31 July 2010
By Jacob G. Hornberger They don’t call Afghanistan the graveyard of
empires for nothing. Just ask Great Britain and
Russia. It seems that the U.S. Empire, however, is
bound and determined to prove that it’s the exception
to that adage. No matter how bad things get for the Empire, U.S.
officials become more and more determined to stay the
course and let the chips fall where they may,
including the possibility of economic and financial
bankruptcy for the United States. Governmental pride
and military pride are at stake, after all. How could
U.S. officials hold their heads up high around the
world if the U.S. Empire exited Afghanistan without
having established it as a firm, loyal, stable member
of the Empire? What to do in Afghanistan? On the one hand, U.S.
officials know that the only way for a foreign
occupier to succeed is to brutally conquer the
populace. When resistance to an occupation surfaces, a
brutal occupier sends out the message: Dare to resist
us and prepare yourself to pay an enormously high
price in terms of targeted killings, indiscriminate
killings, arbitrary round-ups, long-term
incarcerations, assassinations, bombings, torture,
abuse, and even extra-judicial executions. On the
other hand, submit to our conquest and our control,
and you, your friends, and relatives will live to see
another day. Sometimes the brutality works. People simply lack
the will or ability to resist or they figure that the
price of resistance is just not worth it. They submit
to the conqueror and go along with the conquest. Their
governing regime becomes a loyal, dedicated member of
the Empire, ready to do the Empire’s bidding when
called upon. But other times the brutality does not work. The
invasion of Afghanistan provides a good example. The
more the occupation brutality has increased — the more
people who have been killed and maimed — the greater
the resistance to the occupation has grown. The Empire
kills 10 Afghanis today, and tomorrow 100 new people
are recruited into the ranks of the insurgency. The U.S. Empire is discovering what the British and
the Soviet empires discovered — that while some
Afghanis will inevitably cooperate with a foreign
occupying force, a certain percentage of them remain
committed to doing their best to uphold their long
national tradition of making their country the
graveyard of empires. U.S. Empire officials are torn. On the one hand,
they want to win the hearts and minds of the Afghani
people, causing them to love and embrace the U.S.
occupation of their country. “We’re good people, we’re
here to help you, to guide you, to nurture you,”
beseech U.S. officials. “Just submit and we can all
get along.” And so, the occupiers lighten up on the
brutality in the hopes of winning over the populace to
their occupation. But some insurgents keep fighting, which produces
an ever-increasing death toll on U.S. soldiers, who in
turn declare to their superiors, “Stop tying our
hands! Let us lash out against this foe that is
killing and maiming us!” But unleashing the brutality to protect the troops
leads to more deaths of brides, children, old people,
and other innocents, thereby once again swelling the
ranks of the insurgents. In other words, there is no way to “win” in
Afghanistan. The more people they kill, the worse it
becomes. The more people they don’t kill, the worse it
becomes. There is but one solution to all this: Get out,
now. Sure, governmental pride and military pride will
be hurt, but so what? Why should we care that some
federal politicians and bureaucrats won’t be able to
hold their heads up high around the world? That just
might be a good thing. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The
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