Full Text Of Newsmax Column Suggesting Military Coup Against Obama

Western and Afghan forces try to find out why an otherwise normal young man snapped and killed men he had worked with for months.

By Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Mohammad Ilyas Dayee in Lashkar Gah (ARR No. 344, 5-Nov-09)

The young man’s name was Gulbuddin and he came from Musa Qala, in the northern part of Helmand. He was big and strong with a reputation for fierceness in fighting the Taleban. Gulbuddin was a graduate of the police academy, had served honourably for two years in the Afghan National Police in Helmand, and his commander describes him as trustworthy.

That was until the afternoon of November 3, when he suddenly took a machine gun and mowed down his British colleagues, killing five and wounding six others. Two Afghan police were also injured in the incident.

“We do not know what triggered this,” said Haji Manan, a police commander in Nad Ali, the district where the incident occurred. “We were sitting at our checkpoint and we heard shooting. My deputy grabbed a gun and rushed out. Gulbuddin knocked him down with his machine gun. I ran up to the roof and I was shot. But I rolled down off the roof. He thought I was dead. He shot the foreigners first, then us.”

In the bitter aftermath of the shootings, both western and Afghan forces are trying to piece together what could have motivated an otherwise normal young man to snap and kill men alongside whom he had served for months.

The killings reopened the debate in Britain about the country’s role in Afghanistan, where it has 9,000 troops and has lost 92 so far this year. The Times newspaper in a headline called the shooting “A Bloody Betrayal” and the Daily Mail asked “What Kind of War is This?”

The reasons for the deployment, which had wide public support when it began in 2001, have become confused, some people say. While the initial aim was to deal with the Taleban and al-Qaeda, politicians now talk about bringing peace and stability to the streets. There does not seem to be an exit strategy and the mounting death toll has hit public support.

Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell said British troops must stay in Afghanistan until the country’s own security forces are ready to take over.

“We do believe that the approach of partnering, mentoring and training has to be the right approach because it’s about building Afghan capacity,” he said. “We do not want our troops to be there forever and a day.”

Some people in Helmand believe that Gulbuddin belonged to the Taleban and had infiltrated the police. Others think that he may have lost friends or family in the bombardments by foreign forces that have ratcheted up tensions between Afghans and western forces, especially in the south.

“Gulbuddin was a soldier like me,” said Khairullah, one of the wounded policemen. “He did not have psychological problems, and he was not a drug addict. He was a disciplined policeman. Nobody knows why it happened. We rushed out of our rooms and I was shot in the leg by a British soldier. It was hell, shots being fired everywhere.”

A resident of Nad Ali who knew him well said that Gulbuddin was a fighter.

“He was a veteran of many battles against the Taleban,” said the man, who did not want to give his name. “He deserved medals. But he told me that whenever they had the Taleban pinned down the British would call them off. Maybe he was ready for a fight and his nerves just short-circuited.”

Gulbuddin fled the checkpoint where the shooting took place and a Taleban commander said that Gulbuddin was with them.

“After he killed the British soldiers he came to us,” said the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We picked him up near a cemetery, just three kilometres away from the police checkpoint, in an area under our control. He has been taken away to an undisclosed location. We did not have ties with him before, but recently he started to open relations with us.”

A member of the local council, who did not want to give his name, told IWPR that the police were searching for Gulbuddin even behind the Taleban lines.

“Talks are going on between tribal elders and the local Taleban to turn him over to the police,” said the man.

But most Helmandis think it is unlikely that the Taleban will give him up voluntarily.

“That boy is a hero,” said Khial Mohammad, a resident of Greshk. “The Taleban will treasure him like a flower.”

Shin Kalay, the village in Nad Ali where Gulbuddin staged his desperate act, is on the front line in the fight against the Taleban. The British soldiers and their Afghan police colleagues had been working and fighting side by side, and the police are now shocked and ashamed by their colleague’s action.

