Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 22, 2001 | Robert Scheer

[Leonf]

Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously.

That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention.

[Leonf]

Note the date! Very profound.

[KC_Conspirator]

Robert Scheer is a viscious leftist and is no doubt secret cheering this attack on Americans with his coffee house revolutionary friends.

[dep]

we used to attempt to demonstrate that we cared about other nations, even those who wished us ill, and sought to have them understand that we did not wish them ill.

on tuesday, we ceased to have such caring. the flip side of our coin is about to be made visible.

dep

[The Old Hoosier]

We were already cozying up to the Taliban under Clinton. We should remember that there is enough blame to go around. Our foreign policy is usually non-political, except in the grave cases (Israel) in which Clinton really fuxxed everything up, while lobbying for a nobel peace prize.

[Leonf]

May be -- but what is really, really important is whether the statements made in this article is true or not.

If someone comes to me and says, "Hey, man, your house is on fire", wondering what church he belongs to would not be my first concern.

[vmatt]

"The Taliban may suddenly be the dream regime of our own war drug war zealots, but in the end this alliance will prove a costly failure. Our long sad history of signing up dictators in the war on drugs demonstrates the futility of building a foreign policy on a domestic obsession."

Good point.

[Lizavetta]

That he's a leftie is irrelevant. Is what he's saying true or not?

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Does that mean we the Bush administration did not give the Taliban $43 million just last Thursday, when by their own admission bin Laden is a "guest" of their regime?

[ConsistentLibertarian]

"we used to attempt to demonstrate that we cared about other nations, even those who wished us ill, and sought to have them understand that we did not wish them ill" Is that why we supported the Shah for which the Iranian people hated us? Is that why we supported the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Chile and the dictatorship of Pinochet? Is that why we supported Oligarchs and death squads in Central America or why we supported Iraq in its war with Iran?

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I thought Clinton bombed Afganistan in an attempt to get bin Ladin. That's coyzing up?

[Stavka2]

You are so right, US policy is none political. It is also amoral, driven only by one desire, money and the making of more money, regardless of how many Americans get to die for it.

[dighton]

</marquee up></marquee up></marquee up></marquee up> Font fix?

Scheer Lunacy at the Los Angeles Times

[A. Pole]

on tuesday, we ceased to have such caring. the flip side of our coin is about to be made visible

So what does it mean - no more support for KLA?

[unsycophant]

Pure bullshit.

[michaelt]

Ok, Scheer, we're not supposed to deal with the Taliban, but it's ok to deal with Cuba, we were supposed to treat the Sandinistas with full respect, but it wasn't ok to trade with racist South Africa, but our embargo of Iraq is immoral....

Listen, our foreign policy hasn't been exactly perfectly consistent over the years, but those who are just as inconsistent shouldn't be criticizing others for the same thing.

The US dealing with what eventually became the Taliban and bin Laden's group is an exact example of not only the messiness of international relations, but of what this country is going to have to do more of in the future: deal with unsavory people in order to further our interests and achieve our goals.

[Leonf]

And that brings another question to mind:

Was any of the $43 million we shipped to the Taliban used for buying tickets and rental cars by the terrorists? If so, I think we ought to insist on a refund.