Sic Semper Tyrannis

Neil Richardson on World War II

 
Walrus: "'We won because we learned the discipline of 20th Century warfare the fastest.' With the greatest respect, the Germans taught you, and you were good students. " I think this is quite a bit of oversimplification. We learned not only from the Germans (mainly the earlier "heavy" version of armored division which proved inflexible as both armies discovered), but also the French (Contrary to popular opinion regarding the efficacy of the French army, they were the US artillery doctrine's early inspiration for TOT and other techniques. Artillery was our strongest branch in the Army during the war. The Heer was at least a generation behind us), and the Brits (USAAF fighter section tactics and early convoy tactics although the USN came up with the Thach Weave on its own).

New Year's Eve - 2010

  

We will see you on the other side.  Thanks to all of you for your generosity this last year.  pl 

"The Secret Section in Israel's U.S. Lobby That Stifles American Debate" Gregory Slabodkin

"During the reign of terror that Senator Joseph McCarthy unleashed in the 1950s, when the reputations and lives of many loyal Americans were ruined by false charges of "communism" and "treason," American Jewry was overwhelmingly opposed to the Wisconsin senator and his blackmail by blacklists. According to the Gallup polls of the time, the percentage of U.S. Jews who opposed McCarthy's smear tactics was twice that of the rest of the population. Many Jewish organizations passed resolutions condemning McCarthy's ruthless character assassination.

Today, however, such national Jewish organizations as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are using the same tactics to stifle open debate of U.S. policy in the Middle East."  Slabodkin

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An oldie but a goodie.  pl

http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0792/9207007.html

 

"Army edits its history of the deadly battle of Wanat" Greg Jaffe

"The final history, released in recent weeks, drops many of the earlier conclusions and instead focuses on failures of lower-level commanders."  Jaffe

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In other words, the platoon leader, a lieutenant of infantry, is now held to have been largely responsible for what happened to him and his men.  His father, a retired colonel of Army aviation, has every right to be outraged.  I have studied this action to the extent possible.  It seems clear that the wilfully ignorant and incompetent actions and neglects of the officers now relieved of responsibility for the action at Wanat have in fact been rewarded.   Tarnish on the blade.  Tarnish on the blade.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/28/AR2010122804334.html?hpid=topnews

 

"Evan Kohlmann; ‘the Doogie Howser of terrorism’?" Tom Mills

I have watched this man in court.  It is quite an amazing performance.  The FBI and DoJ (at least some of them) claearly love him.  He has never worked for government except as a consultant, has no real academic background in any relevant field, has no Arabic, has never had a government security clearance and seems to re-cycle his material.  He has never been in the intelligence or police businesses anywhere.  He does library research, period.  The prosecuters refer to him as "Doctor Kohlmann," referring, I suppose, to his JD.  He is an MSNBC terrorism "analyst."

I guess I should not be surprised.  The War on Terror has made for strange bedfellows.  The FBI and DoJ also consder the Russian FSB to be their great allies and dependable sources.  I have seen that process play out as well.  The Russian FSB is the re-cycled KGB "Second Chief Directorate."  They were and are (with many of the same people) the USSR and CPUSSR's chief instrument of the Gulag terror.  They still occupy the old KGB headquarters in the Lubyanka prison.

"Is this a great country or what?" pl

http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/74-terror-spin/4850-evan-kohlmann-the-doogie-howser-of-terrorism

"War on terror mired in graft as Pentagon billions are probed" The Australian

"A separate US army investigation into protection payments made by some transport companies is continuing. "If shown to be true, it would mean that the United States is unintentionally engaged in a vast protection racket, and as such may be indirectly funding the very insurgents we are trying to fight,""  The Australian

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This is just the tip of the iceberg.  pl 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/war-on-terror-mired-in-graft-as-pentagon-billions-are-probed/story-e6frg6so-1225977395812

 

"Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances" Forward

"Now, under pressure to introduce more transparency to his tax-exempt charitable organization, Emerson is attempting to explain how and why the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation avoids revealing much of the information that charities are routinely required to disclose.

