Tweet
A friend just suggested to me that the US needs to cut its military budget. To this, I say nonsense!
The US needs to spend more on the military! I mean it’s spending half the world’s military budget and in return has a military which can’t even win against rabble whose entire budget isn’t even a rounding error of the US military*. So imagine if the US spent only 25% of the world’s military budget, the horrible danger it would be in. Those dangerous Canadians and Mexicans would invade immediately.. It’s called the Department of Defense because the US is surrounded by enemies ready and able to invade the US.
In fact, since the US is losing in Afghanistan, I suggest the US add another 92K troops. It’s really the best use of America’s money. Expand the US military, because the one you’ve got now can’t do the job with only half the world’s military budget
More seriously, I am quite sure Putin laughs himself to sleep every night. "We did ourselves in. Now they’re doing themselves in the EXACT same way. Hahahahahahahahahaha".
Likewise Osama bin Laden must go to bed every night in his cave saying "Allah is great. He has made our enemies destroy themselves. Truly those whom God wishes to destroy he first makes mad, for only madmen bankrupt themselves and destroy their economy even though they are winning nothing."
(*note. Not only is the US losing in Afghanistan, but it lost Iraq. Where I come from when you have to pay your enemies to stop shooting at you, you lost the war. Capice?)
144 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
But Ian, you forget all the indirect benefits of the military, like all those civilian pilots the AF Academy trains. /s
Thanks Ian.
digg
Capiche
Link numbers on the cash spent paying our enemies please and the legal definition of giving Treason I think giving aid, comfort and CASH to out enemies in war time is treason but what do I know.
Also if the SURGE is working so well then why are we paying the enemy?
That question is for John McCain.
I wonder if that is how he thinks that we could have won the Viet Nam War!
Bullseye.
25% of America’s military spending right now including war spending is how much?
**MODS** On home page, the right column adds have started to overlie the text — they’ve shifted left by about their own width. WinXP/Opera. (Things are fine on the comments pages.)
the military is all about the mission, and therefore success and failure can only be evaluated relative to the mission. if the mission was to succeed in Iraq or Afghanistan, then the military can be said to have failured miserably, but alas that is NOT the mission. The mission is to enrich the families behind lovable companies like Blackwater and Halliburton beyond all dreams of avarice. So.. mission accomplished!
If the market keeps dropping and jobs keep being lost they won’t bother.
Ridiculous aproach to nation building…occupation,which is a ridiculous approach international relations. Dummies suposed to speak softly and carry a big stick not break the stick and get beat up by the opposition.
Not only did Bushco bankrupt us but the rest of the world. We don’t even give combat vets the aid they need. $3 trillion for an oil war and no oil?
Capiche? What’s that, quiche with capers on top? /s
Thanks for bringing this up.
I was beginning to think it was in one of my previous lives when the Ruskies lost to Afghanistan. Surely we wouldn’t go in and make the same damn mistakes.
And don’t forget China’s brilliance.
Why bother with an arms race when you can just buy up US debt and control us that way.
And, unlike buying weapons, you get interest payments to boot.
And the Bush family favorite The Carlyle Group.
Hell, the current military equipment we have can’t even determine if the Aghans we’re killing are the ones we’re supposed to be killing:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..fer=canada
Yep. We’re killing Afghan soldiers instead of the bad guys. We could cut our military budget in half and no one would notice.
Spit.
At the cost of the stock market dropping and the Dollar going down in value General Petraeus should be called General Pyrrhus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victo
The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one more such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.[1]
Replace Roman with Iraq and Italy with Iraq its a few al Quieda but its mostly Iraqi’s fighting us now.
Darth and Vice Pres. McFlightsuit couldn’t even get that right.
Don’t tell that to MoveOn, they might do another ad.
Capiche – Understand
We need all that Star Wars stuff. We have to be able to see which mud brick homes have families in them so the air controllers can direct the drones to blow them up. Winning their hearts and minds. You betcha.
Just how is the Bush family hedgefund doing in this market? Anyone have up to date numbers? A worldwide economic collapse should be hitting them too.
We’re #2!
Capice, not capiche
I got schooled on that a few years ago ratcheer at the lake.
