At Large
Judgment in Waziristan
A political outing with an Afghan tribal leader.
(Page 2 of 2)
“Why didn’t he just make the man give back the goats and then maybe pay something?” was the American’s obvious question.
“It is a very bad thing to take a man’s goats even if they have been eating on your land. The man should not have tried to make the penalty himself. He should have gone to the khan. So he also had broken the law. It was an insult to the khan.”
“So the khan was mad and took away his water rights?”
“Just so…and gave them to the first man.”
“Is that fair — is it right?”
“It is right, but not right. A khan has to be wise. He must see beyond what is there. The elders and the entire village want that. They do not want everything settled before a jirga, although I thought this was something that should be. I told him that. He did not like it. He said it made him look without strength. I said it didn’t. I said it made him look stronger. But he didn’t believe me,” Khairullah sighed.
“So what happened in the end?”
“It will go before a jirga and they will decide. I think they will give the man back his water, but I think he will pay much to the village. The value of the goats eating the grass will be taken away from the goats the man stole. He will return the goats left over. That’s what I told them should be done. I think they will do it, but the village khan did not like me telling him. I didn’t want to, but I had to. That is my job.”
Khairullah seemed very sad. Being a great khan is a very difficult occupation in South Waziristan.
About the Author
George H. Wittman writes a weekly column on international affairs for The American Spectator online. He was the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy.
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Irish Spectre| 10.23.09 @ 10:13AM
...fascinating stuff.
This calls to mind the pronouncement of the staggeringly arrogant Bush doctrine to export democracy to the world, so much of which the more we learn about, the more we learn how little we know.
George True| 10.23.09 @ 11:05AM
Irish Spectre said: "This calls to mind the staggeringly arrogant Bush doctrine to export democracy to the world..."
What a breathtakingly ignorant thing to say. First of all, it has nothing to do with the topic of the article. And secondly, it is patently obviously to anyone with eyes to see that while Obama and his Marxist fellow travelers were all pointing to Afghanistan as the "good war" and "the real front in the WOT", the Bush administration was well aware of the reality that there was no way they were going to be able to pacify Afghanistan as was done in Iraq given the terrain, the complete lack of infrastructure, and the stone age tribal culture.
If you want to talk about staggering arrogance, how about the Obama administration ignoring the peaceful demonstrators in Iran protesting an obviouisly rigged election while at the same time making common cause with their mass-murdering totalitarian overlords. What about Obama attempting to overthrow a democratic republic (Honduras) for thwarting the attempt of a would-be Marxist dictator (Zelaya) to install himself as president-for-life.
Bush looks pretty damn good to me right now in comparison to this Marxist Obama who aligns himself with the likes of Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez, the murderous regime in Burma, and the islamofascist fanatics in Tehran.
Irish Spectre| 10.23.09 @ 1:16PM
Dear Mr. True,
The point is that Bush's asinine foreign policy pronouncement was concocted out of whole cloth in a futile attempt to gloss over his administration's massive blunder concerning the supposed presence of WMD in Iraq. The column, addressing some of the exotic cultural intricacies of the land in which we are now mired, illustrates how naive it is for anyone to believe that we could successfully export to it one of our own key cultural features (i.e., democracy.)
You're welcome for me clarifying this, sir.
Oh, and who taught you that really dumb notion that repudiating our former president translates to accolades for his successor?
Dai Alanye | 10.23.09 @ 11:42AM
Much of Afghanistan is at present stuck in the Mafia or warlord style of governance. We must, of course, work with this when it is to our advantage.
But note that the khan needs to keep, to some extent, the approval of the people. It is all too easy for this to slip into dictatorship when the leader is too strong-willed, or into feuding factions when he appears weak and inequitable in his decisions.
To move on to a better form of government—that is, to voting for leadership rather than selection by inheritance or by domination through violence—is probably to the ultimate benefit of the Afghans. We can't expect such a change to come quickly or easily, and we probably shouldn't push it too strongly—but neither should we give up on it.
