So the question am I Ok is my health good and exactly the same applies to an economy you can't look at any one statistic as a substitute for doing your job so let's look at the American economy yes unemployment is low but the quality of the jobs which is what matters for most people has been deteriorating for years what I mean that paying lower wages these jobs that we now have than they used to they have fewer benefits with them than they used to they are less secure than they used to be they are more part time and temp jobs relative to secure long term full time jobs now we even have a measure of that which the president carefully avoids ever mentioning it's been a measure developed at Cornell University one of the leading higher institutions of learning in this country it's called the job quality index j Q. And it looks at jobs to get a sense of their quality and if I had a graph behind me I'd show you a line that goes straight down indicating that the quality of jobs in the United States has been going down for the mass the millions of people that the penned on those jobs for their livelihood if quality of job is as important a measure as unemployment then the egg American economy is nowhere near great and should not be dealt with as if it were jobs with lower wages jobs with fewer benefits jobs with less security put enormous burdens not just on the worker but on his or her spouse on his or her children on his or her household. Let me give you a very immediate example the November 29000 jobs report was glowingly received on the grounds that it showed an increase in the number of jobs but it showed no increase in the level of wages which is very unusual because when you have a low in unemployment when most people are working employers if they want to find someone can't go to a ready pool of an employed people and hire someone because there aren't very many of them around so in order to get a worker Normally they have to bid they have to induce a worker to leave the job he or she already as and come over to the one who needs workers and the way you do that is offer higher wages so wages go up in the November report even though the jobs went up the wages went nowhere and the reason is that we are replacing the good jobs that we used to have with a lousy ones that we have now think of the difference between an auto worker a chemical worker a steel worker on the one end and the greeter at Walmart or the worker at Target or the one you can get the the picture my next update has to do with the difference between France and the United States in terms of responding to assaults on the well being of working people in France you have a government that already provides people with much better services much more of them than they do here in the United States. Medical coverage is free for everybody in France from birth to death they don't allow it otherwise universities are subsidizing very very low cost etc etc. Currently the president there Mr McCraw is trying to reduce the pensions change the pension system big people be older to get pensions and they used to be and what did the working class in France do it said no way a we gonna sit here and let you do that so starting in December of 2019 they began a series of general strikes across the country the opening day early in December a 1000000 people went into the streets not just of Paris but of cities across the country saying this will not stand the yellow vest movement backing the unions who took the lead students everybody and I want to stress 2 things about this massive saying no to a government assaulting the standard of living of working people. Yes the French are used to doing that that's remarkable compare their activity with the passive itty of the American working class subject to at least as much of an attack over the last 30 years as what is going on in France now and what do these massive outpourings of people into the street accomplish number one they show politicians you better pay attention because those of us in the street are married our parents are relatives of millions and millions of voters and we will vote you out depending on where you stand here very powerful Here's what else it does it mobilizes people all the people who don't protest but feel badly about what the government is doing now see that their friends their neighbors and their coworkers feel like they do you're not alone you're not isolated you're not one of the few You're one of the many and you learn that when others who have a bit more courage than you do or out there in the street to get a 1000000 people to go out in 300 cities also shows everybody that the people who are opposed to the government are well organized they can coordinate they can mobilize people that takes an enormous amount of work and you begin to see that not only are there a lot of people who think like me but they're organized they have institutions that enable them to make their feelings felt. And you know what else it does it kind of mobilizes for the future because everybody who goes out into the street now has a personal stake in this issue it's one thing to read about in the paper watch it on t.v. Have a thought tell it to your wife or husband over the dinner table it's another thing to go out into the street with others now it's an issue that you've invested in and you're going to pay attention and the demonstrations get people to be committed in a way that will last into the future Mr McCraw I have advice for you you're in a losing proposition that massive people care about that pension and they're not going to let you do that and if you persist you will pay the political price my 3rd update has to do with something you may not have heard of Dennis Gartman He's famous because he produced for the last 30 years of the Gartman letter a financial newsletter used by all kinds of investment companies and investors to guide whether they should buy stocks or not what kind of stocks and so forth very famous he ended a 30 year career in December of 2019 but he did it in a way that I want to bring to your attention now that he was no longer