We’ve got to get this country’s priorities in order and that would be a good start.
Thanks Ian. Unfortunately, I expect either candidate will follow your “advice” and spend more.
OT: I think Chris Hedges read the Dumbification of Elites before writing his Truthdig column this week
But what if BushCo’s goal is to do what Russia did? Russia went bankrupt and then had a fantastic wealth and power grab that resulted in oodles of billionaires and a ton of indentured wage servants. To them, who cares if Putin takes them back on the Red road (or Blue America) — as long as they get their billions, ney trillions. I mean, just think about it, Bush could look his fellow Skull&Bones pirateers in the eye and say “I got a trillion, muthafucka! I win!” Then he can go back to drinking.
Hehe. perhaps you missed my snark tag. (/s)
Air war seems to be costing us support from Iraqis who might have joined us in the beginning of the war. Maybe we should cut the air force budget more and leave the army budget alone.
Grover Norquist laughs with Putin.
True and now look the Russian stock marrket has closed how many times this year?
Gates wants more drones. Drones there – drones now
Yeah, I don’t know many folks who would be pleased if some foreigners came over and bombed the livin’ shit out their families.
Also while Germany went Nazi during the Great Depression Russia went Commie and Bush/McCain try as they might are not as smart as Hitler.
I’m hoping for the FDR way to win again in America!
I’m sure the Iraqi’s are all eagerly awaiting Colin Powells return. /s
That is the lesson of Iraq?
for TCU at 27
IIRC, The Carlyle Group was taking it in the shorts as well.
OneTwo of their hedge funds went under a few months ago.But, Ian, we went to war with the Army we had, not the one we wanted…! Did you forget so soon? ;-)
Btw… Jon getting pawned by John…
We could always bring in Ollie North to deny that it happened
Russian Revolution was in 1917.
Ian,
May-be the GOD OF LOVE is saying I”VE HAD ENOUGH OF USA SHIT.
Every bullet…………Is a meal we don’t serve……..and a missed chance to do good
Every rifle…………Is a doctor’s visit for someone who needs it…..and a missed chance to do good
Every tank……….. is an elementary school that can’t serve the kids ….and a missed chance to do better
Every missile …….combined would provide universal healthcare…….and and missed opportunity to heal
Every aircraft carrier………………………………………………………………………..stop killing
Am I missing something under the military security blanket we are all under??????
Now there’s a guy who’s got a special place in hell just waiting for him.
That is what Gates was bitching to the air force re Afghanistan
Lying about killing civilians doesn’t that make North guilty of obstructing justice in the investigation of a war crime?
Every bullet takes food out of the mouth of a hungry child.
EPU and OT but this seems important. I just had a “poll” from “Venture Data”. I did not know what VENTURE DATA is but I do now. Be aware if they call you. I asked if they were R’s or D’s but they lied and said they were neither. They are neo-con thugs apparently. They were mainly concerned about the House Rep, and I did say plenty of nasty things about the R challenger.
And, in the middle of the ‘Great War’… When most of the Tsar’s troops were on the front lines!
We need troops on the ground to find Ossama unless those drones can fly into caves.
spend more on the military? send more troops to afghanistan?
ian? have you been drinking that obama koolaid? *g*
Only if there is fairness
Arghh! sorry my mistake thanks. Still didn’t Russia have a bad economy and food shortages which helped the Commies?
We are working on that.
Let’s correct that. It’s from Jackson Browne’s “Lives in the Balance”.
Every bullet represents a mouthful of food stolen from a hungry child.
Actually Putin is concerned about Russia’s economic position. There have been a lot of stupid economic theories floating around and one was that substantial parts of the world economy: Asia, Russia, etc. were decoupled from the US economy. But with oil trading at half the price it was 3 months ago. Russia is hurting badly.
So while Putin might like to indulge in some Schadenfreude, at the moment he can’t.
As for paying off the various sides in Iraq, this was potentially a smart strategy. The problem is that it was never used to work a wider deal. Instead Sunnis, Kurds, and Shia all think they still have a shot at getting what they want at the expense of everyone else. This means that the civil war has been put on hold, not resolved. Nor did we lose Iraq. It was never ours in the first place.