Emerson, it turns out, succeeds in veiling his foundation’s data by channeling the tax-deductible funds he raises into a for-profit company that he controls."  Forward

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Steve's associates include people who routinely testify as "experts" in US courts against Muslim Americans.  They are frequently used as consultants by
Department of Justice prosecuters.  pl 

http://forward.com/articles/133244/

 

Whistling past the graveyard....... FB Ali

The graveyard of empires, that is. The Obama administration’s recent review of the Afghan war amounts essentially to little more than that. The bizarre aim of the war, formulated by Obama in 2009, is repeated: dismantling al-Qaeda! This weirdness permeates the whole report. It mentions, almost in passing, the two main pre-requisites for success (eradicating insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan, and establishing half-decent governance in Afghanistan) and then, without coming to grips with them, hurries on to claim all-round “progress” in the war. While this published overview is obviously a (rather futile) PR exercise, there is no evidence that the full review was any more realistic. 

The US has now been fighting this war for nine years, and is prepared to continue it for another four; it presently has some 100,000 US soldiers fighting there at an annual cost of some 100 billion dollars. All in order to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda? Al-Qaeda? In Afghanistan and Pakistan? The ridiculousness of this proposition compelled Joe Biden a few days later to publicly clarify that he, at least, knows that, whatever the danger from AQ, it doesn’t come from this region. 

"Why are we still here?" Jaffe

Earlier this year, Lt. Col. Joseph Ryan concluded that his 800-soldier battalion was locked in an endless war for an irrelevant valley.

"There is nothing strategically important about this terrain," said Ryan, 41, a blunt commander who has spent much of the past decade in combat. "We fight here because the enemy is here. The enemy fights here because we are here."  Jaffe

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"... new strategy for eastern Afghanistan focused limited American resources on those areas where governance, police and economic development efforts have shown promise in recent years.

The Pech Valley wasn't one of those places. Even the Afghan government's commitment to the valley seemed shaky. The police were so poorly equipped that they begged the Americans for blankets. The Afghan army refused to patrol without the Americans.

Senior U.S. officials still have not reached a final decision to leave the valley, though a significant reduction in U.S. forces seems likely.

Ryan envisioned two possible outcomes following a U.S. pullout. In the best-case scenario, army and police forces would be able to hold off the recently bloodied insurgents, retain their bases and figure out how to meld into the insular and tribal valley society. In the worst-case scenario, the Afghan forces would collapse, he said.

"I came in looking for a counterinsurgency victory," Ryan said. "But here, there is no such thing."  Jaffe

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LTC Ryan is described as having spent most of the last decade in combat.  Such experience clarifies the mind.

These two articles tell a grim story.

Waste, corruption and a lack of strategic vision mark these wars.

At the same time troops are all too often committed against campaign objectives that have become self-justifying, proverbial "self licking ice cream cones."  Officers find themselves asked to accomplish goals that reflect the ideology of the COIN disguise now worn by jacobin neocon philosophy.  President Obama evidently accepts such goals as his strategy overseas.  Instead of restricting Amercan military action to the pursuit of our enemies wherever they are found, we appear to be intent on the reformation of various alien societies.

At the same time the US is sinking economically under ever heavier burdens of debt in a world in which we are no longer the principal economic power.

Will Republican victories in Congress and in 2012 improve the situation?  That does not appear to be the case.  The Republicans seem to appeal to jingoistic nationalism even more than do the Democrats.

Is it not obvious that the chimeras of the "existential" threats posed by Islamic fanaticism and miniscule regional powers like North Korea must not be allowed to exhaust the strength of the United States in overseas adventures?  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122602622.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-honda-afghanistan-20101215,0,3512544.story

 

The Coen Brothers on "The Athenaeum"

A reflection of my film obsession.  pl