Troop News (Four)

Troop NEWS (Four)
Afghanistan, Iraq, War Reports

North League Against War, based in Leeds.
All additions by Northllaw are clearly marked.
Web addresses for complete articles, acknowledgments and gracious thanks to writers/publishers.
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In this edition, Frederick Engles, has the last word, article at end >.
Thus ended the attempt of the British to set up a prince of their own making in Afghanistan.
(Rumour -- they tried it twice, but ‘tis only rumour.)
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An Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement
From Iraq Veterans Against the War
Winter Soldiers
(Fraternal greetings to all Anti-war supporters at the British base at Catterick, north Yorkshire
also troops at Menwith hill’s American Base, plus all other military camps in the British Isles. northllaw.)

As we approach the fifth anniversary of the quagmire known as the invasion/occupation of Iraq, many of us feel a need to mark this occasion with an appropriately momentous show of resistance. For the past few months, IVAW has been organizing "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan." From March 13-16, 2008, we will assemble the largest gathering of US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in history, as well as Iraqi and Afghan survivors, to offer first-hand, eyewitness accounts to tell the truth about these occupations — their impact on the troops, their families, our nation, and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Winter Soldier will require IVAW's full attention and organizing capacity leading up to and during the event.
We would like to have as many people as possible attend the event and we are making arrangements to provide live broadcasting of the hearings for those who cannot hear the testimony first hand, as space will be limited. We ask all of you to help us to spread the message of the testimony, raise funds, and get more veterans and GIs involved.
We have been inspired by the tremendous support that the movement has shown us and we believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members. Because Winter Soldier will provide a unique venue for those who experienced war on the ground to expose the truth and consequences of the "War on Terror" to the nation and the world, we are requesting that, from March 13-16, the larger anti-war movement call no national mobilizations and that there be no local protests or civil disobedience actions in Washington, DC.
Some leaders of the movement have expressed a desire to have a mass assembly to mark the fifth anniversary. Some have expressed support for a concert/rally. IVAW would support any events that do not interfere with the Winter Soldier hearings, our strategy, or goals. We would encourage our members to continue participating in events of the larger movement to end the occupation of Iraq, as we acknowledge both the significance and the necessity of such actions for movement building. IVAW will also arrange to make available copies of the Winter Soldier transcript highlights to support the various efforts of the antiwar movement.
The IVAW, “will have a three-pronged approach: truth in recruiting; mobilization of active duty soldiers; defending war resisters.” There is rich detail on each of these initiatives, as well as ways to help build the Winter Soldier activity, on the group’s Web site: www.ivaw.org.
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When: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16, for those interested in watching or organizing around the proceedings at Winter Soldier, there will be a number of ways to watch and listen to the event.
Live television broadcast via satellite tv, accessible through Dish Network as well as public access stations that choose to carry our broadcast - Friday and Saturday only
Live video stream on the web - Thursday through Sunday
Live radio broadcast via KPFA in Berkley California and other Pacifica member stations - Friday through Sunday
Live audio stream via KPFA's website - Friday through Sunday
Please return to the IVAW website for specific details in the coming weeks.
Want to help make Winter Soldier a success? Find how how you can help.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
Iraq Veterans Against the War:  ivaw.champaign@gmail.com
Local Iraq Veterans to March from Philadelphia to Valley Forge
Media Advisory… Contact: Francesca Lo Basso, (215) 241-7123,  media@ivaw.org
Philadelphia, PA – Members of the Philadelphia chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will host a 25-mile march from the Constitution Center to Valley Forge on Saturday and Sunday.
The march is taking place to show support for IVAW’s biggest event to date, Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan. This event will bring together approximately 100 veterans and service members from across the country to share eyewitness accounts of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be held in Washington, D.C. from March 13-16.
Philadelphia IVAW members planned this weekend’s march to show allegiance to other veterans and service members and pledge continuing service to the American people.
Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded in 2004 to give those who have served in the military since September 11, 2001 a way to come together and speak out against an unjust, illegal and un-winnable occupation. Today, IVAW has over 700 members in 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada and on military bases overseas.

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Thomas Paine an English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, classical liberal and intellectual, migrated to the American colonies in time to take part in the American war of independence. His main contribution was the pamphlet, Common Sense, advocating independence for the American Colonies from the Monarchical government and the Empire of Great Britain, also the pamphlet, The American Crisis, which supported Revolution.
Later, Paine also influenced the French Revolution, he wrote the, Rights of Man, as a guide to the ideas of the Enlightenment, also The Age of Reason which advocated deism and took issue with Christian doctrines, he also wrote a pamphlet titled Agrarian Justice which discussed the origins of property and introduced a concept that is similar to a guaranteed minimum income.

Thomas Paine is sometimes known as "The Father of the American Revolution" for his writing advocating complete independence from royal/aristocratic and imperialist rule—his pro-independence pamphlet Common Sense convinced many colonists, including George Washington and John Adams, to seek redress in political independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and argued strongly against compromise. The work was instrumental in bringing about the Declaration of Independence, and it was Paine who proposed the name United States of America for the new nation.
When the war arrived, Paine published a series of important pamphlets, The Crisis, the first Crisis paper began with the famous words:
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
—Published on 23 December 1776
Returning to Europe, Paine finished his Rights of Man in January 1791, the book — which was highly critical of monarchies and European social institutions — sold briskly but was so controversial that the British government put Paine on trial in absentia. In the summer of 1792, he answered the charges with these famous words:
"If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy, to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank; if these things be libellous, let the name of libeller be engraved on my tomb.