Our Afghanistan policy suffers from the fact that we have no coherent Afghanistan policy. The problem with this is that it has seriously destabilized Pakistan. In the great scheme of things Afghanistan is not important, but Pakistan very much is.
My army major efriend accuses me of hating America and not knowing what it’s like to dedicate yourself to a cause greater than yourself. Don’t think he meant to snark, though.
aren’t you supposed to be out getting arrested?
Ah, good to know.
Ha! Guess they forgot that U.S. was the consumer of last resort.
92K more troops is Obama’s plan, I believe. To be fair, he could do that and save a bit of money if he’s willing to get ruthless about certain weapons programs and so on.
Well, the troops were still on the Eastern Front but the Tsar had already abdicated and the Kerensky government was running the show. When the Kerensky govt fell with the Winter Palace Lenin and Trotsky then started the process of negotiating with the Germans.
did you ask him if it mattered what kind of cause one chooses?
which begs the question, in which drone manufacturing does his family have shares?
My AF major son says he has had all the fun(/s) he can stand gets out hopefully in 2011.
could save more than a bit by doing neither the surge or the useless weapons programs.
didn’t a European Carlyle sub go bankrupt last month?
We might not even need to tax the rich to get out of debt? We might be able to afford healthcare for everyone and rebuild America’s roads, bridges etc and build hybrid/electric cars if we do tax the rich?
Bush’s financial crisis has taken away the safety of doing nothing about our problems anymore.
Its do or die time cause if we don’t we become a much poorer, second rate nation without the ability to fix our infrastructure and impoverished by high oil prices/slavery.
I suppose he plans on killing all the Pashtuns, about 30% of the Afghan population, and divided roughly in half between Afghanistan & Pakistan, so Obama needs to kill the Pakistan ones too. Cause what you got in Af. is your run-o-mill insurgency against occupier and govt in which you have no say. So adding troops makes it worse, unless, as I said, you’re planning on killing all the Pashtuns (who are also the Taliban).
He’s useful on the occasion, so when he goes off on a tangent like that, I let him cool off for a couple of months.
You’re talking about the fight between the Bolsheviks(Reds,Lenin and Trotsky) and the Mensheviks(Whites,Kerensky).
Bombing civilians?
Interesting pie-chart by the way
http://www.globalissues.org/i/…..n-2006.png
The US appears tobe spending 2.5 times more than the next four combined (China, Japan, France, UK)
Hugh, do you think there is U.S. military solution to the problems in Pakistan?
Due to a lot of miscommunication nothing happening tonight. A coalition had been formed for Saturday morning and somehow that got put out as tonight. The Uhurus have had a demonstration scheduled for quite a while so we’ll see what happens with them tonight and plan accordingly Saturday morning. Felt kinda silly wandering around looking for folks all by my lonesome. Made a couple calls and found out about the screw up. The email went out primarily to folks who wouldn’t be caught dead at a direct action. Michael’s got a little egg on his face this evening.
He is an instructor now used to fly a helicopter
The Italian verb is “capire”: to understand
The second person present would be “capisci”.
The third person present would be “capisce”. This is the one used in English. I don’t know why this form was chosen. I suppose it could be a shortened version of the polite form: “Lei capisce?” Alternately, it may be a South Italian or Sicilian thing since many Italian immigrants came from these regions.
Misery loves company. I’m sure Putin can still take enjoyment in America’s problems even if he’s got some problems of his own. Never believed in uncoupling.
Paying your enemies not to shoot at you is the very definition of losing, unless you’re getting more out of it than they are. Which the US isn’t.
The US has lost Afghanistan. It was, imo, winnable, but the window has passed. At this point the issue is not Afghanistan, it’s Pakistan. The US has to get out of Afghanistan before they destabilize Pakistan fatally. Afghanistan’s a hole where bad people can plot bad things. Pakistan is a country with nukes.
The coming Depression is no accident.
Neither was the Depression of 1929.
Both Depressions were caused by zi foreign central bankers with essential help from their U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
Close the FED rallies are in progress.
Whew!
But is the cause worthy or is it all about oil? Can we afford to win? after how many years of trying? How many more years will it take to win?
