World

Family feud, tribal warfare American style

by YankeeJim | April 19, 2010 at 03:18 am

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Observe below how the Washington Post presents Afghanistan war news, “Obama’s War.” The story describes how tribal warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan has splintered into tribal family feuds. Well, actually, the tribal family feuds were smoldering long before the war, but the war has brought an infusion of guns and cash to make them erupt into open conflict, so the report explains.

NowPublic readers may know that I often point to tribalism as a form of archaic behavior that is medieval. My critics from the Middle East counter and point to the USA and our own tribal feuds: Republicans, Democrats, Tea and Coffee parties. They have a point. We’re all tribal, it is a matter of how we reach equilibrium that may or may not be more civil.

The second story of note below is about the North Carolinian Democratic tribe splintering into a more liberal-minded group of people demanding a better healthcare solution than what Obama delivered. They wanted a public option (so do I), and they are willing to hold their numbers in toe to force the party and President to listen to their demands. I wonder what they serve at their parties. I bet it is mint juleps or maybe pink lemonade.

“Obama's War

Combating Extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan

On Pakistani-Afghan border, some join Taliban to settle scores with relatives

By Griff Witte

Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 19, 2010

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- Yar Dad Khan sleeps with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in his bed, primed for the day his cousin returns.

His cousin is a local Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan. Khan is a pro-government tribal leader. The two men do not get along.

In the rough borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the global war against the Taliban often boils down to a family feud, pitting tribe against tribe, son against father, brother against brother.

While the Taliban leadership professes devotion to a 7th-century interpretation of Islam, many insurgents have far more parochial interests. They want revenge for an old grievance against their neighbors, or to settle a score with relatives."

Tribal warfare, American style

“North Carolina Democrats' votes against health care push labor to form party

By Philip Rucker

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 19, 2010

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A political rebellion is brewing inside an old funeral home near the state Capitol here. Frustrated liberals and labor organizers are taking aim at the Democratic Party, rushing to gather enough signatures to start a third party that they believe could help oust three Democratic congressmen.”

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Karen Hatter

at 06:25 on April 19th, 2010

Well, Jim, it seems the U.S. has been smack dab in the middle of this most recent history, choosing sides and aiding the exile Hamid Karzai and his ascent to power.

On a moonless November night in 2001, five Blackhawk helicopters infiltrate southern Afghanistan, dropping a Special Forces A-Team—ODA 574—deep behind enemy lines in the mountains of Uruzgan Province. Captain Jason Amerine and the 10 men under his command are on a seemingly impossible mission: to destroy the Taliban from within and prevent a civil war from consuming the country. This lone team of Green Berets has just one ally in the south: Hamid Karzai, a little-known Pashtun statesman who has returned from exile and is being hunted by the Taliban as he roams the countryside raising a militia.

YankeeJim

at 08:20 on April 19th, 2010

We operate as if our apparent overwhlming bias and transparent manipulation is fooling somebody. Who are fooled?

Karen Hatter

at 08:45 on April 19th, 2010

Well, it seems there are a few around, Jim.

I guess it's whether or not one WANTS to know or chooses to be fooled.

We seem to have a lot of that wanting to be fooled going around these days, even when things are explained in black and white, contradicting the falsehoods being spread far and wide, as evidenced by the Tea Partiers and the beliefs attributed to them from recent polls.

Scary.