(It never was, --- theoretically the British government of the day, its corrupt lawyers may not have been sufficient, must have lost the case, --- and hopefully the case is not still in the ‘court’, if so practically the expenses really must have become astronomic, onwards, ever onwards. northllaw.)
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The first Winter Soldier Investigation 1971, Detroit,
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_Investigation
Extracts >>>>
The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31-February 2, 1971. Discharged servicemen from each branch of military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963-1970.
A complete transcript was later entered into the Congressional Record. The Winter Soldier hearings were followed in April and May 1973 by the Fulbright Hearings convened by Senator J. William Fulbright, chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Background
Prompted by numerous investigations into war crimes and allegations of war crimes, such as the Russell Tribunal, National Veterans Inquiry and Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI), the Vietnam Veterans Against the War wanted to have a large scale public hearing. With the courts martial for the My Lai Massacre making front page news, and the recent disclosure by members of the CIA’s Phoenix Program of its record of alleged human rights violations, the VVAW was determined to expose a broad pattern of war crimes in Vietnam. The Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) was intended to prove that incidents like My Lai were not isolated and rare occurrences, but were instead the frequent and predictable result of official American war policy.
Purpose
The purpose of the Winter Soldier Investigation was to show that American policies in Vietnam had led to war crimes. In the words of one participant veteran, Donald Dzagulones,
"We gathered not to sensationalize our service but to decry the travesty that was Lt. William Calley’s trial for the My La Massacre. The U.S. had established the principle of culpability with the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis. Following those principles, we held that if Calley were responsible, so were his superiors up the chain of command — even to the president. The causes of My Lai and the brutality of the Vietnam War were rooted in the policies of our government as executed by our military commanders."
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(There is a story, from the Nuremburg trials, that the defendants often said they ‘were only following orders’’, what is often omitted from the story, is that they were often the ones writing the orders….lest we forget …..northllaw.)
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Winter Soldier 2008
A new Winter Soldier event, during which U.S. veterans will speak of their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, is being planned by Iraq Veterans Against the War for March 13-16, 2008, at the National Labour College in Silver Spring, MD
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STILL UNANSWERED 9/11 MIRACLES
Allen L Roland  http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/02/19.html
Freelance Online columnist Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Eventually, hopefully during our lifetime, Pandora's Box will be fully opened regarding the 9/11 cover-up and the world will reel in shock and awe ~ when the monstrous truth is known to one and all.
Every six months I return to the 9/11 scene, not to fan the flames but, instead, to review ongoing truths ~ particularly in light of the growing awareness of the ongoing deceptions and lies of the Cheney/Bush Administration.
Americans are not quite ready to look into the Pandora's Box of 9/11 because the implications are truly breathtaking and staggering but as each shocking abuse of power of the Cheney/Bush regime is revealed to America ~ the public becomes more open to the possibility of a monstrous deception beneath the unanswered 9/11 miracles.
If one accepts the “Official Version” of the events that occurred on 9/11 or in the days leading up to it, one must conclude that a series of miracles occurred ~ suggesting factitiously the hand of higher powers.

The Miracle
On the day of the hijackings the US Government is running drills with its Air Force where it is simulating "Multiple Hijackings of Aircraft" within the United States of America. This drill causes great confusion amongst Air Traffic Controllers as it provides a "Cover" for the real Hijackings. Without these drills it is very possible that the Aircraft that were hijacked could have been intercepted far earlier. Certainly one has to consider this some sort of "Miracle"
Surely "The hand of ???"

The Miracle
Months prior to the hijackings the US Government changed the rules of engagement for hijacked Aircraft. Now in order to send up planes to intercept, the approval of the Defence Secretary, one Donald Rumsfeld, is required. Unfortunately he goes missing for 30 minutes, on the morning of the attacks, again impeding the ability of intercepts to be flown. Not only this but on the day of those intercepts, supersonic US fighter aircraft that are scrambled suddenly have a top speed of only around 200 MPH.
Surely "The hand of ???"

The Miracle
The US President is on a pre-scheduled event in a school in Florida. The Government has no idea of how many Aircraft have been hijacked or what the targets of the hijackers are. Indeed, given that the president’s location that morning had been televised, the President himself might well be a target. Yet, rather then rush him to safety as they are trained ~ and expected ~ to do, the Secret Service is certain the President is not at risk. They let the President sit in the classroom and continue with his story about a pet goat for the next half hour ~ even after he was told the second tower was hit. A miracle of faith if anything.
Surely "The Hand of ???"

The Miracle
Five Israeli Citizens manage to be across the river from the WTC towers and are in place to film the planes crashing into the towers. Great is their Joy as they realize that the United States will certainly discover that Al Qaeda is the Culprit and this will lead to the destruction of Israel's many enemies. How they came to be there is certainly a miracle, and that the attack lead to the destruction of their arch enemies, the Iraqis, even more so. Why, after traces of explosives were detected their vans by bomb-sniffing dogs these men were inexplicably released by the police, only adds to this miracle. (They later admitted during an interview on Israeli television that they had been sent to the the United States “to document the event”, but no one asked them who sent them.)
Surely "The hand of ???"

The Miracle
No steel-framed buildings in the history of construction had ever suffered total structural collapse due to fires, yet on this single day, within hours of one another, THREE buildings collapse after fires burn through them. This even after Fire-fighters claim to have had the fires under control.
Surely "the Hand of ???"

The Miracle
All three towers collapse neatly into their own footprints, exactly as they do in controlled demolitions, at freefall speeds—I.e., in the same time it would take apples dropped from the roofs. All 110 floors fell as if nothing existed beneath them but air.
Surely "the Hand of ???"

The Miracle
The owner of the buildings slips up on national television and admits that he ordered one of the towers (building 7) to be “pulled”. A “Pull”—jargon for controlled demolition—requires months of planning and preparation. Yet, no one to this day has asked this man how he managed to achieve this incredible feat in a matter of hours, and amidst the chaos of 9/11. The 9/11 Commission surely must also have assumed this to be a miracle because they did not even address this in their report. That the insurance company paid out 7 billion dollars without even the slightest investigation—even after the owner’s admission of a ‘pull’—only compounds the magnitude of this miracle.
Surely "the Hand of ???"

The Miracle
Jet fuel is essentially refined kerosene. It burns without problem in millions of steel stoves, heaters and furnaces around the world every day. Yet on 9/11, in less than an hour, this innocuous substance MELTED all the massive steel beams of three skyscrapers and caused the structures to collapse like pillars of sand in less than 10 seconds. How do we know the steel melted? Firefighters and other first responders reported seeing molten metal “flowing like rivers” in the basements of the collapsed buildings for several weeks.
Surely "the Hand of ???"

