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Merry Christmas
December 22, 2010 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 11:39am | 31 Comments
Speaking of Tennessee, I am flying back this afternoon for a holiday filled with whisky, family and firearms. Warmest holiday wishes go out to our men and women overseas, who are, of course, simply carrying out another grand American holiday tradition.
A very Merry Xmas and Happy
A very Merry Xmas and Happy Kwanza to all the troops busy destroying Afghan villages in Kandahar so that the US tax payer can fund their reconstruction (but not after a substantial delay that will further enrage the locals) and the diversion of much of the allotted funds to buy villas in Dubai and ammo in Pakistan. Who knew the plan was to turn the Kandaharis into refugees and then make it impossible for them to return. Petraeus is back to using French COIN manuals but this time from Algeria 1837.
I'm not sure I understand the
I'm not sure I understand the reference: "We will kill you in your sleep on Christmas" - are we talking about Nixon's infamous Hanoi Christmas bombing? Lessee - here's an interesting take on that from the Boston Globe, Dec 24 2002:
. . .American pilots flew nearly 4,000 sorties, including more than 700 by high-flying B-52s. Those ''area bombers,'' incapable of precision, had never been used against cities before. That they were used now was a sure sign that this was terror bombing pure and simple. . .
The reason to remember the Christmas bombing of 1972 is not to feel morally superior to those responsible for it. Rather, it is to understand something basic to the experience of war. Here is the most important truth of this memory: Those who ordered and carried out the brutal attacks against population centers at the end of the Vietnam War would never have done so at the beginning. What Nixon commanded in 1972 he would have condemned in 1969. . .
That article (James Carroll), however, misunderstood something:
When President Bush announces, as he did two weeks ago, an American readiness to use nuclear weapons in retaliation against any use by Saddam Hussein of chemical or biological weapons against US forces, he is, in effect, ceding to Saddam the primacy of moral judgment.
No, no, no - Bush was merely trying to convince the U.S. public that Saddam Hussein's non-existent WMD arsenal did in fact exist. That was also why Rumsfeld's team dressed reporters up in bio/chem warfare suits and had them stumble around in front of the cameras. Those were psyop tactics targeting not Saddam, but U.S. public opinion on the WMD threat posed by Saddam.
Getting back to Afghanistan, Noah Shachtman wrote this over at Wired Oct 12 2010:
Petraeus Launches Afghan Air Assault; Strikes Up 172 Percent
. . .In late June, after Gen. David Petraeus took command of the Afghan war effort from McChrystal, there was speculation that the new boss might undo some of the restrictions. It wasn’t just that McChrystal’s rules had made it beyond-tough for troops to call in airstrikes — even when they were under enemy attack. Petraeus’ history in Iraq also suggested a greater willingness to bomb adversaries, despite the concerns about civilian casualties. Lethal, munitions-dropping sorties more-than-quadrupled under Petraeus’ leadership.
In November, the rate went up again:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/afghan-ultra-violence-petraeus-triples-air-war/
November is ordinarily the month when the air war in Afghanistan — and really, the whole American-led campaign — ratchets down for the winter. This November, with Gen. David Petraeus in charge of the war effort, things have been different. Radically different. NATO fighter jets and attack planes launched their bombs and missiles on 850 separate missions this November. That’s three-and-a-half times the number of attack sorties they flew in November 2009.
This has led to much-under-reported outrage among Afghan civilians. boding ill for the spring and summer. I'd say the (highly politicized) replacement of McChrystal by Petraeus has turned out to be a major mistake. Vietnam redux.
What next? Will we do what the Soviets did - launch biological attacks by air? Don't believe it? Ken Alibek in Biohazard (Soviet biowarfare scientist, defected early 1990s):
Several months before Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, I was told by a senior officer in the Fifteenth Directorate that the Soviet Union used biological weapons during its protracted struggle with the mujaheddin. . . The attack, he claimed, was launched by Ilyushin-28 planes based in military airfields in southern Russia. . .
When I mentioned this conversation during one of my debriefing sessions, an American intelligence officer in the room was visibly startled. She told me there had been periodic reports of disease outbreaks among guerrilla groups in Afghanistan during the war. No one had ever come up with an explanation. . .
The renovated U.S. biowarfare - oh, I mean biodefense - program could certainly provide the necessary ingredients. And the FBI is still stonewalling the anthrax letter attack investigation, too. . . so you'll get plenty of cooperation if a coverup is needed. Blame it on India, perhaps?
Merry Fffing Christmas!
Hah, I got censored! With
Hah, I got censored!
With references to registan even! For pointing out that the spirit of Christ doesnt really compute with dreaming about killing folks in their sleep! Amazing, CNAS-intern, thanks for proving my point.
Hah, I got censored! With
Hah, I got censored!
With references to registan even! For pointing out that the spirit of Christ doesnt really compute with dreaming about killing folks in their sleep! Amazing, CNAS-intern, thanks for proving my point.
Well, I've always looked at
Well, I've always looked at Johnny Cash as the modern incarnation of the Christian ideal...