“I cannot look anybody in the eye,” said a police officer in the police headquarters, in Lashkar Gah. “The British will not trust any of our soldiers after this. We killed people who were trying to help us.”

Musafer, a police officer with the counter-narcotics team, also expressed shame and embarrassment but he tried to find some rationale for what most see as just a random act of violence.

“Maybe Gulbuddin was offended by the British,” he said. “Sometimes the foreign soldiers insult the Afghan police. Sometimes they restrain them and will not let them shoot when they are in a battle with the enemy. When we ask why, the British just say ‘these are our rules’.”

Captain Tim Dark, a media liaison officer with the western forces’ Lashkar Gah Provincial Reconstruction Team, PRT, said that he could not comment on ground operations.

“I cannot possibly know what happens in the heat of battle, or second guess what decisions are made,” he said.

An Afghan police commander in Nad Ali praised the British soldiers with whom he had served, and said he could not understand why his colleague had done what he had.

“This group of British soldiers was with us in every single operation, and they were very brave,” he said. “They were better than us in fighting. But this policeman had been with us for two years, and had served in Chanjir, Bolan, and other districts in Helmand. He was not al-Qaeda or Taleban. I cannot understand why he did this.”

For now the British are saying that Gulbuddin was a rogue policeman and the Nad Ali shootings are an isolated tragedy, not part of a wider pattern.

But the years of war have made many Afghans angry and bitter against the western presence on their soil. Tensions between the British and the Afghans are deep, and go back almost two centuries, to the three previous wars the British fought, and lost, on Afghan soil.

Civilian casualties are a major irritant in the relationship, and some Helmandis welcomed the news of British losses.

“[Gulbuddin] is a good boy, and the parents that bore him should be proud,” said Gul Agha, a resident of Greshk. “He should be given a medal. Let the foreigners know the pain of losing your own people. Let them know how death smells.”

“Let them know how tragic is the death of a son, a father or a brother,” said Abdul Majid, another resident. “Just last night they bombed innocent people in Babaji. Didn’t they have fathers and mothers? They were just farmers, threshing corn, and they were killed on the spot. All their young sons are dead. I am sure they would welcome that soldier as a hero.”

According to the Helmand PRT, the incident Majid referred to occurred at about 7.30 pm on November 4, when international forces launched a rocket attack against people they believed to be insurgents.

“We killed nine individuals who were attempting to plant an IED (improvised explosive device),” Dark said. “I am not aware of any civilian casualties.”

But this version does not sit well with Helmandis, who say that nine civilians were killed, including three children, as well as eight insurgents. A group of 60 tribal elders went to the PRT, the governor’s office, and to a local hospital in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, to protest at the attack, and according to media reports, they had the bodies of the civilians with them.

Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Mohammad Ilyas Dayee are IWPR reporters in Helmand province.

Here’s what Comrade Hoxha had to say on the subject in a speech delivered before 81 other Communist and Workers Parties in November 1960:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/nov1960.htm

In our opinion, the counter-revolution in Hungary was mainly the work of the Titoites. In Tito and the Belgrade renegades, the U.S. imperialists had their best weapon to destroy the people’s democracy in Hungary.

After comrade Khrushchev’s visit to Belgrade in 1955, no more was said about Tito’s undermining activity. The counter-revolution in Hungary did not break out unexpectedly. It was prepared for, we might say, quite openly, and it would be futile for any one to try to convince us that this counter-revolution was prepared in great secrecy. This counter-revolution was prepared by the agents of the Tito gang in collusion with the traitor Imre Nagy, in collusion with the Hungarian fascists and all of them acted openly under the direction of the Americans.

The scheme of the Titoites, who were the leaders, was for Hungary to be detached from our socialist camp, to be turned into a second Yugoslavia, be linked in alliance with NATO through Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, to receive aid from the U.S.A. and, together with Yugoslavia and under the direction of the imperialists, to continue the struggle against the socialist camp.

