Washington’s ‘Mother of All Bombs’ — tool of terror

Eglin Air Force Base via AP

U.S. Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, gloated that the dropping of the never before used Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB — nicknamed the “Mother of All Bombs”) on Afghanistan April 13 “was the right time to use it.” The 22,000-pound GPS-guided weapon that cost $16 million releases a massive pressure blast and fireball, generating energy equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and a mushroom cloud that can be seen for 20 miles.

Up to 90 people, who the U.S. rulers dismiss as nothing more than Islamic State fighters, were killed by the blast. “You’d overpressure people hiding in caves there. You’d never find them,” said Edward Priest, a former Air Force special operations combat controller. “It just blows your lungs out of your mouth. It kind of turns you inside out. More than anything, anytime you drop one of these you want to make an audacious statement, in this case to reinforce our resolve to fight in Afghanistan.”

In fact, Washington’s only purpose in using the MOAB was “shock and awe” — to terrify and intimidate working people.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement condemning the attack, saying the time has come for the U.S. to get out of Afghanistan. On April 16 U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster met with Afghan officials in Kabul to discuss the next steps in the more than 15-year-long war against the Taliban — the longest in U.S. history — and the continuing role of the more than 8,000 U.S. troops there. The Pentagon is pressing to send more troops.

— JIM BRADLEY