My sage friend of Canadian-Indian-Muslim background, who made observations earlier today about the Taliban's progress in Pakistan, writes:
Regarding the comment:
Then neo-cons loved jihadis. They were pointed at the godless Soviets. Eqbal Ahmad, the celebrated Pakistan intellectual, observed in 1998:
"Wow! Now that I think of it...there is NOT one continent that hasn't been touched by jihad. It's everywhere. And 70% of it has nothing to do with Israel."
Not true-the antecedents to the Taliban jihad lie in the ant-Soviet jihad sponsored by the holy trinity: United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. The anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan is when and where many jihadis got their training courtesy of the American taxpayer and Saudi royal family. Then neo-cons loved jihadis. They were pointed at the godless Soviets. Eqbal Ahmad, the celebrated Pakistan intellectual, observed in 1998:
The United States and its allies supplied to the Mujahideen an estimated ten billion dollars worth of arms and aid. They also invested in this Jihad the legitimacy of their enormous power, and the luster of their media made glory. On one especially memorable occasion when Afghanistan 's hard line Islamist visited the White House, President Ronald Reagan described them as the Muslim world's "moral equivalent of our founding fathers."
Within a year of the Soviet intervention, Afghanistan was on its way to becoming a pan-Islamic Jihad. Hundreds, eventually thousands, of young Muslims from places as far apart as Algeria and the Philippines, Sudan and Sinkiang traveled to Peshawar and Torkham, received training in the use of arms, and under the strict guidance of various Islamic parties became ideologically ripe and tasted more or less of the Jihad-in-the-path-of-God. The United States government and its vaunted intelligence agency saw in this process a cold war opportunity to pit militant Islam against communism.
Within a year of the Soviet intervention, Afghanistan was on its way to becoming a pan-Islamic Jihad. Hundreds, eventually thousands, of young Muslims from places as far apart as Algeria and the Philippines, Sudan and Sinkiang traveled to Peshawar and Torkham, received training in the use of arms, and under the strict guidance of various Islamic parties became ideologically ripe and tasted more or less of the Jihad-in-the-path-of-God. The United States government and its vaunted intelligence agency saw in this process a cold war opportunity to pit militant Islam against communism.
Oh, thank you, "sage friend of Canadian-Indian-Muslim background." You were commenting on one of our resident troll's once-again inane spewings on this board. [I'm becoming somewhat convinced that Suzanne might be a Gen Y military neophyte tasked with an Information Roadmap job, and writing from a script.]
The movie: Charlie Wilson's War.
this messaage is to you, you disguised zionist!!!:
actually, enough said! I bet that donation link u have in ur front page allows for generous contributions donated by the richest jews of the world!!!
'The United States government and its vaunted intelligence agency saw in this [anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan] a cold war opportunity to pit militant Islam against communism.'
Precisely. Al Qaeda ['the base'] was simply the CIA's database to keep track of the players, the weapons distribution, and the cash handouts. Eventually the U.S.-sponsored training blew back with disastrous results — a couple of skyscrapers in New York fell down. [Actually three did, but the collapse of WTC-7 can't possibly be attributed to aircraft collision since it wasn't hit.]
So-o-o-o-o … as George Bush might say, 'Is our leaders learning?' Evidently not. Today President Dubya Obama signed the order to send 17,000 more cannon-fodder soldiers to Afghanistan, fulfilling his promise made to bloodthirsty 'Jewish leaders' last summer.
Which goes to show that nothing has changed except a meaningless party label. 'Hope' is for dopes. Let's go outside and torch some cars and smash some bricks through store windows. This Molotov cocktail is for you, Barry …
Those 17,000 GIs enlisted because they couldn't find a job–look at their trip to Afghanland as part of Obama's stimulus package. They will be a drop in the bucket, virtually useless there. Afhanland is not Iraq. What was Obama thinking? Surely he read the update he asked his own people to do? Better to have sent in 17,000 agriculture students to illustrate to the natives how they can grow a different crop than
dope.
Let's hope that Obama's stimulus plan doesn't involve WW III, like FDR.
Since when was this news or worthy of a post? I know how tempting it is to respond to the maladroits but really, what's good for US policy means marriage of conviences. And this isn't past tense either. Re: Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon. Right now we're seeing a pumped up Salafi-sect to counter the Shiite influence in the region. When that blows up in their faces (maybe literally), then it's on to the next useful proxy. (Gee, we all forget Kosovo Albanians too.)
Sorry but Saudi Arabia was much more involved in developing Islamic fundamentalism than America ever was.