The counter-revolutionaries worked openly in Hungary. But how is it that their activities attracted no attention? We cannot understand how it is possible for Tito and Horthy’s bands to work so freely in a fraternal country of People’s Democracy like Hungary where the party was in power and the weapons of dictatorship were in its hands, where the Soviet army was present.

We think that the stand taken by comrade Khrushchev and the other Soviet comrades towards Hungary was not clear, because the greatly mistaken views which they held about the Belgrade gang did not allow them to see the situation correctly.

[...]

Whether to intervene or not to intervene with arms in Hungary is, we think, not within the competence of one person alone; seeing that we have set up the Warsaw Treaty, we should decide jointly, because otherwise it is of no use to speak of alliance, of the collective spirit and collaboration among the parties. The Hungarian counter-revolution cost to our camp blood, it cost Hungary and the Soviet Union blood.

Why was this bloodshed permitted and no steps taken to prevent it? We are of the opinion that no preliminary steps could be taken so long as Comrade Khrushchev and the Soviet comrades placed their trust in the organizer of the Hungarian counter-revolution, the traitor Tito, so long as they set so little value on the absolutely necessary regular meetings with their friends and allies, so long as they considered their unilateral decisions on matters that concern us all as the only correct ones, and so long as they attached no importance whatsoever to collective work and collective decisions.

[...]

Hungary was a great lesson for us, for what was done, and for the drama that was played on the stage and behind the scenes there. We believed that the Hungarian counter-revolution was more than enough to show the betrayal of Tito and his gang. We know that many documents are kept locked away and are not brought to light, documents that expose the barbarous activity of Tito’s group in the Hungarian events. Why this should happen we do not understand. What interests are hidden behind these documents which are not brought to light but are kept under lock and key? To condemn Stalin after his death, the most trifling items were searched out, while the documents that expose a vile traitor like Tito are locked away in a drawer.

But even after the Hungarian counter-revolution, the political and ideological fight against the Titoite gang, instead of becoming more intense, as Marxism-Leninism demands, was played down, leading to reconciliation, smiles, contacts, moderation and almost to kisses. In fact, thanks to this opportunist attitude, the Titoites got out of this predicament.

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Russian:
Internationale
Varshavianka
Workers of All Countries, Unite!
We’re Renouncing the Old World (“Workers’ Marseillaise)
Ahead, Fearless Comrades
Oh, roads
Forward, Red Marines
Rage Tyrants
Red Banner
Through Hills and Over Valleys
Hymn of the World Democratic Youth
Song of the Motherland
Grenada
The Sacred War
Song About Shchors
Katiusha
Young Eagle
Cuba, My Love
The Sacred War
Dubinushka
Toward the Future

German:
March of the Komintern
Social Democratic Party Congress
Leftist March
Song of Struggle Against Fascism
Kampflied der Internationalen Arbeiterhilfe
Song of Solidarity
Song of the United Front
Peat Bog Soldiers
Song of International Brigade
The Secret Deployment
Thälmann Kolone
Hans Beimler
Subbotnik
Zeit Marsch
Thank You, Soviet Soldiers
Ballad of the XI Brigade
Kaserne Winkt

Czech:
Ahead, not a step back
Prague’s direction
Hey, there is a sunrise
Earth belongs to us

FREE MEDIA PRODUCTIONS joins the world’s revolutionary proletariat, history’s most advanced and progressive class, in celebrating May 1 – International Workers’ Day – in honor of the past achievements, current struggles and inevitable victories of the proletariat against the forces of reaction, capitalism, liberalism, Zionism, neo-colonialism, parasitism, social-democracy, Trotskyism, imperialism and all other forms of bourgeois and revisionist faggotry.

Today we remember the unprecedented achievements of the world proletariat, such as the creation of the world’s first proletarian state in 1917; the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Josef Stalin; the victorious liberation of Europe at the hands of the Red Army in 1945; the victory of socialism in the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania under Enver Hoxha; and so forth. And we stand in solidarity with the ongoing revolutionary struggles against the global bourgeoisie and the forces of imperialism in occupied Afghanistan, occupied Iraq, occupied Palestine, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the Islamic Republic of Iran, just to name a few.

