Clipmarks | ouyangwulong's 'war' clips

Insanity Defined

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:01:21 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

President Bush deserves to have this anniversary memorably marked. Five years of fighting since he pronounced the end of “major combat operations” attests to a singular capacity for delusion—except that his would-be successor is as least as reality-challenged.

Anyone inclined to think John McCain remotely capable of ending the war—see the letters section of our last issue—might take a look at his predictions. The aircraft-carrier address looks almost sane by comparison:

“I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991.” 9.15.02

“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” 4.23.03

“Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war.” 8.04

“Iraq is now the central front in the war against al-Qaeda.” 9.16.07

Strategic Disconnect: Why we are losing in Iraq

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:15:30 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This opperation strikes me as a perfect example of what has gone wrong with our occupation of Iraq, and actually of most occupations.

To be a conqueror is a difficult thing. Your strength must be maintained by overwhelming military force, which is always conspicuous. The locals fight against you with inflamed hatred. Your goal is to control, their goal is simply to disrupt, which is much easier.

And on top of all that, Americans are doing this from a position of extreme naivety and ignorance. It is as if this whole war is only a gedankenexperiment to them. Obviously this raid was an interesting idea, but it was also obviously destined to fail.

How disconnected are the commanders if they think this is going to win the war?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"What has been happening in Baquba and Wajihiya specifically has been somewhat of a deception effort," said Major General Mark Hertling, the commander of American forces in northern Iraq.

"That's what's been kind of holding our tongue, because we have allowed the enemy to believe that Diyala has been wide open while we have been generating forces in here to nail them."

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Although American units ran into many concealed bombs, they encountered little or no direct contact with Qaeda fighters.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The militants who escaped this time may have been tipped by leaks or the visible movements of troops and machinery that precede any operation. How they managed to get out ahead of the Americans remained unclear Tuesday night.

"The locals reported that AQI were tipped off that the operation was going to happen here because of the increase in helicopter traffic overhead,"

In any case, it is hard to conceal thousands of American soldiers and scores of armored vehicles

Tags: iraq, al qaeda, failure, bush, war, terrorism

How to Win the War on Terror

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:11:52 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is the perfect evidence of what many people, myself included, have been saying all along.

A muscular foreign policy approach only empowers extremists and terrorists. It gives them justification; it gives people reason to believe them.

Why has democracy failed to take hold in Iraq? Why do the extreemists still control the country? Could it be directly linked to the US military presence that empowers the extremists? After all, in a time of war it is the most radical elements that are able to shout down the voices of reason.

This also shows why an invasion of Iran, or military action against the country would be idiocy, and possibly suicide. When faced with an outside enemy, the Iranians are no different from Americans: they will unite to defend their country. If we attack Iran, the Iranians will unite against us, and we will only empower the most brutal element of society.

As long as we fight against them, they will fight against us. When we stop fighting, progress begin

Clip Source: www.iht.com

A rift is emerging between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

There are numerous possible reasons for Ahmadinejad's loss of support, but analysts here all point to one overriding factor: the U.S. National Intelligence Report last month, which said that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure. The report sharply decreased the threat of a military strike against Iran

"Now that Iran is not under the threat of a military attack, all contradictions within the establishment are surfacing," said Saeed Leylaz, an economic and political analyst. "The biggest mistake that Americans have constantly made toward Iran was adopting radical approaches, which provided the ground for radicals in the country to take control."

Tags: war on terror, terrorists, iran, nuclear weapons, ayatollah, ahmadinejad, bush, peace

Wrong on Taxes: Bush sells America to China

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:32:19 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Romney says McCain was wrong to vote against Bush's tax cuts. If he really believes this, then he is not a true conservative.

What is the truth about Bush's tax cuts? Bush slashed the revenue of the US government to help rich people get richer. This means the government has less money to spend. But he is the greatest spendthrift in the history of American Presidents.

So who is paying for all of Bush's spending? It isn't Romney, who is getting millions back in tax cuts. It's the Chinese, who are buying US Treasury bonds to gain power over the US.

Look at the numbers. the Chinese have almost literally financed the Iraq war.

A true conservative spends money when he has it, and when he doesn't, he works for more. Bush's extravagance has sold our economic independence to a rival nation.