cultivating his customers among the investors he could afford to tell the unvarnished truth and here's what his last letter said. Get out of stocks sell your stocks this economy is in deep trouble and the reasons are that turned to protectionism by Mr Trump the cutting of our international interactions as economies and it is very bad not just for the rest of the world but for the future of the American economy you are turning a corner for the immediate political interests of a politician and it's going to cost us all don't get caught in the collapse Wow all and I wanted you all to hear it even though you don't have to pay the expensive price to get Mr Gartner's letter the next $1.00 is a kind of sad update if you missed it I want to report to you that in December of 2019 it was reported that an $11500000.00 waterfront a state on the very posh Martha's Vineyard an island off of Massachusetts was purchased by Barack Obama and his wife Michelle it's sad for me because what is it another person for whom the presidency has meant an enormous increase in wealth and income a president our 1st African-American who gained in wealth as the African community African-American community as all lost its wealth across the 8 years of his presidency he ends up in a mansion they end up in death there is something in this story and Mr Obama is in no way unique that has been the trajectory of many presidents before him it tells you something something you may not want to hear. Last update that we'll have time for on December 6th of 2019 Kansas City voted the board of directors the city council of Kansas City voted to reduce fares on all public transportation to 0 that's right you can now use a Boss incentive in Kansas City and the fee will be nothing why am I bringing this to your attention Well here are some of the benefits of reducing the cost to 0 which will cost the city about $8000000.00 to make up for what is not charging people less car traffic to snarl the streets of Kansas City therefore less air pollution since buses pollute a lot less than the cars that replace them fewer accidents because there are fewer cars fewer injuries fewer deaths fewer loss of property major help to low income people it does something about inequality because of course for the low income people this is the best service I can imagine and I could go on and compare Kansas City which therefore doesn't have to spend money like New York and San Francisco hiring extra cops to police the fair Busters who need to get their free transportation that other way we've come to the end of the 1st half of today's economic update we have an interesting interview for you in the 2nd half but let me remind you again make use of our websites. To communicate with us to follow us on Facebook Twitter and Instagram and as always our special thanks and gratitude to the Pac tree on community that supports democracy at work and this program and for which we are grateful Stay with us we'll be right back. As the American Revolution looms a rescue in King George's name as a rebel peacekeepers resort to violence and cowards become unlikely heroes who are going to death and I should go on my desk over here in George Bernard Shaw's devils decide next l.a. Theater works. Welcome back friends to the 2nd half of today's economic update once again I am very pleased to welcome to the microphones and to the cameras Dr Harriet frog who's on this program from time to time and we look these programs at the intersection between the economy and our personal lives our own lives our intimate and close relationships and we're going to be doing that again today to remind those of you who may not have seen this program before with Dr Freud she is a mental health counselor and hypnotherapist in private practice here in New York City she writes and speaks publicly does media interviews where she explores the intersections between American public life and the American economy on the one hand and our intimate personal lives on the other you can see her work at her website Harriet frog dot com That's spelled h a r i e t f r e w e d her latest project which we're very proud of here at democracy work is called capitalism hits home it's a pod cast that compares and shows what is happening. In our economic lives with what's happening in our personal lives she answers questions like how does capitalism affect our personal lives how does the economy affect the lives we live at home our relationships romance dating things like that you can find the pod cast capitalism it's home on i Tunes on Google Play and at our Web site Democracy at work dot info and of course on the very supportive Patry on dot com slash capitalism hits home and I for one website and on your website as well Ok here's our topic for today most of us live our lives partly in the workplace where we have our jobs and partly at home where we have our personal lives and the question is how do these 2 parts of our lives these 2 places these 2 institutions where we split our existence how do they impact each other and I wanted to explore just that particular question with Harriet fraud because her practice her interaction with her clients has taught her a lot about it so let's start with asking what is the role of the family in modern American capitalism and I mean here both the idealized version of what we hope or imagine or many what the t.v. Shows us on the one hand and the reality of the role of the family and the condition of the family today well the idealized version is seldom realized. Sees me and that's the a happy family where everyone is supportive everyone is emotionally available everyone is honest and everyone deeply connects that's a rarity indeed and it's a rarity because even though now still. The family is the basic expected emotional support for most people for all people and it's the only really socially subsidized although it's not subsidized socially agreed upon support for children so it's a very important institution the family even though families are falling apart rapidly for example one in 10 children lives with grandparents or relatives because