What is the cost to America of another year like this DOW 5,000 Public Schools having to charge students for an education?
No Social Security for the Boomers or anyone else ever again?
Putin able to retake all of the former Soviet Block countries like he just took part of Georgia because our army is to busy in Iraq?
Why not just milatarize the entire populace. Pass out shovels like Hitler and let each neighborhood begin marching up and down their streets. Uniforms will cut down on the cost of clothing and the American empire will always need cannon fodder to protect the ruling elites. The wingnuts and Republicans will love donning their uniforms. They can even put elephant armbands on to show they are true patriots and real Americans. Yeah, that’s what America needs, more military spending. Pax Americana!
Insane just said that no foreign power will dare stand up to the US, ever, if he was president
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI…..index.html
cry me a river.
commodity deflation will hurt a lot of countries. i wonder how many people are going die. was just listening to roubini (and soros and sachs) give a talk at columbia from monday and it didn’t leave me with a good feeling about what is ahead.
oh well. that just allows more tgime to get some more folks out for Saturday, or?
I don’t see how you win Afghanistan unless you’re willing to go whole hog like that, and maybe not even then. Problem is you have to kill them in Pakistan too, and you do that too much and Pakistan will fall and then have a discussion with the US about what “we have nukes too, and we don’t necessarily need a missile to deliver them” means.
You take this guy far more seriously than I do. He provides useful info to me from time to time. I let him rant inbetween.
Bernhard at Moon of Alabama makes a great point that there really isn’t much difference between McInsane and Obama’s Foreign Policy plans…
Yeah, a lot of countries are going to rattle apart. Current price target is 60, and it may go lower, though producers will start cutting back and that will cause a bounce, and some stabilization. Since the US is a paper economy now, other countries are going to try that game. Some of them, like Russia, will probably get away with it, at least for a while.
I was snarking. The Pashtuns are a political issue. You couldn’t do total warfare against them even with carpet bombing and 2 million troops. They live in inaccessable places, and like the NVN, won’t give up no matter what. Besides which, why don’t we like the Pashtuns? They didn’t attack us on 9/11, though a tee-insy subgroup provided haven for OBL. The whole Afghan thing is nuts beyond belief.
Thats my problem I take everything way to serious except when I’m Snarky!
‘cept whatever his announced plans, we all know that President Insane’s signature will be columns of troops marching in lockstep through countless capitols around the world…
Carlyle Capital went bellyup, to use a technical term. Those margin calls can be so annoying. They owe tens of billions. But Paulson will come to their rescue, I am sure.
McCain would take you seriously if they had oil.
Yes, those nooclear submarines are very effective at rooting out terrorists…and those invisible F17s and B2s, wonderful at spelunking…
Actually, that’s one way to win an insurgency. You go Chechnya on them. “We will just keep killing you in large numbers till you get the message.”
Even if the US had the stomach for it and the money, it takes quite a while, and the split between Pakistan and Afghanistan makes it dubious.
But it is actually the most reliable way to deal with insurgencies.
lol!
I suppose our enemies have all called him to let him know they’re teh scared of him but not Obama. What a meaningless claim.
There was a riff between the Reds and Whites prior to the October (November by our calendar) takeover at the Winter Palace. Kerensky was ousted and the Whites then took up arms and fought the Red Army under Trotsky. The reorganization of the Red Army by Trotsky was, imo, his crowning achievement. He was a great polemicist and organizer but his ideas for government sucked. By the same token Lenin’s ideas weren’t too hot either.
it may have been “winnable” (i don’t know), but that doesn’t mean it was wise or right to invade and occupy afghanistan. imo it was neither and i’ve yet to hear a compelling argument for the death and destruction we’ve caused there.
and just because it seems necessary to include – that doesn’t mean i don’t think we should have gone after the people who are responsible for 911. there were other options.
please tell me this means Jenna and not-Jenna might have to cut back.. maybe fire the night chauffeur or a few maids, at least?
I’m sure they do have oil. You stick a straw in the earth anywhere and you strike oil.
just was curious – did not mean to suggest you should have asked the q.
