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发表于 2012-3-15 19:54:55
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VOX POPULI: War in Afghanistan is just a black hole for U.S.
The difference between lake, swamp and pond is vague in Japanese.The English word that is most frequently used in war coverage is quagmire.I looked up the word in an English-Japanese dictionary I had by my side. It gave the following definition: A difficult situation which is hard to get out of.The Afghanistan quagmire in which U.S. forces are bogged down is only getting deeper.
A U.S. soldier went on a shooting rampage in a village in southern Afghanistan over the weekend, killing 16 civilians. His victims included children and women. According to reports, the soldier sneaked out of his camp before dawn and broke into three homes. He had done three tours in Iraq and had just arrived in Afghanistan. The atrocity cannot be dismissed as an act of wartime insanity.
Taliban anti-government forces are taking advantage of rising anti-U.S. sentiment among the Afghan public to launch an offensive.Surrounded by the hatred of local residents, 90,000 U.S. troops are suffering from paranoia and jumping at the shadows of invisible enemies. The U.S. government, fearing the specter of another Vietnam, must be eager to rush the timing of an “honorable withdrawal.”
It is more difficult to end a war than to start one. As killings lead to killings, a chain reaction of hatred hampers negotiations. Such quagmires are spreading from the Middle East to Southwest Asia.
In Syria, the bodies of 47 women and children were found in a town where government forces and rebels had clashed. Both sides are blaming each other for the carnage. Israel, which is at odds with the Palestinians, said it would not hesitate to launch “an attack of self-defense” against Iran, which refuses to rein in its nuclear development.
“The Earth seen from space is blue/ Afghan soil is a deep color of death” is a tanka by Sumio Mine. Alas, it was composed 10 years ago.Once a quagmire develops, it indiscriminately sucks down anyone, including women, old people and even children on whose shoulders a nation’s future rests. When we think of mothers and children who sink down in a quagmire crying and holding each other, all causes fade.
--The Asahi Shimbun, March 15 |
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