their parents are opioid addicts and can't take care of them that's one in 10 that's a lot of children and more and more couples the biggest trend among married couples is not having any children because it's too much money and too much work and so the family is failing the majority of 18 to 35 year olds don't get married there are more people that live together than marry because they don't really feel they have enough security and stability to be married no less start a family so families are in big trouble. Let me ask you a question because immediately since I'm an economist It occurs to me the things you said immediately show the impact of the economy if it's too much money to raise a child it's because you're not earning enough money to solve that problem if you are so busy that you can't even imagine it's because the demands of the workplace are such that you literally don't have the energy or even the time to think about a family children and all that they involve and certainly have learned from my friends and associates that if you do have children the difficulties of figuring out how to allocate your time are overwhelming so let me ask you the question how does the reality of capitalism of the jobs that we all have shaped this situation in the family well the majority of people have bad jobs they don't have much control if any over their work and their work is unsatisfying and unstable the 2 biggest employers in the United States are Wal-Mart owned by the richest family in the world and Amazon own by the richest man in the world Jeff Bezos now act is jobs which are often minimum wage the conditions are terrible you can learn one day in advance what your schedule will be which means that you can't provide reliable childcare unless you have somebody. They're all the time and people don't and so there's an enormous scramble in addition the working conditions are so terrible that Amazon workers have had 2 recent strikes where they walked off the job one in Michigan and one in New York and the biggest job increases that they tout showing that trumps great unemployment figures are wonderful during warehouse jobs where people routinely hurt themselves because the pace of the work. Getting packages putting them in places they called Water Spiders on the job because they have to move so fast like water spiders skittering over the work they have safety precautions and pushy procedures is supposed to follow but the workplace is so fast to fill these orders with the amount of people that they have that they routinely hurt themselves they hurt their backs they hurt their shoulders they hurt their necks so these are dangerous jobs as well as low paid jobs Amazon says it's going to hire $100000.00 new workers but the workers already there are wondering if their hours will be cut in their benefits if any because they're hiring more workers and so that and Wal-Mart has in its stores a desk where you can apply for food stamps because they pay so poorly that they want us and the government to compensate for their poor salaries by having food stamps because they create poverty so we have more jobs but they're really bad jobs for example the median wage the median income of a family in the United States is $66000.00 a year for everybody working. Now. The. That doesn't really buy you much childcare the average Dasent excellent childcare is as much as about a community college tuition a year so it's at least $10000.00 a year plus people to get to their jobs need transportation we don't have great public transportation and so that cars are involved or car fare is involved and so that people struggle what the United States deems is a decent middle class income is 150000 dollars a year well if the median income is $66000.00 that explains why most people struggle and they don't have $400.00 in case of a terrible emergency so that you know this totally affects the family people come home from back breaking work in a bad mood and hurting and not really wanting to take care of children take care of homes listen to one another's problems they just want to zone out and try to recoup themselves after a brutal day well you know. It jumps into me all this talk particularly on the cost side of conservatives who celebrate capitalism and praise it and talk endlessly about things I'm really values thing are literally celebrating the opposite of the reality it's right how do you have a family value if your economic system in what it doesn't pay people in the work jobs the very story you just told us how can you add advocate family values when you're literally celebrating a system that's wrecking the family that's right every other wealthy European country has subsidized child care if you look at France which has as much of a racial divide as we do as much racial mix you can start your child on childcare at 0 years old after you've had your free labor and delivery because medical care is free and that goes on and on the child can be in child care which is well equipped and has one master's degree and one associates degree teacher and a nurse on hand in case kids get sick so that you can everything every single facility so that you have assurance that your while you are at work that your kids are all right what happens now in our big employers like Walmart or Amazon or all the others or the fast food chains. Is you're so worried about losing your job that your kid stays alone and you have a cell phone and you hope you're not going to be docked for listening to it because your kids call you when they're frightened or need something that's very destructive to the family you contrast that with the facilities that they have in all these other countries and like in Scandinavian daycares all throughout they have not only infant care toddler care and then care after school programs and summer care they have buses that take school age children to programs so you don't have to have a lot of money to get your kid dance lessons or piano lessons or. Extra athletic practice. You can get that and the government will pay for it in other words how would you then react when you hear