Lisa’s up with
Wednesday Night at the Movies: CRAWFORD
Bailing out a private hedge fund? Not before the election unless Paulson wants to hand Obama a few red not pink states.
After the election but before Obama is President expect Paulson and Bush to spend the entire bailout before Obama gets to it and starts putting conditions on the money.
Like voting shares, limits on CEO pay, etc
Don’t tell McCain.
oh yeah.. they faint just thinking about his grim and terrifying visage. If he gets elected, you’re guaranteed to have IranShrub, VenezuelaShrub, NthKoreaThug, ZimbabweShrub, and BurmaThug all lining up to kowtow fearfully below the majesty of his imperial throne, just before he has royal executioner HoJo haul them off to be publicly dealt with. All fear the great McInsane!
In all likelihood Obama will be America’s Kerensky. Merely a transitional figure unable to move a floundering and moribond behomith in a meaningful direction it needs to go.
Maybe OT but the DOW lost 514 today and it was announced that there were 2200 major layoffs (minimum of 50+) that is by itself an absolute minimum just there of 110,000 jobs lost in Sept.
Here’s the smartest war analyst I know on Afghanistan.
http://exiledonline.com/the-ta…../#more-152
Didn’t see your reference to Kerensky. I guess that’s serrendipity.
No, I think it is imperial hubris that we can solve other countries’ problems for them. As the last 8 years have shown, we can’t even solve our own. Pakistan has been seriously destabilized by the decades long power struggle between its civilian and military leaders, a political culture of corruption, our and their activities in Afghanistan, and now the worldwide economic downturn. Pakistan just defaulted on some of its loans.
Even so, it is really India more than we who have to be concerned about Pakistan’s increasing shakiness.
All I can suggest is mostly avoidance of actions that would further inflame the situation. In normal times, this could be supplemented by economic and financial aid, but these are not normal times.
Right!
Total warfare works against insurgencies only in certain circumstances. Chechnya because it’s a small place, S. Africa because the Boers were a smallish percent of the population and were easily rounded up. So it’s really quite a limited tool.
Not a problem. Carlyle Capital started with $1B from the original Carlyle Group. They did the leverage thing with Triple A thingies and they are getting some nasty letters from debt collectors. But otherwise it is all on paper. They still have $2.5Bto give to the kids.
Here’s War Nerd on Pakistan.
http://exiledonline.com/pakist…..wont-quit/
I’ll have to check but I think the Duma was a body in name only and we’re stuck with a Congress that pretends to function occasionally.
We could have won in Viet Nam and could win in Irak if we killed all the citizens.
Off to watch the World Serious. Later.
We’re doing much better job of that in Iraq than in VN.
Yeah, I’m not sure either of how much power the Duma had either. Congress has powers if they are willing to use it. Republicans didn’t out of loyalty to ideology and their Decider (they must have been impersonating Hitler’s Reichstag). Democrats when they had the power didn’t exercise it out of cowardice and timidity.
If we each could get a wingers to read through a thoughtful and heartfelt discussion like the above for a week we could some strike some chinks in the wall of denial. Night to all and rest well for tomorrow.
My guess it’s something like $2,000 for a family of 4, every year.
Oh they got out of Carlyle and into gold to take advantage of the falling dollar.
I suggest a shovel…he is not among the living…
I don’t understand. Are you suggesting we shouldn’t invite them into our homes, offer them flowers and sing songs of praise for our liberators? Hmmm.
Irag citizens will continue to die..depleted uranium is going to kill and cause birth defects forever.
Maybe if we had been protected on 9/11/01 then all that money spent would have seemed worthwhile.
Best option would have been to actually go after those who caused 911. It was not anyone in Afghanistan.
I wouldn’t automatically dismiss such a statement. Clearly members of the military have that feeling and a certain sense of superiority for having taken on those jobs.
But, you should talk him down from a position of hate to merely disgust or discomfort. There’s no good reason for members of the military to hate the public they serve. They should understand members of the public ARE part of something greater than themselves — America and Civilization! We don’t have to carry guns and shoot things to be patriots.
Another way is to only look at our spending relative to our enemies or those with whom there is some remote possibility of a conflict. That comparison is ghastly and makes us look like death machines.
