Two Quotable Sentences from Paul Rosenberg — and an Insight from Qais Azimy — about Misbegotten Wars and Denial’s Devilish Trumpet

© 2012 Peter Free

 

21 March 2012

 

 

Eloquence and despair

 

Today, from Paul Rosenberg:

 

[B]oth Vietnam and Afghanistan were lost wars from the very beginning, as futile as they were immoral, begun by men abysmally ignorant of history, culture and geography, who might just as well have waged a war against the sky.

 

What keeps the blood flowing, what ensures the horrific murders of women and children, all manner of innocents, is the enduring resilience of denial and its expression in all manner of wild-eyed fantasies and lies.

 

© 2012 Paul Rosenberg, 'Belambai' is Afghanistan's 'My Lai', Al Jazeera (21 March 2012)

 

 

And an observation about Denial’s inhumanity from Al Jazeera producer, Qais Azimy

 

Our own mirror’s scathing truth:

 

In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, us included, focused on the “backlash” and how it might further strain the relations with the US.

 

Many mainstream media outlets channeled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier . . . . We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation, or what she said on her personal blog.

 

But the victims became a footnote, an anonymous footnote. Just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names.

 

In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.

 

The dead:

 

Mohamed Dawood son of  Abdullah

Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma

Nazar Mohamed

Payendo

Robeena

Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed

Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid

Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed

Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir

Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir

Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir

Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir

Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir

Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir

Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain

Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali

 

The wounded:

 

Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat

Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim

Parween

Rafiullah

Zardana

Zulheja

 

© 2012 Qais Azimy, No one asked their names, Al Jazeera (19 March 2012)

 

 

The moral? — Denial’s cosmetics cannot hide its cowardly face

 

Afghanistan has become yet another moral parable from which many Americans, and their leaders, stubbornly refuse to learn.

 

At what point does Grace flee evil?