I'm home/No Habeas Corpus for "Any Person"/Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
fc
Phew. I'm home.
We left Kandahar, early on the sixth.... three days ago? It feels like
longer. But then, time gets distorted in Afghanistan, because the days
all begin at six and end at two or three a.m. on the following morning...
the days run together, one into the next, until after a week you've
lost track of everything but the basic, such as: where am I right now?
Where do I need to be next? Where will be bunk down tonight, and do
they have internet access, and is it accessible to us?
What an extraordinary ten days. The last time I blogged, we were at
the PRT - Camp Nathan Smith, in Kandahar City. That was a real
eyeopener for me, because I saw all manner of things that I hadn't
expected to see. There are new buildings, large ones, all over the
camp, where 18 months ago there were none. There are new buildings
going up in Kandahar City too - mainly police stations, which is
critical, because they serve as bases for the Afghan police, which
helps them project power, which helps establish order. The environment
remains extremely dangerous, and Canadian soldiers and aid workers are
constantly under threat of attack. But the force projected on the
ground is such , and the level of training now of the new Afghan army
is such, that the omnipresent sense of chaos is, well, lessening.
That's not at all what I expected to find. It could turn the other way
in a heartbeat, but from what I saw, there is progress. The cost in
lives, the cost in aid dollars, is achieving concrete, if slow,
results. That's not what most Canadians understand to be the case, is
it?
The day we left the PRT, I had mixed feelings. I'd have liked to stay
on longer, to write about what's happening there. It really is one of
the most extraordinary stories I've ever come across, in 15 years in
this business - a small, tight-knit group of Canadians, doing
incredible work under the most bizarrely difficult, dangerous
condidtions, and actually getting somewhere. But we had to go. We were
ferried out on a Blackhawk helicopter, provided by the United States,
back to Kandahar Airfield. Our tent had moved in our absence, and the
new spot was actually quite a bit better than the old. It was near Old
Canada House. New Canada House, a much large building a 20-minute walk
away, is a marvel by comparison. It has its own PX store, a barber
shop, conference rooms, all the amenities of home. Old Canada house is
homier, a little grittier, older. There's a big poster of Don Cherry
on the wall. Upstairs, where we set up to write, is a little library,
with two or three shelves of paperpacks, mostly thrillers, which the
soldiers use in their time off.
Our last night at KAF, my colleague Lindsey Wiebe, from the Winnipeg
Free Press, went over to the coalition hospital and spoke with the
doctors and nurses there. That's a story I still need to write -
didn't have time to finish it before we left. The hospital is very
well-equipped, just like any hospital in Canada, but it treats more
severe trauma injuries than any hospital in Canada ever would. The
night we were there an Afghan man and his son were brought in by
helicopter and treated. They were hurt in a motorcycle crash. It turns
out the vast majority of casualties at the hospital are Afghan, not
coalition soldiers. The hospital treats enemy fighters too: Under the
Geneva Conventions, we provide medical care to all combatants,
regardless of which side they're on. There's a special room at the
back of the main operating theatre, where they keep Taliban
casualties, under guard.
So many stories I'd like to have done, but didn't have time for.
There's the British soldier, attached to the Canadian contingent, who
sets up wireless internet and other networks for the troops. The
internet has completely changed the way troops can communicate with
families back home. One soldier in Kabul told me that Canadians at
Camp Souter, a British compound in the capitol, have benefited
tremendously from the wireless internet there, because it means they
can chat in their free time with wives and girlfriends back home.
Imagine what that must mean to military families when one spouse is
posted in Afghanistan for six months at a time.
Today I'm exhausted - wiped, actually. For ten days straight we worked
no less than 16 hours a day, often 20. There was no other way to file.
We were moving all day, reporting, meeting people, taking notes, doing
interviews, and always travelling at the end of the day, often in full
frag vest and helmet, because of the threat environment. Usually we'd
get to our evening berth by 8 or nine, grab a bite to eat, then start
to work. Filing was always tricky, because of limited bandwidth or
networks going down. So normally we'd finish around 2 am. Then it was
up at six the next day. But here's the kicker: Canadian soldiers over
there work at this pace for six months at a time. They get one break
on the tour, during which the military will fly them home for a week
or so with their families. Or, they can head to Thailand or some other
vacation spot. But once they're back in Kandahar or Kabul, they work
flat-out, and if there's no time to sleep, they just don't sleep.
Being here, safe in Canada, on Thanskgiving no less, was a surreal
experience. Driving home, I listened to the Thanksgiving broadcast on
the CBC. So many of the things we in Canada fret about, worry about,
fuss and complain about - man, would we have a different perspective
if more of us saw how the other half live.
* * *
And you had the largest DECREASE in heroin production in Afghanistan
in the years BEFORE the invasion. The huge increase since has been
accredited to the existing ruling groups (i.e. NOT necessary the
Central Government, but the warlords supporting it and which it
depends on).
As to the Taliban using Heroin, I do NOT doubt it, Pakistan and the
Warlords AGAINST the Taliban have used Heroin as a source of Income
since 1990 (and other Guerrillas have used Drugs as a source of income
for decades). The problem with this is that in 2000, as the Taliban
ruled most of Afghanistan, it banned opium production AND ENFORCED THE
LAW (i.e. you actually saw a drop in production form 285 square Miles
to just 30 Square miles within a year, and most of th e30 miles wa sin
areas controlled by the Northern Alliance NOT the Taliban). Thus while
today, the Taliban is financing itself via heroin, so is the Northern
Alliance warlords, Pakistan and anyone else who can get the drugs out
of Afghanistan. Thus the money is NOT always to the Taliban. The
support for the Taliban extends beyond the Heroin trade as does the
support for the Taliban.
Pakistan and the Heroin Trade:
http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper288.html
the CIA and Afghanistan Heroin Trade:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO404A.html
http://www.drugwar.com/cv37.shtm
The Collapse of the Tababan helped the Heroin trade:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/12/04/attack/main32...
"Thus while today, the Taliban is financing itself via heroin, so is
the Northern Alliance warlords, Pakistan and anyone else who can get
the drugs out of Afghanistan. Thus the money is NOT always to the
Taliban. The support for the Taliban extends beyond the Heroin trade
as does the support for the Taliban."
* * *
Friday, October 12, 2007
Top 25 Under-Reported News Stories
http://thatslifeinthecity.blogspot.com/2007/10/top-25-under-reported-news-stories.html
http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2008/
#1 No Habeas Corpus for "Any Person"
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
* *
Narcotics and politics, an untold story?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/14/11471/036
* *
secrets
http://kingofheartsmaybeschlessinger.blogspot.com/search/label/cartoons
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