God's Gonna Cut You Down
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What's done in the dark will be brought to the light
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down
However, that goes for everyone, rich and poor, soldiers and civilians, warmongers and peaceniks, generals and grunts... even goes for the Board of Directors - and y'all may find you have some accounts to settle on that day of days... but then, who won't?
Best to make up for past sins now, is my advice. A good way to start would be by repudiating the Missile Defense crap - after all, any tactical nuke cruise missile can defeat such any such system, as can any competent ballistic missile designer - so why keep pushing that nonsense?
P.S. While God may kill you in your sleep . . . America ain't God. Thinking otherwise - that's what the Greeks called the Sin of Hubris - shit, don't the East Coast Liberal Arts Schools teach that stuff anymore?
http://video.google.com/video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8287376686831151280#
If you are easily offended, or your cubemates are, might want to turn down the speakers.
Merry Christmas.
And remember folks, even that lovable American do gooder George Bailey spent two years dropping bombs (in)discriminately across Europe.
RIP
RIP now.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-08-hargesheimer_N.htm
Before there was Greg Mortenson.....
You guys are too
You guys are too dark......
Merry Christmas........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXP2VejDKOo
So US armed forces will be on
So US armed forces will be on the ground in Pakistan this Christmas? Too bad it isn't just a matter of moving Lego pieces or Fun with Photoshop! Instead the bravery of our troops results in the death of innocent men, women and children, the destruction of habit and the pollution of terrain, left unfit for productive use.
But it's all good, right? Because the miracles of modern science allow a level of precision that leaves untouched the areas which commerce will exploit once the defiance of the "unwashed" is overcome. To check out the reality that follows phantasmagoria of this ilk, search: Nicarauga, cluster bombs, 1980's.
This http://books.google.com/books?id=yDA7BVpjZdYC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=nicara...
is particularly interesting.
What I want for Christmas: a new version of 'Inglorious Bastard's', based on Iran-Contra.
And a new version of
And a new version of "Mississippi Goddamn", while we're at it.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/abulhawa-delegitimization-we-are-merely-dr...
WASHINGTON (SR) - Congress
WASHINGTON (SR) - Congress has directed the Pentagon to replace the "don't ask, don't tell" policy with one that will allow openly gay men and women to serve in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, will present details of the plan to U.S. lawmakers next Tuesday.
According to sources inside the Pentagon, changes to be implemented include adding choreography to marching regimens, equipping all dorms with double-wide bunks, new fitted uniforms in seasonal color palettes, the installation of hot tubs, and more.
In a potentially controversial move, the Pentagon will announce the formation of a new all-gay, all male company named the "Fighting 69th Sodomites." Sources credit the creation of the 69th to House member Barney Frank, who has reportedly been working "very, very closely" with gay Pentagon officials. "Fighting 69th Sodomites." ...THEIR MOTTO IS: NEVER LEAVE YOUR BUDDY'S BEHIND!
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Merry Christmas Abu and a Ho Ho Ho to you and your whiskey (not "whisky"... haha started early eh?) drinking crew!
http://clippesq.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Army-Bruno.jpg
Merry Christmas, Andrew.
Merry Christmas, Andrew.
Were you referring to this
Were you referring to this news article Drew?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/pakistan.drone.attack/index....
And Happy New Year. Uh, the
And Happy New Year.
Uh, the reference to killing on Christmas? The pic - That's George Washington crossing the Delaware river to Trenton, NJ on Christmas Day, 1776 catching the Hessians by surprise. That turned around what was heading for the end of the Revolution otherwise.
I would think that a
I would think that a spokesman for international corporate interests would be far more cautious about referring to the American revolution, as it was largely a revolution against the practices of British corporate colonialism in the New World - try Arnold Toynbee:
If we turn to the colonies, we find them regarded simply as markets and farms of the mother country. The same argument was used: that they owed everything to England, and therefore it was no tyranny to exploit them in her interests. They were, therefore, not allowed to export or import in any but British vessels; they might not export such commodities as Englishment wanted to any part of Europe other than Great Britain; while those raw materials in which our landowners feared competition were excluded from the English markets. Moreover, every attempt was made to prevent them from starting any manufacturers at home.
Such unfair and monopolistic systems of commerce are characteristic of the "free trade deals" that both neoliberals and neoconservatives (who may be jointly classified as neocolonialists) swear by - but again, consider Toynbee (The Industrial Revolution - 1884 - still taught in liberal arts schools, you'd think:)
Nothing contributed more that this commercial system to the Declaration of Independence, and it is significant that the same year which saw its promulgation saw also the publication of the Wealth of Nations
What isn't taught these days is the fact that Adam Smith vilified corporations, on many levels - for example: "The directors of such companies being the managers rather of other people's money than of their own, it cannot be well expected that they should watch over it with the same anxious vigilance with which the partners in a private company frequently watch over their own . . . Negligence and profusion must always prevail, more or less, in the management of the affairs of such a company."