The Miracle
Six months before the 9/11 attacks, the cluster of buildings that constitute the World Trade Center are purchased by a private investor for a relatively paltry sum of $200 million. (That was the first time in its 33-year history the complex had changed ownership). The new owner has the foresight (again miraculous, no doubt) to insure the buildings against terrorist attacks. The buildings were never seen as being profitable. In fact, because of their extremely high asbestos content, the structures had actually been condemned. Yet to destroy and rebuild them by conventional means would have been prohibitively expensive. It is indeed a miracle that the investor was paid $7 billion by the insurance companies after the attacks. A miraculously handsome return on an investment of $200 million.
Surely "The hand of ???"

The Miracle
Immediately following the acquisition of the WTC complex, the new owner makes it a priority to change Security companies. The CEO and a director of the new security company are none other than George W. Bush’s brother, Marvin Bush, and cousin, Wirt Walker III. It is a double-miracle that this same company is also responsible for providing security to American Airlines and the Dulles airport ~ both closely associated with the 9/11 attacks.
Surely "The hand of ???"

The Miracle
Billions in profits are made off put options shortly before 9/11 wherein investors made up to $15 billion in a frenzy of trading betting that certain stocks would fall in value over the next few days. These included stocks in the two Airlines that would suffer most from 9/11. In fact, the profits were so staggering and unprecedented that it caused Bloomberg News to exclaim: “This would be the most extraordinary coincidence in the history of mankind if it was a coincidence. This could very well be insider trading at the worst, most horrific, most evil use you’ve ever seen in your entire life. It’s absolutely unprecedented.”
Little did Bloomberg News know that it was in fact a miracle.
Surely "The Hand of ???"

The above mentioned miracles are but a small sampling of those that occurred on 9/11. People who do not believe higher powers had a hand in these are surely blinded. The number of coincidences that occurred in those few days is mind boggling. Terrorists’ passports that Miraculously survived fireballs and landed blocks away...the Miraculous bag that did not make the flight that included the names and details of every hijacker...Persons receiving Miraculous warnings out of the ether not to fly on that day...Cell phones Miraculously working from 30,000 feet where they had never worked before...People who couldn’t fly a little Cessna performing Miraculous corkscrew manoeuvres in Jumbo jets...The list of Miracles on 9/11 is virtually endless.
“???” has certainly spoken
Or is this the evil work of man ?
To be continued .....
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Below are two considerations, morality and patriotism. Northllaw.
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When Morality Demands Winter Soldiers
By Camillo "Mac" Bica
Full article at --------  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020408C.shtml
Camillo "Mac" Bica, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His focus is in ethics, particularly as it applies to war and warriors. As a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and coordinated for five years, the Veterans Self-Help Initiative, a therapeutic community of veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founding member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace. Articles by Dr. Bica have appeared in Cyrano's Journal, The Humanist Magazine, Znet, Truthout.com, Common Dreams, AntiWar.com, Monthly Review Zine, Foreign Policy in Focus, OpEdNews.Com, and numerous philosophical journals.

Monday 04 February 2008
In March of this year, the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will convene the Winter Soldier hearings in Washington, DC. "Winter Soldiers," ---- Though I do not speak for IVAW, it is their intent and hope, I suspect, that by telling the truth about these occupations, to provide, at the very least, the impetus for a long overdue national debate on the morality and legality of America's alleged "War Against Terrorism."

Many who pride themselves as "patriots" will, I am sure, accuse these veterans and anyone else who actively condemns the war as immoral and advocates an immediate and total withdrawal, of being un-American, unpatriotic and even treasonous. Even among those who have become disenchanted with the lack of progress in Iraq and sceptical regarding its justifiability and necessity, there is an "intuition" that since we have committed our soldiers and treasure to the effort, patriotism requires that we support our troops, our president and, ultimately, the war. At the very least, these "patriots" continue, if we truly love America, we should keep any misgivings to ourselves and just remain silent.
Is it the case, therefore, that at least with regard to America's war in Iraq that morality and love of country are in conflict?
That patriotism demands immoral behaviour or morality demands behaviour that is unpatriotic even treasonous?
It is the intent of this essay first to establish moral clarity regarding the war in Iraq and then to argue that morality and patriotism, correctly understood, require members of the military and their civilian counterparts to become Winter Soldiers and step up to end this immoral and tragic war.

Moral Foundations….. Civilized nations and individuals accept, at least theoretically, that human beings have inalienable human rights, among them the right to life and to live in a nation that enjoys political sovereignty and territorial integrity (sometimes referred to as national rights). Such rights provide a natural immunity from, among other things, being injured and killed unjustifiably and having one's nation invaded and occupied without warrant.
To kill an innocent person is murder, and "the (unprovoked and unjustified) invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack" is aggression.
We believe as well that aggressed individuals and nations have a right of self- and national defence, i.e., to use violence, even deadly force/war, all things being equal, to assert these rights. Morally, we justify such a response with an understanding that the aggressors, by virtue of their violation of the rights of their victims, have forfeited their own (their immunity) and have become liable to be resisted - warred against - in justified self- and national defence.

The Iraq War….. In the intervening years since the invasion of Iraq, it has become clear to all, with the possible exception of Fox Television Network viewers, that the attacks of September 11 were neither prosecuted nor supported by the people and/or the government of Iraq. While Saddam Hussein was a ruthless tyrant, at the time of the invasion, Iraq neither sought nor possessed weapons of mass destruction. Further, Iraq posed no real and immediate threat to the United States, Israel or any other Middle East nation.
Nor were the Iraqis aggressors or terrorists, Nor did they support aggression or terrorism. Nor were they linked in any way to the aggression or to the terrorist attacks. Consequently, and this is crucial, the nation of Iraq and its citizens are innocent, having done nothing to warrant forfeiture of their natural immunity, i.e., their rights to life and to live in a nation that enjoys territorial integrity and political sovereignty.
Consequently, regardless of whether the decision to invade and occupy Iraq was the result of an honest mistake or something more insidious, the pre-emptive attack against the sovereign nation of Iraq, the killing of its citizens and its continued occupation are morally unjustifiable - an act of aggression and murder.
Clearly, President Bush and his cohorts - those who planned and initiated the invasion and misrepresented it as a just war against terrorism and to preserve freedom - must bear the preponderance of responsibility and, hence, culpability for the aggression.
That having been said, however, the invading troops, despite their being mislead into believing their cause to be just, are agents of unwarranted, immoral and illegal violence - they violate the rights of the Iraqis.
They are what I will term "unjustifiable combatants/innocent aggressors." Consequently, the invading/occupying troops must suffer the sanction of forfeiture of their natural immunity and become liable to be justifiably resisted and warred against by the Iraqis in self- and national defence.

