Does anyone remember when Islamic extremism was considered a good thing...

[NNN0LHI]

...by our government, media, and most of our citizens? It wasn't all that long ago.

Don

http://www.fair.org/extra/0201/afghanistan-80s.html

Forgotten Coverage of Afghan "Freedom Fighters"

The villains of today's news were heroes in the '80s

The current war in Afghanistan is increasingly presented as a war for the human rights of the Afghan people, to liberate them from their oppressive Taliban rulers. The Taliban’s severely regressive policies toward women have received particular attention, with even First Lady Laura Bush issuing condemnations of this repression. And the press has overwhelmingly followed suit, portraying the war as an ideological struggle against the evils of Islamic extremism.

But the U.S. government and the American press have not always opposed Afghan extremists. During the 1980s, the Mujahiddin guerrilla groups battling Soviet occupation had key features in common with the Taliban. In many ways, the Mujahiddin groups acted as an incubator for the later rise of the Taliban in the 1990s. snip

There has, in short, been a fairly dramatic and Orwellian shift in the tone of public discourse regarding Afghanistan. While Islamic extremism is now viewed with great hostility, in the 1980s U.S. policy strongly supported such extremism; there is scarcely any recognition that a little more than a decade ago, the U.S. press waxed eloquent about the Afghan "freedom fighters." snip

The group that received the most U.S. aid was Hisb-i-Islami, headed by Gulbadin Hekmatyar. In retrospect, there is little doubt that Hekmatyar had an appalling human rights record, every bit as bad as that of the communist forces he opposed. As a young political activist in Kabul, Hekmatyar directed his radical friends to throw acid at the faces of unveiled women. This ruthlessly violent approach characterized Hekmatyar’s later guerrilla operation against the Soviets. snip

In an effort to augment the Mujahiddin forces, the U.S. encouraged the influx into Afghanistan of thousands of idealistic Muslims, eager to participate in the struggle, from countries throughout the Middle East. One of the first of these expatriate Arabs was Osama bin Laden, who was "recruited by the CIA" in 1979, according to Le Monde (9/15/01). Bin Laden operated along the Pakistani border, where he used his vast family connections to raise money for the Mujahiddin; in doing so, he "worked in close association with U.S. agents," according to Jane’s Intelligence Review (10/1/98). snip

The press coverage of this era was overwhelmingly positive, even glowing, with regard to the guerrillas’ conduct in Afghanistan. Their unsavory features were downplayed or omitted altogether. While some newspapers favored some restraint in the degree of U.S. military support for the Mujahiddin (notably the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post) and others (like the Wall Street Journal) favored a more open-ended policy, these differences were only matters of degree. Virtually all papers favored some amount of U.S. military support; and there was near unanimous agreement that the guerrillas were "heroic," "courageous" and above all "freedom fighters." snip

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[Fridays Child]

1. Re-education Camp - Lesson One...

"Good" is what benefits the empire.

[LSdemocrat]

2. There were more moderate elements of the Mujahadeen, but

they generally did not get American aid. At the time the US chose not to give aid directly to the Mujahadeen but instead funneled it through the Pakistani government, which at the time was a right-wing dictatorship that wanted a right-wing Afghanistan. The Pakistani government then naturally gave the aid to the right-wing groups. Of course the US government didn't care who got the arms as long as they went to groups fighting the Soviets.

This information is from the CNN documentary Cold War, which aired during the late 1990's.

[bowens43]

3. Most of the problems we face today are the result

Ronnie Rayguns policies. There is nothing more dangerous to our Republic then 8 years of a Republican in the oval office.

[Selatius]

10. It's not Ray Gun alone; it's everyone for the last 50 years

Look at Middle Eastern history for the last 50 years. This was a long time in coming well before Ronnie. Ronnie could be credited with kickstarting the chain of events that led to the rise of the Taliban and 9/11, but if it weren't for decades of oppression and tyranny supported by the US, there would not be as deep-seated a well of hate for the US as there is today.

[bobbieinok]

4. sure do...and the romanticized picture painted by on-the-scene US

journalists of the brave Muslims fighting the evil soviet union

there was even an aura of 'if I were young enuff, I'd go fight with them'

the reporting after 9-11 totally ignored this history

[NNN0LHI]

5. Even liberal Dan Rather dressed up like a Mujahideen in Afghanistan

[bobbieinok]

7. forgot that........but again, they all did....no wonder some US boys

wanting adventure and approval ended up with them

[NNN0LHI]

9. I am not that young but admit that it has become confusing to be told...

...in my lifetime by my government and the mass media that Saddam is good. No, Saddam is bad. The Afghan mujahideen are brave freedom fighters. No, the Afghan mujahideen are evil terrorists. There is an evil dictator in Pakistan who removed the democratically elected government and took over by force. No wait a minute. That dictator is now a compassionate dictator who is Americas good friend. These are just a few examples. There are many more. It can make ones head spin.

