U.S. loses elite troops in Afghanistan

So many people in Afghanistan and Iraq are confronting and challenging the U.S. presence and behavior there that even the puppets and traitors installed by the United States have had to separate themselves from the occupiers.

Four Navy Seals on a deep-penetration mission in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan were uncovered and attacked by their targets June 28. The U.S. command there sent a team of 16 Special Forces— eight Army Rangers and eight Navy Seals—to fly to their rescue in a Chinook helicopter. The guerrillas brought down the copter with a rocket-propelled grenade, according to the Pentagon.

All 16 members of the rescue mission died. One of the four original Seals was picked up five days later and flown to Germany for debriefing. The U.S. is currently combing the area for the other three and their Afghani “guides.”

This incident cost the U.S. armed forces the most casualties in one battle suffered to date since they invaded Afghanistan, plus they lost 16 highly trained special forces operatives.

The battle was also a lesson in the asymmetric war between the heavily armed Pentagon forces and the Afghans. A rocket-propelled grenade sells for about $200 on the illegal market. The cost of a Chinook runs into the multi-millions, depending on equipment. The training of 16 special force members, some of whom were officers, also runs into the millions.

The BBC reported July 2 that 25 Afghan villagers died in two U.S. air strikes against their homes. Some were killed as they were trying to help the victims of the first strike.

The past three months have seen some sharp fighting in Afghanistan, as opponents of the U.S. occupation step up their struggle. (The Independent, July 3) The casualties have been high: 495 suspected resisters, 49 Afghan police and soldiers, 134 civilians, and 45 U.S. troops.

Living conditions have deteriorated along with the fighting. Most people don’t have electricity, so they use kerosene lanterns. But the kerosene now on the market in Afghanistan has “leaked” from U.S. military supplies to fuel helicopters and jets. It is much more volatile than the kerosene the Afghans generally use.

Hundreds of Afghans have been horribly burned in the fires and explosions this volatile kerosene causes. They are dying in hospitals that don’t have the supplies to treat either their extreme pain or the infections to which their huge, open sores make them vulnerable.

Cholera struck Kabul June 15 because none of the $4 billion the U.S. has spent in Afghanistan in the last three years went to providing clean water. Kabul is the capital, with an international press corps; what is happening outside the capital is indisputably worse.

Even Afghan President Hamid Karzai, put in power by the United States and protected by U.S. bodyguards, is criticizing the behavior of U.S. troops and requesting that they coordinate more closely with Afghan authorities. (New York Times, June 30) Earlier in May, when he was visiting Washington, Karzai asked President George W. Bush for custody over Afghan detainees. Many Afghans are reportedly losing confidence in the ability of the United States to defeat the resistance.

Iraq also lacks water

Baghdad’s mayor, Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi, threatened to quit July 1 unless the government provides more money to repair the infrastructure of the city. He asked for $1.5 billion for 2005. So far he has received only $85 million.

The day after he threatened to quit, a mortar attack on a power station north of Baghdad set off a fire. This plant supplies the electricity to plants supplying water to northern and western parts of the city.

The 6.5 million residents of Baghdad already face sporadic electricity and water outages, erratic fuel supplies, traffic congested by road blocks, exclusion zones, car bombings and lack of public services to collect garbage and repair the roads.

Summer in Baghdad brings temperatures that range from a low of 120º F to a high of 145º F. To be without water to drink and wash, to lack electricity to run fans, even to cook is life threatening. The dust storms that hit Baghdad force people to close their windows, making fans to move the air even more important.

Part of the reason Baghdad lacks money for basic services is that most of the money available is being spent on the Green Zone, where the U.S. ambassador lives and works and where the quisling government meets. To heavily secure the Green Zone, construction companies use most of the available building materials, equipment and workers, leaving little for the rest of the city.

Unemployment is high, somewhere between 50 and 70 percent. This inability to find work drives many young men to line up for jobs with the police or the army, something unpopular with most Iraqis. It risks death, and there are at least two car bombings or suicide attacks a day, the puppet forces often being the targets.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is proclaiming that U.S. participation in Iraq could last until 2009 or longer. Vice President Dick Cheney says the U.S. must stay the course. This was basically the message Bush delivered to a silent audience of troops at Fort Bragg, N.C.

These U.S. government figures are all putting pressure on the Iraqi government to train more cops and soldiers so U.S. soldiers can be made available for other military threats or adventures.

But the U.S. authorities have a big problem in their training mission. The resistance fighters have thoroughly infiltrated the Iraqi government. Who then is really benefiting from the U.S. training and the weapons? Those willing to serve U.S. ends, or resistance forces?

Two prominent Iraqi politicians have recently challenged the U.S. occupation. Former electricity minister Ayham al-Samarrai announced the creation of the National Council for Unity and Con struction of Iraq June 29, which includes significant Iraqi political and tribal leaders. Al-Samarrai called for recognition of the right of Iraqis to resist the occupation forces, an end of U.S. military offensives in Iraqi cities, and negotiation between the resistance and the Iraqi government.

Al-Samarrai said he represented a group of Iraqi fighters who want U.S. troops out in one to three years.

His exact political program and how many fighters he represents are unclear. But it is still important that an ex-government minister now feels that the government is so weak he can challenge it.

The BBC carried another story about Samir Sumaidaie, currently Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, who is demanding an inquiry into the “cold-blooded murder” of a young, unarmed relative by U.S. Marines. Sumaidaie’s cousin was actually helping the Marines search his hometown in “restive” Anbar province. When a dispute broke out, the Marines reportedly shot and killed him.