Last week the Whitehouse released four memos written by top officials in the former Bush administration authorizing personnel to administer torture techniques in order to obtain information from so-called “terror” suspects.

The Huffington Post previously published these documents, in full, on its website. You can view them here.

Pipes is correct in his assessment that Marxists share a common enemy in imperialism and Zionism. And while his agenda throughout the piece is undeniably to taint the Left in general and is plagued with out of context quotations and falsehoods, nonetheless it underscores the very important fact of development.

The development of a “Green-Red” alliance is natural when one considers the transition of antagonisms in the imperialist world. No longer does the imperialist bourgeoisie have to rely on exploiting the internal proletariat to drive production and profit, it can do that with the full support of the bourgeois state in a multitude of nations. The growth of imperialism, as a natural tendency of capitalism, has produced a new global antagonism that pits the imperialist countries against the oppressed countries for whom it exploits.

Revolutionary forces in several oppressed countries are waging wars of resistance and national liberation against the imperialists. This is the spark that will set in motion the inevitable weakening of global capitalism. Revolutionary Islam finds itself in the heart of this struggle as it too seeks to weaken the global power of private capital and bourgeois imperialist states.

Islam has fallen under the radar of the imperialists for its ability to organize vast cadres capable of implementing physical and material destruction to imperialist forces and imperialist means of productions. Islamic resistance to the capitalist bourgeois hordes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine are a serious matter for imperialist plunderers. That organized resistance has come under the banner of Islam, and not revolutionary Marxism, doesn’t imply that Marxists ought not to extend critical support to the struggle.

Whatever weakens global capitalism is incontrovertibly good. Forcing the imperialist parasites out of the oppressed world will set the stage for a global crisis in capitalism – destabilizing capital’s ability for massive transfers of wealth from the Third world back to its home country. Forced under such conditions, capital will continue its struggle to accumulate wealth amongst the national proletariat in the current imperialist world, ultimately changing the economic, political and social direction of a reemerging first-world proletariat.

So while important distinctions exist between Islam and Marxism-Leninism, the practical outcomes of such a relationship – manifesting themselves in the weakening and physical destruction of global capitalism – are objectively more important. Ultra-left dogmatists, whose line is inconsistent with a Marxist-Leninist materialist analysis, continue to espouse discontent with any alliance between Islam and Communism. But such dogmatico-revisionism is typically relegated to the First world chauvinists, people who deceive themselves into believing their own liberal metaphysics.

“The headquarters can take immediate major decisions on four major agendas- the government, the parliament, the street and the army whenever necessary,” said a party source. “At times, it might be difficult to bring together 15 secretariat members, so the party leadership discussed having a HQ committee to discuss major agendas.”

As the UCPN (M) looks towards the future it will have a number of pressing issues it will have to address in order to put the country on the path towards socialism. Perhaps the most critical issue is addressing the growing factionalism amidst leading cadres in the Party.

While outright factionalism has not yet emerged, history has shown numerous lessons in the importance of consolidating political unity in order to combat the effects of factionalism. Factionalism, even when developed from legitimate political opposition, inevitably leads to open conflict and the weakening of the workers’ vanguard at large.

The Maoists in Nepal already face the problems associated with coalition government – an obstacle enabling counter-revolutionary forces a say in the direction of country. A split Party will only strengthen opposition towards the path of socialism.

The second major task will be the formation of a new constitution, for which the Maoists will (and indeed need to) take an active role in formulating the legality of socialist construction. The development of a constitution reflecting the interests of the Nepalese workers will be an important part in the development of legal, social, political and economic institutions as the Maoists move forward.

