Three Connected Conflicts – Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Paul Rogers

February 2010

At the beginning of February, ISAF sources announced that a major military offensive was about to be mounted in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. This was Operation Moshtarak (“together”), involving 15,000 US, British and Afghan National Army troops, and would concentrate on clearing Taliban and other paramilitary groups from two areas, one of them centred on the town of Marja. The publicity given to the operation appeared designed partly to encourage civilians to evacuate areas under Taliban influence, but would also serve to highlight the capabilities of coalition forces at a time when support for the war in the United States and Britain was fragile. (more…)

The Afghanistan War: Origins and Consequences

Paul Rogers, July 2009

During the course of late June and through much of July, US and British troops engaged in major combat operations in southern Afghanistan, principally in Helmand Province. There was substantial fighting, with British troops taking some of the heaviest casualties of the eight-year war. Although there were still frequent instances of violence in Iraq, including major suicide bomb attacks, it was evident that the focus of western military operations had moved from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan. (more…)

The reality of war in Afghanistan

By Stephen Kinzer

October 15, 2008

DESPITE their differences over how to pursue the US war in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama both want to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Both are wrong. History cries out to them, but they are not listening.

Both candidates would do well to gaze for a moment on a painting by the British artist Elizabeth Butler called “Remnants of an Army.” It depicts the lone survivor of a 15,000-strong British column that sought to march through 150 kilometers of hostile Afghan territory in 1842. His gaunt, defeated figure is a timeless reminder of what happens to foreign armies that try to subdue Afghanistan. (more…)

Iraq: Detainees Describe Torture In Secret Jail

By Human Rights Watch

29 April, 2010

Human Rights Watch

(Baghdad) - Detainees in a secret Baghdad detention facility were hung upside-down, deprived of air, kicked, whipped, beaten, given electric shocks, and sodomized, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraq should thoroughly investigate and prosecute all government and security officials responsible, Human Rights Watch said. (more…)

Iraq: Bloody Policies And Criminal Authorities: Arrests, Assassinations, Deportation Of Millions, Torture

By The BRussells Tribunal

03 May, 2010

Brussellstribunal.org

Appeal to Stop Repression and State Crimes in Iraq

For the BRussells Tribunal, its supporters and audience, secret prisons in Iraq are no surprise. We made repeated alerts during years that repression in the “New Iraq” is systematic.

Repression in Iraq takes multiple forms: deprivation of resources and services, arrests, assassinations, deportation of millions, torture of every kind, death squads, hanging and other death penalties, confiscating property and houses, blowing up residences, markets and groupings, killing at checkpoints and in the streets for no reason, (more…)

The “New” Iraq

By Ghali Hassan

04 May, 2010

Countercurrents.org

Seven years after the illegal invasion of Iraq by the Anglo-American fascist armies, it is clear today that the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Iraqi nation was premeditated and unprovoked act of naked aggression aimed at expanding U.S.-Israel Zionist power. These barbaric crimes ‘should never be forgotten and never be forgiven’. (more…)