President Trump or people like that making fun of Scandinavia they have nothing to teach us with the greatest economy will be a real answer because you're basically telling us not only what the problems are here but you're pointing to what could be done not as a hypothetical but what is already happening in other countries Yeah well I would point to the free childcare you know recently he's ridiculed Denmark because they don't want to sell Greenland. And. If you work at McDonald's in Denmark you get their minimum wage $24.00. $24.00 an hour and you also have free medical care free childcare free after school and summer care and you have an much easier and more comfortable life and so that the family also you have paid vacation time the United States is the only one of the wealthy Western countries that has no mandated one yeah by law they cation time the French have 5 weeks the Brazilians have 6 weeks the Germans have 4 weeks whatever they all have paid vacation time because families need time they also have much more militant unions demanding this so that one of the things that astounds us. Is that the hundreds of thousands of German metal workers one a 22 hour work week well paid full pay so that they could have a personal life balance we don't so we do we do everything we can to deprive families you know the gap between the rhetoric of the family values and the reality could not be starker I wish we had more time thank you and even to coming thank you you will come here and thank you all I hope you have found this discussion of the family the reality is rather than the idealized version interesting and valuable I want to thank Dr Frank for joining us and I look forward to speaking with you again next week. This is Laura Flanders You're listening to people powered radio k.-p. Of k. 90.7 f.m. Los Angeles and support k.b. Of k. By texting the number 41444 and entering f k texting a pledge is a easy way to support the station let's you. I'm s.-t. Chandler co-host of Middle East in focus join Negra Abraham and me Sundays at 1 pm for in-depth conversations journalists writers filmmakers activists and artists get a more complete understanding about what's really happening in the Middle East and the role our government plays in it a little late because a long way Middle East in focus 1 pm Sundays here on k p s k. Welcome to encounter the day we discussed the scene lives fraud and futility of the war in Afghanistan with combat veteran to report that demonstrate that this has been a bipartisan affair. And that's probably one of the major reasons why despite how significant this is it's receiving scare coverage across the board I mean a lot of people have compared this to the kind of odd papers which isn't wrong but the Pentagon Papers you know we're a media sensation but such as the media apparatus is presently it's simply not the case with the Afghanistan papers I mean the only people who are really 'd talking about them in any sort of that is are anti-war activists or those who do you know have a particular anti-war socialist position. The Washington Post this week published the Afghanistan papers a series that draws on thousands of pages of internal government documents about the war in Afghanistan the documents expose the lies deceit mismanagement waste corruption fraud and failed schemes the Democratic and Republican administrations pursued in Afghanistan the longest conflict now in its 18th year in u.s. History these documents in addition to being a scathing indictment of the ruling elites illustrate like the Pentagon Papers how policy makers routinely lied to the American public to cover up the debacle in Afghanistan a debacle that has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths joining me in the studio to discuss the revelations in the Post series is Spencer hone who graduated from West Point and served in combat as an Army Ranger and Afghanistan. You read it is there anything that surprised you not really Krista kind of just confirms everything we thought we knew and anyone who's been paying attention to this for years now which is kind of confirmation you up this is the fact of the matter and we had to grapple with how long did it take you to be in Afghanistan before you realized this thing Stack Well I mean I was in Afghanistan and 2011 in July August of 2011 I was a Ranger is 19 years old but even then as a kid. Then take me too long to realize just what a load of. Absolute nonsense all of the justifications for from the top on down usually boil down to nothing more than let's go try to instigate a fight with some that be less idea of bad guys and then being surrounded by a bunch of senior leadership who their entire objective was just to kill and capture and there really wasn't any actual connection to a larger goal when in fact I remember you telling me that these night raids that you carried only made things worse you have to salute. But what's interesting about these papers and we're going to run through as much of the series as we can is that I think highest level it begins with a quote from Douglas Lute a 3 star me general who served as the White House's Afghan wars are during the Bush and Obama administrations they eat this is a quote we were devoid of a fundamental understanding of again a stand we didn't know what we were doing he goes on what are we trying to do here we don't have the foggiest notion of what we're if the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction 2400 lives lost this is again loot blaming the deaths of u.s. Military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress the Pentagon the State who will say this was in vain I mean these were people running the war that's what the papers expose they were fully aware of the quagmire of the dysfunction and the failure and yet they continued it yes I mean like I said I was in Afghanistan as a private 1st class I mean one of the lowest in the. I could clearly see what was happening then and so I decided maybe seeking it off just Commission might be a way to give me some greater you know insight into the matter to maybe perhaps change