The fact that the invaders and occupiers allege to target only Iraqi combatants, and discriminate and afford immunity to non-combatants (though many instances of collateral damage have been reported), is irrelevant both to a determination of whether the invasion is just and to judgments of the liability of the aggressors.
The opposing combatants, despite being termed "insurgents" and "terrorists" by our political and military leaders, maintain their immunity and, this is crucial, their right to self- and national defence.
Consequently, the Iraqi combatants and their allies do not forfeit the very rights they are justifiably and morally struggling to assert.
They are justifiable combatants. It is not the case, therefore, because of a fierce "insurgent" resistance, that the aggressors can now claim their actions are morally justified by reasons of self-defence. All combatants are not moral equals.
At this writing, many in our country are celebrating the "success" of the surge and of the "new" military strategy in Iraq. However, military success and improved strategy do not afford a moral and legal basis for continuing, even escalating, the occupation - the aggression against, and murder of, the Iraqi people. How could achieving "victory" in such a scenario, i.e., the triumph of the aggressors, the murderers, over their victims be morally justified?

The Moral Obligation NOT to Support the Troops Qua Warrior…..

( Please read the Full article at ----  http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020408C.shtml, the article is lengthy but well worth the read, it portrays much of the philosophical approach of many Americans, but also interweaved within it are traces of the effects of mass propaganda in shaping the views of the American citizens. It is of value in the set out of both aspects, but one has to take it, not as finished, but as a starting point in evaluating the two sides. northllaw.)
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(Northllaw comments. – Almost all of the above has highlighted Iraq, but essentially the same can be said for Afghanistan, so at this point we will break the article because at present the public/electors do not know who organised, planned, or instituted the events of 9/11, the American FBI have openly admitted that they have no warrants for Osama Bin Laden re -9/11, they admit to having no evidence linking him to the events. There are some spurious ‘’messages/videos, that purport to be from Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, but unfortunately none of it will stand up in a court of law, otherwise the FBI would have warrants out for them, as and until they do produce warrants, the so-called ‘’evidence can be discounted, especially after so much time has lapsed. .
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The “British New Labour Party”, has no evidence either, Tony Blair and Go’d’n Brown have been at an absolute dearth in trying to find any, unfortunately neither does the British Conservative Party have such, and shall we really take a look at the Liberal-Democrats [the three parties together in this day are sufficient only to provide enough politicians for one party, all so politically lacking and backward looking, have they anything left besides conservatism] of course if they think otherwise then maybe they should publish it:
Do they need a few more years to concoct some ?
Have they no experts in ‘’legal-ism’’ left ?
No hurrah harry? to wave the flag of Empire ?
Is Shakespeare now just a shaky spear ?
No new script regarding bringing ‘civilisation’ to the natives ?
Shall they substitute the word ‘’democracy’’ for ‘’civilisation’’ and re-use the old British Empire script ?

The ‘British’ New labour Party the main Tory party of the present period, as opposed to the ‘old’ Labour Party [dead and gone] which was openly known as the English Party, as well as being anti Tory. Scotland and Ireland had their own parties, the English no longer have a party that represents them, the BNLP now looks upon itself as the ‘Pater of the nation’’.
That is of a British Nation, an unconstituted nation, which is why they keep trying to bring in a ‘new constitution’’ through the back door, from Europe, Tony Blair tried it, but fortunately it was voted out.
Go’d’n [I wanna be Prime Minister, but I don’t like elections] Brown is now trying to smuggle it in through the sewers of London; he even refuses to hold a referendum [election] on it. Mainly, the English nation and the Celtic nations, the two nations within the British Isles, still hold to the existing constitution, the official one.

The Liberal democrats, the offspring of the Labour party, considering that the Liberals were finished by 1914, one can only wonder as to what the infantile party has to offer.

The conservative party, the main Tory party of the past period, the Tories being the Anglican church, was the party of Empire, but if the Empire is gone, then what do they have to conserve ? The spirit of Empire mayhap ?

The ‘Tories’ of the 17th century [Charles the 2nd, whom the Whigs knew as the first Tory, the ‘leader’ of the 2nd Anglican church, as the 1st Anglican church was destroyed by the Commonwealth forces and its leader, Charles 1st, lost his head] used the Torah as their constitution and program for development, and ended up with a barbarian Empire.
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The Afghanis prior to the invasion of their country, though they had no extradition treaties, were willing to extradite not only Osama Bin Laden but others also, to a neutral country for trial; all they required was for the Americans to produce sufficient evidence to allow for a trial. They suggested Pakistan, only a suggestion, the Americans could have suggested otherwise, they didn’t, but they refused Pakistan as not suitable.
The Pakistan government led by ‘’Mushi’’, since has backed the British-American coalition to the hilt, and even now neither the British nor the Americans have produced any evidence, the Afghanis at the time had Bin Laden and others under house arrest, the invasion freed them.

No evidence has ever been provided that implicates the Afghanis in the event of 9/11.

Evidence in itself is not always proof, the Afghanis only asked for evidence, which is why a trial was a necessity, to attempt to ascertain the truth.
Robin Cooke, the now Deceased English M.P. who opposed the invasion of Iraq, openly stated that the ‘’Al-quada, was nothing more than a term for the roster on which names of people who were supportive of the Americans/British, during the war against the Russians, were recorded/displayed, many being of Saudi origin. The so-called Al-quada organisation, since, is nothing more than any group that wishes to call itself such, most often with people from the roster as members, the main group/s being based on Saudi Arabians, Saudi is a state that was built by the British Empire and which is dominated by one clan, the Bani Saud.

The Saudi state is based on the Wahabi creed, which began as a sect within the Muslims in the late 18th century, but which is now considered by many, ever since it became the official state religion, to be fully a religion in its own right and to have separated completely from the traditional Muslims.

