tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post2292377722848894587..comments2024-03-26T05:18:53.709-04:00Comments on Pen and Sword: Fog and Friction are Stranger than FictionJeff Huberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-68274234124753252022011-12-05T11:11:03.913-05:002011-12-05T11:11:03.913-05:00Fabulous, EL. Thanks.
JeffFabulous, EL. Thanks. <br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-23166499829463896362011-12-05T10:32:16.007-05:002011-12-05T10:32:16.007-05:00Wor
From Progressive Review.... and Sam Smith:
&q...Wor<br />From Progressive Review.... and Sam Smith:<br /><br />"God appointed America to save the world in any way that suits America. God appointed Israel to be the nexus of America's Middle Eastern policy and anyone who wants to mess with that idea is a) anti-Semitic, b) anti-American, c) with the enemy, and d) a terrorist." - John le Carr, London Times, 2003<br /><br />Another one.... too good not to share.<br /><br />El.Elderladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02268520056042293783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-74137512678376410832011-12-01T22:51:09.057-05:002011-12-01T22:51:09.057-05:00I live overseas, Charlie. How do you think I feel ...I live overseas, Charlie. How do you think I feel about this planet-wide dragnet for any and all "subversive" thought? Perhaps they'll put my cell next to yours at Chateau D'If Guantanamo where we can swap Navy/Marine-Corps jokes through the adjoining bars.Michael Murryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10631997490217088301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-59128632442962969482011-12-01T22:06:45.873-05:002011-12-01T22:06:45.873-05:00That's quite a bill, isn't it? Just amazi...That's quite a bill, isn't it? Just amazing. <br /><br />JJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-30911278211068201072011-12-01T21:57:31.840-05:002011-12-01T21:57:31.840-05:00I agree with your take on the "leadership&quo...I agree with your take on the "leadership"(??) of the US military. Every time I think I have seen the absolute dumbest thing possible, these cretins go and do something that tops even that. There is no limit to the stupidity of the generals/admirals of the US military.<br />As we used to say in my days in the University of Science, Music, and Culture (aka USMC); rank is inversely proportional to intelligence. The higher the rank, the less brain power used/needed/required etc.<br />I also think the Peter Principal applies; cream rises until it sours. Just look at the crap that passes as "leadership" in ANY level/outfit of this government. <br />Of course, this sort of comment from me may wind up with me in Gitmo indefinitely if this "bill" currently in the US Senate passes and Gobomber signs it. It will allow the president to declare ANYBODY (US citizens as well) to be held indefinitely if he/she is declared a "security threat" to the country, by, wait for it........the president himself. Nobody can object/over turn that "decision".<br />America, what a country.<br />Thanks for another great commentary. I'm waiting for that book.charlie ehlenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05584863034307604847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-32778496427175952992011-11-30T18:05:55.632-05:002011-11-30T18:05:55.632-05:00Good point about America arming the enemy, Jeff. N...Good point about America arming the enemy, Jeff. Nothing new there, either. Mao used to jokingly refer to the U.S. military in China as "My Quartermaster." <br /><br />In Vietnam, we used to throw away so much useful material that the new slogan became: "They're killing us with our own garbage!" How come the "improvisational" edge always goes to the uneducated peasant who really hates us invading and occupying his country? For our part, we have to pay college graduate engineers to DESIGN our Rube Goldberg defeats. <br /><br />When the U..S. arms conscripted peasant proxies to fight for American interests against their own people, the peasant proxies usually do one or both of two things with the guns: (1) they sell the weapons they don't want to use for food or (2) they use the weapon to rob and rape their fellow peasants, only enraging them all the more and creating hordes of new anti-American "insurgents." Old Vietnam joke:<br /><br /><br />Q: What do you get when you arm an uneducated peasant to fight for you?<br /><br />A: A bandit who fights for himself and blames you for his crimes.Michael Murryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10631997490217088301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-45656170218051104642011-11-30T05:59:06.674-05:002011-11-30T05:59:06.674-05:00Good stuff, Michael. I'll just add that the c...Good stuff, Michael. I'll just add that the commie bastards didn't bother to arm our enemies because we've done such a good job of that ourselves. I often cite the report showing that King David handed nearly 200,000 AK-47s to militiamen when he was in charge of training Iraq's security forces. <br /><br />I know we've done a lot more of that kind of foolishness, in Iraq and the Bananastans and elsewhere. <br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-49584171319956017782011-11-30T02:20:42.591-05:002011-11-30T02:20:42.591-05:00You simply cannot think up shit more stupid than w...You simply cannot think up shit more stupid than what America's fuck-up-and-move-up officer corps has actually tried to pass off as "strategy" and "tactics" -- from Vietnam to IraqPakIstan. Think Parkinson's Law meets the Peter Principle and you've got all that you need to structure any farcical narrative. Think Warfare Welfare and Makework Militarism. Think Ordnance Expenditure Expedition fueled by Commendation Accumulation Syndrome (i.e., "ticket-punching" careerism.) Think ... oh, shit, I just gave myself a headache. <br /><br />You can also just put together a typical string of the brain-dead metaphors -- or thought-terminating cliches -- that normally pass for "explanations" of American military genius. For example:<br /><br />"In only another Friedman-Unit or two, the tipping point will turn the corner and begin connecting the dots on the ink-stained flypaper dominoes in the tunnel at the end of the light."<br /><br />Or the geo-strategic rationale: "We invaded Iraq to depose a dictator we did not fear so as to deprive him of weapons he did not possess in retaliation for an attack upon us in which he did not participate."<br /><br />I've always wondered why the Russians and the Chinese did not supply the Iraq and Afghan freedom fighters with cheap, sophisticated weaponry sufficient to wreak havoc on American forces -- sort of like what America, Saudi Arabia and Israel supplied to Osama Bin Laden in fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. As best I can figure, they could have and would have except that America kept losing so badly to "dead enders" "in their last throes" with practically no weaponry at all -- so why bother? Way worse than Vietnam. The North Vietnamese had an actual army and some SAM missles for cryin' out loud! What to the goat-herding poppy farmers of Afghanistan have? <br /><br />Holy shit. We've just gotten our asses handed to us by absolute nobodies armed with absolutely nothing. Sure, we killed a lot of brown and yellow people somewhere who never tried to harm America, but their surviving relatives and friends still chased our asses out of Dodge with our tails tucked proudly between our legs.<br /><br />How pointless and humiliating.Michael Murryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10631997490217088301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-20617105828528182262011-11-29T20:25:32.698-05:002011-11-29T20:25:32.698-05:00Well considered point, ER. Offhand I'd say th...Well considered point, ER. Offhand I'd say that the sometimes-called Indian wars maybe weren't the kind that Sun Tzu had in mind. There's also a matter of proximity: we were actually looking to settle people in the lands we were taking (the old lebansraum game, eh?)<br /><br />Thanks for the thought provoking post. <br /><br />Best, <br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-24412395159884742382011-11-29T19:40:44.426-05:002011-11-29T19:40:44.426-05:00Sun Tzu cautioned that “No nation ever profited fr...Sun Tzu cautioned that “No nation ever profited from a long war.” But Tzu didn't stick around to notice that the bit of land west of New Jersey and the 12 other colonies has brought some people some profit. Thank you General Jackson.<br /><br />Whether Manifest Destiny's continued successful "discoveries" of high-value natural resources being defended by low-value tribal governments, will work so well on lands not immediately settled upon by the discoverers, remains to be seen.Empire and Rebellionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06395672126760848375noreply@blogger.com