Does this sound like treason to you? Because it sure does to me!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"Senator McCain was one of two Republicans who voted against the Bush tax cuts," said Romney

"He's consistent but he's wrong," Romney said. "And I'll take being right over being consistent every day

Clip Source: www.brookings.edu

making the tax cuts permanent would reduce federal revenues by almost $1.8 trillion over 10 years

By 2014, the annual revenue loss would amount to $400 billion

Clip Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn

The large-scale tax cuts, economic cool-down, invasion of Iraq and anti-terrorism endeavours have abruptly turned the surplus into a US$459 billion deficit

2000, China's foreign exchange reserve was US$165.6 billion

By the end of June this year, the reserve was registered at a staggering US$470.6 billion

Clip Source: www.nationalpriorities.org

The War in Iraq Costs

$483,769,899,206

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Almost half of the US Treasury bonds are now owned in Asia. So China is financing Bush's bold economic experiment: running two or more wars simultaneously with a huge budget and trade deficit, and equally huge tax handouts for the richest Americans

Tags: bush, debt, china, romney, tax cuts, iraq war, traitors

The Cost of the Iraq War: A Pundit's Guilt

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:40:58 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is a stark moment of humanity for Christopher Hitchens, who I must admit, is not always a lovable character.

He has had to soberly (or, maybe not soberly!) face the consequences of his punditry.

Political opinions do not exist in a vacuum. These are not simply ideas we are talking about. This nation is overwhelmed with flippant armchair strategists on both sides who have no real understanding of what is actually going on.

The Iraq War isn't a failure of American ideals, it is a disaster of well-meaning ignorance.

Clip Source: www.vanityfair.com

A Death in the Family

The attached item turned out to be a very well-written story by Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times. It described the death, in Mosul, Iraq, of a young soldier from Irvine, California, named Mark Jennings Daily, and the unusual degree of emotion that his community was undergoing as a consequence.

when I saw the following:

"Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him … "

I don't exaggerate by much when I say that I froze.

I feverishly clicked on all the links from the article and found myself on Lieutenant Daily's MySpace site

And there, at the top of the page, was a link to a passage from one of my articles, in which I poured scorn on those who were neutral about the battle for Iraq … I don't remember ever feeling, in every allowable sense of the word, quite so hollow.

Tags: iraq, failure, bush, ignorance, islam, democracy, freedom, war, christopher hitchens

Memorial Day for "Loyal Bushies," Democrats & Dissidents need not apply

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:55:57 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: "This is not the message Bush typically hears."

That's the most alarming thing about this administration. It seems many conservatives have embraced Bush's example of willful ignorance. They depend on flattery, censorship and wishful thinking to justify their policies.

A soldier who dies for his country is a hero, whether he is Democrat or Republican, whether his family supports the war or opposes it. Excluding some families of fallen soldiers on Memorial Day on the basis of political affiliations is Treason!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Since the war in Afghanistan began six years ago, Bush has met quietly with more than 450 such families, and is likely to do so Sunday, Veterans Day, in Waco, Texas, near his Crawford ranch. Bush often says he hears their voices - "Don't let my son die in vain," he quotes them as saying - when making decisions about the war. Yet war critics wonder just whose voices the president is hearing.

Like Melissa Storey, Bill Adams of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, wrote Bush a letter - not to praise the president, but to question the military's account of the death of his son,

But when the president met families of the fallen that day in Lancaster, it did not escape Adams's notice that he was not among them.

"I can't help but be left with the suspicion that possibly his advance team screened those families for people who would be sympathetic," Adams said. Given the chance, he said, he would have told Bush "that my son's life was squandered."

That is not the message Bush typically hears.

Tags: bush-leauge, bull sh#$

A Beautiful Elegy for the Buddhas of Bamyan

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:45:14 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Cohen is perhaps the most eloquent writer in the opinion pages of the International Herald Tribune. This is perhaps the most genuine and insightful appraisal of the War on Terror that I have seen to date.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The Cold War ended, only to be replaced by the explosive conflict of secular and theocratic worlds. What began here in March, 2001, has spread. The Taliban are back, sort of, seeping across the Pakistani border in a campaign fed by an Internet-borne jihadist message. The Web is a force multiplier for any guerrilla movement.

This was the Afghan burning of the books. The Nazis burned Brecht. The Taliban, then sheltering Osama bin Laden, bombarded the "un-Islamic" Buddhas. The burning presaged war. The destruction presaged 9/11: two Buddhas, two towers.

Heinrich Heine noted that "When they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings." When Buddhas buckle, people will be crushed.

Memory, however, is another matter. It is stubborn and volatile and hard to eradicate. The keyhole-like niches in the rock face are charged. Absence is presence. The visitor is drawn into the void as if summoned, not by vacancy, but by the towering Buddhas themselves.