After the English commonwealth revolution of the 1640’s, there was the ‘reaction –the British Tories,
After the French revolution late 18th century, there was the ‘reaction – the Terror,
After the Russian revolution of 1917 there was the ‘reaction – the bureaucrats and ‘the hand glove puppet’ Stalin,
After the Muslim revolution 1400 years ago there was the ‘reaction – the Umayyad dynasty from which the Sharia so-called laws originate, the Wahabi are fully based on Sharia, as such they do not follow the original Muslims.
The Umayyad dynasty was eventually defeated and what is known as the Hadiths came to be written, they formed the base of the democracy of the succeeding generations. From then till the fall of the last Caliphate [commonwealth], the Mogul of India 1860, one and a half centuries ago, the old Muslim world fluctuated between the two developments, democracy, or a continuation from the residue of the Umayyad dynasty’s distortions.

If one looks at the more recent revolution, the Russian, then one can easily see the changes and distortions/perversions that come from ‘reaction, the Bolsheviks followed Marx’s position, study all previous forms of communist society through the ages, this was the first to go.
The Russians instituted the ‘soviet’ the peoples/workers councils, as a way of elaborating democracy throughout the mass of people, the ‘’Stalin constitution’’ of 1935, outlawed soviets, all workers councils were disbanded and became illegal; their destruction had begun in the 1920’s immediately following the Stalinist takeover.
The revolutionary government instituted ‘state capitalist’ forms of economics, as a temporary measure, due to the destruction of the economy that had taken place in the great war, and also in the wars due to intervention by 19 different countries, a rebuilt base from which to proceed to a socialist construction, socialist construction being only a bridge to a communist society. The government fully intended to proceed to socialist economics, but it was cut short by the reaction, and state capitalism with the addition of imperialism instituted on a more permanent basis till it could again be transformed back to private capitalism including the ongoing imperialism.

The reactionaries turned the revolution into its opposite and destroyed it, the Russian Empire today is capitalist, the leaders have openly proved they are completely opposed to any socialist measures, there will be no bridge built to a communal way of life.
Strangely though, there are still so-called communist parties perpetuating the same fraud Stalin perpetrated, how any can now be fooled into believing Stalinism as being some form of communism, with Russia as capitalist and China galloping along the same road; still its not illegal for people to suffer from deluded phantasms.

Such is the reaction. A more modern form would be a study of the reaction in 1979 that instituted the ‘’theocratic reaction’’ in Iran.
Some day the Americans will study the ‘reaction that followed their revolution in the late 18th century, they will draw out how the old rulers fought back, how they worked to regain their lost colonies. Reactionaries are not always in a hurry. Unless of course, they have been led to ‘believe’’ there was no ‘reaction.
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The majority of the hijackers of the planes on 9/11 were said to be of Saudi origin, though there are still discrepancies as to who actually was on the planes; it is also looked upon as being doubtful as to whether pilots without guidance equipment, both in the towers and planes, could have actually hit the buildings.

The unity of the Americans, British, and Saudi Arabs, in Afghanistan, in opposition to the Russians, is also being questioned, that is –has it in actual fact been broken, non of the ‘leaders’’ have as yet suffered, just the ‘pawns’’ the common folk and the local governments in both countries that have been invaded.
Osama the backward bin man, the one who brings the rubbish, has not yet ‘turned’ on his old friends, he was well aware of many deals done in Afghanistan, including the names of many CIA agents, he has revealed nothing concerning any of them. He knew of many deals done with tribal leaders and which ones, he keeps quite.

The Taliban [meaning students, not one of whom has yet managed to gain a degree after all these years] were trained/educated in Madrassas in Pakistan, most of which were American financed. The Taliban unfortunately also follow the Wahabi, or a local ‘grown’ offshoot/version, the Deobandi, either way it is still based on the reaction following and being the attempted negation of the Muslim revolution of 1400 years ago.
The term Hindoo is from the Portuguese, it simply means Indian, the British were said to be the last of the Europeans to arrive in India, if one studies the historical writings of the French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch etc, one finds that they have no record of a ‘Hindoo’’ religion, the Muslims of India recorded the British as building one, so did the socialist of Europe in the 19th century.
The British Empire, as with the Romans in their time, were builders of religions, the British could, by opening its archives, bring most of the religious sectarianism in the Muslim areas, to an end.
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Below is an article by Engles regarding Afghanistan, it portrays an agricultural society in the main, Afghanistan still is, it’s not changed a lot.
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Except for the fact that its people are now being killed by invaders, ones who the Afghanis refer to as the ‘’cowards’’, mainly because the Afghanis fight in their day to day clothes, they have to buy their own guns, they have no body armour, or ‘tin’ helmets. They have no air force, nor helicopters, no navy or battleships, no long range artillery, nor missiles, little in the way of doctors or hospitals.
They have to work when they can, fight when they can, they are mainly villagers, small towns, their way of life is still very communal, the country has little in the way of industries, yet they have fought the invaders to almost a standstill.
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But the invaders have helmets, body armour, helicopters, long range missiles, artillery, depleted uranium bombs, otherwise known as ‘’dirty bombs’’, all the most modern equipment, radio, phones, heat seeking, infrared etc. They use people as ‘spotters’, basically ‘’snipers’’ who use planes or helicopters instead of guns, they guide them to targets, the bombs are indiscriminate as to whom they kill, they are surrounded by defences, far from the real action, along with the pilots considered to be amongst the worst of the ‘cowards’’.
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Afghanistan is now the worst area of all for contamination from radioactive fallout, the unborn will die of it, children will be born with deformities as ‘monsters’, others will die of cancers, the ones who are unborn at present will for the next few generations, at least, be killed by the ‘heritage’’ that has been left for them by the invaders. The invaders have the full backup of many states, not only the British, but at least fifty states in the Americas, plus many others of the invasion coalition.
The invaders/cowards have hospitals, and doctors, for their wounds and disabilities and in particular their mental health needs [the most vital need they have, they need the psychiatric medical help, desperately] false eye and limb makers, but unfortunately little in the way of ‘new brain’’ makers.
The Afghanis consider that if the invaders did not use air support, that the invaders would have been defeated by now. That’s to be considered.

