massacre coverup?

[miriam_e]

Those of us in Australia can watch a documentary on SBS at 8:30pm on Tuesday 14th January. It details an investigation into the disappearance of about 3,000 Taliban soldiers who surrendered. There is some evidence they may have been trucked out into the desert by the Northern Alliance and massacred under the watchful eye of US troops.

Comments

[guyminuslife.livejournal.com]

Good ol' Uncle Sam, huh? Now let me rant.

Despite being a US citizen, I'm pretty critical of our foreign policies. The US supported the Shah in Iran to lower oil prices (and still supports the Saudis), killed the democratically elected leader of the Congo (with the Belgians, of course), Patrice Lumumba, and put Japanese people in concentration camps. We supported Osama bin Laden under the Reagan administration. Now we're trying to bomb a country (whose leader is fucked up but whose people are just people) because they *might* have weapons of mass destruction. And that's just in the public sector! In the private sector, American corporations have cheated, swindled, and enslaved the people of Honduras and other Central American countries in order to produce maximum profit on their bananas--in the twentieth century!

A popular idea among many Americans is that we are sort of the international police. As recently demonstrated, sure, we'll go to the UN first, but if no one else wants to go to war (except for Britain, and we know what their history is like), we'll take it into our own hands. And that generally is not a good thing.

On another note, you've made me fairly interested in Australian history. Are there any good resources you know of?

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I never really learned much human history, and Australian history was actually avoided by all when I was young. We were taught about a smattering of explorers here, but almost nothing more. School history was about England and Europe. I think this comes from the commonly believed shame of being originally simply a convict colony and once people got here, of deliberately exterminating the local populations. The first part turns out to be wrong; There were far more immigrants wanting to settle in the new lands than convicts. The second part was so well forgotten, the tragic extent of it is only starting to come to light.

Any history of Australia has to take into account the deeply amnesiac nature of Australia. We are one of the few countries on the planet that doesn't have a history -- because we have deliberately forgotten it. For a long time we had a "cultural cringe" and didn't consider ourselves worthy of anything. Our current Prime Minister, bless his nasty little heart, is trying to reverse that so that we can be prey to all the evils of patriotism, but it is my hope that it will never really catch on.

I don't know where you would find historical accounts of Australia. I am sure they exist. I think you would have to read them with a careful eye though. I doubt they would be on the net... though you might find some. You would probably have to go to the major state libraries. I noticed recently that Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org), particularly the Australian mirror of it, has some Australian historical books up there (for free download). Two books by Watkin Tench, "The Expedition to Botany Bay" and "The Settlement at Port Jackson". But they are individual accounts of particular times, not larger histories.

One good thing about this lack of a past is that it means Australia has grown up as a part of the whole planet -- it gives many people here a strange outlook. We have become citizens of the world instead of Australians in a funny kind of way. But our politicians are just as backward and conniving as ever. I found out recently that our little neighbor, East Timor, has been cheated out of most of its oil reserves by our politicians. Australians are renowned for disliking and distrusting our politicians. There is very good reason for this.

[(Anonymous)]

I will post this anonymously for obvious reasons.

As a crisis counselor, I have helped numerous veterans deal with their feelings. One theme seems to repeat from every war. "We lined the prisoners up against the wall and killed them in cold blood." The most recent to tell me such a story was a very messed up soldier from the last war with Iraq. It wasn't posttraumatic stress he was dealing with, but plain old-fashioned guilt for doing things he knew were wrong.

This is the way of soldiers and war. Conquerors rape, murder, and pillage, no matter how "righteous" their cause. Even police often go berserk after a high-speed chase and shamelessly brutalize their prey.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Yes. It is a major problem and one that should be given more weight when considering war. People think that a war is not "worth it" if too many people come home in body bags, but largely skip over the life-changing way it brutalises all those involved. In recent years some coverage has been given to the innocent bystanders (though not enough in my opinion), but very little has been made of how it transforms the "boy next door", (who is really no different from you or me) into a frantic murderer who is capable of the most insane actions.

War really is hell. We shouldn't ever consider getting involved unless all other avenues are exhausted and there is absolutely no chance of avoiding it. It really isn't worth it.

The current gung-ho attitude of swinging into battle on a politician's say-so with no evidence and with such doubtful results seems to me like playing with fire after bathing in lighter fluid.