We are here today to talk about an invasion
An occupation and a war which has ravaged a country whose history is littered with foreign interference
Opposing the war in Iraq did not mean you were automatically pro-Saddam
If anyone was pro-Saddam, that was Ronald Reagan and his administration
Opposing the war in Afghanistan does not mean you were pro-Al Qaeda
If anybody could be called pro-Al Qaeda, with all due respect for his current position regarding Palestine, it would be Jimmy Carter's administration and the director of the CIA at the time, Robert Gates, a man who interestingly currently serves as Obama's Secretary of Defense
Opposing the war in Afghanistan does not make you pro-Taliban
If anybody was pro-Taliban, it was Condoleezza Rice and her cohorts at the oil company Unocal
The Taliban themselves were orphans of the Afghan War with the Russians, in which Al-Qaeda was backed by the CIA under both Jimmy Carter's and Ronald Reagan's administrations
Nobody in their right mind could deny the Taliban's hideous oppression of women, but it didn't start on September 11th, 2001
Their horrendous regime was in power long before hand
When Bush and Blair tried to justify this war, all of a sudden women's rights in Afghanistan was so very important
Women in Afghanistan were persecuted long before September 11th, and are still subject to persecution on a daily basis under the clearly un-democratic Karzai regime, which the Americans and the British are currently so steadfast in supporting
Condoleezza Rice and Unocal were not concerned about the women of Afghanistan when they were sitting at the table with the Taliban negotiating lucrative oil deals
Besides, in a last ditch attempt to avoid invasion and regime change at the hands of a foreign power, which is of course illegal under international law, the Taliban offered Bin Laden to the Americans
However, despite this, the invasion and occupation still went ahead
As if the American government have a monopoly on morality
As if the American government differentiate morally when looking for business partners
It has never been about creating moral governments
It has been about creating governments that are open to manipulation and are willing to do business
The American government like the British government know that Karzai is corrupt
They know they have installed a bunch of warlords and drug-dealers
Karzai's own brother is a well known drug-lord with his fingers all over the heroin trade in that country
For the record, in the first year of the occupation, the heroin production in that country increased 1000% and now accounts for over 90% of the heroin on Britain's streets today
The largest amount of heroin coming out of Afghanistan was from the Helmand province, which interestingly was the area of the highest number of British troops were occupying
Make of that what you will
If these occupying forces were really interested in helping the Afghan people, they would put in place a system where by the opium produced in the country could be used all over the world for strictly medicinal purposes, thus giving the country a massive and legitimate source of income from it's poppy fields
There is nothing noble, romantic, or righteous about this occupation
While the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq is widely understood to have been a disaster, there are still those in this country to argue that this war in Afghanistan is somehow a legitimate war for the good of humanity, as if any government, particularity our government has ever gone to war in the interest of humanity