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19 January 2010 By Rick Rozoff
The U.S. has the mightiest and most lethal
military arsenal in human history at its disposal and
the world's second-largest standing army (only China's
having more troops). It intends to spend over $700
billion next year on its defense budget and will
continue to add on special appropriations for the wars
in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. With former Joint Special Operations Command chief
General Stanley McChrystal in charge of what will soon
be over 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan war theater, Washington will
conduct its largest counterinsurgency operations since
those in Indochina in the 1960s and early 1970s. NATO, established in 1949 supposedly to confront
the Soviet Union and its allies in Central Europe, is
waging its first land war almost 3,000 miles east of
its former border with the Warsaw Pact. The world's sole military superpower...is extending
its troop deployments, bases, missile shield
components, warplanes and warships to all six
inhabited continents, over the past decade to
Afghanistan, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Djibouti,
Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, the
Philippines, Poland, Romania and Seychelles. *~*~*~*~*~* On January 8 the Washington Post provided North
Atlantic Treaty Organization secretary general Anders
Fogh Rasmussen and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt
a column in which the two, while deferring to their
big brother in Washington - "The United States has
played a central role in defending the values and the
security of the Euro-Atlantic community" -
nevertheless asserted that "Europe can deliver and can
be a real partner for the United States. That is what
is happening now in the global mission in
Afghanistan." [1] Unquestioned loyalty to the trans-Atlantic
partnership with the United States is synonymous with
subordination to NATO, and currently the touchstone
for fealty to the military bloc is blind willingness
to follow the U.S. further and yet deeper into the
increasingly bloody imbroglio in Afghanistan. In addressing the ongoing and by all appearances
interminable colonial war in South Asia, one which
cost the U.S. and its NATO allies more lives last year
than in any of the seven full years preceding it, the
joint propaganda puff piece by Bildt and Rasmussen
included the boast that "U.S. allies and partners in
the NATO-led military operation have responded clearly
to President Obama's decision to significantly
increase American troop levels in the mission. In
early December, the other members of the mission
pledged an additional 7,000 troops, on top of the
almost 40,000 non-U.S. troops already on the ground.
Non-U.S. forces will eventually be about 40 percent of
the total; they already endure about 40 percent of the
casualties. There should be no more doubt in the
United States on whether America can count on its
allies; we are proving that in blood and treasure
every day in Afghanistan." [2] Their arithmetic matches that of U.S. permanent
representative to NATO, Netherlands-born Ivo Daalder,
who four months ago quantified what it means to be a
dependable member of the bloc: "Over 40 percent of the
bodybags that leave Afghanistan do not go to the U.S.
They go to other countries...." [3] Daalder has long
been an advocate of NATO not so much supplementing as
replacing the United Nations as arbiter of
international conflicts and indeed of all important
world issues. [4] It is uncertain whether leading Western governments
have formally determined what the optimal distribution
and division of blood and currency, deaths and
dollars/euros between the United States and its NATO
partners should be in order to preserve solidarity
between members of the "military alliance of
democratic states in Europe and North America."
Perhaps someone in Brussels and Washington computes
that lethal calculus. Bildt, whose country is not yet a full member of
NATO notwithstanding the efforts of himself and
co-conspirators to surreptitiously pull Sweden into
full integration with the world's only military bloc
[5], presumably spoke on behalf of the European Union
- though his nation does not currently hold the EU
presidency. Spain does. However, Swedish troops serve under NATO command in
Afghanistan and in recent months have been involved in
several firefights in the north of the nation, where
with fellow former (officially) neutral Finland it is
in charge of four provinces for the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force. Bildt's
nation has lost two soldiers in the Alliance's Asian
war, the first it has sacrificed in an armed conflict
since the Norwegian-Swedish War of 1814. On February 4 and 5 the defense chiefs of all 28
full NATO member states and no doubt counterparts from
many of the more than twenty partner nations - from
Australia to the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia to
Colombia, Bosnia to Singapore, Georgia to South Korea
- that have provided or pledged troops to the bloc for
its first Asian war will meet in Istanbul, Turkey to
plan the next phase of the escalation of the the
Afghan campaign. "The situation in Afghanistan and
sending military reinforcements to join the
International Security Assistance Force are expected
to be the key matters of the meetings." [6] 5,000 NATO casualties predicted for New Year
What reinforcements from NATO member and partner
states will encounter was indicated by retired U.S.
general Barry McCaffrey, who earlier this month
projected that "US forces in Afghanistan should brace
themselves for up to 500 casualties a month this
year." The Times of London added "The anticipated
increase would produce around 3,000 American
casualties this year, and a total for Western forces
in Afghanistan of around 5,000 killed and wounded -
the equivalent of seven infantry battalions." [7] By way of comparison, in 2009 there were 512 U.S.
