Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola<\/p>\n
In the video report above, journalist Glenn Greenwald elaborates on a recent expose\u20191<\/span><\/sup> he published in which he accuses the U.S. government of downplaying the capabilities of the Afghan security forces trained by the U.S. military.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing the same deceitful tactics they pioneered in Vietnam, U.S. political and military officials repeatedly misled the country about the prospects for success in Afghanistan,\u201d<\/em> Greenwald writes.2<\/span><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n He points out how presidents over the past 20 years have repeatedly announced victory over the Taliban and Al Qaeda and bragged about what a great job the U.S. is doing in training and fortifying the Afghan Security Forces.<\/p>\n Most recently, July 8, 2021, President Biden insisted a Taliban takeover was essentially impossible and that \u201cthe Afghan government and leadership \u2026 clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place.\u201d<\/p>\n When a reporter asked Biden to comment on intelligence reports warning that the Afghan government would likely collapse, Biden was quick to deny it, saying \u201cThat is not true. They did not \u2014 they didn\u2019t \u2014 did not reach that conclusion.\u201d He also stated that \u201cthe likelihood that there\u2019s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.\u201d In his article, Greenwald goes on:3<\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cAnd then, in an exchange that will likely assume historic importance in terms of its sheer falsity from a presidential podium, Biden issued this decree:<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Q. Mr. President, some Vietnamese veterans see echoes of their experience in this withdrawal in Afghanistan. Do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in Vietnam, with some people feeling \u2014<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n THE PRESIDENT: None whatsoever. Zero. What you had is \u2014 you had entire brigades breaking through the gates of our embassy \u2014 six, if I\u2019m not mistaken.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Taliban is not the south \u2014 the North Vietnamese army. They\u2019re not \u2014 they\u2019re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There\u2019s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the \u2014 of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you\u2019ve watched the news over the past several days, you know those statements did not age well, as the Taliban took over the presidential palace in Kabul and U.S. embassy staff were helicoptered off the roof in a rushed evacuation4<\/span><\/sup> after the security forces surrendered to the Taliban without a fight.<\/p>\n July 21, 2021, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted \u201cthere\u2019s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover,\u201d but still insisted that the Afghan Security Forces \u201chave the capacity to sufficiently fight and defend their country.\u201d<\/p>\n Eight years ago, in September 2013, Milley stated the Afghan Security Forces \u201chave been very, very effective in combat against the insurgents every single day.\u201d Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also gone on record,5<\/span><\/sup> mere months ago, denouncing fears that U.S. withdrawal would deteriorate the security picture in Afghanistan, and even if it did, it would not occur anytime soon.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of this was true,\u201d<\/em> Greenwald writes.6<\/span><\/sup> \u201cIt was always a lie, designed first to justify the U.S.\u2019s endless occupation of that country and, then, once the U.S. was poised to withdraw, to concoct a pleasing fairy tale about why the prior twenty years were not, at best, an utter waste.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That these claims were false cannot be reasonably disputed as the world watches the Taliban take over all of Afghanistan as if the vaunted \u2018Afghan national security forces\u2019 were china dolls using paper weapons.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But how do we know that these statements made over the course of two decades were actual lies rather than just wildly wrong claims delivered with sincerity? To begin with, we have seen these tactics from U.S. officials \u2014 lying to the American public about wars to justify both their initiation and continuation \u2014 over and over.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Greenwald goes on to review how the Vietnam and Iraq wars were both predicated on complete fabrications \u201cdisseminated by the intelligence community and endorsed by corporate media outlets,\u201d and how political and military leaders lied about our chances of success.<\/p>\nA Miscalculation of Epic Proportions<\/h2>\n
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A Lie Repeated Does Not Make It True<\/h2>\n