{"id":847,"date":"2010-08-16T11:31:18","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/?p=847"},"modified":"2010-08-16T11:37:45","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T18:37:45","slug":"media-blitz-aimed-at-keeping-troops-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/?p=847","title":{"rendered":"Media blitz aimed at preventing troop withdrawal from Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cover of the August 9 edition of Time<\/a> magazine was designed with shock and awe in mind. It shows a picture of Bibi Aisha, a young woman from Afghanistan whose nose and ears had been cut off. The photo was accompanied by the headline: \u201cWhat happens if we leave Afghanistan\u201d. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it\u2019s just a coincidence that Gen. David Petraeus almost simultaneously began giving interviews to The New York Times<\/em>, the Washington Post<\/em>, NBC<\/em>, Meet the Press<\/em> and others voicing his opinion that a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would be unwise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cover of the August 9 edition of 'Time' magazine.<\/p><\/div>Normon Solomon wrote an article in Common Dreams.org<\/em> today, “Gen. Petraeus Goes to Media War,” which says: “Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, with the evident approval of the White House, has launched a fierce media blitz to cripple the policy option of any significant military withdrawal a year from now. Riding high in what is supposed to be a civilian-run military, Petraeus is engaging in strategic media operations to manipulate what should be a democratic process on matters of war and peace.” http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2010\/08\/16<\/a><\/p>\n

Solomon, author of “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and president of the Institute for Public Accuracy http:\/\/www.accuracy.org\/<\/a>, visited Kabul last year.<\/p>\n

Lucinda Marshall said Monday, \u201cOn Meet the Press on Sunday, Petraeus cited the recent Time cover story featuring a young Afghan woman with her nose cut off. Said Petraeus: \u201cIf you lose, it has, I think, some significant repercussions, not just for this country, although they would be enormous, and start with the cover of Time magazine for starters.”<\/p>\n

Marshall is director of the Feminist Peace Network<\/a>, which just posted the article “Time’s Story About Afghan Women \u2013 Questions Raised About Author’s Vested Interests And Accuracy Of The Story.” <\/a><\/p>\n

See also: \u201cTime Magazine Once Again Trots Out the Tired and Inexcusable \u2018We’re in Afghanistan (and Have to Stay) to Protect Women’ Mantra\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to be an American to see the dangers of the military setting a nation\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

This is from an article by Tony Iltis in Green Left, an Australian-based alternative weekly that describes itself as \u201ca proudly independent voice committed to human and civil rights, global peace and environmental sustainability, democracy and equality.\u201d Tony\u2019s article was headlined, accurately, I believe, \u201c\u2018Time\u2019 exploits victim to promote war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026what happened to Aisha took place in Afghanistan under Western occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn return for allowing Time to publish her photo, Aisha was flown to the US for reconstructive surgery. However, although Time ensured her mutilated face was seen worldwide, they appear less keen for her voice to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard Aisha’s story from her a few weeks before the image of her face was displayed all over the world\u201d, Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter<\/em>, wrote in the August 12 Nation. \u201cShe told me that her father-in-law caught up with her after she ran away, and took a knife to her on his own; village elders later approved, but the Taliban didn’t figure at all in this account. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Time story, however, attributes Aisha’s mutilation to a husband under orders of a Talib commander, thereby transforming a personal story, similar to those of countless women in Afghanistan today, into a portent of things to come for all women if the Taliban return to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, Wikileaks<\/a> published a CIA document that outlined a strategy to counter growing opposition in Europe to participation in the US-led occupation. It recommended using a narrative about the oppression of women in Afghanistan that highlighted the Taliban\u2019s misogynist violence while ignoring that of the pro-occupation warlords and the occupation armies.<\/p>\n

Afghan feminist Malalai Joya condemned the pro-war media manipulation. \u201cDuring the Taliban\u2019s regime such atrocities weren\u2019t as rife as it is now and the graph is hiking each day\u201d, she told France 24 on August 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cEighteen-year-old Aisha is just an example and cutting ears, noses and toes, torturing and even slaughtering is a norm in Afghanistan<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2026 The US used the plight of Afghan women as an excuse to occupy Afghanistan in 2001 by filling television screens, internet pages and newspapers with pictures of women being shot down or beaten up in public. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, it is molding the oppression of women into a propaganda tool to gain support and staining their hands with ever-deepening treason against Afghan women.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Malalai Joya, who also is a politician the BBC called \u201cthe bravest woman in Afghanistan\u201d for denouncing the warlords in the parliament, toured the United States earlier this year in an effort to get support for pulling out U.S. troops from her country.<\/p>\n

This was her message to Americans:<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun, or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and women\u2019s rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo do not be fooled by this fa\u00e7ade of democracy. The British and other Western governments that claim to be bringing democracy to Afghanistan ignore public opinion in their own countries, where growing numbers are against the war. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my tours to countries that have troops in Afghanistan, I\u2019ve met many bereaved parents who have lost their loved ones in the war in my home. I am very sorry to see governments putting the lives of their soldiers in danger in Afghanistan in the name of bringing democracy. In fact the soldiers are serving the strategic and regional interests of the White House and the consequences of their occupation so far have been devastating for my people. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst casualty of this war is truth. Those who stand up and raise their voice against injustice, insecurity and occupation have their lives threatened and are forced to leave Afghanistan, or simply get killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are sandwiched between three powerful enemies: the occupation forces of the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban and the corrupt government of Hamid Karzai.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy people are fed up. That is why we want an immediate end to the U.S. occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, of course, the current media blitz by Gen. Petraeus and his willing media accomplices isn\u2019t aimed at the people of Afghanistan. It\u2019s aimed at us.<\/p>\n

Where do you stand? What will you do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cover of the August 9 edition of Time magazine was designed with shock and awe in mind. It shows a picture of Bibi Aisha, a young woman from Afghanistan whose nose and ears had been cut off. The photo was accompanied by the headline: \u201cWhat happens if we leave Afghanistan\u201d. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[157,24,49,44,43],"class_list":["post-847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","tag-afghanistan","tag-cia","tag-obama","tag-taliban","tag-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryjohnsononline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}