Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion
Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute
Suicide Bomber Kills 20 at Bagram with Cheney inside
A suicide bomber killed 18-20 persons at the entrance to Bagram Base in Kabul while US Vice President Dick Cheney was on the premises. The vice president was unharmed.
I guess violence in Afghanistan is in its last throes, too.
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/27/2007 12:40:00 AM
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8 Comments:
I think we can safely assume that Dick Cheney will never again set foot in Afghanistan. Or Iraq for that matter. Or indeed Iran.
He'll have other priorities.
It's that pesky one little bomb a day of Laura's. As they say, "one suicide bomb can ruin your entire day".
Did he shoot back?
I understand he was there overnight due to the weather grounding all available flights to Kabul.
Do you suppose the taliban gets good intel from inside bagram, it was just a good-day-for-'terrorists', or they saw every piece of available armor headed to the base so they knew there was a dignitary (and I use that term loosely in the VP's case) present?
There has been growing concern regarding the power and prowess of Taliban and al-Qaeda linked forces in Afghanistan over the last year... The Bush administration has been pressuring Pakistan to crack down on elements in that country that are reportedly behind the resurgence of the Taliban/Al Qaeda in Afghanistan...
My take on this is that the growing insurgency and terror attacks in Afghanistan are also partly due to the inability of the coalition forces to plan for an carry out a reconstruction and aid program, especially in the Pashtun areas... Ganglords and drug dealers have stepped in to take over the local economies, and the Bush administration is now losing its grip on what was, in the winter of 2001, seen to be an easy victory in Afghanistan.
Of course, diverting the focus and energies of the various U.S. agencies from Afghanistan to a Bush War in Iraq has certainly not helped. In fact, it has dramatically increased the number of Muslims running to join radical groups, and has played into the propaganda of the likes of Osama bin Laden. According to a Mother Jones magazine funded study out this month, the actual number of terror attacks has also increased sevenfold...
I would also like to draw the reader's attention to Matthew Cole's article today in Salon.com that provides a front line view of the failing war in Afghanistan... I have the links on my blog...
I said: "Do you suppose the taliban..."
Just in from the Jamestown Foundation, caveat emptor:
Cheney Attack Reveals Taliban Suicide Bombing Patterns
By Dr. Brian Glyn Williams and Cathy Young
The information for this article came from a five-month study of suicide bombings from 2001 to 2007 in Afghanistan. No suicide bombing was listed in the study unless it was corroborated by numerous sources. Sources varied from coalition countries' press releases, open media, al-Qaeda/Taliban websites, U.S. military sources and Afghan news agencies. While the sample analysis of 158 attacks is not definitive, its overall findings are indicative of general Taliban targeting trends.
The recent suicide bombing attack on Bagram Air Base, which killed as many as 15-23 people during the visit of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has highlighted the growing problem of suicide bombers in Afghanistan. While the United States has dismissed the Taliban's claims that they attacked Bagram in an effort to assassinate Cheney, the targeting of a U.S. base fits previous Taliban targeting patterns.
Prior to the Bagram incident, U.S. military and government sources routinely spoke of the "Iraqification" of the Afghan conflict. Recent statistics from U.S. and Afghan agencies seem to support this claim. While Afghanistan had 25 suicide bombings in 2005, in 2006 it experienced as many as 139 suicide attacks. Recent media images from Afghanistan of bombed buses, shattered markets and burnt out U.S. humvees further support the notion that the carnage that has shredded the fabric of Iraqi society has come to the so-called "Forgotten War" in Afghanistan.
If taken at face value, these claims represent a disastrous, if unintended side effect of the invasion of Iraq and bode ill for the upcoming year. Yet despite the mounting evidence that the Iraqi invasion has destabilized Afghanistan via the sharing of Iraqi tactics with Afghan insurgents, the suicide bombing campaign in Afghanistan has its own specific dynamics. It is the little noticed local characteristics that distinguish suicide bombing in Afghanistan from that in the Iraqi theater.
[In Full]
Does anyone have a handle on how many propaganda and psy-ops programs the CIA, the Pentagon, the NSA, and who knows who else are operating in Iraq?
The multiple stories about the kids dieing on the soccer field feels very much like one of these organizations. There is no doubt they are planting questionable stories just to be able to later question the credibility of the Arabic media.
Also, anyone follow that story of the Pentagon Spokesman in that documentary about Al Jazeera who now works for Al Jazeera (Josh somebody)? I'm sure there are dozens of examples of psy-ops plants like this. People will poo-poo these things as 'crazy conspiracy theories'. Yet we already have definitive proof that the CIA spent millions of $$$ to try to influence and affect the Iraqi election and the Pentagon is currently spending millions to pay for fake news stories. When will this sick corruption stop?
I liked the way that the Snow Job answered questions about Cheney and the suicide bombing. He said that one should not jump to rash judgment or make policy decisions based upon a single terrorist incident.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070227-4.html
Wasn't 9/11 a single terrorist incident?
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