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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
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Attytood: The death of a contender
Great comment by PretzelsOne on a poignant post: When soldiers who have lost arms and legs in Iraq start refusing to meet with their Commander in Chief or his Secretary of Defense in order to protest an unnecessary and costly war (see Drudge Report), when mothers and fathers of dead soldiers start demanding to know why their sons or daughters died (see just about anybody), when Colonels start defacing cars with anti-Bush epithets (see Fox News), when senior military officers start contradicting the rosy public statements of their civilian superiors (Pentagon sycophants excluded), when right wing chicken hawks like Rush Limbaugh start accusing people who have actually served in Iraq of hiding behind their uniforms in order to pad their resumes, then something has gone terribly wrong with this country. Add to this the way these non-serving right wingers vilified and trashed the military honors and honorable service of legitimate veterans like John Kerry , John McCain, Max Cleland and Paul Hackett, and you have to wonder why anybody would want to join the military anymore.
Why on God’s green earth would anyone want to be foolish enough to serve when they know that, with but a simple turn of the Republican spin machine, their service will become not an asset, but a rap sheet to be used against them by people who never served....or spent their war years in Alabama not attending National Guard meetings? It makes the heart sick.
You have to give them credit, though, Republicans have done a very good job of turning the word “veteran” into just another word for “sucker.” They should be very proud.
(Via The Liberal Reality-Based Avenger.)
7:04:52 PM 
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Armed men installed a member of Iraq's top Shiite militia as mayor a day before insurgents ambushed the U.S. in the north.
(Via The New York Times > International.)
5:07:19 PM
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The dubbed captions in this version make as much sense as the dialog does in the original! And there's more here.
5:05:45 PM
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Nine years ago, novelist Geoff Ryman wrote a pioneering online novel, 253. It told a tale of the relationships between people who happened to be on a Tube train at the same time. Now, inspired by the varied lives of those who died on 7 July, Ryman offers his thoughts and tribute.
2:58:54 PM
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Oversee systematic torture and murder of prisoners, get promoted. Have an extramarital affair with a civilian, get relieved of your command.
"The allegation against him does not involve a relationship with anyone within the military or even the federal government," Robertson said, emphasizing that the allegations do not involve more than one relationship. "It does not involve anyone on active duty or a civilian in the Department of Defense." Having an extramarital affair can be deemed adultery and a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But such cases rarely go to court-martial and usually end in administrative punishment such as a letter of reprimand, according to military lawyers. Relieving a general of his command amid such allegations is extremely unusual, especially given that he was about to retire. The Army has been hurt over the past year by detainee-abuse cases and has been accused of not going after top officers allegedly involved in such abuse. Army officials said relieving Byrnes was meant to show the public that the service takes issues of integrity seriously.
Well, shoot. I'm convinced.
(Via apostropher.)
2:58:15 PM
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Over at TPM Cafe, Larry Diamond is talking about his book, "Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq." It may be instructive to see what he has to say: There are four key elements to a political strategy for diminishing the violent resistance in Iraq. First, the Bush Administration must declare that the U.S. will not seek permanent military bases in Iraq. Second, we should declare some sort of time frame (but not a rigid deadline) by which we think we can withdraw militarily—if Iraqi groups that are supporting or tolerating the violence will instead help build the new political order. Third, we need to talk directly to the (largely Sunni) political groups connected to the insurgency, some of which have been seeking to talk to the U.S. for almost two years. Fourth, we need an honest broker to help mediate these discussions and build confidence in the process; this might be a small international contact group including representatives from the United Nations and one or two of the European embassies in Baghdad. The Bush Administration is refusing to take any of these four steps. It won’t renounce the bases because it wants them. It won’t consider any kind of timetable, even without fixed deadlines, even dependent on the cooperation of the other side, because it doesn’t want to look weak, and it doesn’t really know when Iraqi forces will be ready to assume the burdens of maintaining order (against an insurgency that is fueled in part by the lack of an Administration strategy). It has refused to talk to the insurgent groups because, again, it fears this being misinterpreted as a sign of weakness, and because, once you have said about the insurgency, “Bring them on,” they are just “evildoers,” what is left to discuss? They have taken steps to bring the marginalized Sunnis into the political process. The Sunnis have a place on the constitution drafting committee in large measure because of American pressure. I do give the Administration credit for that. But this is only the beginning of a political strategy.
I believe he's answering questions all week.
(Via Liberals Against Terrorism -.)
10:01:26 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Steve Michel.
Last update: 9/2/2005; 10:18:50 AM.
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