Top Ten Stories of 2006: A Year of Awakening

It was a year of awakening. It was the year the people emerged as an independent force, pushing reluctant leaders to a reevaluation of the war in Iraq. It was a year when the wisdom of democracy staked its claim to governance over and above its inherent morality.

The year began with the stark reality of a war gone wrong – a war devoid of moral foundation, the lynchpin of a criminal doctrine of aggression, and a war whose deadly consequences were displayed nightly in a river of innocent blood. It ended with American casualties surpassing the number of dead on September 11, 2001, the posthumous dissent of a former president and the execution of a former ally.

The year began with the ruins of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster combined with government negligence, incompetence and indifference, and ended with a reminder that little has changed.

So while we remain in a dangerous nether land, where our darkest nightmares are still in play, we may take heart in the emergent consciousness of the people.

In reverse order, here are my nominations for the top stories of 2006:

TEN: THE TALIBAN’S RESURGENCE IN AFGHANISTAN.

Despite all the warnings not to forget the war we started in Afghanistan, we moved on to Iraq, handing the occupation over to a NATO force ill-equipped to complete the mission. It is not surprising that the Taliban has come back. We have created the same conditions that enabled them to seize control in the first place. We have erected a dependent and ineffective central government, while allying ourselves with tribal warlords.

With our attention diverted, we have had little opportunity to reconsider our actions in Afghanistan – the first front in the neocon war on terror. In a moment of unscripted candor, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suggested that we should negotiate with the Taliban. After all, it was not the Afghan government that attacked us on 9-11, it was Al Qaeda – a radical jihadi group that we implanted to fight the Soviet occupation.

Frist soon recanted his statement but it deserves consideration. We are no more "winning" in Afghanistan than we are in Iraq. We should have negotiated with the Taliban before we invaded; we will have to negotiate before we can end an unsustainable occupation.

NINE: OBAMA FEVER.

Oh, for a Democrat who had the courage and foresight to oppose the war from its inception! Oh, for a Democrat who had the fortitude and strength of character to stand against the most radical doctrine of foreign policy in American history! Oh, for a Democrat who was not cowed by a pervasive war fever in the aftermath of tragedy!

Only a few can claim the mantle of credibility on the most pressing issue of the day. One of them is a thin, dark-skinned upstart from the land of Lincoln, a man who stumbled into high office and captured the heart of America with his message of hope and unity.

No matter what the future holds, that Senator Barack Obama is even considered a viable candidate for the presidency is a momentous event in American history.

EIGHT: THE POWER OF GREEN.

Beyond war, the most pressing issue of our time is global climate change and its relation to the poisoning of the planet. This was the year that the great denial, led by industrial polluters and their allies in both government and media, began to break down. Thanks to the man who was in fact elected president in 2000 (see Al Gore’s documentary "An Inconvenient Truth") and a consensus of esteemed scientists, it is no longer viable to deny that global warming is happening or that it is not related to the toxic waste we spew into the atmosphere.

Almost overnight, green politics is a winning issue. We are by far the world’s leading polluter yet among industrial nations only China and Saudi Arabia have done less to address the problem. Let us hope and pray it is not too late.

SEVEN: AFRICAN UPHEAVAL AND GENOCIDE.

Most Americans were blissfully unaware when the genocide in Rwanda went down. We may be aware of the ongoing tragedies in Darfur (Sudan), the Congo, or the upheaval on the horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia), yet we are paralyzed. One of the unintended consequences of our disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan is that we possess neither the credibility nor the capability to intervene for humanitarian interests.

What is happening on the continent of Africa is in large part the result of centuries of European and American exploitation, yet we can only stand by as witnesses (once again) to unspeakable crimes against humanity. We have (once again) created the breeding grounds for radical extremism. There must be a better way.

SIX: MIDDLE EAST POWER SHIFT.