Operation Enduring Freedom and NATO International
Security Assistance Force deaths in Afghanistan, more
than a third of the 1,500 Western fatalities since the
war began in October of 2001. McCaffrey's numbers
allow for some multiple of last year's combined U.S.
and other NATO member and partner combat deaths to
occur later this year. Such is the test - and the price - of the
"Euro-Atlantic" partnership touted by Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt and NATO chief Anders Fogh
Rasmussen. Recent developments substantiate predictions of
heightened NATO casualties this year, even before
planned spring and summer offensives commence. The New Year has begun with NATO announcing the
deaths of over a dozen soldiers, including six in
attacks on January 11. The pace of combat deaths this
year already promises a total exceeding the previous
high in 2009. The main victims of the expansion of the war in
South Asia by the U.S. and NATO will remain Afghan
civilians and their opposite numbers in Pakistan [8],
but Western military occupation forces will not fare
much better. As deployments increase so will casualties, and
both are growing steadily. NATO Recruits Middle East Partners for Afghan
War On December 30, the Jordanian Army announced that
one of its officers became the nation's first fatality
in Afghanistan. Before that the United Arab Emirates
was thought to be the only Arab country to supply
troops to NATO for that war theater, but on the day of
the loss a German news agency revealed that "NATO's
website listed 90 Jordanian soldiers alongside other
contributions to the multinational force." [9] It was
later reported that the captain killed in Afghanistan
lost his life along with seven Americans in an attack
on a CIA forward operating base and was the alleged
handler for what has been described as a double agent,
a physician from Jordan. Nine days after its first military loss, Jordan in
the person of its foreign minister, Nasser Judeh,
asserted "our presence in Afghanistan will be enhanced
and increased in the coming phase. This is something
that is ongoing. Jordan was one of the first countries
there." [10] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary was in
the nation's capital on January 8 "to discuss
strategic cooperation." [11] Jordan is a member of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue
partnership along with Algeria, Egypt, Israel,
Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The United Arab
Emirates is a carefully cultivated NATO, American and
French military ally in the Persian Gulf and a
mainstay of the Alliance's Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative. [12] NATO chief Rasmussen recently gave an interview to
a Danish newspaper in which he "urged Muslim nations
to contribute troops for service in Afghanistan." The
likely recruits are the six Arab members of the
Mediterranean Dialogue and the six Gulf Cooperation
Council states targeted by the Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative. (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.) Afghan War used to train Caucasus Armies for
Local Wars The bloc has also secured troop commitments from
all three former Soviet republics in the South
Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Azerbaijan,
bordering both Iran and Russia, has doubled its
contingent under pressure from NATO's Special
Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia
Robert Simmons [13] and recently the vice speaker of
its parliament said "At the recent meeting of NATO
foreign ministers a proposal was made to increase the
number of servicemen in Afghanistan. If we receive an
appeal, the issue on increasing the number of
Azerbaijani servicemen in Afghanistan may be
considered.” [14] Azerbaijani officials, including
President Ilham Aliyev, routinely threaten war with
neighboring Armenia over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Georgia hosted U.S. Marines late last year to train
the first new installment of troops from that nation
to be deployed to Afghanistan. [15] Georgian troop
strength is projected to reach 1,000 within months,
thereby rendering the state the largest per capita
contributor to NATO's war in Afghanistan. "By March,
the Georgian contingent will become about 1,000
strong, according to the Defense Ministry." [16] The nation's mercurial and bellicose head of state,
U.S.-educated Mikheil Saakashvili, said of the Afghan
deployment: "This is a unique chance for our soldiers
to receive a real combat baptism. We do not need the
army only for showing off at military parades." [17]
Saakashvili meant that crack Georgian military forces
trained by the U.S. Marine Corps and serving under
NATO in Afghanistan will be better prepared for the
next war with Russia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia
when they return home. On January 10 the first Afghanistan-bound Armenian
troops "depart[ed] for Germany for training before
joining the ISAF mission in Afghanistan" and "will be
in Afghanistan in mid-February." [18] Unlike its neighbors Azerbaijan and Georgia,
Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), seen by many
observers as a bulwark against further NATO expansion
into former Soviet space. Although Armenia sent a
small contingent of troops to Iraq earlier, they were
deployed under a bilateral arrangement with the U.S.
