however, taliban cruelty/terror does not even approach US cruelty/terror (against darkies/aliens, mostly) let alone equals or exceedes it as you may or may not tacitly aver.

US is by far more murderous nation since 16th century than most other evil empires and lands. tnx

Case in point, to state that women were safer under the Taliban than today in Afghanistan, wow. that shows the extent of both stupidity and naivete. Women were never safe under the Taliban. They were victimized, terrorized, tortured, maimed, mutilated, and murdered for the slightest infractions of sharia law.

America is not perfect. War is not without civilian loss, even for the most noble causes. Yes, I am sorry for the civilian losses, but we are waging this war to prevent similar atrocities of 9/11 from ever happening again. There were innocent people killed that day also but I don’t see any letters of apology being suggested to those victim’s families.

I invite you to read more about opinion of Obama at: http://www.riazhaq.com/search?q=obama

All the countries that took part in the invasion ought to be up for reparation, US, UK, Georgia (Ironical: Georgians are crying about being bombed by Russia, what goes around, comes around!) and their leaders charged I war crimes.

That is absolutely absurd! More taxes, what awash and to think after reading a great article I come across this comment to lower my spirits.

The only ones who don’t see exactly what’s going on are those with another agenda.

We did, and continue to do, only the things that the government allows. Meanwhile innocent civilians are being slaughtered and a sovereign nation is under occupation. We will go down in history as a generation of losers, lemmings being led to the slaughter to watch others die while we continue to vote for repbs/dems. I find it shocking that in the whole USA, not one State Attorney General or county Prosecutor has come forward to indict Bush/Cheney – even more shocking is the lack of interest in justice on the part of the population. I guess that Prosecution of the war criminals will be cancelled due to lack of interest.

I have heard similar stories of atrocities from soldiers returning from Iraq, about the needless murder of children and women and the haunting odor of burning flesh that filled the streets in Iraqi provinces as they patrolled.

I have been appalled at how much the media and government have hidden from the eyes of our citizens … and yet we are all Americans, sharing the labels of tyrant, murderer and occupiers, simply because we live in a country whos leaders have chosen to perpetrate these acts of aggression.

It sickens me to realize how naive and tunnel visioned my thinking has been, while focusing solely on the wrongs of our invasion of Iraq. I suppose I naively envisioned ground troops searching and seeking out the “enemy” and did not realize the massive air strikes and random “blanket” killing that has taken place in Afghanistan, in addition to Iraq.

How can we be so matter of fact and unapologetic for killing woman and children, for destroying entire families, villages, wedding parties … and having done so repeatedly and without even the appearance of empathy?

America owes many apologies, even though a mere apology would seems to greatly minimize what we have done! The victims of this aggression, both foreign and domestic , our brave soldiers and their families, changed and damaged forever … ALL deserve an apology from this government and the “decider!”

This article simply doesn’t “blame Obama for everything going wrong in Irak and Afghanistan” and it is absurd to say or suggest that it does.

“I refuse to let an article like this take away from my husband and my sons. I refuse to let you diminish the courage and caring they had and have in the belief that they are protecting those people.”

Should a European journalist in 1939 have thought twice about telling the truth about what the Third Reich did when it invaded Poland because of the fear that it might “take away” from the pride of German soliders in Hitler’s Army? Should a historian be inhibited about telling to the truth about what the U.S. did to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1960s and 1970s becase it might hurt the self-esteem of some Vietnam veterans and/or their families? The totalitarian “history down the memory whole” implications of this guilt trip are pretty clear

Deadbeat is off base. I simply ask a sort of ironic and rhetorical question about Obama’s supporters: should they now draft letters of no apology in accord with the offensive statements of their candidate? To say that I am selectively blaming them for the invasion of Afghanistan is childish hyperbole. Deadbeat should be ashamed of that sort of nonsense.

I made no assertions about McKinney (good or bad) and any notion that her vote on Afghanistan somehow invalidates any part of my argument here is absurd.

The imperial Iraq War is about many things, including oil (as is well known to anyone with the slightest knowledge of U.S. foreign relations and geo-strategic realities that are not new) .

Obama was in the Illinois legislature when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan but we have every reason to think he would have totally supported that attack if had been a U.S. Senator in 2001. His 2002 speech against Iraq War preparations had no language suggesting that he thought the Afghanistan operation was a “dumb war” (the kind he opposed).

“reckless and callous”? You aren’t serious are you? What exactly should his opening sentence have looked like?

( You used rhetoric two times in one sentence and three times in the span of 5 sentences…that’s awesome!)

The point of my response is not to absolve Obama of any responsibility however Paul Street poses selective blame not on Obama but on Obama supporters who are ordinary citizens who didn’t have the power to vote or not to vote on the war. However Cynthia McKinney who is running as the standard bearer for the Green Party DID vote for the War on Afghanistan. Only Barbara Lee voted against that resolution. Once the war starts it is politically harder to vote against funding unless you want to get tarred for “abandoning” the troops. That is the political reality that Paul Street misses in his opening sentence.

That kind of rhetoric is ridiculous and Streets deserves to called upon such reckless and callous rhetoric. It won’t win converts.

To Ms. Jackowski

Deadbeat…Yes, we all should be sending letters of apology to all of the victims. We are all complicit.

I disagree with the “We are all complicit” rhetoric. I as well as many other activists participated in activity to STOP both the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The United States owes the people of Afghanistan and Iraq reparations. Neither the government of Afghanistan nor her citizens was responsible for 9-11 as 9-11 was a criminal act and not an act of war and is a law enforcement matter.

The Left is complicit in diffusing the anti-war movement and misleading the public that the War on Iraq is about Oil. Are the people who tried to prevent the War in Iraq “complicit” as say Noam Chomsky or Naomi Klein who have used their celebrity to mislead the public about the reasons for the War. Therefore, I don’t agree with you on “complicity” question.

We all should be ashamed as what the U.S. stands for and represents but this “blaming the victim” will not win converts.

Reparations paid for by taxpayers, YES. I have been saying that for years. Click this.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug06/Jackowski15.htm

And yet, he’s voted for funding for both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars every time except last Octoberish (due to him wanting to fool progressives into thinking he’s not an imperialist).

Truth be told, pretty much everyone in this country has contributed toward the debacle we’re faced with today. I like the idea of a reparations tax.

Good question to ask Cynthia McKinney’s volunteers as well. Obama didn’t vote for the War in Afghanistan. McKinney did.

I refuse to let an article like this take away from my husband and my sons. I refuse to let you diminish the courage and caring they had and have in the belief that they are protecting those people.

An apology is nothing compared to the lives of all involved in this terrible, awful mistake of a war declared by Bush. I’ll stop now before I say things I will not regret.

Kimberly.