Misrepresentations of truth
Editor, The Times:
Regarding the editorial “President Obama asks a war-weary nation for time, resources,” [Seattletimes.com, Editorials/Opinion, Dec. 1] why does it state we are war weary?
What about them?
Ending our occupation isn’t about the American people and our stamina, it’s about the Afghans placing their trust in democracy and participating in its success, something they cannot be expected to do while our president misrepresents the truth about our shared history and current methods of occupation.
During his West Point speech, President Obama made two specific and glaring misrepresentations. First, he described the Taliban as having seized control of Afghanistan after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.
While the Taliban, specifically, may not be as old as the fundamentalists’ grip in Afghanistan, the condition of repressive fundamentalism was indeed catalyzed by the U.S. before the Soviet invasion. All parties are in the know here. To suggest that we are blameless in the current balance of power is indulgent and disrespectful.
Secondly, Obama decried the practice of torture and touted the closing of Guantánamo, but he didn’t mention the Bagram facility, where prisoners are unable to bring evidence and witnesses to rebut allegations in their own defense. To brag about one while failing to mention the other is an obvious misrepresentation of the truth.
The Afghans already live with the prospect of being arbitrarily apprehended and maimed by armed militias roving the countryside. If neither group is bound by laws grounded in the protection of the people, they have no reason to risk their lives investing in the permanence of our models of governance.
— Mary Gross, Seattle