Let's just not call it "Democracy." What we want is effective representative government by whatever name and in whatever form.
George True| 10.23.09 @ 3:08PM
Irish Spectre: Perhaps I should not have assumed that criticism of Bush foreigh policy equated praise of Obama. Having said that, it is usually the case that when someone talks about the "failure" of the GWB administration, they are solidly in the BHO camp. If that is not the case with you, I am sorry I tarred you with that brush.
I would take issue with your contention that the assesment that Saddam either had or was well on his way to having WMD's was concocted out of whole cloth. Mossad, MI-6, and our own CIA were all convinced that he had a program to develop WMD's, specifically nuclear. Prominent Dems, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, had publicly stated that Saddam was well on his way to having WMD'sand he must not be allowed to have them. And whether or not he was able to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger or anywhere else, we absolutely knew that he had at least 1000 metric tons of high grade yellowcake. (That was removed from Iraq only last year amid great secrecy, and transported to Canada where it was processed into nuclear reactor fuel.) With a reconstituted WMD program, Saddam could have turned 1000 metric tons of yellowcake into at least 7 or 8 nuclear warheads, maybe more.
After Saddam was captured, he freely admitted to his interviewers that he fully intended to restart his nuclear program just as soon as he could once and for all be rid of those pesky UN weapons inspectors.
Irish Spectre| 10.23.09 @ 4:30PM
Nope, I didn't assert that the WMD assessment was concocted out of whole cloth, although it was on balance an incorrect assessment. My "whole cloth" comment pertains to the after-the-fact reason that was given for us going to Iraq; Bush changed his reason for that action, because the WMD one was proven wrong, though I tend to believe that this was a failure of intelligence, rather than a lie.
...apology accepted for you assumption that I'm an Obama man; nothing. I am a constitutionalist, and so nothing, but nothing, could be further from the truth.
Dai Alanye | 10.23.09 @ 8:24PM
You've got this one wrong. The reason for going into Iraq was to break the most culturally-advanced Muslim nation free of the terrorist bloc. WMDs were given center stage because it was an easier notion to sell to the UN and NATO, not to mention the Dems in the US.
So Bush's true reason has proven out, as Iraq—though it still has problems—has become the first quasi-democracy in the Islamic camp.
But as far as WMDs go, you might want to explain the tens of thousand doses of nerve gas antidote found, and the many thousand sets of anti-gas protective clothing, and the thousands of barrels of "insecticide" found hidden on military bases.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, I suppose. Perhaps Saddam simply had an abiding fear of arthropods.
Irish Spectre| 10.24.09 @ 1:10PM
...not sure of your point here, Dai Alanye, except maybe to corroborate my point about the lack of WMD, and maybe too to curiously cheerlead an utterly arrogant and inevitably futile "Manifest Destimy" brand of foreign policy.
Attempting to sow democracy overseas via the business end of an M-16 is not worth American citizens' blood, not least of which because it doesn't work. Here's to the hope, at least, that we don't have to deal with more than one Viet Nam per century.
Johnny Knuckles| 10.23.09 @ 5:22PM
Fine reportage, Wittman. This is the kind of straightforward, minimum-spin story we'd read in Life magazine a lifetime ago.
Brian Donlevy| 10.24.09 @ 11:07AM
You're a jackass for trying to use this site for commercial purposes. That enuf of a reply for you?
Richard Baker| 10.24.09 @ 7:51PM
Irish Spectre ?:
You know why whiskey was invented? So the Irish wouldn't rule the world. Are you writing to this post under the influence, lad? Seems like it, sure. Are you trying to prove the beginning of this message?
Irish Spectre| 10.24.09 @ 11:31PM
That is one heck of an intellectual challenge, Richard! May I call you "Dick"?!
Richard Baker| 10.25.09 @ 7:00PM
Irish Spectre:
That's it? Obviously, you don't have the blarney, lad. Pity.
www.us-bapeoutlet.com | 4.5.10 @ 9:48PM
www.us-bapeoutlet.com
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Getting Hercules to Help You
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Getting the Hydra Scale
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