|
URL for this article:
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/brz.htm
Join our email list at http://emperors-clothes.com/f.htm. Receive
about one article/day.
Click here to email the link to this article to a
friend.
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
=======================================
Ex-National Security Chief Brzezinski admits: Afghan Islamism Was Made in Washington
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy
Carter's National Security Adviser in 'Le Nouvel Observateur' (France),
Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76
Translated by Bill Blum
=======================================
A couple of thoughts about the Brzezinski interview
below. First, it flatly contradicts the common justrification for U.S.
actions in Afghanistan during the 1980s: that the U.S. simply aided forces
resisting Soviet imperialism. Brzezinski makes clear that the Soviet's
were baited into sending forces to Afghanistan; thus their actions were
defensive. Moreover, and the U.S. used the violent Wahhabi (Saudi Arabian)
form of Islam to create a monster-movement which plagues the world today.
For more on this, see 'Articles
Documenting U.S. Creation of Talibanand bin Laden's Terrorist
Network' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/docs/doc.htm
Here's the interview:
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his
memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to
aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention.
In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter.
You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid
to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army
invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until
now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President
Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the
pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the
president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was
going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But
perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to
provoke it?
B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but
we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they
intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in
Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of
truth. You don't regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the
effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to
regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote
to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its
Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war
unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the
demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic
fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or
the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the
liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic
fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to
Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a
rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading
religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in
common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan
militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more
than what unites the Christian countries.
***
Note: There are at least two editions of 'Le Nouvel
Observateur.' With apparently the sole exception of the Library of
Congress, the version sent to the United States is shorter than the French
version. The Brzezinski interview was not included in the shorter version.
*
Translated from the French by Bill Blum, author of "Killing Hope: US
Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A
Guide to the World's Only Superpower" Portions of the books can be read
at: http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm
[Back to Top]
Click here to email the link to this
article to a friend!
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Further
Reading
= = = = = = = = =
=
Brzezinski is very much a part of the U.S. foreign policy
establishment today, and the strategy he helped develop is crucial to U.S.
government actions today. See:
Join our email list at http://emperors-clothes.com/f.htm. Receive
about one article/day.
=======================================
Emperor's Clothes Needs Your
Help!
=======================================
On 18 September about 100,000
readers transferred more than 1.7 gigabytes of data from Emperor's
Clothes. That's the equivalent of around 1.5 million pages in printed
books.
As you may know, the Website was
"down" for about four hours that day. Because of the current crisis, we
are strained beyond capacity.
We recently hired a full time
computer person. He has partly finished remodeling the Website so it loads
more quickly and is easier to use. We hope you find these changes useful.
Now we need to complete the makeover and improve our technical facilities
to meet the huge increase in demand for bandwidth.
Emperor's Clothes does not charge
money for articles. We rely on donations.
Many of our readers have
contributed in the past. This has allowed us to function. Now we need
contributions from everyone who finds Emperor's Clothes useful so we can
pay our (overworked, underpaid) computer helper and make technical
improvements so that all our articles are available all the
time.
Please send whatever
contributions you can! $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000 or more. Every penny
will be used to get articles to more people.
Note: If you mail a donation or make one by
secure server, please let us know by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED] to make sure we
receive it. Thanks!
Thank you for reading Emperor's Clothes.
www.emperors-clothes.com or
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's
Clothes] | 