things but as you just demonstrated there at the highest echelons they realize that there is nothing they could do that would result and actually. Carrying out a strategy that was viable but of course as we'll get into later I mean even to argue from the position of strategy is faulty because you know I think the base level all of this was completely immoral and I'm just well just quickly you know we went in there supposedly to to destroy Al Qaida which had sanctuary been on that a sanctuary there well they all paid off the Afghan national army in Tora Bora and left the country and then were left there and we start fighting the Taliban who had nothing to do right with 911 in fact is the papers point out the Taliban were quite eager to negotiate to integrate within the power structure in our hubris we refused. I mean I think one of the things the papers really make clear is that there really was no strategy they didn't really know where they were going and in the lot of part of the papers you have this somebody commenting about how these commanders would come in for 6 or 12 months but it was really and they knew it was . Futile and even counterproductive but they were just punching their ticket talk about their career as well yeah I mean that's for me one of the striking aspects of the Afghanistan papers is you have a series of battalion and brigade commanders who come in and they're told by the outgoing commander that this is a complete quagmire it's an absolute folly we don't know what we're doing here and then the incoming commanders would you know be like like oh my God what are we to do but nonetheless when every single one of them returns home you know when they redeploy its mission accomplished another bullet point on the officer evaluation report you know the show continues the spectacle carries on the money is staggering right. Since 2001 the Defense Department State Department and u.s. Agency for International Development have spent or appropriated between $934000000000.00 and $978000000000.00 and again is one of the later papers points out the the country is just flooded with money which fuels the Karzai kleptocracy and corruption right now I mean absolutely I mean and it's funny though I mean even car site himself at the end of one of the is the former president one of the parts of the reports the stuff the ballots they think you see 1000000 votes but to me admits that the CIA would drop off you know just obscene amounts of money to be like this is nothing new they carried a bag and right yes a comical like a looney tunes out but yeah I mean he said he would be given all this money and what do you expect in a country that's been ripped apart by war and violence when you just flood them with this amount of money it's going to lead to the corruption of and again like the the interests of the u.s. Aren't in actually uplifting the Afghanistan or the people of Afghanistan it's in maintaining an imperial foothold and there's a wonderful quote somewhere somebody one of the official says let's give the money to the Afghans they only take 20 percent. Instead of giving it to the private contractors who take it one percent and don't do anything that's I think I mean the corruption isn't just on. The Afghan government you know propped up by the u.s. It's all the u.s. Officials who are working to you know create this puppet government and they're building these huge infrastructure projects which the Afghans can't even manage they're building schools next to empty schools it's all a numbers game it's all about public relations it's not about being effective including at the beginning they talk about these surveys that they constantly kept putting out bullet points and maps with color coded that was a huge effort a public relations effort to. Spin the war is going well and then we know in real time they knew fully well that it was dysfunctional yet all of those charts the figures that they were complete just pseudo scientific justifications there's no actual valid id to them in any you know metric and they used in the fine print say this may not be scientific or something but it was really essentially saying nothing they sold existed just to paint a picture of a reality that it really exists on the ground. What you know it's damning both in terms of Bush which starts the who starts the war. And then invades Iraq which they constantly say essentially opening a war on 2 fronts means you're not going to win the war but also Obama that Obama does the huge troop surge. At a time when he's he and those around him David Petraeus and others are fully aware that the Taliban is only growing in terms of it's it's it's it's control of territory and it's power right now I mean and the thing is too is that that demonstrate that this has been a bipartisan affair and that's probably one of the major reasons why despite how significant this is it's receiving scant coverage across the board I mean a lot of people have compared this to the Pentagon Papers which isn't wrong but the Pentagon Papers you know where a media sensation but such as the media apparatus is presently it's simply not the case with the Afghanistan papers I mean the only people who are really 'd talking about them in any sort of Depp's are anti-war activists or those who do you know have a particular anti-war socialist position on the matter well nobody's going to hold hearings right because they're both culpable. The waste I mean this is a constant theme throughout these papers. One on One unidentified contractor told government interviewers he was expected to dole out $3000000.00 daily for projects in a single Afghan district roughly the size of a us County it's completely perverse and this is just whenever you hear anyone say you know how are you going to pay for public health you know programs are going to pay for you know making university tuition free it's like we'll look at what's happening daily in Afghanistan and elsewhere where the u.s. Military is posted one of the things that because so that essentially it's there is no. Other than trying to buy people off or lords. Politicians