Morality is a thing of the people in their mass, not of governments or religions, and most avowedly not of bourgeois political parties, which is why there has been a great fall in recruitment to the military throughout Britain, battalions are under strength, neither the majority of the English nation nor the Celtic nation give any support to the anti morality position of the British government.

Patriotism is a relative thing, fighting for ones people against invaders, with no thought to make wealth from it is one thing, fighting for corporate companies so they can make billions is another.
Its time the troops that are still in the British military listened to the people, the electorate, not to the political parties, not to the minority of vested interests, they should consider as to why they have turned a deaf ear to the people of Britain, what lies have they been told, the public do not believe the lies of the BNLP and Conservative parties, so why do the military ?

The old Labour Party is deceased, but yes there are still people in the BNLP who were members of the old party, ‘tis true, but ‘tis also true that they only represent the middle class, that they were the ones who helped destroy the ‘’old one’’, they betrayed all that the old party was founded for, so why support them ?
The BNLP has shrunk in membership, many of its branches are but a shrivelled remnant of what the old party branches were, it’s also changed drastically its class base, the middle class weren’t sufficient to build their own party, so they infiltrated like an infection that destroyed the host.
The British Communist party, Stalinist, was not based on a socialist programme, they were intent on capitalism, with its collapse its supporters and many members joined the BNLP, they as with the Social Democrats of the Labour party are all based on Thatcher-ism.
Luckily there are still more ex members of the Old Party still active, they also are in larger numbers than the BNLP membership, its time they dealt with those who remained with the BNLP, the anti-socialists, there is also such a thing as ‘patriotism’ regarding ones politics.

Not only have the Families told their members not to join the military, but they also hold a position of no support for those who do, is it worth having a medal in exchange for a family member ?
Is a medal worth the greater part of a life as a cripple ?
Does gaining a medal justify the killing of civilians ?
Babies, women, old folk, do their deaths help the troops to enjoy their ‘’jollies’’ more ?
One million dead in Iraq, how many in Afghanistan ?
The lack of recruits and the reason as to why, should be the main consideration of all still in the military, time for them to listen to the mass of the electorate, the mass of the families in Britain who do not agree to the invasions, or the mass killing of civilians and poorly armed freedom fighters, is this really only what the ‘’army of the BNLP and Conservatives’’ is capable of ?

There was a time when the people of Britain had an army to defend them, an army that listened to them, an army that would accept the ‘will of the majority’’, the Families of Britain in their majority do not support this war, so who’s army is it that kills so many in Iraq and Afghanistan ?

Obviously the army that fought in the last great war in Europe is as dead as the ‘’Old Labour Party’’.)
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Afghanistan by Frederick Engels
 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/afghanistan/index.htm
Written: in July and the first 10 days of August 1857; Review of J W Kaye’s The Afghan War, by Engels

Afghanistan, an extensive country of Asia, north-west of India. It lies between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab. In its present limits there are probably not more than 4,000,000 inhabitants.
The surface of Afghanistan is very irregular, – lofty table lands, vast mountains, deep valleys, and ravines. Like all mountainous tropical countries it presents every variety of climate. In the Hindu Kush, the snow lies all the year on the lofty summits, while in the valleys the thermometer ranges up to 130°. The heat is greater in the eastern than in the western parts, but the climate is generally cooler than that of India; and although the alternations of temperature between summer and winter, or day and night, are very great, the country is generally healthy.
The principal diseases are fevers, catarrhs, and ophthalmia. Occasionally the small-pox is destructive. The soil is of exuberant fertility. Date palms flourish in the oases of the sandy wastes; the sugar cane and cotton in the warm valleys; and European fruits and vegetables grow luxuriantly on the hill-side terraces up to a level of 6,000 or 7,000 feet. The mountains are clothed with noble forests, which are frequented by bears, wolves, and foxes, while the lion, the leopard, and the tiger, are found in districts congenial to their habits.

The animals useful to mankind are not wanting. There is a fine variety of sheep of the Persian or large-tailed breed. The horses are of good size and blood. The camel and ass are used as beasts of burden, and goats, dogs, and cats, are to be found in great numbers. Beside the Hindu Kush, which is a continuation of the Himalayas, there is a mountain chain called the Solyman Mountain, on the south-west; and between Afghanistan and Balkh, there is a chain known as the Paropamisan range, very little information concerning which has, however, reached Europe.
The rivers are few in number; the Helmund and the Kabul are the most important. These take their rise in the Hindu Kush, the Kabul flowing cast and falling into the Indus near Attock; the Helmund flowing west through the district of Seiestan and falling into the lake of Zurrah.
The Helmund has the peculiarity of overflowing its banks annually like the Nile, bringing fertility to the soil, which, beyond the limit of the inundation, is sandy desert. The principal cities of Afghanistan are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar. Kabul is a fine town, lat. 34° 10' N. long 60° 43' E, on the river of the same name.
The buildings are of wood, neat and commodious, and the town being surrounded with fine gardens, has a very pleasing aspect. It is environed with villages, and is in the midst of a large plain encircled with low hills. The tomb of the emperor Baber is its chief monument.
Peshawer is a large city, with a population estimated at 100,000. Ghuznee, a city of ancient renown, once the capital of the great sultan Mahmoud, has fallen from its great estate and is now a poor place. Near it is Mahmoud’s tomb. Kandahar was founded as recently as 1754. It is on the site of an ancient city. It was for a few years the capital; but in 1774 the seat of government was removed to Kabul. It is believed to contain 100,000 inhabitants.
Near the city is the tomb of Shah Ahmed, the founder of the city, an asylum so sacred that even the king may not remove a criminal who has taken refuge within its walls.