The Israeli attack on Lebanon may have been as damaging to Israel as the American invasion of Iraq was to America. Regardless of where one stands on the Palestinian question, this premeditated attempt to eradicate Hezbollah by destroying Lebanon was a damaging blow to Israeli security. Rather than eliminating Hezbollah, it exposed the myth of Israeli invulnerability. By standing by and allowing the bombardment to continue, America’s already waning influence in the region was further diminished.

In the wake of the Lebanon attack, some Americans have even begun to question our unconditional support of Israel. Though labeled "anti Semitic" by the usual Israeli loyalists, former president Jimmy Carter was given a fair hearing on his thesis that America’s policy on Palestine is unjustly biased.

Some claim there is no peace movement in Israeli politics. I hope they are wrong. It is time for the Israeli people to step forward in the cause of a lasting and just peace.

FIVE: LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

The march of independence from American and corporate domination continued through Latin America in the year of the brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s death. Re-elected by a commanding margin, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez did no favors for his political allies in the north when he branded our president "the devil" before the general assembly of the United Nations. Nevertheless, when American pundits brand Chavez a demagogue and dictator, they are betraying their own distaste for democracy.

If not for the manipulations of Diebold Election Systems, the march of true democracy might have reached the American border. Viva Obrador! Viva Chavez! Viva Bolivar!

FOUR: THE ELEPHANT STUMBLES.

As the countdown to the midterm elections unfolded, many wondered what Karl Rove had up his sleeve. Others read the tealeaves and saw it coming. In the eleventh hour, congress pushed through a bill that partially funded a border wall. The party of Lincoln was playing the immigration card. Little wonder the Machiavellian of the oval office was confident. With CNN’s Lou Dobbs playing point man, blaming immigrants for the problems of the working class seemed a sure bet.

The maneuver failed largely because Americans had already witnessed the emperor without clothes (New Orleans, job flight, corporate profits, tax cuts for the elite). They already had someone to blame for the plight of labor. A growing number of Democrats ran against the policies of "free trade" and a growing number of citizens recognized that the Starbucks model was preferable to the Wal-Mart model.

THREE: CASUALTIES OF WAR.

For the first three years of war, the fallen were virtually invisible. In what passed for patriotism and compassion, the government forbade pictures of flag-draped coffins. With the exception of a nightly feature on PBS, the dead had no faces, no names, no mourning spouses, and no children left behind.

All that has changed. In the final days of 2006, the American war dead hit 3,000, surpassing the total civilian dead in the terrorist attack of 9-11. Meantime, the only objective attempt to quantify the Iraqi war dead arrived at a number that must have startled every citizen who thought she was informed: Somewhere in the neighborhood of 650,000.

A lump in the throat and a heaviness of heart yields to the question that must eventually end this war (as it did in Vietnam): What have we done?

TWO: IRANIAN DEFIANCE.

Even as we came to grips with the dark, cold reality of the war in Iraq, our leaders continued their saber rattling for war with Iran. Warships were rushed to the Persian Gulf, sanctions are in place, and the president has served notice that Iran must discontinue its nuclear enrichment program to earn a place at the table of negotiations.

Little noticed was the city council elections in Tehran that delivered a defeat to the leadership of America’s new favorite bad man: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Never mind that the elected president of Iran has little more authority than press secretary Tony Snow, it was a strong indication that the people of Iran do not want war.

It is not a time for saber rattling. It is a time for real negotiations. It is not a time to find reasons for war. It is a time to find reasons for peace.

ONE: THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS.

The people of America have overcome the fever of war, the rage of vengeance, the irrationality of blind patriotism, and the most concerted propaganda campaign in modern history to deliver a stern rebuke of the president’s war.

Never have I been so proud to be an American as I was watching the results of the last election. Against all odds, despite a tepid opposition party, despite unprecedented gerrymandering, and despite a media largely in lockstep with the drums of war, the people spoke out in one resounding voice: Stop the war!

It remains to be seen what our leaders will do but the staff was planted here. Any politician who defies the clear and united mandate of the people does so at his own peril.

Jazz. 12.31.06

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE, THE NATIONAL FREE PRESS, LEFTWARD, DISSIDENT VOICE AND COUNTERPUNCH. Random Voices