But, standard Bush policy in both Afghanistan and Iraq was to repeat Vietnam by marching our guys up and down the streets, occasionally shooting off guns at innocents, to make our guys targets who would be killed in the name of drawing out the insurgents so they can be identified.
Trouble is, there might not be ANY insurgents if we weren’t there in THEIR country stirring up trouble.
well, we’d have to have things like a grand jury and an indictment and evidence and stuff. *g*
Remember that the FBI has no evidence against Osama in regards to 911. Then read this…
http://whatreallyhappened.com/….._dead.html
That would be an incalculable loss as the world would be horrified and, regardless of ‘real American’ types we do have to relate to the rest of the world.
Except for self defense it’s very hard to relate to anything you’d call ‘winning’. But, for self defense there is no limit. That’s why Republicans always want to convince people it’s for self defense instead of profit.
Ooer, a Swifty and a Mogambo Gufu Laugh (MGL)!
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
The x president of Italy says….911 was an inside job….He knows his intelligence…He was forced to resign when it became known that he helped set up Operation Gladio-a rogue intelligence network under NATO auspices that carried out bombings accross Europe in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s…”false flag”..
http://www.nowpublic.com/crime…..inside-job
http://www.motherjones.com/military-maps/
Perhaps some wise person can explain why the “Department of Defense” and the “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” ( a mutual defense pact ) are engaged in harassing Iraq ( where the people have made their displeasure evident with explosives and bullets ) and Afghanistan ( more and better ) in occupations characterized as ‘pre-emptive war’ – are not in fact situations where troops recuited to defend their countries are sent to land war in Asia-Midddle East in operations which bomb and kill the locals, who have no effective ability to threaten nor retaliate.
That is hardly a comprehensive list.
No mess on the front lawn when demolishing housing and infrastructure someplace out of sight. No change from traditional utility either. That includes young men so sickened, revolted and scared by the activity that they commit suicide in droves.
http://www.ratical.org/ratvill…..acket.html
http://www.nowpublic.com/crime…..inside-job
Simple explanation…illegal occupations to take control of the oil…PNAC…
For awhile, the website was ‘down’…PNAC is back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P…..Principles
Combine PNAC with “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” and you will have the answer.
They want to rule the world..on the ground and from space.
What happens from day to day in the political world is a distraction of sorts. These two documents boldly state the game plan of world domination by the US.
I read it once a couple of years ago…a summary of the 90 pages is at:
http://www.informationclearing…..le3249.htm
You come from Italy?
No, wait, if you were Italien, you would have known that it’s “capisce”.
Seriously, we should cut our military budget by, to pull a figure out of the air that is still probably too generous to the military, 95%. A single Army brigade and a single Air Force wing would suffice to protect us from the combined might of the Canadian and Mexican invasion threats. Should intervention outside our borders be thought necessary at some time in the future, we could build the expeditionary forces needed then, at that time, when we actually will know what sort of forces are required.
Until the Cold War, we studiously avoided keeping more than a corporal’s guard of standing military forces in between war mobilization. There were many and fundamental reasons for this stance. Economy is certainly one of these reasons, as military establishments are ruinously expensive. But the avoidance of disutility arising from bureaucratic inertia is another. Of course we have a huge military establishment geared to win the last huge war, WWII, that we fought. That’s inevitable if you are stupid enough to maintain in continuous being institutions that inherently must be ad hoc to be effective, that should be designed and built only to address emergencies of an unforeseeable nature and time of occurrence only as these arise and reveal what forces are required. If we had had a huge standing army in 1939, the only effect would have been that we would have lost it, lock, stock and barrel, to the Wehrmacht in France in 1940, because that army of ours would have been admirably equipped and structured to win WWI, but as unable to face the blitzkrieg as were the British and French.
But the most urgent reason to rigorously avoid standing armies of any size, unfortunately lost its urgency in the centuries since 1789, precisely because of its successful application in our country. As we successfully avoided a large standing army, the absence of the beast gradually dimmed the memory of the dangers of the beast. The Founders had direct experience, because they were the victims of the British version of the beast, of a military establishment, as its country emerged as the leading power of its day, distorting the politics of the host country into an unrecognizable witch’s brew of jingoistic exceptionalism and arrogance. Precisely because military service requires such a blend of competence and courage, we are naturally inclined to a combination of gratitude and hero-worship of the soldier that, however deserved, is the enemy of civil self-governance. And on the institutional level, a successful military establishment begins to be seen as the end rather than a means, and becomes the tail that wags the dog.