Karzai and there is kind of unlimited funds to do it but the report argues that through that tactic they destroyed the popular legitimacy of the Afghan government they were fighting to prop up with judges and police chiefs and bureaucrats extorting bribes many Afghans soured on what was presented as democracy and turned to the Taliban to enforce order so in fact the very mechanism by which they used to maintain control which was largely trying to buy people off backfired right I mean the fact of the matter is at that point and at this point presently the only political group the only body with any sort of legitimacy in Afghanistan is the Taleban and the u.s.g. There face that reality or continue to keep their heads in the sand like they have for 18 years you know with all my criticisms of Trump we now have about 13000 troops I think in Afghanistan he has you know unlike the rest of the establishment recognized the futility of the war and greenlighted talks with enough yet to tell him on the issue of trump those like to actually believe that he has any sort of anti-war you know is a folly I think usually trumps position is motivated by a sense of laziness or incompetence they realize well the Obama did it it's wrong it's more of a reactive but I do support talks I was I don't see yours and I mean either it is happening whatever the motives however dirty they are now but if you have a commitment to peace of course any you know any manner in which the u.s. One of the one of the things the the report points out is that with the troop withdrawal there's been a heavy increase of the bombing right which of course the thing yeah with the mother of all ball and throw them you know mother of all bombs they blew up the CIA built tunnels right up we were paid for with our money taxpayer money when they were fighting the Soviet. And some precisely right I want to talk about the Afghan security forces because they're constantly run through here as incompetent unmotivated rife with deserves and of clued in members of the Taliban and the creation of tens of thousands of quote unquote ghost soldiers so the Afghan security commanders are collecting salaries for people who don't exist. It's quite large I think somewhere around 350000 but utterly incompetent and somewhere in the report they talk about how they will fight but only when there are like Green Berets embedded with Right yeah I mean I think again this just comes down to the fact that there's no sense of legitimacy to the government installed by the u.s. The u.s. Itself so when you're trying to build a national army How do you expect to have a cohesive force one no one really believes in the what's right carried out well becomes a way to they'll sell their uniforms or some sure anything it's all about money and you can't believe you can plan that route point because your country's been occupied Well who wants to die for or for George w. Bush when we come back we'll continue our conversation about the Afghanistan papers with Spencer replies 'd. Welcome back to on contact we continue our conversation about the Afghanistan papers with Spencer riposte we talked about the Afghan army the police are just as bad a u.s. Military officer estimated in the documents that one 3rd of police recruits were drug addicts or Taliban another call them stealing fools who loaded so much fuel from u.s. Bases that they perpetually smelled of gasoline let's talk about opium because under Mullah Omar before the invasion of Taliban control 90 percent of the opium. Production was wiped out now Afghanistan is the primary source of the world's opium not in the u.s. We get most of ours from Mexico and that has fueled the war we've spent about $9000000000.00 to fight the problem over the last 18 years and it's been a complete and utter failure. Afghanistan was responsible for 82 percent of the global opium production according to the un Office on Drugs and Crime You know I mean I think it's another textbook example of racketeering on the part of the u.s. This problem did not exist to this extent until the invasion happened and then the longer the us is there the worse the problem gets but once more do you you don't really see it in any of these reports an actual you know we're reconciling with what this would mean in terms of the structural facts of the war it's just usually about you know strategy the strategy that but none of these generals want to face the facts and that the u.s. As a global head to monitor force will lead to. Creating problems of this nature if you know that the bipartisan compliance with the u.s. War machine continues I mean that's really what it comes down to one of the things that comes through is the utter incompetence sure you know they pay at $1.00 point Afghan poppy growers where one comes from poppy $700.00 I think an acre or something for a staggering sum of money and so they they take the money and then they sell them I mean there's just no oversight no it's it's you know almost vaudevillian in right away that policies are carried out you know what I mean and there's I mean part of the problem is that as we discussed already it's the the end goal for my. Of the commanders at the good level battalion level who are overseas in Afghanistan the end goal is finding the right way to have the correct bullet point on your own we are as I mentioned earlier and if that means that you allow certain problems like that to continue under your watch without really addressing the root cause then so be it but I mean there's no as you know and as many others who are probably watching this so there's no manner in which the u.s. As an occupying force in Afghanistan can exist as a positive rule so whether it's you know the growth of the opium trade or whatever other problem it's going to continue until it's the u.s. Fully withdraws from the region that's what is the driving factor here well this is been true throughout the entire Middle East on you know we've done is create one failed state after another decisive improved the most potent recruiting tool for the hottest That's right so well Pakistan because Pakistan