daledo
5th October 2011, 00:53
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A new memo reveals that the US government planned to change the "world's political map" by waging wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, and a third country.
According to the document, former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said ahead of the 2001 US-led Afghan war that Washington should think more broadly instead of focusing on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
"If the war does not significantly change the world's political map, the US will not achieve its aim," the memo on US strategy, dated September 30, 2001, from Rumsfeld to former President George W. Bush read.
"There is value in being clear on the order of magnitude of the necessary change. The USG [US Government] should envision a goal along these lines: New regimes in Afghanistan and another key State (or two) that supports terrorism," the memo added.
The National Security Archive posted this previously secret US documents on September 11, 2011 -- a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks devastated New York and Washington.
Emphasizing support for local opposition groups rather than direct US strikes, Rumsfeld is wary of excessive or imprecise US aerial attacks which risk "creating images of Americans killing Muslims."
The memo argues that the US should "capitalize on our strong suit, which is not finding a few hundred terrorists in the caves of Afghanistan," and instead using "the vastness of our military and humanitarian resources, which can strengthen enormously the opposition forces in terrorist-supporting states."
The memo says that the approach to the war should not focus "too heavily on direct, aerial attacks on things and people."
The US invaded Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks under the pretext of eradicating Taliban militants, who were behind the incident. This is while, one decade after 9/11 militants are still carrying out operations in Afghanistan and the Afghan war has become the longest conflict in the US history.
In 2003, the US also invaded Iraq under the pretext that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
The declassified document, which was recently made public, had a number of words redacted from it.
Source (http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202769.html)
A new memo reveals that the US government planned to change the "world's political map" by waging wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, and a third country.
According to the document, former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said ahead of the 2001 US-led Afghan war that Washington should think more broadly instead of focusing on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
"If the war does not significantly change the world's political map, the US will not achieve its aim," the memo on US strategy, dated September 30, 2001, from Rumsfeld to former President George W. Bush read.
"There is value in being clear on the order of magnitude of the necessary change. The USG [US Government] should envision a goal along these lines: New regimes in Afghanistan and another key State (or two) that supports terrorism," the memo added.
The National Security Archive posted this previously secret US documents on September 11, 2011 -- a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks devastated New York and Washington.
Emphasizing support for local opposition groups rather than direct US strikes, Rumsfeld is wary of excessive or imprecise US aerial attacks which risk "creating images of Americans killing Muslims."
The memo argues that the US should "capitalize on our strong suit, which is not finding a few hundred terrorists in the caves of Afghanistan," and instead using "the vastness of our military and humanitarian resources, which can strengthen enormously the opposition forces in terrorist-supporting states."
The memo says that the approach to the war should not focus "too heavily on direct, aerial attacks on things and people."
The US invaded Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks under the pretext of eradicating Taliban militants, who were behind the incident. This is while, one decade after 9/11 militants are still carrying out operations in Afghanistan and the Afghan war has become the longest conflict in the US history.
In 2003, the US also invaded Iraq under the pretext that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
The declassified document, which was recently made public, had a number of words redacted from it.
Source (http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202769.html)