We have reached a point at which all other considerations that ought to decide our military policy, whether to make war or seek peace, are pre-empted by what can be portrayed as “supporting the troops”, vs the unimaginably treasonous failure to “support the troops”. The political faction least deterred by the human cost from the cynical manipulation of a patriotism centered on the military, can always prevail by the simple expedient of getting our troops into a tight spot in which they must be “supported” at all cost to the real interests of this, or any other, nation.
I, for one, do not “support the troops”, certainly not the present bloated troop levels, and the stupid and destructive missions we have hallucinated for this excess of troops. I support a troop level limited to what we need to defend our borders. The troop level we maintain should support this country, and any troops we currently maintain who are not supporting this country and its true needs, should be disbanded forthwith. Yes, by all means, provide, and provide generously, due reward for the services of individual soldiers, however bad the ends to which that great service was misappropriated by cynical politicians. But, where we cannot see a clear necesity and clear benefit to the nation from maintaining a particular level of forces, that reward needs to be an honorable retirement and reversion to a useful civilian occupation, and not the indefintie continuation of a military establishment bloated into a danger to our republic, rather than its defense.
Ian, Please get out of my country and go castigate some other country. Please. Go to Britian, or Ireland or somewhere where your rhetoric plays well. You don’t like our economy, you don’t like our government, you don’t like our military. You like our freedom of speech well enough, but never lifted a finger to defend it. Critics like you disgust me. Instead of giving us Osama’s ‘words’ how bout you head over there and find him? Oh, wait, your not in opposition to him. In fact you rather support him because we attacked him. Did you support him when he and the Afghanistani government were killing gays, Hindus, and anybody else they found unrighteous? Again, please go away, guys like you are like popcorn, you ‘pop up’ when conditions are favorable, but are really nothing but a product of hot air.
Wow.
The snark aside in Ian’s post, is there anything lacking factual support in his post?
And Welcome AndyM – I haven’t made your acquaintance yet.
Way EPU’d
The Irish media at the time reported the Taliban were willing to surrender OBL/UBL to a third country to stand trial on the 9/11 charges well before junior F…rat-boy and his Cheney minder started their assault on Afghanistan. The only reply from Washington was a charitable *crickets*; just what is expected out of neocon rules of engagement. The assault on Afghanistan became another crime against the peace, crime against humanity, war crime, blood on the country’s hands.
I don’t expect those facts survived the propaganda or are recalled at all there.
Americans like to think we have a two major party “democracy” comprised of mostly conservatives and right leaning centrists and a sprinkling of near center “liberals” and too many “far left” wackos.
In truth what Americans have is one Corporatist Capitalism party of which the rightists,centrists and leftists squabble over how much turf they control or can take.
Americans do not think of American Militarism or that famous WW2 era building–The Pentagon–as the other major American political entity. Yet this is very much what the Pentagon Party is.
So as Ian points out above the Pentagon Party is now funded in ways that the next ten countries war making budgets do not equal. Indeed Americans are now funding American war making and de facto occupations of places such as Iraq out to the trillion $$ mark year in and year out.
Recently the Pentagon sent out the word it will request $450 billion early on in 2009 just to make clear that American Militarism is not taking a place back in line too far from the Wall Streeters and American Corporatists.
We Americans are on a militarism binge that began during WW2 and it is going to bankrupt us.
Obama or McCain have not said much or nothing at all about cutting the Pentagon back on funds or how it spans this planet under the Stars and Stripes.
Americans are electing people to send to WashingtonDC yet the Pentagon Party never runs in any election yet sets an American militarism agenda and is placed/remains in a untouchable political zone.
Americans should try to take on this Pentagon Party for a change and cut American Militarism funding by a third just for the political novelty of it.
Wonder what would happen then? Would Pentagon Party submit and yield?
If not,why not? Who controls what in WashingtonDC?