Further, as Toynbee points out with stunning clarity and applicability to our present situation, "The trade of the present day is principally carried on with borrowed capital; and it may be a clever man's interest to sell as large a quantity of goods as possible in a few years and then throw up his business."
Replace "goods" with "home loans" and you have the entire Goldman Sachs business plan for the 2007-2008 period.
Seriously - you start talking about that, you'll have a bunch of Egyptians and Nigerians and Argentinians and Indians and Indonesians screaming at you about how the IMF and the World Bank and the Export-Import Bank are doing exactly that to them, in cahoots with Wall Street banks and the International Oil Corporations. They might even claim that the American Revolution itself justifies them in "taking up arms against their oppressor."
You really don't want to encourage that kind of thing - so don't bring up the American Revolution. I think the Christmas bombing of Hanoi is a far safer topic. Try this on for size, for example: "They made us do it - we didn't want to, but what choice did we have?"
Gunboat, rewriting
Gunboat, rewriting history?
There were a lot of issues in the American Revolution that is why it took so long to finally come up with the Constitution and the balance of power in the government. You have to look at the timing from start to end to determine the issue of the day.
Land owners rights, fear of British hired guns (Hessians) in Philadelphia, and taxes had a lot to do with the Declaration of Independence.
Revolutionary war was happening before the Declaration and the Reconciliationist almost won the day. There was a lot of discussion of Corporate (land owners .vs. non-land owners) rights leading up to the signing of the Constitution. That was part of the reason for the balance of power.
Think Abu M had the concept of a "night letter" in mind in his Xmas greeting.
Happy New Year
and that would make a good
and that would make a good night letter.
so I see our esteemed head of Homeland Security is in Astan to help improve "Border" (gag choke) Security with her Afghan counterparts.
I have a helpful suggestion - we can surge TSA to Astan, and have Petreaus replaced by Janet Napilotano. He's wasted there, it's no longer relevant, and it will get TSA's hands off our Junk. It will also improve the gene pool of the next Generation. Of both America, and quite possibly the Afghans as well.
Elf, We all ready got too
Elf,
We all ready got too many government employees leading in A' ho stan.
I sent a lettter to my Congressman asking which part of "Homeland" Napilotano does not understand.
Let see....
* Boeing's electronic fence...waste of taxpayer money. That is the FLIR system at the Mex-Am border.
* 12 Million Illegals................and counting. Dream On Reed.
* Borders unregulated..........has not changed. Mexicans are finding America to be a dead end and going home. Government Motors is hiring in Mexico.
* TSA Full body scanners.....AQ goes through the tarmac crew pass door. (AQ would sue the US and win for exposure to radiation if TSA made them go through the scanners.) TSA prosecutes Chris Liu, the whisle blower in San Francisco, while Mohammed is busy doing his magic on the tarmac while being protected by Federal law.
What a jerked up crew. Napilotano does not have a clue on border control so she and her breatheren have to F-up another country. My only concern is how much it will cost the US taxpayer.
Taxpayers are so stupid to pay these government idoits over $150,000. Any private sector employee would have been fired, laid off, and got rid of by now.
Think US government should start their own employment stimulus by leaving their jobs and let others have a chance to work for a living.
PS......Indonisia got $100M for tidal wave relief. Pakistan got $9.5 Billion, part of that was given out in Watan card (pre-paid visa) for flood relief. Chile got 20 satellite phones and earthquake aid.
California had floods, Midwest has record snow fall, North east the same. People in NY city had dead people in their homes cause of snow blocking streets for emergency service crews (US government just dished out a Healthy Health care plan for the NY emergency service "heros"). All this happened over the holiday.
What did Obama do? F'ing goes on an extended Hawaii Vacation (with his support crew in tow).
Egypt.......over a BILLION a year in aid.
Isreal.......Three BILLION in aid a year.
Mexico.....Merida Agreement.
Africa........AIDS meds by the super tanker load.
Afghan.....Looking at about two BILLION a year after the war.
War cost..ONE TRILLION.
At least we have on intelligent country on this planet. China looks at all this Sh't and says, "We don't want to be a super power, we just want to manufacutre the things you buy".
Need I say more? The Federal Reserve is wearing the bearings out of the printing presses.
. . .Hint. . When you start
.
.
.Hint.
.
When you start setting up Customs Control for foreign countries, you are NATION BUILDING
.
.
Not fighting a war.
.
It is time to stop the spending and bleeding. All the US is doing is making a large hole in the ground (the preping so the corrupt government can take over completely) so the US taxpayer can line the hole with BILLIONs of foreign aid dollars (BTW, the hole is the equivalent of the "BOSTON BIG DIG" to the Dubai piggy bank. Make it easier to make a deposit. One big public works project, put Afghanistan to work !).
Well Yes, it's nation
Well Yes, it's nation building. To the extent that these pathetic jagoffs could manage anything. Frankly they are just losers who couldn't get a job except for gumberment.
Seriously, would you employ TSA as anything? You can't for instance employ them as "greeters" at Walmart.
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