Don

[htuttle]

6. The West had a big part in creating militant Islam

Back in the day (meaning the 70's and 80's) it was considered an all around solution to discouraging Communism and secular nationalism by both the US and Israel (who each encouraged the creation of al Queda and Hamas, respectively).

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto (the father, not the daughter) warned that the West had created a 'Frankenstein' in militant Islam.

Looks like he was right.

[Nevernose]

8. I still admire them on some levels (the Afghan mujahadeen)

There was a lot of bravery there (some would say insanity). Leading a cavalry charge against the Soviet military must have taken balls of steel. It doesn't make their crimes against women and humanity any less brutal, of course, but rarely have I found any culture that is entirely noble or entirely wicked. Such is the nature of Man.

And now that I think about it, the glamorization of Afghan freedom fighters probably wasn't so much about Islam as it was about fighting "the Evil Empire" and innundating us with "Red Dawn" propoganda.

[NNN0LHI]

11. There have been many instances of Americans showing as much or more...

...braverery during what many would consider nothing short of suicide missions due to the minimal chance of returning alive. One of the first to come to mind is Operation Eagle Claw, which was the plan to rescue American hostages who were being held in the Tehran embassy in 1979. I really doubt the soldiers who embarked on this mission had given it much more than a 50/50 chance of success. These guys were some real heroes in my book.

Don

http://www.specwarnet.com/miscinfo/eagleclaw.htm

Operation EAGLE CLAW
The failed rescue of American hostages, Iran, 1980.

On November 4, 1979 a mob in Iran stormed the US Embassy and took the staff and USMC security contigent hostage. In all, 52 Americans were captured and were being held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and it was unclear whether they were being tortured or readied for execution. Within hours, the newly certified US Army Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Airborne) was on full alert and plans were being drawn up for a rescue.

Delta's commander, Colonel Charles Beckwith, was intimately involved with the rescue attempt. The Americans faced a daunting task. Tehran is well inside Iran and away from friendly countries. The hostages were not held at an airport as in Israel's earlier Entebbe raid. Good intelligence was hard to come by about forces inside the embassy and in Tehran. And of course, all the planning and training had to be carried out in complete secrecy.

What was ultimately decided on was an audacious plan involving all four services, eight helicopters (USMC RH-53's), 12 planes (four MC-130's, three EC-130's, three AC-130's, and two C-141's), and numerous operators infiltrated into Tehran ahead of the actuall assault. The basic plan was to infiltrate the operators into the country the night before the assault and get them to Tehran, and after the assault, bring them home.

The first night, three MC-130's were to fly to an barren spot in Iran and offload the Delta force men, Combat Controllers, and translators/truck drivers. Three EC-130's following the Combat Talon's would then land and prepare to refuel the Marine RH-53's flying in from the US Carrier Nimitz. Once the helicopters were refuled, they would fly the task force to a spot near the outskirts of Tehran and meet up with agents already in-country who would lead the operators to a safe house to await the assault the next night. The helicopters would fly to another site in-country and hide until called by the Delta operators.

On the second night, the MC-130's and EC-130's would again fly into the country, this time with 100 Rangers, and head for Manzariyeh Airfield. The Rangers were to assault the field and hold it so that the two C-141's could land to ferry the hostages back home. The three AC-130's would be used to provide cover for the rangers at Manzariyeh, support Delta's assault, and to supress any attempts at action by the Iranian Air Force from nearby Mehrabad Airbase. Delta would assault the embassy and free the hostages, then rendevous with the helicopters in a nearby football stadium. They and the hostages would be flown to Manzariyeh Airfield and the waiting C-141's and then flown out of the country. All the aircraft but the eight helicopters would be flown back, the helicopters would be destroyed before leaving.

What actually happened was far different from what was planned.

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[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. It used to make me laugh bitterly to see articles by Jeane Kirkpatrick

praising the Afghan "freedom fighters," because I knew that if she'd been in Afghanistan, they'd have put her in a burqa so fast she wouldn't have known what hit her.

It was reported in the foreign press, although not in the U.S., that one of the "freedom fighters'" main objections to the Marxist government was that it mandated universal public education, even for (gasp!) girls.