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November 11, 2010

Don't Forget... the Victims of all the Wars! + G20 Protester Benefit tonight in Toronto, and urgent action required on Net Neutrality

By Katherine Dodds

Lest we forget.... that war is a product of a larger political system, of "deep politics" as Peter Dale Scott would put it.

Our image of the five petalled opium poppy symbolizes the connection between the war on drugs and the so called war on terror -- played out in the war in Afghanistan.

Peter Dale Scott is a former Canadican diplomat, retired professor of English at U Cal, poet, researcher and author of many books including his latest: American War Machine -the CIA Global Drug Connection, and the Road to Afghanistan. I was priviledged to spend some time in his company these past few days as he was a guest of Kensington Communications, and we were both part of the first grassroots preview screening of the about to launch feature doc Raw Opium.

in a moment where the rhetoric of remembrance day is combined with the prospect of more Canadian troop-time in Afghanistan, I don't want to forget the connections, contradictions and collusion that feeds the war machine. The connections between the war on drugs, and the so-called war on terror, are frankly chiling. And I've ordered his book.

You will all be hearing more about the very fine film Raw Opium in coming blogs -- we'll be letting you know about its theatrical launch as soon as it is scheduled. And BTW - Peter Dale Scott is in the film.

The images of the opium poppy fields from the film,  and very beautiful flowers they are, led to a conversation with a friend, who pointed out, that unlike the non-narcotic poppy, opium poppies have five petals. As the traditional 4-petalled poppy icon had been popping up, as it does every November, I thought it was time to do a different one, hence our HCW poppy.

But back to my conversation with Peter Dale Scott...

An anti-war speaker during the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, he was a co-founder of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at UC Berkeley, and of the Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA).

As we spoke of peace and conflict, he talked about two connected things:  the large percentage of the DEA's budget that goes to suppress protest and in particular with the intent to prevent the decriminialization movement from gaining ground, and the military component to the suppression of peaceful protest that is part of why the Peace movement is so fractured these days, lacking the critical mass of mainstream opposition that arose during Vietnam.

He described the Vietnam war as a "template for Afghanistan" and in his book writes:

The aim of the war machine has been consistent over the last three decades: to overcome the humiliation of a defeat in Vietnam by doing it again and getting it right. But the principal obstacle to victory in Afghanistan is the same as in Vietnam: the lack of a viable central government to defend. The relevance of the Vietnam analogy was rejected by Obama in his December 1 speech: "Unlike Vietnam,” he said, “we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency." But the importance of the Vietnam analogy has been well brought out by Thomas H. Johnson, coordinator of anthropological research studies at the Naval Postgraduate School, and his co-author Chris Mason. In their memorable phrase, “the Vietnam War is less a metaphor for the conflict in Afghanistan than it is a template:”

He goes on to say:

The more we recognize that today drugs are a major factor in both the economy and the power structure of Afghanistan, the more we must recognize that an even better template for the Afghan war is not the Vietnam war, where drugs were important but not central, but the CIA’s drug-funded undeclared war in Laos, 1959-75.

The chapter this excerpt appears in is online: Obama and Afghanistan: America’s Drug-Corrupted War.

It's a thorough and fascinating read, and I am looking forward to getting the entire book in my hands.

PS. We also had a brief chat about his respect for Code Pink and his friendship with some of their founders. Check out Code Pink's Remembrance Day message, Lest we forget the soldiers who stop wars.

Reviews of the American War Machine

"I said of Scott's last brilliant take on this subject, Drugs, Oil, and War, that 'It makes most academic and journalistic explanations of our past and current interventions read like government propaganda written for children.' Now Scott has written an even better book. Read it!" --Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

"Peter Dale Scott flashes a bright light on a dark illicit world of lowly thugs and high-placed political and moneyed cabals. Thoroughly researched and deeply informed, this book makes for an intriguing read." --Michael Parenti, author of Contrary Notions and God and His Demons

"Peter Dale Scott writes with his inimitable eloquence about the intersection between U.S. covert operations and international narcotics trafficking and its destructive undermining of American democracy. The past half-century of drug politics--and the country's complicit acceptance of the violence it has spawned--is an ominous portent for our present and future. American War Machine should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the upper- and underworld marriage that drives contemporary foreign policy." --Sally Denton, author of The Bluegrass Conspiracy

"Peter Dale Scott is our most fearless and illuminating chronicler of the lethal and mysterious web of unaccountable violence linking government to organized crime, the drug trade, state terror, and eventuating in disastrous wars. Read this extraordinary book to understand why this country finds itself gridlocked in Afghanistan, yet another costly quagmire, because a small cabal at the top is still dedicated to the mirage of American global dominance." --Richard Falk, Princeton University and University of California, Santa Barbara

"What I like most about Peter Dale Scott are his fierce intellectual curiosity, his willingness to investigate radioactive topics, and his tireless commitment to unearthing the truth. Over the years, he has done more than almost anyone to discover and chronicle the forces that covertly shape our policies. American War Machine may be his greatest work yet." --Russ Baker, award-winning investigative journalist and author of Family of Secrets

Book Description

This provocative, thoroughly researched book explores the covert aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Prominent political analyst Peter Dale Scott marshals compelling evidence to expose the extensive growth of sanctioned but illicit violence in politics and state affairs, especially when related to America's long-standing involvement with the global drug traffic. Beginning with Thailand in the 1950s, Americans have become inured to the CIA's alliances with drug traffickers (and their bankers) to install and sustain right-wing governments. The pattern has repeated itself in Laos, Vietnam, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Panama, Honduras, Turkey, Pakistan, and now Afghanistan_to name only those countries dealt with in this book. Scott shows that the relationship of U.S. intelligence operators and agencies to the global drug traffic, and to other international criminal networks, deserves greater attention in the debate over the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. To date, America's government and policies have done more to foster than to curtail the drug trade. The so-called war on terror, and in particular the war in Afghanistan, constitutes only the latest chapter in this disturbing story.

Tag(s): G8 G20 Summit, Peace and Justice Issues, Health/Health Advocacy

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Comments(1)

On March 08, 2011 at 04:56 PM brian routh wrote:
A powerful movie made by Patricia Wells with music by Brian Routh and the voice and ideas of Michael Parenti. http://vimeo.com/20715539