Letters to the Editor
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Ain't that the truth..
But then again, the clowns who see "privatization" of the military as just another good libertarian idea very rarely wargame out the consequences of their choices. The short term is all they show interest in.
-- Flashheart
Idiot CEO types with a one quarter event horizon. What a way to run a country (or a business).
Condi, Choo, and torture me Yoo. Sounds like a rock band.
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Condottieri
Flashheart,
They stay bought, but they sometimes engage in ... contract renegotiations.
And some of those Italian city-states were putative republics, but there were property requirements to have your vote count. Say, how much does it take to run for the Senate, now?
And Jim Montague,
I'm not so sure you could qualify--a very high percentage of their troops are non-US. You could check at their local training centers--one in NC and one in IL, but I'm sure there'll be an office in your area soon. It'll probably will be located near the Halliburton emergency jail/detention/re-education center closest to you. Don't get the two mixed up and report to the wrong one....
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The Korea analogy
There are numerous problems with the attempt to draw a comparison of Iraq to Korea. For one thing, the Koreans (in the south, anyways) want us there. Well, many of them. When I served in Korea ('87-'88) there was some resentment of US forces presence. But nothing like the open violence you see every day against US forces in Iraq.
The strategic situation is of course totally different. There are no insurgents in South Korea planing IEDs in the streets in the hope of inflicting casualties on a hated occupation force. There are no contending sects fighting one another for power. Korea is surrounded on three sides by water, making the strictly military strategic situation drastically different from that of Iraq, which is barely not landlocked, and is surrounded by hostile powers.
So quite aside from all these non-trivial differences, and many more, sure, the situation in Korea is a great template for our situtation in Iraq.
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Washington's bloody, endless political burlesque:
Republicans pretending that we can still win in Iraq.
Democrats pretending they are outraged.
Rinse and repeat daily until January 20, 2009.
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Heading off to the peace bus in a few minutes
Marching tomorrow in Washington. I know the mood on this and related threads over past few days has been pessimistic regarding our ability to make a real difference in Bush's war plans. Thinking on this, I keep hearing the lyrics of a Martina McBride song over and over:
This worlds gone crazy
And it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anywayWe need to beieve that we can make a difference.
For 3780 US troops killed in Iraq, we have to believe it.
For 27,767 US troops injured in hostile action, we have to believe it.
For hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, we have to believe it.
For millions of Iraqis displaced from their homes, we have to believe it.
I had hoped bebop-o would end his Canadial excursion in time to join us. He would make a powerful speaker for those gathered. From his post just upthread, though, looks like he's still up north.
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"Rinse and repeat daily until January 20, 2009." Try January 20, 0000
You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
George Bernard Shaw
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Bush In The Ozone
I could not bear to listen to the entire remarks Of President Bush last night. It is like listening to Orson Welles' radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds or Comical Ali's daily news summaries of the Mother of All Battles as the U.S. Army rushed to Baghdad in 2003. In other words there is no connection to reality, no realistic analysis and no rational policy behind his remarks.
The United States made a colossal error in invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein. It set off a civil war by its inept occupation and it made many in the muslim world more radical because its actions were clearly not justified.
All of the American casualties in this war were futile and unnecessary, and all the ones to come until the inevitable withdrawl are even more tragic. All this because of the operation of the spin machine creating a war on terror model that is fantasy.
What was that song?
"I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.And I won't forget the men who fought and died to give that right to me...."
Poor Americans. Poor America!
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Not directed at your thoughtful post but...
So quite aside from all these non-trivial differences, and many more, sure, the situation in Korea is a great template for our situtation in Iraq.
-- Flashheart
INSURGENCY. There was no stinking insurgency in any of the places the idiot in chief keeps talking about. Its apples and oranges. I can not bloody believe that the media supports every one of these brain-dead comparisons by a GOPer, but will nitpick an intelligent Democratic comment to death over punctuation or accent. What a bunch of goddamn clowns we have in the media. </rant>
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Good on you Jim...
Marching tomorrow in Washington. I know the mood on this and related threads over past few days has been pessimistic regarding our ability to make a real difference in Bush's war plans. -- Jim White
Have a safe trip and change the world while you are there. I'm with you in spirit this time, maybe in person next time.
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Susan Mc
My most vivid memory of the reportage of the Oklahoma City bombing was the front page photo of the firefighter carrying an injured? dead? baby out of the rubble. Nothing illustrated the horror of what had happened more clearly than that photo.
-- SusanMc
The baby was dead. The firefighter who was carrying the baby knew that, but his eyes said, and his actions in the way he so gently cradled the baby in his arms said, that he couldn't allow himself to believe it.
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@Will Roberts
This is an absurd war. Our political life is absurd. We've got the war we deserve.
Will Roberts, I agree with everything you say, but I wish you had added that the really telling question is whether the Iraqi people--or what's left of them--deserve the war they are getting.