The geographical position of Afghanistan, and the peculiar character of the people, invest the country with a political importance that can scarcely be over-estimated in the affairs of Central Asia. The government is a monarchy, but the king’s authority over his high-spirited and turbulent subjects, is personal and very uncertain. The kingdom is divided into provinces, each superintended by a representative of the sovereign, who collects the revenue and remits it to the capital.
The Afghans are a brave, hardy, and independent race; they follow pastoral or agricultural occupations only, eschewing trade and commerce, which they contemptuously resign to Hindus, and to other inhabitants of towns. With them, war is an excitement and relief from the monotonous occupation of industrial pursuits.
The Afghans are divided into clans[41], over which the various chiefs exercise a sort of feudal supremacy. Their indomitable hatred of rule, and their love of individual independence, alone prevents their becoming a powerful nation; but this very irregularity and uncertainty of action makes them dangerous neighbours, liable to be blown about by the wind of caprice, or to be stirred up by political intriguers, who artfully excite their passions.
The two principal tribes are the Dooranees and Ghilgies, who are always at feud with each other. The Dooranee is the more powerful; and in virtue of their supremacy their ameer or khan made himself king of Afghanistan.
He has a revenue of about £10,000,000. His authority is supreme only in his tribe. The military contingents are chiefly furnished by the Dooranees; the rest of the army is supplied either by the other clans, or by military adventurers who enlist into the service in hopes of pay or plunder. Justice in the towns is administered by cadis, but the Afghans rarely resort to law.
Their khans have the right of punishment even to the extent of life or death. Avenging of blood is a family duty; nevertheless, they are said to be a liberal and generous people when unprovoked, and the rights of hospitality are so sacred that a deadly enemy who eats bread and salt, obtained even by stratagem, is sacred from revenge, and may even claim the protection of his host against all other danger.
In religion they are Mohammedans, and of the Soonee sect; but they are not bigoted, and alliances between Sheeahs and Soonees are by no means uncommon.

Afghanistan has been subjected alternately to Mogul and Persian dominion. Previous to the advent of the British on the shores of India the foreign invasions which swept the plains of Hindostan always proceeded from Afghanistan. Sultan Mahmoud the Great, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Nadir Shah, all took this road. In 1747 after the death of Nadir, Shah Ahmed, who had learned the art of war under that military adventurer, determined to shake off the Persian yoke. Under him Afghanistan reached its highest point of greatness and prosperity in modern times. -----
-----. His kingdom extended from Khorassan to Delhi, and he even measured swords with the Mahratta powers. These great enterprises did not, however, prevent him from cultivating some of the arts of peace, and he was favourably known as a poet and historian. He died in 1772, and left his crown to his son Timour,----- In 1793 Timour died, and Siman succeeded him. This prince conceived the idea of consolidating the Mohammedan power of India, and this plan, which might have seriously endangered the British possessions, was thought so important that Sir John Malcolm was sent to the frontier to keep the Afghans in check, in case of their making any movement, and at the same time negotiations were opened with Persia, by whose assistance the Afghans might be placed between two fires. These precautions were, however, unnecessary; Siman Shah was more than sufficiently occupied by conspiracies, and disturbances at home, and his great plans were nipped in the bud. -----
In 1809 Napoleon had sent Gen. Gardane to Persia in the hope of inducing the shah [Fath Ali] to invade India, and the Indian government sent a representative [Mountstuart Elphinstone] to the court of Shah Soojah to create an opposition to Persia. At this epoch, Runjeet Singh rose into power and fame. He was a Sikh chieftain, and by his genius made his country independent of the Afghans, and erected a kingdom in the Punjab, earning for himself the title of Maharajah (chief rajah), and the respect of the Anglo-Indian government.

----- 1829 ----- The Bairukshee family, having now attained chief power, divided the territory among themselves, but following the national usage quarrelled, and were only united in presence of a common enemy. One of the brothers, Mohammed Khan, held the city of Peshawer, for which he paid tribute to Runjeet Singh; another held Ghuznee; a third Kandahar; while in Kabul, Dost Mohammed, the most powerful of the family, held sway.
To this prince, Capt. Alexander Burnes was sent as ambassador in 1835, when Russia and England were intriguing against each other in Persia and Central Asia. He offered an alliance which the Dost was but too eager to accept; but the Anglo-Indian government demanded every thing from him, while it offered absolutely nothing in return. In the mean time, in 1838, the Persians, with Russian aid and advice, laid siege to Herat, the key of Afghanistan and India; a Persian and a Russian agent arrived at Kabul, and the Dost, by the constant refusal of any positive engagement on the part of the British, was, at last, actually compelled to receive overtures from the other parties. Burnes left, and Lord Auckland, then governor-general of India, influenced by his secretary W. McNaghten, determined to punish Dost Mohammed, for what he himself had compelled him to do.
He resolved to dethrone him, and to set up Shah Soojah, now a pensioner of the Indian government. A treaty was concluded with Shah Soojah, and with the Sikhs; the shah began collecting an army, paid and officered by the British, and an Anglo-Indian force was concentrated on the Sutlej. McNaghten, seconded by Burnes, was to accompany the expedition in the quality of envoy in Afghanistan. In the mean time the Persians had raised the siege of Herat, and thus the only valid reason for interference in Afghanistan was removed, but, nevertheless, in December 1838, the army marched toward Sinde, which country was coerced into submission, and the payment of a contribution for the benefit of the Sikhs and Shah Soojah.
Feb. 20, 1839, the British army passed the Indus. It consisted of about 12,000 men, with above 40,000 camp-followers, beside the new levies of the shah. The Bolan Pass was traversed in March; want of provisions and forage began to be felt; the camels dropped by hundreds, and a great part of the baggage was lost. April 7, the army entered the Khojak Pass, traversed it without resistance, and on April 25 entered Kandahar, which the Afghan princes, brothers of Dost Mohammed, had abandoned.
After a rest of two months, Sir John Keane, the commander, advanced with the main body of the army toward the north, leaving a brigade, under Nott, in Kandahar. Ghuznee, the impregnable stronghold of Afghanistan, was taken, July 22, a deserter having brought information that the Kabul gate was the only one which had not been walled up; it was accordingly blown down, and the place was then stormed. After this disaster, the army which Dost Mohammed had collected, at once disbanded, and Kabul too opened its gates, Aug. 6. Shah Soojah was installed in due form, but the real direction of government remained in the hands of McNaghten, who also paid all Shah Soojah’s expenses out of the Indian treasury.
The conquest of Afghanistan seemed accomplished, and a considerable portion of the troops was sent back.
But the Afghans were no ways content to be ruled by the Feringhee Kaffirs (European infidels), and during the whole of 1840 and ’41, insurrection followed on insurrection in every part of the country. The Anglo-Indian troops had to be constantly on the move.
Yet, McNaghten declared this to be the normal state of Afghan society, and wrote home that every thing went on well, and Shah Soojah’s power was taking root.
(Sounds just like the surge in Iraq, so much for ‘’shah Maliki’’….northllaw)