and did not serve under NATO command as they will in
Afghanistan. Armenian troops will be the first from
the CSTO to do so. Another former Soviet republic, Estonia, a full
member of NATO since 2004, announced this month that
in keeping with other Alliance members and partners
from five continents it was prepared to increase its
Afghan war contingent. "150 soldiers from the Baltic
country are involved in the conflict and it's likely
that more troops are going to be sent." [19] NATO's War Trajectory: From Southeastern Europe
to South Asia The North Atlantic military bloc, the only one in
the world since the formal dissolution of the Warsaw
Pact in 1991, effected its transition from an alleged
defensive organization to an active out of area
perpetrator of armed aggression with the 78-day
Operation Allied Force air war against Yugoslavia in
1999. Slightly over two years after that conflict
ended NATO invoked its Article 5 mutual military
assistance provision to join the U.S. in Afghanistan
and in the general global war on terror announced by
the American administration. Currently all six former Yugoslav federal republics
except for Serbia, which is also marked for further
NATO integration and will in turn be pressured for
troops, have committed forces to serve under NATO in
the Afghan war zone. Late last month Defense Minister Selmo Cikotic
confirmed that "Bosnia is planning to send troops next
year to join the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan."
[20] A Croatian soldier was injured in Afghanistan on
December 30 in an attack of an undisclosed nature. Macedonia is a perennial candidate for full NATO
membership that has attempted to prove its bona fides
to the Alliance by sending troops to, first, Iraq and
now Afghanistan. It will not be accepted until it
changes its name under foreign pressure and
effectively cedes its northwest region to Kosovo, an
artificial political entity violently forged by NATO.
On January 8 the country dispatched 150 troops for
a new rotation. The forces will join a British
military unit. Earlier the Macedonian Defense Ministry
announced that it was increasing troop strength to
over 243, a fifty percent boost. In neighboring Bulgaria a news source recently
divulged that the nation was adding deployments to
Afghanistan which will bring the country's troops
there to over 300. Poland: NATO uses Afghan War to train Army for
Combat and Warfare Late in December, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw
Sikorski made a tour of inspection to the NATO Joint
Force Training Center in Bydgoszcz and said, "I think
that slowly but consistently we are implementing our
strategy in Afghanistan. We have completed our
missions in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Chad and
strengthened the one in Afghanistan. I think that, as
a result, the Polish Army is getting an experience
there and entering NATO's first league...." [21] Poland has pledged an additional 600 troops for the
war this year and the total number will reach 2,600,
the largest overseas military deployment in the
nation's history, 100 more than it had deployed in
Iraq where it lost 22 soldiers. For Poland, as with fellows neighbors of Russia
like Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Latvia and Lithuania
[22], NATO is supplying military training and combat
experience for future action nearer home. Toward the
end of last year a Polish officer, speaking of his
country's National Forces Reserve, said that "in the
event of war, the reserve units could be mobilised"
and that they will "train on a regular basis to keep
up their combat skills in the event of warfare." [23]
The application of such training is not for
Afghanistan. The major, older NATO nations are also stepping up
their roles in the Afghan conflict. Even before the January 28 conference on
Afghanistan to be held in London, at and after which
it is expected that NATO troop contributions will
expand even beyond the additional 7,000 pledged since
U.S. President Obama's troops surge announcement last
December 1, the host nation Britain has assigned
several hundred more troops. The country's death toll
reached 246 early this year. France: Back in NATO Military Command and in
Afghanistan for the duration On January 8, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who
has already sent 2,600 soldiers to Afghanistan,
"defended his country's military force in Afghanistan,
saying...that now is not the time to pull out." He also "insisted on the importance of France's
participation in NATO. France rejoined NATO's
integrated military command in 2009, more than 40
years after quitting it and kicking American military
bases off French soil." [24] On January 4 Der Spiegel reported that the U.S.
"has decided to send 2,500 soldiers to Kunduz," where
German forces called in a NATO air strike in early
September of last year that killed 150 civilians [25],
"the region under German command in the northern part
of the country. The move is sure to increase the
pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin."
