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April 6, 2002
Bill Christison:
A Former CIA Official on
Oil and the Middle East
April 5, 2002
Charmaine
Seitz
In
Ramallah: The Grueling Reoccupation Grinds On
Nancy Stohlman
The Invasion of Bethlehem
and Our Tax Dollars at Work
Beth Daoud
The
Siege of Bethlehem:
"What Do You Mean God Is Punishing Me?"
Fareed Marjaee:
Demonizing Iran
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Philip
Morris to Canada:
"Drop Dead"
Alex Lynch
Tampa Campus Mirrors
Middle East Strife
Alexander
Cockburn
Sharon's
Wars: How the
News Gets Through
April 4, 2002
Ray Hanania
Sharon's Latest Lie About the Church
of the Nativity
Mike Leon
Rightwing
Assault on Madison Progressives Misfires
Tom Turnipseed
Stop the Killing Now!
Nancy
Stohlman
An
American Under Siege in a West Bank Refugee Camp
Christopher Reilly
Kissinger, Chile and Justice
at Long Last?
M. Shahid
Alam
The
Lies of Thomas Friedman
April 3, 2002
Don Henley
Dear Loathsome Trade Hacks
Bernard
Weiner
An
American Jew Talks
About His Shame
David Vest
Sting of Stings
Tzaporah
Ryter
Under
Fire: an American Student in Ramallah
Gabriel Ash
America's Bravest
John Chuckman
Of
War, Islam and Israel
Robert Fisk
The Siege of Bethlehem
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Sins of the Church
April 2, 2002
Uri Avnery
Murdering Arafat?
Jeff Chang
Is
Protest Music Dead?
Lev Grinberg
Israel's State Terrorism
Norman
Madarasz
Bullying
Brazil
Robert Fisk
Farce and Terror
in Ramallah
Steve
Perry
Let's
Roll! ®:
The Marketing of Lisa Beamer
April 1, 2002
Stanton / Madsen
America's War Inc.
Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
Peace
and Nuclear Disarmament: a Call to Action
Bahour / Dahan
Bloodshed in Palestine:
A Way Out
Molly
Secours
Tennessee's
Kangaroo Court
Phyllis Pollack
The Making of Exile
on Main Street
Dave Marsh
DeskScan:
This Week's
Top 10 CDs
Francis Boyle
The Big Lie:
Palestine, Palestinians
and International Law
March 31, 2002
Jordan
Flaherty
Last
Night the Israeli
Military Tried to Kill Me
Kristen Schurr
Live from Bethlehem
Maha Sbitani
The
Israeli Army Took Over My House
Robert Fisk
Lies Leaders Tell When
They Want to Go to War
March 24/30, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
The Year
of the Yellow Notepad:
Plagiarism and History
Rep. Ron Paul
Slavery and the Draft
Fidel
Castro
A
Better World is Possible
Edward Said
What Price Oslo?
José
Saramago
Justice
and Democracy Denied
Azmi Bishara
Talking to Tanks
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Clearcutting
Montana
Alexander Cockburn
50 Years of James Bond
Wilhelm
Reich
Gethsemane
Claud Cockburn
The Horror of It All
Dave Marsh
What's
Playing at My Houe
David Vest
Remembering Tammy Wynette
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Waylon
Jennings:
an Honest Outlaw
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
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April 6, 2002
Russian Generals Question Pentagon
Victories In Afghanistan
By Viktor Litovkin
The recent Moscow visit of General Tommy Franks,
Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command, provoked
debates among Russian generals, especially about the US information
about hostilities in Afghanistan. The general was apparently
pleased to tell his Russian colleagues and journalists at a press
conference in the Marriott Hotel that the efforts of the counter-terror
coalition, which Russia supports, were yielding fruit. In particular,
that battle in the Shah-e-Kot mountain area in the Paktia Province
ended "brilliantly," as Gen. Franks said. The enemy
was routed and control of the territory was turned over to the
government.
But the Russian military experts I talked
with after the general's visit were sceptical about the "brilliant
success" of Operation Anaconda, held 30 km away from the
city of Gardez. The American special troops lost ten men and
officers, 70 were wounded, two Chinook helicopters were hit and
five were serious damaged. My interlocutors doubt that this can
be described as a major victory.
On the other hand, the experts said they
did not have reliable information about the operation, but then
this is the problem of not only experts and not only Russian
experts at that. CNN, Euronews and other television companies
did not cover Operation Anaconda as thoroughly as they did Operation
Desert Storm. However, the US and European press carried enough
facts that prompt conclusions about the inadequate preparation
of US special troops for hostilities in the mountains.
In particular, Colonel-General Valery
Mironov, former commander of the 108th Motorised Division in
Afghanistan (1979-82) and former deputy defence minister of Russia,
told me that the Pentagon made quite a few major mistakes during
that operation. The massive use of air-fuel explosive (vacuum)
bombs, which are prohibited by international conventions, did
not help, and the general says could not help to liquidate the
leaders of the Taliban bandit groups hiding in the mountains.
They resulted in major destruction, burning out caves and tunnels
in the rock and possibly even provoked the recent earthquake,
but did not wipe out the opponent's troops. The Americans did
not show the international community killed or wounded Taliban,
prisoners of war or weapons and hardware of Al Qaeda. Maybe the
Taliban left the caves before the bombing started? There is no
answer to this question.
Another mistake of the Americans was
an attempt to finish off the enemy in the mountains outside Gardez
with the help of Afghan troops, disregarding the local national
and ethnic features, in particular relations between different
clans, says the Russian general. It was extremely imprudent to
use Tajik units in the battle against the Taliban, says Mironov.
The Americans should not have done this under any conditions
in the area controlled by the Pashtu. The Pentagon saw its mistake
too late, after its decision provoked acute contradictions between
tribal leaders. As a result, the operation lost the dynamics.
One more serious drawback of Operation
Anaconda was the use of small commando units at the initial stage,
says Colonel- General Mironov. The Pashtu who support the Taliban
can fight in the mountains much better than any commandos. This
explains the US losses and bad weather, fog and technical problems
with helicopters, to which the Pentagon referred, had nothing
to do with this. Success was ensured only after the Germans,
the Dutch and other members of the counter-terror coalition joined
the operation, although the Europeans sustained human losses,
too.
Valery Mironov believes that these facts
prove that it would be unwise to speak about a "brilliant
victory" of the counter- terror coalition. The coalition
will face more serious trials and one can only wish it to stand
them with the smallest possible losses.
Viktor Litovkin is
a military analyst for the Russian magazine Obshchaya Gazeta.
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