Tags: afghanistan, bamyan, taliban, buddhas

Cuban Reactions to Bush's Condemnation

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:23:15 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: It's hard to explain how out-of-touch the Bush administration and the right-wing in general is with the rest of the world. Bush was surprised that the Cubans didn't rise up when Castro retired, and wonders why the Islamic world rejects our "democracy" (so long as you elect a pro-American buisness leader) but he never thought to ask why?

Why does he know so little about the rest of the world? Why do so many people hate the political principles he holds dear? Why has the rest of the world turned against America diplomatically under his leadership?

Time to stop lying to ourselves. Now!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Humberto Valdez, 39, who sells sandwiches on the seaside boulevard in Havana called the Malecón, said: "The embargo has only proven damaging to the Cuban people. Because of it, we lack medicine, clothes, food. It is unfair."

Laudelina Rivas Corp, 74, said: "War! War! War! That's about all Bush wants. War against Iraq, against Afghanistan and against the Cuban people."

Tags: cuba, castro, bush

Democracy and War: From deTocqueville to Pepe Figueres

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:49:07 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: I was thinking about Pepe Figueres the other day, and wondering if war was our destiny because we lacked the courage to disarm ourselves.

For reference, the opening quote is from Alexis deTocqueville's Democracy In America, Book II Chapter 22 (I couldn't clip the title, but the whole book is on this website! Super cool, and useful for finding or checking that deTocqueville quote that's right on the tip of your tongue. The site also has a clever bit about how politicians have miss-attributed numerous deTocqueville quotes.)

Clip Source: xroads.virginia.edu

WHY DEMOCRATIC NATIONS NATURALLY DESIRE PEACE, AND DEMOCRATIC ARMIES, WAR

All the ambitious spirits of a democratic army are consequently ardently desirous of war, because war makes vacancies and warrants the violation of that law of seniority which is the sole privilege natural to democracy.

I foresee that all the military rulers who may rise up in great democratic nations will find it easier to conquer with their armies than to make their armies live at peace after conquest.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

José Figueres Ferrer

After the civil war Figueres became President at the head of a provisional junta known as the "Junta Fundadora"(Founding Council) that held power for 18 months. During that time he took several actions:

abolishing the army (as a precaution against the militarism that has perennially thwarted or undercut democracy in Central America)

Tags: history, philosophy, democracy, costa rica, revolution

Give Abe the Finger

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:09:54 GMT

clipped by: marszal
clipper's remarks: Well, thats nationalism for ya, apparently they'd didn't appreciate his display of affection. Poor guy.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Japan activist posts finger to PM

A Japanese political activist has been arrested after he cut off his little finger and posted it to PM Shinzo Abe's ruling party

Yoshihiro Tanjo said he was protesting against Mr Abe's refusal to visit a war shrine, on the 62nd anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

He said he thought his message would be ignored if he just sent a letter.

The package also contained a letter of protest and a DVD with "very graphic images" of the man cutting off his finger.

Japanese TV aired some of the footage, which showed Mr Tanjo reading from a scroll with a Japanese flag hung behind him.

Tags: nationalism, japan, yasukuni, abe, crazy finger-chopping

Ignorance, Economics & Global Conflict

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:37:21 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is a fascinating exploration of how common misunderstandings of the way economics work pervade in our society, and how these misconceptions have led to our current ill-conceived entanglements.

Too much good stuff to clip, you'll have to click through to the source for the rest!

Clip Source: www.mises.org

Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004

By H.A. Scott Trask

As an American historian who knows something of economic law, having learned from the Austrians, I became intrigued with how the United States had remained prosperous, its economy still so dynamic and productive, given the serious and recurring economic fallacies to which our top leaders (political, corporate, academic) have subscribed and from which they cannot seem to free themselves—and alas, keep passing down to the younger generation.

Myth #2: The Beneficence of War

A second fallacy is the idea of war as an engine of prosperity. Students are taught that World War II ended the Depression; many Americans seem to believe that tax revenues spent on defense contractors (creating jobs) are no loss to the productive economy; and our political leaders continue to believe that expanded government spending is an effective way of bringing an end to a recession and reviving the economy.

Tags: h.a. scott trask, economics, war, fallacies

How Did Soviet-Style Torture Become ‘Interrogation’?

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:37:48 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: A Senate investigation is underway, but many of the details are surfacing already.

