Is The Fat Lady Singing?

To hear Scott McClellan tell it, the so-called "War On Terror" is proceeding swimmingly:

We went in and liberated the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban that was supporting his activities has been removed from power. The remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden are on the run. We have worked to bring to justice, in one way or another, some three-quarters of the al Qaeda leadership and management structure. So we are dismantling the al Qaeda network.

But this is an ideological struggle that we are engaged in. It is a long-term struggle. We are continuing to pursue all those who seek to do harm to the civilized world. They will be brought to justice. We are now fighting the war on terrorism on the offensive by taking the fight to the terrorists overseas, so that we don't have to fight them here on our own shores.

Well, no wonder bin Laden hasn't been captured yet: we're only now fighting the "War On Terrorism" "on the offensive". What the fuck were we waiting for?

This new approach had better yield results pretty quickly, though, as a quick survey of recent news suggests that the curtain may well be closing on the Bush Administration's vaunted war for civilisation.

• It's not enough that Bush's leading "War-On-Terror" ally is exporting nuclear technology to the Third World, but it's also now playing host to the training camps formerly located in Afghanistan:

Pakistan's leading monthly magazine, Herald, has published a detailed eyewitness account backed with photographs on how youths are trained in militant camps in the central region of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Mansehra. The story was so accurate that the government could not deny it, although it issued orders to "fix" the publisher. [...]

According to a manager of the training camp, the report said, all the major militant organizations, including Hizbul Mujahideen, al-Badr Mujahideen, Harkat ul-Mujahideen and others, began regrouping in April.

The Herald report says that at least 13 major camps in the Mansehra region were revived during the first week of May. As the camps reopen, managers claim trained militants as well as new aspirants are flocking to enlist for jihad.

• But it's not all peaches 'n' cream in Afghanistan, either:

Dug into bunkers in an orchard in the remote village of Gazek Kula, armed with machineguns and rocketpropelled grenade launchers, dozens of Taleban fighters fought for hours with the Americans, about 50 of them to the death.

Weeks later the Americans were in action again, battling for almost 12 hours to oust at least 200 Taleban from the district headquarters in Miana Shin.

"It's the most intense combat I've ever seen. They fight harder than anyone in Iraq ever did. I really never expected anything like this. We all kind of thought the Taleban were gone."

• The Bush Administration's other great ally in South Asia, Uzbekistan, has given the United States its packing orders:

Uzbekistan has given the US six months to close its military base there, in its first move to sever relations with its former sponsor. The air base near the southern town of Khanabad, known as K2, was opened weeks after the September 11 attacks to provide vital logistical support for Operation Enduring Freedom in neighbouring Afghanistan. [...]

A U.S. defence department spokesman said at the weekend: "We got a note at the U.S. embassy in Tashkent on Friday; the gist of it was that we have 180 days to cease operations at the K2 airfield."

He added that the defence and state departments were evaluating "the exact nature" of the request. "K2 has been an important asset for the war in Afghanistan," he said. "We will have to evaluate what to do next."

• Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, the new Iraqi government appears to be being pulled ever-more surely into Iran's orbit:

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has taken the first important steps in the sensitive process of normalizing relations with former foe and rival Iran. His three-day official visit to Tehran, which ended on Monday [July 18], was "very important and significant", say senior Iranian analysts.

In addition, the commanders on the ground acknowledge, yet again, that they're helpless in the face of the guerilla war:

"There is no doubt that the insurgency will rise in and around Fallujah over the next few months as a lot of political developments take place," Colonel Mark Gurganus, the commanding officer of U.S. marines in Fallujah, aid.

Anything else? Well, the war is now projected to cost, when all is said and done, $700 Billion; the Pentagon, unable even to bribe anybody to volunteer to get his or her ass shot off in Iraq, is facing a severe cannon-fodder shortage; Bush's approval rating is at an all-time low; 85% of Londoners blame the Iraq adventure for the attacks on their city...

...And, oh yeah, the "War On Terror" has been renamed. The new "slogan" (as the New York Times calls it) is the "Struggle Against Violent Extremism". Which, really, gets right to the heart of the matter: call it whatever the fuck you want -- "Cold War", "Drug War", "Terror War" -- it's all the same policy. Namely, bombing the Third World to shreds, starving the poor, and incarcareting whoever's left.

But the Democrats play the game much better than do the Republicans, whose eyes are too big for their stomachs, and whose corruption is so brazen that they end up shooting themselves in the feet time and again.

It may be difficult to believe that, having seized the Iraqi oilfields, the Bush Administration would then leave off. But it looks as though it doesn't have much choice. But buck up there, Imperialists sympathisers: even if the United States exits Baghdad tomorrow, it'll still have held the "Green Zone" twenty-seven months longer that Napoleon was able to hold Moscow...

Posted by Eddie Tews at August 1, 2005 05:45 PM