Pressure, that is, to dispense with the limit of 4,500
troops imposed by the parliament, the Bundestag, and
"intensify the debate in Germany about sending more
troops. Internally, the government in Berlin has
already decided to increase German troop numbers by up
to 2,000 soldiers...." [26] American troops would
serve under German command for the first time in
Afghanistan or anywhere else. German Troops "Trained to Kill" The following day the new Chairman of the Munich
Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, in recent
years German ambassador to the United States and to
Britain, was quoted as saying that "Germany must
confront the reality that its soldiers are trained to
kill" and that "certain military facts had to be
confronted." Ischinger stated in his own words: "Soldiers are
trained to kill others, or at least to threaten people
in a way that they consider it plausible that they
will be killed if they don't do what is expected of
them." He urged a troop increase in Afghanistan and added,
"If we send too many, it can't get so bad. If we send
too few, it could be that the whole thing doesn't
work...We are building fewer wells, and unfortunately
have to shoot more." [27] The war in Afghanistan, like that against
Yugoslavia in 1999, is providing Germany the
opportunity of reemerging on the world military stage.
[28] Scandinavia and Spain: Killing and Dying in
South Asia The Norwegian press this year has reported on the
heightened combat role of its nation's troops. On New
Year's Eve a "Norwegian patrol came under fire from
several directions. The fighting lasted for seven
hours." [29] The country's Defense Ministry claimed
that several Afghan insurgents were killed. Norwegian
troops are also not constructing wells; neither are
their Finnish and Swedish counterparts who have been
in regular firefights in northern Afghanistan. "The Christmas period has seen troops from Norway
involved in several battles across northern
Afghanistan," one of which "led to NATO being called
on to provide assistance from the air." "On Christmas Day a mission with drone and
helicopter support was deployed to an under siege
Afghan border post by Norwegian and Afghan troops."
[30] At the beginning of January "it was announced that
Norwegian forces, which number around 500 in
Afghanistan, were involved in fighting every third day
on average." [31] On January 8 a Danish soldier was killed and five
were injured in Helmand province. Denmark, which has
700 troops assigned to NATO, has lost 29 military
personnel in the Afghan war. On January 8 the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan
- "Spain currently has about 800 troops serving with
the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
in Afghanistan, and plans to deploy an additional 220
soldiers to that nation" [32] - lost a soldier, an
Ecuadorian national, to a non-combat injury, bringing
Spain's toll to 90 Afghan war-related deaths. Another
150 soldiers have been seriously injured. The Spanish government refuses to name a withdrawal
date and "[J]udging by the amazing Spanish base being
built close to the airport of the capital of the
Province of Badghis, the withdrawal will not come
soon. "This base will have a capacity to accommodate
around 300,000 soldiers and its cost will exceed 44
million euros. The base will have an extension of
around 173 acres and a perimeter of 3 miles." [33] Spanish troops killed one Afghan civilian and
wounded another in late December in Herat province.
During the same period "The Dutch television
channel RTL news...obtained evidence that, it claims,
shows that Dutch troops in Afghanistan have been
responsible for more than 100 civilian deaths." [34]
On December 30 four more Canadian soldiers were
killed in Afghanistan, bringing Canada's death tally
to 138, the third largest of any NATO state and the
largest per capita. Two Italian troops were among those wounded on
December 28 when an Afghan National Army soldier fired
on NATO troops. Italy has lost 22 soldiers in the war
and will add 1,000 more troops this year to the 3,200
already in Afghanistan. With former Joint Special Operations Command chief
General Stanley McChrystal in charge of what will soon
be over 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan war theater, Washington will
conduct its largest counterinsurgency operations since
those in Indochina in the 1960s and early 1970s. The New York Times reported in late December that
"Secretive branches of the military´s Special
Operations forces have increased counterterrorism
missions...in Afghanistan and, because of their
success, plan an even bigger expansion next year,
according to American commanders." "Senior military officials say it is not surprising
that the commandos are playing such an important role
in the fight, particularly because Gen. Stanley A.
