Afghanistan "Government" Proves U.S. Mission Has Been a Fool's Errand

Remember how America invaded Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and end its Medieval theology and abusive rule?  And in this process, America has expended over a billion dollars and sacrificed thousands of American lives.  Now, if it wasn't already perfectly clear that Afghanistan is a war that should never have happened (only Iraq was a bigger disaster), the so-called government of Afghanistan - a snakes nest of corrupt individuals and organizations that have stolen incalculable amounts of U.S. funds - is considering adopting amendments to the penal code to revive Taliban  penalties, including stoning of adulterers.  For centuries Afghanistan has been a foul backwater yet America in its typical hubris - best exemplified by the cretin George W. Bush  and the evil Emperor Palpatine Cheney - thought it could impose American values when no other nation has been able to do so.  The Guardian has details.  Here are highlights:

Afghan government officials have proposed reintroducing public stoning as a punishment for adultery, Human Rights Watch said, even though the practice has been denounced both inside and outside the country as one of the most repugnant symbols of the Taliban regime.

The sentence for married adulterers, along with flogging for unmarried offenders, appears in a draft revision of the country's penal code being managed by the ministry of justice.

There are several references to stoning in a translated section of the draft seen by the Guardian, including detailed notes on judicial requirements for handing down the sentence.

"Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death]," article 21 states. The draft goes on to specify that the stoning should be public, in article 23.

News that the government is contemplating bringing back a much-reviled punishment is unlikely to go down well with the western governments that back Kabul.

"It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The penalty violates international human rights standards that ban torture and cruel and inhuman punishment, the rights group said in statement.

Some take away thoughts: (1) My heart goes out to families who lost loved ones - their lives were thrown away ultimately for nothing.  Thankfully, my son-in-law escaped with only serious injuries.  Far too many were not as lucky.  (2) Bush and Cheney need to be tried for war crimes.  (3) As with so much evil in the world, this move in Afghanistan traces back to religious belief, the root of so much death, misery and broken lives.