A Mighty Heart and Afghanistan

I saw 'A Mighty Heart' on DVD which tells the true story of how on 23rd January 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is to fly from Karachi to Dubai with his pregnant wife, Mariane, also a reporter. On the day before, with great care, he has arranged an interview in a café with an Islamic fundamentalist cleric. The film tells the story of what happens when Danny does not return - it is an extraordinarily powerful story about Danny's wife - about how we cannot let hatred eat us up, the importance of dialogue and so much more - an amazing woman indeed. It also highlighted the importance of having organisations like the Committee to Protect Journalists - read about their important work here.

The story was linked to what was also going on in Afghanistan - and reminded me that Gordon Brown last December said we're "winning the battle" there. In January, George Bush told the US Congress, "Afghanistan… is now a young democracy where people are looking to the future with new hope".

But now the truth is out.

Three recent reports over the last couple of weeks all reach the same conclusion. The US led forces in Afghanistan are not winning and the country faces a humanitarian disaster. The United Nations reports that Afghanistan is the fourth most impoverished country in the world, with life expectancy falling to 43 and health services now virtually non-existent. See my previous blogs on Afghanistan by using search facility and my comment last September re withdrawing troops.

As for Iraqis, under George Bush's supposedly successful troop "surge", they face new levels of desperation and insecurity. Stop the War is asking its supporters to commemorate the great
two million strong demonstration of 15 February 2003 - the largest protest in British history - by joining a demonstration on its fifth anniversary this Friday - A DAY FOR IRAQ.

I'll finish this post with Caroline Lucas MEP who this week will call for the UK to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Speaking alongside former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg at a meeting organised by Brighton Stop the War group on February 13th, she will say....“The global War on Terror has been a spectacular failure. Not just the deepening chaos in Iraq, but the increasingly dangerous rhetoric and military build-up towards Iran, and the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even the early limited gains for women and girls in some urban areas of Afghanistan have been reversed by an explosion of rape and other violence against women. The war in Afghanistan killed over 6,500 people last year, and it cannot be won. It has failed to bring peace, development, or freedom. Instead of eradicating terrorist networks, it has spread and multiplied them. The answer is not to increase troop numbers, as both the US and our own government is planning to do. The only real chance for peace in Afghanistan is the withdrawal of foreign forces as part of a wider political settlement, including the Taliban, and neighbouring countries like Iran and Pakistan. And that’s why groups like Brighton’s Stop the War are such an important part of building a movement for genuine democracy and human rights. A movement that here in Brighton has already seen the phenomenal energy of so many campaigners fighting for the release of Omar Degayes from Guantanamo.”