
edk
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