McChrystal, the senior American and NATO officer in
Afghanistan, led the Joint Special Operations Command
for five years. "In addition to the classified American commando
missions, military officials say that other NATO
special operations forces have teamed up...." [35] NATO, established in 1949 supposedly to confront
the Soviet Union and its allies in Central Europe, is
waging its first land war almost 3,000 miles east of
its former border with the Warsaw Pact. Associated Press reported on January 12 that the
Obama White House is to request a record $708 billion
for the Pentagon for next year and the first of what
will become regular emergency requests for the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, overwhelmingly for the first:
$33 billion. The integration of U.S. armed forces and those of
the other fifty nations providing troops for NATO in
Afghanistan, a global NATO in embryo [36], is not
limited to the war in Afghanistan. Last week it was reported that the chief of the
U.S. Joint Forces Command, Marine Corps General James
Mattis, who was also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander
Transformation [ACT] until last September, "pitched to
Defense Secretary Robert Gates a proposal to rename
the Norfolk, Va.-based organization, aiming to reflect
how much it works with non-American entities and
officials. "34 senior officers from both NATO and 'Partnership
for Peace member nations, as well as Asia Pacific,
African and Middle Eastern nations,' are hosted by the
command. Nearly 90 officials from 48 nations
'routinely collaborate' with the joint organization,"
according to Mattis. [37] His memo to Pentagon chief Gates contained this
core recommendation: "In alignment with our mission and consistent with
the continued importance of partnership with
multinational partners, request your approval to
immediately pursue the renaming of U.S. Joint Forces
Command to U.S. Joint and Coalition Forces Command.
This [proposed] name will better reflect the
day-to-day reality of this non-geographically-oriented
command and signify a command focused on more than
internal U.S. priorities." [38] The world's sole military superpower, as President
Barack Obama referred to the nation whose
commander-in-chief he is on the occasion of receiving
the now even further tarnished Nobel Peace Prize, is
extending its troop deployments, bases, missile shield
components, warplanes and warships to all six
inhabited continents, over the past decade to
Afghanistan, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Djibouti,
Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, the
Philippines, Poland, Romania and Seychelles. The U.S. has the mightiest and most lethal military
arsenal in human history at its disposal and the
world's second-largest standing army (only China's
having more troops). It intends to spend over $700
billion next year on its defense budget and will
continue to add on special appropriations for the wars
in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. It also is in charge of the world's first global
military bloc, NATO, which is participating with the
U.S. in an expanding war in Asia with forces from over
a quarter of the world's nations under its command.
Notes: [1]. Washington Post, January 8, 2010 [2]. Ibid [3]. Reuters, September 14, 2009 [4]. West Plots To Supplant United Nations With
Global NATO, Stop NATO, May 27, 2009 [5]. Stop The Stealthy Accession To NATO! [6]. Aysor, January 11, 2010 [7]. The Times, January 7, 2010 [8]. West’s Afghan War: From Conquest To Bloodbath,
Stop NATO, January 5, 2010 [9]. Deutsche Presse-Agentur, December 30, 2009 [10]. Agence France-Presse, January 8, 2010 [11]. Trend News Agency, January 10, 2010 [12]. NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To
Istanbul, Stop NATO, February 6, 2009 [13]. Mr. Simmons’ Mission: NATO Bases From Balkans
To Chinese Border, Stop NATO, March 4, 2009 Eurasian Crossroads: The Caucasus In U.S.-NATO War
Plans, Stop NATO, April 7, 2009 Azerbaijan And The Caspian: NATO’s War For The
World’s Heartland, Stop NATO, June 10, 2009 [14]. Azeri Press Agency, December 24, 2009 [15]. U.S. Marines In The Caucasus As West Widens
Afghan War, Stop NATO, September 3, 2009 [16]. Interfax, January 13, 2010 [17]. The Telegraph, December 8, 2009 [18]. PanArmenian.net, January 9, 2010 [19]. Estonian Free Press, January 8, 2010 [20]. Reuters, December 28, 2009 [21]. Polish Radio, December 31, 2009 [22]. Afghan War: NATO Trains Finland, Sweden For
Conflict With Russia, Stop NATO, July 26, 2009 [23]. Polish Radio, December 28, 2009 [24]. Associated Press, January 8, 2010 [25]. Following Afghan Election, NATO Intensifies
Deployments, Carnage, Stop NATO, September 6, 2009 [26]. Der Spiegel, January 4, 2010 [27]. Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 5, 2010 [28]. New NATO: Germany Returns To World Military
Stage, Stop NATO, July 12, 2009 [29]. Norway Post, January 3, 2010 [30]. IceNews, January 3, 2010 [31]. Ibid [32]. EFE, January 8, 2010 [33]. Prensa Latina, December 28, 2009 [34]. Radio Netherlands, December 24, 2009 [35]. New York Times, December 27, 2009 [36]. Afghan War: NATO Builds History’s First
Global Army, Stop NATO, August 9, 2009 [37]. Defense News, January 6, 2009 [38]. Ibid |
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