In vain were the warnings of the military officers and the other political agents. Dost Mohammed had surrendered to the British in October, 1840, and was sent to India; every insurrection during the summer of ’41 was successfully repressed, and toward October, McNaghten, nominated governor of Bombay, intended leaving with another body of troops for India.
But then the storm broke out. The occupation of Afghanistan cost the Indian treasury £1,250,000 per annum: 16,000 troops, Anglo-Indian, and Shah Soojah’s, had to be paid in Afghanistan; 3,000 more lay in Sinde, and the Bolan Pass; Shah Soojah’s regal splendours, the salaries of his functionaries, and all expenses of his court and government, were paid by the Indian treasury, and finally, the Afghan chiefs were subsidized, or rather bribed, from the same source, in order to keep them out of mischief.

McNaghten was informed of the impossibility of going on at this rate of spending money. He attempted retrenchment, but the only possible way to enforce it was to cut down the allowances of the chiefs.
The very day he attempted this, the chiefs formed a conspiracy for the extermination of the British, and thus McNaghten himself was the means of bringing about the concentration of those insurrectionary forces, which hitherto had struggled against the invaders singly, and without unity or concert; though it is certain, too, that by this time the hatred of British dominion among the Afghans had reached the highest point.

The English in Kabul were commanded by Gen. Elphinstone, a gouty, irresolute, completely helpless old man, whose orders constantly contradicted each other.
(No, Elphinstone, not ‘Dick Cheney….northllaw )

The troops occupied a sort of fortified camp, which was so extensive that the garrison was scarcely sufficient to man the ramparts, much less to detach bodies to act in the field. The works were so imperfect that ditch and parapet could be ridden over on horseback. As if this was not enough, the camp was commanded almost within musket range by the neighbouring heights, and to crown the absurdity of the arrangements, all provisions, and medical stores, were in two detached forts at some distance from camp, separated from it, moreover, by walled gardens and another small fort not occupied by the English.
The citadel or Bala Hissar of Kabul would have offered strong and splendid winter quarters for the whole army, but to please Shah Soojah, it was not occupied. Nov. 2, 1841, the insurrection broke out. The house of Alexander Burnes, in the city, was attacked and he himself murdered. The British general did nothing, and the insurrection grew strong by impunity. Elphinstone, utterly helpless, at the mercy of all sorts of contradictory advice, very soon got every thing into that confusion which Napoleon [Bonaparte] described by the three words, ordre, contre-ordre, disordre .

The Bala Hissar was, even now, not occupied. A few companies were sent against the thousands of insurgents, and of course were beaten. This still more emboldened the Afghans. Nov. 3, the forts close to the camp were occupied. On the 9th, the commissariat fort (garrisoned by only 80 men) was taken by the Afghans, and the British were thus reduced to starvation. On the 5th, Elphinstone already talked of buying a free passage out of the country.
In fact, by the middle of November, his irresolution and incapacity had so demoralised the troops that neither Europeans nor Sepoys were any longer fit to meet the Afghans in the open field. Then the negotiations began. During these, McNaghten was murdered in a conference with Afghan chiefs. Snow began to cover the ground, provisions were scarce. At last, Jan. 1, a capitulation was concluded. All the money, £190,000, was to be handed over to the Afghans, and bills signed for £140,000 more. All the artillery and ammunition, except 6 six-pounders and 3 mountain guns, were to remain. All Afghanistan was to be evacuated. The chiefs, on the other hand, promised a safe conduct, provisions, and baggage cattle.
Jan. 5, the British marched out, 4,500 combatants and 12,000 camp-followers. One march sufficed to dissolve the last remnant of order, and to mix up soldiers and camp-followers in one hopeless confusion, rendering all resistance impossible. The cold and snow and the want of provisions acted as in Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow [in 1812]. But instead of Cossacks keeping a respectful distance, the British were harassed by infuriated Afghan marksmen, armed with long-range matchlocks, occupying every height.
The chiefs who signed the capitulation neither could nor would restrain the mountain tribes. The Koord-Kabul Pass became the grave of nearly all the army, and the small remnant, less than 200 Europeans, fell at the entrance of the Jugduluk Pass.
Only one man, Dr. Brydon, reached Jelalabad to tell the tale. Many officers, however, had been seized by the Afghans, and kept in captivity, Jelalabad was held by Sale’s brigade. Capitulation was demanded of him, but he refused to evacuate the town, so did Nott at Kandahar. Ghuznee had fallen; there was not a single man in the place that understood any thing about artillery, and the Sepoys of the garrison had succumbed to the climate.

In the mean time, the British authorities on the frontier at the first news of the disaster of Kabul, had concentrated at Peshawer the troops destined for the relief of the regiments in Afghanistan. But transportation was wanting and the Sepoys fell sick in great numbers. -----
Gen. Pollock, in February, took the command, and by the end of March, 1842, received further reinforcements. He then forced the Khyber Pass, and advanced to the relief of Sale at Jelalabad----- Shah Soojah had, long before, been murdered by some of the chiefs, and since then no regular government had existed in Afghanistan; nominally, Futteh Jung, his son, was king.
Pollock despatched a body of cavalry after the Kabul prisoners, but these had succeeded in bribing their guard, and met him on the road.
As a mark of vengeance, the bazaar of Kabul was destroyed, on which occasion the soldiers plundered part of the town and massacred many inhabitants. Oct. 12, the British left Kabul and marched by Jelalabad and Peshawer to India. Futteh Jung, despairing of his position, followed them.
Dost Mohammed was now dismissed from captivity, and returned to his kingdom.

Thus ended the attempt of the British to set up a prince of their own making
in Afghanistan.
Frederick Engles.
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