SURGING TOWARD KURDISTAN

"By a combination of creative strategies and advanced technologies, we are redefining war on our terms. In this new era of warfare, we can target a regime, not a nation."
~ George W. Bush, speech to Lockheed Murderers, St. Louis, MO, 16 April 2003.

In the wake of joint US-Turkish attacks against the PKK and Kurdish civilians in South Kurdistan, there's something that Kurds should start thinking about: an air war.

Vineyardsaker sent me some information on just this subject which he picked up from Lenin over at Lenin's Tomb. Lenin got his hands on some statistics on the US air war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which you can take a look at over at his place. Now, this information is no big secret and there have been a few articles about the general, wanton destruction and civilian casualties caused by this method of warfare. Senior British commanders have publicly complained about US Special Forces and the airstrikes they call which kill hordes of civilians. However, I fear that the point made by Lenin on the distinct possibility of the US--and Turkey--using this kind of warfare in Kurdistan should be very well taken [original emphasis by Lenin]:

The hostile terrain of Afghanistan, and the fact that few are actually covering it very extensively, makes it an ideal target for this kind of ferocious assault - with, as we saw last year, a rolling wave of massacres in the country. Inevitably, since the air war hasn't been covered much by the media, and given its insensitivity to 'enemy' casualties, those massacres reported are a tiny sample of the true total.

Did you pay attention to the part about the media? If you have been paying attention to most of the Western media's reporting on the American-Turkish aerial attacks against the Kurdish people, you may have noticed that not much was said about civilian casualties and the destruction of property--which is the shelter and livelihood of the victims. If you've been checking to see what the blogosphere has been writing about these attacks, you will have noticed that there is rarely a mention of civilian victims. The right-wing fascist blogosphere, such as Pajamas Media and the like, have mentioned absolutely nothing about this new air war. But, then, they don't talk about the huge amounts of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, either. They write off every death inflicted by the "noble" coalition as "terrorist" deaths.

Büyükanıt clearly stated that there were absolutely no civilian casualties from his aerial bombardment of Kurdistan and that the entire fiasco was a blazing success. Of course, the Turkish dailies have faithfully reported Büyükanıt's lies and will not dare to contradict their ruler by stating the truth. In short, there has been absolutely no acknowledgement or discussion of the murder of civilians and the destruction of their property in the Turkish dailies.

The only place where I've seen Turkish media mention the reality of the destruction is in an article at Bianet (similar English article here).

The media blackout on the truth about this new type of warfare is something that is planned and promoted by the governments involved, as described in early 2004 by Project on Defense Alternatives. If a bomb falls in Kurdistan and no one hears it, does it matter to anyone what was destroyed?

For more on the obfuscated air war and ignored casualties, see ZNet and TomDispatch.

Here are some of Vineyardsaker's comments on the matter:

The so-called 'Surge', and its alleged success, are based on two fundamental tactics: the first one is the so-called 'Redirection' which consists of buying off the Sunni resistance, including all those groups who only yesterday were called 'terrorists'; the second new tactic is massive increasing in the use of airpower.

[ . . . ]

. . . Add to this the US support for Turkey against the Kurds and you have all the ingredients of a complete nightmare and even more bloodshed. The 'Surge' will go down in history as one of the dumbest and most immoral political stunts ever devised.

It would be a mistake to think that Turkey's US-backed attacks against Kurdistan las weekend were an anomaly. Harsh reality is that the "Surge" has gone north and it's now directed against Kurdistan.

Let's see if the US "surges" the Lakota Sioux by air for their recent declaration of independence. Why do the Sioux want their independence? Because they have 33 treaties with the US, which the US has never honored.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Also, this:

The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average. 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.

"After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative," emphasized Duane Martin Sr. "The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway."

What kind of mental disease makes anyone think that the Americans are worthy of trust or that they give a damn about minority ethnicities?

Wake up, Kurdistan! Don't wait for 150 years.