Letters to the Editor
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@Bucky, Omooex
I really do not have time to get into this fight with you two right now. A quick response:
Omo - we've had this discussion briefly on another thread, and I shared my feelings with you there. I understand your position, as much as I can, and sympathize for the reasons I gave you there. And as I said there, every time I read about another crime like Haditha, or Abu Ghraib, or the analysts' bullshit, I get physically sick to my stomach. When I see how little corrective action is applied, I worry about the institution itself. That goes for the big 'corrective action' about the abuse of the military for a pack of lies that killed (at this point still) untold numbers of innocents. And the point about not joining up if you know this is what you're heading into, I cannot argue with (and as I told you, have made the opposite argument).
I'd like it if the vast majority of society as a whole were highly skeptical about war, grudgingly accepted the necessity of a defense capability but only went into using it kicking and screaming. Sure, I'd like it if things were not the way they were when I was in, e.g. not being able to go downtown without getting jumped because you were a soldier ... but all the reverance you see now would have creeped me out, even then. I'd also like to see some of the benefits a young person would get form the military ... discipline, self respect, confidence, the chance to meet and work with other people from around your country and learn to understand them ... available through some more constructive means, like reactivating the CCC (which is where, in the American army, many of those values originated during the army's growth in WWII).
Alas, the collective dynamic in any society tends to become more martial at critical moments ... the best (brief) writing about this I have read recently was Chris Hedges' 'War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning', which I recommend (He does not mean the title in a supportive way).
If you join an organized gang of thugs engaged in murder, theft, intimidation, and destruction then do not claim to be surprised when you are ordered to commit heinous crimes. Do not claim shock
Gee, you make it sound so inevitable. So nobody really has any personal responsibility for atrocities, is that it? They're all actually policy, part of the DNA of the institution, is that it? If you think that's true, then you really don't know anything, and I don't know where to start correcting you.
The description is also valid, and moreso on a per capita basis I'd wager, for law enforcement world wide. So I guess nobody should be cops, either. And we should spit on them in the streets when they walk by. Certainly not call them if there's a problem (which in a lot of places I've been, I wouldn't). And disown anyone in your family, instantly, who becomes a cop.
Honestly, Bucky, is this the best you can do? A bunch of ill-informed and provocative slogans?
Also, when I was in the army we had mandatory quarterly training on lawful and unlawful orders and how to disobey them and report them through the chain of command without getting court martialled. Nobody has an excuse. And there are good reasons why you don't allow shit like this, even in wartime, that have nothing to do with humanitarian concerns.
I'll be out the rest of the night and all day tomorrow, so I won't be able to respond. Bucky, you'll be able to peddle all your twaddle without interference, so bang on. Now's your chance.
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Barry McCaffrey was once the great hero of Clinton-era bipartisanship
Barry McCaffrey helped Bush sell the Iraq War just like he helped Bill Clinton triple the national arrest rate of marijuana users -- by employing the same level of mendacity and using many of the same media manipulation techniques.
Some of the most memorable displays of nineties bipartisanship consisted of Democrats and Republicans jerking their knees in unison to the mendacious anti-marijuana media campaigns crafted by McCaffrey.
It deeply pains me that so many otherwise intelligent Democrats bought his BS act when he was working for the Clinton administration.
He's a paid liar, that's what he is, and he wasn't any different when he worked for Clinton.
You hire liars and you get a country governed by lies. That shouldn't be such a big surprise.
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Is there an analogy to CNBC here?
I'm a little late to the party, but I'd like to ask the following: a few years back, in response to the practice of CNBC having analysts from various brokerage houses (and elsewhere) appear and opine on the stocks of companies with which their firms do business, CNBC changed their policy, and now fully discloses all such relationships and potential conflicts of interest on screen during interviews with such individuals. Why couldn't the networks and cable news operations do the same with military analysts? For that matter, why couldn't they do the same with other reports (say, on health care or the environment)?
If it's important enough to do for people analyzing the future prospects of a financial instrument, why isn't it important enough to disclose potential conflicts when reporting on wars?
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QuickStrategy
"I'd like it if the vast majority of society as a whole were highly skeptical about war, grudgingly accepted the necessity of a defense capability but only went into using it kicking and screaming. Sure, I'd like it if things were not the way they were when I was in, e.g. not being able to go downtown without getting jumped because you were a soldier ... but all the reverance you see now would have creeped me out, even then. I'd also like to see some of the benefits a young person would get form the military ... discipline, self respect, confidence, the chance to meet and work with other people from around your country and learn to understand them ... available through some more constructive means, like reactivating the CCC (which is where, in the American army, many of those values originated during the army's growth in WWII)."
You took the words right out of my mouth. I think any nation would be mad not to have defensive capabilities, but when was the last time that was our strict aim. The DOD, used to be called the Department of War in more honest times. I also tried to convince my son to join the California Conservation Corps or the Coast Guard. But, sadly, they do not have a multi-million dollar marketing arm, that makes joining seem like an extended tour of duty in a video game.