Karl: Reg Whitaker comments on the US attack on Afghanistan smack of
blatant partisan  subjectivity that forms part of the culture of
reformism:

To argue that "this victory was too easy" suggests that the author of
this piece would have been happier had the so called war in Afghanistan
been a "less easy victory" for Washington. Politics is to be reduced to
the subjective abstract taxonomy of too easy, less easy and difficult.

Of course Washington's victory was going to be "too easy". To conclude
that Washington has "untrammelled power" because of the Afghanistan
war's
specific character is fantasy at its crudest and most unimaginative. If
Washington was to choose to go to war against Bermuda, lets assume it is
an independent sovereign state, we would be rather surprised that its
victory turned out to be "too easy". We would not expect any objective
analyst to conclude that the easy victory was evidence of untrammelled
US power. Evidence of untrammelled power is when the US has "a too easy
victory" over a country such as France or the UK. Washington was free to
go to war against Afghanistan when it was sure that no major, nor even
minor power, would assist the Taliban regime. Washington's victory was a
pseudo victory. The fact that Washington was forced to form the so
called global coalition is, if anything, evidence of the limits of US
power. To crush a fragile state Washington was forced to summon up vast
resources and win the support of global capitalism in the form of a
grand coalition is, if anything, clear evidence of its weakness. That a
fragile power such as the Taliban was cheeky enough to, in a sense,
challenge Washington is evidence of the limits of Washington's power.
The fact that the WTC and Pentagon was attacked  is a reflection of the
growing sharpness of capitalist contradictions and the limits of
American power.

The fact that the most powerful capitalist state in the world was forced
to go to war against the puny reactionary Taliban regime is evidence of
the extent to which the contradictions of capitalism have been  growing
in intensity. The fact that Washington was forced to go to war against
such a minuscule regime is irrefutable evidence of the limits of
American power. The actions of the Bush administration are mistakenly
presented in the context of choice. It had no choice. It was forced to
go to war. The absence of choice or freedom  is evidence of its limits
and the degree to which the contradictions within US imperialism have
been becoming increasingly uncontrollable. The growing problem facing
Washington is that  increasingly it cannot seek to solve many problems
without resorting to military action. The growing obsolescence of
capitalism increasingly renders military action the only option.

The reformist character of the anti-war movement (and commentators such
as Tariq Ali) is that they present the war as the product of
choice -even moral choice. They suggest that there is such a beast as a
rational benevolent imperialism that behaves in a way that largely
serves the interests of people in general --independent of class.  This
reflects itself in the strategy of the anti-war movement and explains
how it collapsed so ignominiously.

The Taliban is dead! Long live the Taliban!

Karl Carlile
Be free to visit the web site of the Global Communist  Group at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/
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Reg: Because this victory was too easy. Much easier than many (myself
included) thought possible. A large country has been conquered virtually
without sacrificing the life of a single American soldier in battle. The
tribal chiefs were bought with money and changed sides. Opposition was
shattered by giant bombers, riding high in the sky, nearly out of
eyesight, dropping enormous bombs, more powerful than any of those used
against the Nazis in World War II.

At no time in history has any state had such untrammelled power. Even
the
Roman Empire, at its zenith, did not come close to it. The Romans always
had a rival power to contend with - Persia. In order to achieve their
victories, they had to send the legions and sacrifice human lives on
far-away battlefields. From time to time they suffered terrible defeats.
No victory came easily, and certainly not cheaply.

By contrast, the United States is now the only great power on earth. No
other state comes close to it, no military or economic power can compete
with it. From the Afghan experience they can draw the conclusion that
there is no need anymore to send soldiers anywhere - the bombers can
crush any opposition with sophisticated bombs...