Thirdly, the economic and infrastructural development of Nepal, both in its urban and rural settings, will require fundamental Maoist participation. The path towards socialism inevitably depends on a cohesive strategy for bringing forth a powerful proletariat capable of serving as a strengthened base of power for the Maoists, in connection with their already strong rural base. The current political situation in Nepal will likely include counter-revolutionary and bourgeois political parties in the process of economic development. Under this consideration Nepal will likely be forced to introduce a “New Economic Policy” plan, or “market socialism” to bring its level of production up to par and on the path of socialist construction.

Fourthly, the integration of the People’s Army into Nepal’s standing state army is of critical importance for the survival and implementation of socialist policy. The integration process should proceed under Maoist led supervision. It will enable the UCPN (M) to secure its position in power without the threat of a reactionary military force capable of carrying out the wishes of the national bourgeoisie or imperialist neo-colonialist powers.

Finally, the Maoists must consolidate their forces in order to make the needed adjustments to alleviate the hardships of the masses in Nepal. This must be undertaken with a strictly socialist nature, in accordance with the development of socialism and political, economic and social infrastructure. If the Maoists miss out on this opportunity, and the bourgeois coalition parties are able to co-opt this effort, the unreliable peasantry and rural population may switch allegiances. Maoists consolidation of the efforts to alleviate the stress facing the population will be critical for their pursuit of socialism and maintenance of power.

Revisionism, in reference to communism, is a distortion or deviation from the theoretical basis of Marxism-Leninism. In the broadest sense, it implies that one somehow detracts from the fundamental basis of Marx and Lenin’s conception of scientific socialism, which becomes a far greater concern when it follows into the practical chain of events.

Revisionists seek to destroy the revolutionary spirit of Marxism and to undermine the faith of the working class in socialism. They oppose the historical necessity of a proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. They deny the directing role of the Marxist-Leninist party. They reject the principles of proletarian internationalism, call for the abandonment of the basic Leninist principles of party building, and seek to transform the Party from a revolutionary organization into a discussion club.

Contemporary revisionism opposes Marxist-Leninist doctrine on all points. It rejects the necessity of revolution and asserts that capitalism should be reformed. It claims that the modern scientific and technological revolution is reshaping the structure of society and “erasing” class antagonisms. This transformation is supposedly leading to the humanistic rebirth of capitalism. As a result, the working class is alleged to lose its revolutionary traditions and leading role, which passes to intellectuals.

For instance, denying Marx and Lenin’s understanding that the bourgeoisie will never voluntarily share the state apparatus with the proletariat will ultimately lead to a reformist-style social-democracy, which believes in the legitimacy of bourgeois political institutions (such as voting). This revisionism is particularly contagious in imperialist countries like Great Britain and the United States, where the masses are pre-conditioned for it by a relative comfort that hides the most hideous elements of capitalist exploitation in the minds of the workers (thanks to the labor aristocracy).

So, while there are many different ways for one to be considered a “revisionist,” the contention originates more with the practical outcomes (i.e. what happens in real life).

The correct theory is inextricably linked with the victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie and in establishing the masses on the correct path towards socialism. Thus, the importance of theory is not insomuch as it sounds good, or gives intellectual credibility to Marxism-Leninism, but that it is intended to lead towards one and only one conclusion: the establishment of socialism, followed by communism.

Anti-revisionism understands that the line of thinking and application of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin (and sometimes Mao) is the fundamentally correct line. That does not mean though that it is rigid and inflexible. On the contrary, anti-Revisionism is anything but dogmatic. It understands that different conditions are unique and distinct to one’s own society through the economic base and political, social and cultural infrastructure. It doesn’t hold that workers in Bolivia ought to mirror the revolutionary efforts of the Bolsheviks in Russia.

Revisionism takes many shapes and forms. Sometimes it is explicit as is the case of the Communist Party USA. Other times revisionism comes in the outward expression of genuine Marxism-Leninism, only to contain within it the seed of revisionist deviation. That is why the struggle against revisionism, along with the struggle against factionalism, sectarianism and opportunism, are of such great importance to the success of the international proletariat.

