New Paper at the Journal "Why Australia's Presence in Afghanistan is Untenable" An Exceptional Historical Piece

Review by John Bursill

Paper Link: Why Australia's Presence in Afghanistan is Untenable - By Lawyer James O'Neill

US President Barack Obama, 1 December 2009 “I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of the violent extremism practiced by al Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11.......It is important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place. We did not ask for this fight. On September 11 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3000 people.”

From the essays Introduction "This article will suggest that the official rationale for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is false. It involves a rewriting and/or ignoring of history on the part of the participants. It shows the same cavalier disregard for international law that was apparent in Iraq. It accepts without question the validity of the two premises argued by Obama in the above quote. Perhaps most disturbingly it persistently fails to address the reality of the present policies and their likely true intention."

James O'Neill
Lawyer James O'Neill

In this outstanding historical analogy of the Afghan situation author and Lawyer Australian James O'Neill presents a story that the Australian and worlds population have been denied. O'Neill in this cutting and well documented essay makes a mockery of our current state of democracy in Australia; where neither the media, or the politicians of the major parties have attempted to even debate the legality of the US lead invaision and occupation of Afghanistan.



In brief this essays runs with these main themes;

- 9/11 is the excuse for being in Afghanistan and that foundation is not only fallacious it is contrary to international law
- The history of American political and corporate involvement and plans for oil and gas control in the region of the Caspian Basin and the context it provides
- The media's failure to discuss how the Americans were the foundation for al Qaeda and financed terrorism in Afghanistan and the “stans” to the north, plus Russia and China, since the 1970s
- The media's failure discuss the truth about the drug trade and it's connections to the western military and intelligence networks
- The Australian parliament took 9 years (October 2010) to even debate (not legality) what is our longest ever war and only then because the Greens made it a condition of supporting the Gillard Governments formation

In his Conclusion O'Neill states "The events of 11 September 2001 provided a nominal casus belli for the attack and occupation of Afghanistan, heavily promoted by the mainstream media, which particularly in the United States is closely linked to the major armaments manufacturers. The same mainstream media have uncritically accepted and promoted the US government’s version of events about 11 September 2001, not because that account is plausible, which it manifestly is not, but because to question the rationale for military intervention is to question the whole of post World War II US foreign policy. If US foreign policy is seriously flawed then that in turn must raise serious questions about the level and extent of Australia’s adherence to the policies of its powerful ally." He then goes on to say "The acquiescence of the mainstream media and the major political parties in this charade strongly supports the proposition that the decisions are not being made by the elected representatives of the people of Australia (a majority of whom support withdrawal). Rather, as is the case in the United States, those people whom Scott refers to as making up the “deep state” make these critical decisions."

O'Neill continues with this statement regarding why an understanding of the public of this situation is so important "The continuation of this state of affairs poses a deep threat to the public state and the democratic values it purports to represent"

In this essay relies heavily on the work of Peter Dale Scott and we all are very grateful for Professors dedication to the exposing of the "deep state" or often referred to "the shadow government" in his extensive writings on the matter.

James O'Neill?

James is a member of the Australian Green party and has been fighting very carefully for the left of Australian Politics to address the 9/11 Events over the last 5 years.

Please distribute this article to your political contacts if you have them.

I will hopefully be interviewing James for the visibity911 podcast in the next few weeks :-)

Kind regards John