comes up here. So Musharraf. Gives the Pentagon former president Pakistan remission to use Pakistani Europe aerospace he lets the CIA track the leaders in Pakistani territory but he's also giving heavy covert support to the Taliban absolutely why explain why I mean it's interesting that Pakistan they're actually quite honest with the u.s. They were what they are and that's where they were completely that's what you don't need to conduct any sort of you know investigation to realise that they were straight up front they were playing the long game with the us they said you're leaving Yeah we cannot afford to have a mortal enemy in charge of Afghanistan so again it's like why why should you be surprised if you're the us they've been telling you to your face what's really going on here it's the us you know refusing to face the reality that that's the recurring theme well but it puts them in this position where the us is in fact protecting and funding. Pakistan which is actively supporting. In a multiplicity of ways the Dolma sure I mean and again it just goes to show that there really isn't any understanding of the you know the case of Afghanistan and the geo political aspects of politics in South Asia Regionally I mean obviously in Iraq is mentioned in the report too I mean if in the Middle East at large again it's just a refusal to face the facts and the u.s. Creating a fiction to justify its continued presence there well they were giving Pakistan. Billions of dollars a year. So let's talk about the human cost because you raise the issue of morality and support so these people are essentially just a fine and perpetuating a failed policy largely I think as you point out correctly because of career ism but one of the human consequences I mean I mean for me the number one. Consequence is that hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been murdered in their own country I mean hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered they've been extinguished from history I mean that they don't get that vote they don't get to tell their story they were just in the blink of an eye removed from this life because of the ambitions of a select few people who make a great deal of money off of this war a couple of us people make a great deal money off this war but as well as those who through this war have allowed themselves. To perpetuate a pretty comfortable career and a career whether you're a general and you retire and you go to sit on the board of say Raytheon or bow or any other number of these defense contractors or if you continue to serve in the military by continually going on these deployments it looks good on your record in . It's good on your resume and you're able to posture some sort of you know well then you can work where you can go on amazon be seen as a paid commentator right or you're you're a you're an expert on the conflict on the region even though most of these figures as the report has demonstrated as Afghanistan tapes of them often have they no they don't have the faintest idea of the history of Afghan right into the politics of Afghanistan there's not even a single one that stood out to me having even a rudimentary under them culturally historically and linguistically illiterate precisely they are arriving in a country with bags of money and machine guns right there gangsters and that's what their real ideology is it's Ok we have all this money and this will bend you know people to our way but they don't understand and it's a lot more complicated like than that and that what actually motivates people isn't as discrete or simple as many That's just an example of that is more of my favorite little anecdotes u.s. Aid workers once insisted on carrying out a public health project to teach Afghans how to wash their hands not knowing that Muslims 5 same private prayers a day wash their hands 5 times a day I mean just the continual insults that you know the u.s. And its officials don't even realize that they're you know and having against the people of Afghanistan it's also you know and I think you're right to highlight that the primary amount of suffering has been endured by the Afghan people but it's also a betrayal of veterans as yourself sure I mean what that's like so it difficult for me because as you I'm glad for now I want to center the you know the actual victims of imperialist violence but yes I mean from any perspective on this matter if you're a veteran of this war you know whatever whether combat non-combat if you've been in Afghanistan or you haven't in some capacity your service has. And to support the ongoing operations of the u.s. And Afghanistan and elsewhere and when you read the Afghanistan papers you see that the concerns of all of these generals are not with any of the listed C.E.O.'s the junior officers it's with themselves and making sure that they look good and making sure that they are able to continue on their lucrative career path that's their number one motivating factor so all of their pearl clutching they do is related to them looking potentially incompetent not at you know the lives lost Afghan or u.s. One of the things that comes through the reporters that they're very well Dostum they write about the. The the people managing the war are quite aware of how. Vicious and repugnant the warlords they have built alliances with are I mean I think one Crocker somebody talking about being tested with was some dosimeter remember one of the warlords about how they were just murderers and he said you know he died but you know I still wake up every day to check to make sure he's dead they knew. The extortion the violence the kidnapping the rape. That the wards who were there tacit allies were carrying out among the very Afghan people they were seeking in a process of nation building to get support from right and I think the fact that the u.s. Willingness to work with these warlords is even more of an indictment because you know how many times in the report we see the refusal to negotiate with the Ptolemy run as we've mentioned but yet at the same time they're perfectly willing to go along with these