Lenin himself issued a prophetic warning against the threat of revisionism and opportunism in the communist movement. His words today emphasize the need for the struggle against revisionist elements within the Marxist-Leninist movement and to condemn and expose those guilty of revisionism/opportunism. The defeat of imperialism, capitalism and revisionism are inevitable.

The zone extends miles away from the Capitol and reflects the bourgeois states paranoia against a possible attack. The bourgeois government fears reprisals from a disgruntled public overwhelmingly dissatisfied with its internal and foreign policies.

That is precisely why the ruling elite are employing more than 20,000 police officers, National guard troops from 8 states and an undisclosed amount of plain-clothed police from over 50 agencies to provide exhaustive security measures.

The rise in gangsterism represents a degeneration of the remnants of America’s working class, relegated to a select few ethnic-immigrant communities exploited while the vast majority reap the benefits of American imperialism. Capitalism and the system of wage-labor elicits prosperity, wealth and power for a select oligarchy that constitute the bourgeoisie. For the rest, and this implies the actual working class in the United States, it’s a constant struggle to put food on the table, retain living quarters and survive in a grossly destructive cultural, economic, political milieu.

The degeneration into the lumpenproletariat is one of the gravest threats facing the socialist movement, as responsible workers turn towards avenues of individual and collective destruction.

Looking to the bourgeoisie and the state is not the answer. The bourgeoisie involves itself with charitable donations, but is largely indifferent through its actions. Such demonstrations of altruism are unsubtle public relations campaigns to save face in an era where no large industry or corporate entity can lose the good will of the consuming public.

Therefore, it is up to the working class communities to defend themselves against the degeneration of its ranks into gangsterism, drug use, alcoholism, promiscuity and other moral ills that weaken the movement towards liberation. Spreading political education, class consciousness and the virtue of socialism is in order. But also, methods of defense against the social degeneration of workers is also in order.

While gangsterism can be a nuisance to the bourgeoisie, it is a critical matter for the workers. After all it’s in the working-class communities and neighborhoods that stray bullets kill innocent bystanders, that the youth are recruited and corrupted into violent gangs, that drugs are trafficked and sold and so forth.

Thus, combating gangsterism and degeneration is of the utmost importance for the working class. And as such, it too should be of any responsible Marxist-Leninist sincerely interested in the victory of socialism and the working class. While revolution is a long ways away in the United States, and there lacks any sizeable much less revolutionary working class, nonetheless preventing what remains from becoming anti-working class lumpenproletarian and thus targets for the bourgeois criminal justice system is one of the most important elements of the practical work facing Marxist-Leninists today.

Conclusively, the element of fighting gangsterism and degeneration should be of equal importance to communists and socialists as anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist organization, agitation and propaganda. Working class community defense is not going to come from the bourgeoisie or its police organs. It’s going to have to come from within the neighborhood to combat harmful anti-working class elements that seek to destroy the working class.

One such example emerged in Albany, NY in response to the rising rate of gang violence, particularly as the notorious MS-13 gang grew in the Capitol. The Committee for Public Safety, whose name comes from the executive Committee established during the French Revolution for the protection and preservation of the achievements of the Revolution against reactionary forces, was formed to combat harmful elements from promoting violence, drugs and gangsterism amongst the community.

The organization promotes class-consciousness amongst the few exploited communities of the remaining American working class and operates clandestinely against drug pushers and dealers in some of the poorest communities and neighborhoods. The Committee for Public Safety has opened up similar organizations and cells in other cities across the U.S., working in total anonymity and even wearing signature scarves and masks to prevent reprisal attacks against themselves or their families.

Jan. 6 – Zionist forces, once again ignoring international calls for a cease-fire, continued their terror in Gaza, hitting a United Nations School on Tuesday used for protecting refugees from Israeli attacks. The United Nations reported 40 civilian casualties from the attack.