Letters to the Editor
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Malkin and Detained Cameraman, et al
At what point does boiling blood become fatal?
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~!~
"Leadership passes into empire, empire begets insolence; insolence brings ruin."
-William Carlos Williams, Patterson 1.
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Military politicking
Glenn, this is as exasperated a column as I've read of yours.
Having said that, it is reprehensible that Cheney, Dubya and their cronies have to make EVERYTHING political. My outrage fatigue set in a while ago. In 2004, I think.
Michelle Malkin I cannot describe on a web site with moderators and polite company. Keep up the good work, Glenn.
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Why does Iraq look increasingly like Teutoburg Forest?
We have a large force of soldiers occupying a hostile country with little-to-no local support and a very thin supply line. They are led by political appointees as commanders who appear to believe their own propaganda and don't appear to understand the locals or their culture.
I wonder who the part of Arminius will be played by this time, or if there will even be one this time. Certainly the Sunni and Shia don't appear all that interested in 'forming' a new Iraq, otherwise we'd have already seen an all-out bloodbath.
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Somebody needs to coin a phrase
..for the inability to stay out of the Saloon. And it doesn't apply only to bebop. Of course, we reap the benefit, so I'm not complaining, simply observing. ;-)
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Interesting
Its been clear for awhile that the military as an establishment runs hand in hand with right wing media and, for that matter, the Republican Party. What I find interesting is the amount of military personel (including many generals and commanders) who are strongly opposed to the currently policies and actions that have damaged the military and the nation. How long before we see a revolt? Who ever is linking the military with hard right media propoganda is obviously not in sync with the real world as seen by many (even highly ranked) military people.
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bambage. bandit?
I'm a bye-stand. yes. so shut yous mouth too. no gripes, and wee agree with you.
What's that say about YKW? You best shut-up and restrain you two cents worth and only listen. plug ears with ear plugs. observe. shoo? shush. be nice. no comment.
alias, no word from beanbag or bebop-o.
shad up.
learn to clam up.
clams need bandies?
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Yesterday
I was called irrational for suggesting that Bush seems to consider the Army his personal plaything and that an acknowlegment of such deserves to be read into the Congressional Record.
Today, Glenn writes a post illustrating a particular mechanism by which this relationship is consummated.
Regardless about how one feels about aggression or violence, it remains a fact that the Armed Forces serve to defend ALL Americans, not just those who cheerlead their efforts or endeavor to silence their critics. In times when the moralty of particular conduct is called into question, the importance of the ability to examine that conduct becomes even more extreme.
Here's W playing with his toys:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articlePictures/mission_accomplished.jpg
http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/bush_mission_accomplished.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/duncanblack/codpiece.jpg
http://blogs.southflorida.com/citylink_dansweeney/turkey.jpg
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Defending the Republic-ans
Yeesh...
Some barrels have no bottoms to them, eh?
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Let's Look At This Logically
TNR began this story and so it is NOT beyond understanding that the military would NOT want to give them an exclusive. Drudge, on the other hand, tried to release the story without claiming it was authentic, and leaving space for doubt....so the military thought they should get the story. No surprise here.
Now, as for Beauchamp being brow beaten by his chain of command, first of all, if they did that and he had requested legal representation, there would have been a lot of officers losing rank. Further, Beauchamp will inevitably receive some form of punishment, probably non-judicial in nature like an Article 15, for publishing such information (true or not)while still in the military (part of that contract you sign removes some of your rights). Beauchamp could ALSO face judicial punishment if it was untrue...however, given the public relations nightmare this would cause, it is unlikely the military would do such a thing...even if deserved.
As for TNR, they are basically hanging out to dry. They neither confirm the story with substantial evidence (Beauchamp refuses to defend his story) nor print a retraction using evidence already given (other soldiers who were there saying Beauchamp was incorrect about a number of things). Thus, right now, TNR has lost a great deal of credibility and will NEVER retrieve it until this story is either refuted or verified in by them in writing.
As for the Army being closer to right wing in nature, that has ALWAYS been the case and always will be. Just the nature of the organization.
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a desparate tactic
So what is the end result of this Beauchamp brouhaha? Our soldiers have learned that unless they are going to say something about the war that Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, and The Weekly Standard will approve of, they must keep quiet and not say a word.
Donations to political candidates by the military show a substantial increase in support for anti-war and Democratic candidates. However, active military members have been effectively silenced from expressing those views on blogs or with “on the record” quotes to our media.
If they remain anonymous, like Beauchamp attempted to do, the right-wing noise machine will scream hysterically until that source is exposed and then silenced, or discredited completely by remaining anonymous. At the same time, numerous anonymous military sources advocating what The Weekly Standard wants to hear retain not only their credibility but the ability to speak.
In this way, “pro-war” advocates are allowed to retain their most potent weapon: calling their critics “anti-military” and “anti-American” while hurling the smear that those who don’t agree with them “don’t support the troops.”
If active troops were allowed to express their views and voice criticism of the war (a view many of them obviously share) the right-wing’s smear-propaganda would loose all effectiveness.
Thus the new alliance between the military and Malkin – they are desperate, aren’t they?
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alias
Don't be upset w/ me. I tease/chide gently out of undue familiarity/love? Like I said, we reap the benefit, so don't stop on my account.