absolutely vicious you know criminal warlords again it's the perversity of it has no one really at the peak in 2011 the peak of the war Afghanistan received 11000000000 security aid from Washington 3000000000 more than what neighboring Pakistan which has a stockpile of nuclear weapons far bigger spend on military the amount of money that I mean I think at one point they talk about how more money has been pumped into Afghanistan that was given to the Marshall Plan to rebuild in particular Germany but Europe had been destroyed after World War 2 And yet in project after project that they detail it's it we might as well of put it in a big pile and burned it it had almost no effect right would it get all of these so-called projects were were fantasy in a way because they were designed to create the image of some sort of infrastructural progress of you know so-called war fighting progress but really again it was just to be able to actually fill out some type of forum or memorandum and say that this is what we've accomplished see their success here in the justify their continued presence but again none of this really meant anything actually it was just as you said either burning money or just you know this this phantasm this this. Simulate actual progress in the region where do you think this is the consequences and this is America's longest war 18 years we have wasted tremendous amounts of money which of course our own infrastructure is crumbling our own schools need to be rebuilt. What are what are the what are going to be the effects of the what's the legacy or that's you know as a student of history I've often pondered this in some ways it's too soon to tell the the utter catastrophe of what this will mean decades on their own but the fact we can see as many bad effects now as we can see should be telling and eventually when there is an adequate history that account for all of this written will know but what's so troubling to me is that there really isn't an ability as of yet to help for all of the human suffering for all of the human costs well in the wings and I mean but this is the mythology of dying embers absolutely is. Our sponsor a poem on the Washington Post series Afghanistan. As the American Revolution looms or arrest you in King George's name is a rebel peacekeepers resort to violence and cowards become unlikely heroes you are going to your death and I should go in my best coat dear George Bernard Shaw's the Devil's Disciple next time on into works. Keep k.p. Of k. Strong on the web digital services cost k p f k real money. Is more than what you hear on the radio at k.p. F. K. Dot org You can listen to our live stream along with our on demand content whenever you like these digital services are free for you but they cost us more money each year for all of those times you've gone to k p f k dot org discovered new information and shared it with others please consider making a donation today just click the donate button at k p f k dot org Thank you. I mean mouse is the host of background briefing a Daily News Analysis program had Mondays through Thursdays at 5 pm and on Sundays at 11 am each day we look into 3 or 4 of the important stories in issues in the news to seek out the most not. Specialists as well as the best informed observers closest to the scene to provide. Background Briefing that has context history nuance and details often by the spin and counter spend sound bite driven mainstream corporate media so for the best open source intelligence available on what's happening at home and abroad tune in at 5 pm Monday Strewth States and on Sundays at 11 am. Briefing here on listener sponsored independent radio at 90.7 f.m. Ok. I am here listening to. The. Extreme to have public stations like this to be trolled by corporations and have an independent voice. The voice of reason we are going to just a bunch of advertisements in. A way of sanity in the midst of all the noise. Welcome to the surface I'm Susie Wiseman today we're going to look at the likely impact of the money assassination in both Iran and Iraq we begin with one call Chief Editor of a comment a professor of history at the University of Michigan and he's joining us to examine the decision by President Trump to launch the strike that killed Iranian general. Escalating the standoff with Iran to a new level of violence that could trigger a much broader and more direct conflict we'll get one views on the ramifications for us Iranian relations the domestic considerations for each regime and the wider implications at home and in the Middle East we then continue with Baker who works on the political economy of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the broader war on terror and teaches at Cal State University Long Beach he's been writing about the Iraqi protest movement and he says the American attacks. Of general. And the regional conflict and his the death blow to the Iraqi protests Iraqis have been pushed into the eye of the storm and every Iraqi political force has now to pick a side with deadly consequences the u.s. Has made Iraq into its battlefield once again making this escalation the most consequential action in Iraq since 2003 we'll get analysis and perspective as well and all of this when our program returns in just a moment. And welcome back to the surface I'm very pleased to be with you live in studio Well the decision by President Trump to launch the strike that killed a top Iranian general is being. Seen it as an acute escalation raising questions about what the administration expected us officials pre-trained the targeted killing of Iranian Major General Kassam stolen money as a preemptive action to avert an attack that Secretary of State might pump a.o. Said would have cost dozens or hundreds of American lives we've heard a lot about that yet the strike is being seen in Iran as a declaration of war that requires a military response well this is you know a story that is going to be haunting us for a while and I could think of no one better than Juan Cole to help us unravel it he's the found.

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