His question is only underscored by a 1956 article, “Communist Interrogation,” in The Annals of Neurology and Psychiatry, recently turned up by the Intelligence Science Board, which advises the spy agencies....[T]he article shows that methods embraced after 2001 were once considered torture that would produce false information.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

HOW did the United States, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, come to adopt interrogation techniques copied from the Soviet Union and other cold war adversaries?

Investigators for the Senate Armed Services Committee are examining how the methods, long used to train Americans for what they may face as prisoners of war, became the basis for American interrogations.

In 2002, the C.I.A. and the Pentagon became concerned that standard questioning was inadequate for suspected terrorists and turned to a military training program called Survival, Evasion, Reconnaissance and Escape, or SERE.

Many SERE veterans were appalled at the “reverse engineering” of their methods, said Charles A. Morgan III, a Yale psychiatrist who has worked closely with SERE trainers for a decade.

“How did something used as an example of what an unethical government would do become something we do?” he asked.

Tags: torture, intelligence, interrogation, senate, investigation, soviet, sere, cia, war, bush administration

Eugene Debs on War and Treason

Thu, 31 May 2007 06:40:54 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: As I've always said, those who forget history are condemned to have to look it up on the internet...

Clip Source: www.thememoryhole.org

And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.

Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.

>>> Prominent labor organizer and political activist Eugene Debs delivered a speech at a Socialist Party convention in Canton, Ohio, on 16 June 1918. Because of it, he was prosecuted under the Sedition Act for interfering with the draft, leading to a 10-year prison sentence and the stripping of his US citizenship. (He ended up serving 2 years and 8 months in the slammer; President Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence.) Interestingly, Debs ran for President on the Socialist Party ticket five times, with the last time occurring while he was in prison. He received almost one million votes.

Tags: eugene debs, free speech, anti-war, war

A Strategy not for Victory, but for Escalation

Wed, 30 May 2007 03:05:13 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: The "New" Strategy that Bush has vaunted so much seems more and more to be a sinister ploy to avoid accountability. Militarily, this strategy is not feasible. While it might work in traditional warfare against an entrenched military, in the fluid dynamics of asymmetrical warfare, we are simply diving into the whirlpool. As our enemy continues to disappear into the surrounding chaos, we will become enveloped in an increasingly intractable fight to defend indefensible battle lines.

I believe this is a strategy not to win the war, but simply to draw us into it so deeply that nobody can force Bush to end the war, and he can leave that as a problem for his anticipated Democratic successor.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The number of bombs found or detonated here has declined since the autumn, and U.S. soldiers are finding nearly 6 in 10 before they go off, according to figures from the brigade in charge of the area. Some troops, placed in villages where strict Islamic law was enforced, also say they have brought stability and more freedom to residents.

But U.S. military officials acknowledged that the new dispersal strategy was risky. Their forces, they said, are not numerous enough to control the entire area.

In many ways, the soldiers' experiences at these outposts demonstrate how every new U.S. tactic provokes an equally new and deadly response.

"The practice of spreading U.S. forces thinly across large areas and locating them in isolated outposts is a recipe for disaster," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia. "It will increase the number of American casualties by depriving U.S. forces of the advantages associated with mass and firepower."

Tags: iraq, war, bush, troop surge, strategy

Iraq is more than just an election issue!

Wed, 30 May 2007 02:51:43 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: At this point we really should be asking ourselves: what is the real objective of the Bush administration? Is he actually trying to win the war? Or simply trying to keep it going until he is out of office?

Isn't the troop surge perfect evidence of this? The new strategy amounts to nothing more than simply committing more men and material to the problem without a significant re-evaluation of our overall strategy, or its shortcomings.

Unfortunately, the impractical Democrat bill on spending, and their quick retreat from that position also seems to suggest that many Democrats think that an ongoing war in Iraq might be a convenient election issue next year.

I will vote for no candidate who plays politics while people's lives are on the line.

Clip Source: iht.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON: For me, the saddest spot in Washington is the inverted V of the black granite Vietnam wall, jutting up with the names of young men dying in a war that their leaders already knew could not be won. So many died because of ego and deceit - because LBJ and Robert McNamara wanted to save face or because Henry Kissinger wanted to protect Nixon's re-election chances.

Now the Bush administration finds itself at that same hour of shame. It knows the surge is not working. Iraq is in a civil war, with a gruesome bonus of terrorists mixed in. April was the worst month this year for the American military, with 104 soldiers killed, and there have been about 90 killed thus far in May. The democracy is not jelling, as Iraqi lawmakers get ready to slouch off for a two-month vacation, leaving our kids to be blown up.

Tags: iraq, election, bush, democrats, republicans, war, vietnam