"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 29 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Believing Things That Just Plain Aren't True - Delusion, Rationalization, The Nutcase Fringe, And The 'Birther' Conspiracy Theory That President Obama Is Not An American CitizenPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 12:27 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
Meanwhile, Juan Cole reports: "Iraqi security forces from the Ministry of the Interior raided Camp Ashraf, the stronghold of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist cult in eastern Iraq, on Tuesday, killing at least four MEK members, wounding 21, and arresting 28." In Full @ Informed Comment
From March 30th 2009:
The US backed Iranian paramilitary group(MEK) "brainwashed cult members" to be "detoxified." by the nominal Iraqi 'government':
BAGHDAD, March 27 -- Iraq's national security adviser said Friday that the government intends to move an Iranian opposition group from its sanctuary near the Iranian border to a location where leaders and "brainwashed cult members" will be separated and the latter "detoxified."
Mowaffak al-Rubaie's remarks about the future of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, were his most detailed to date on how his government intends to deal with an issue that has been an irritant in relations between Iraq's government, which has built close ties with Iran, and the U.S. government. The group received support from Saddam Hussein's government and has been designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, but U.S. officials credit the MEK with providing information about Iran's nuclear program.
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Members of the group "should understand that their days in Iraq are numbered," Rubaie told Western journalists at a briefing in the Green Zone. "We are literally counting them."
Iraqi officials, including Maliki, have in recent months publicly lambasted the group, generally during or after official visits to Iran.
The U.S. military has protected the group's camp in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
[In Full at the Washington Post]
Work done... Kurdish 'massacres' blamed on Saddam.
President Obama is 'making nice' with the Police-Industrial Complex after his "Stupidity" gaffe in regard to the police assault on a 70+ year old Black Harvard professor. He has signed a $1 billion dollar appropriations request for the funding of police activities around the US, but smaller agencies were left out of the funding.
The US State Department has refused to recognize the Micheletti Honduran coup-installed government and four Honduran diplomatic visas have been revoked. But note, the backers of the Honduran coup DO have an "inside man" in Washington.
In Tehran Iran, the government has freed 140 prisoners and closed Evin prison in the public and political outrage following the news of the deaths of 'Green' protesters there. Demonstrations continue.
The US Post Office will suffer a $7 billion dollars shortfall in revenue this year. Despite a rate hike, the volume of mail is down dramatically...
The walking postman may be a thing of the past soon, along with Postal facility closings and 5-day-only delivery service.The 'Birthers' claim that President Obama is not an American citizen has been settled with a 50th anniversary-as-state resolution in congress for the state of Hawaii, Obama's birthplace. A resolution which also proclaims that president Obama IS a US citizen. But SOME of us are STILL "Waiting for the Obama we elected"... William R. Polk @ Informed Comment:
Probably like most of you, I am engaged in a daily attempt to make up my mind about President Obama. I was an early supporter. And as a former Washington "player," I am aware how difficult is his position. I began to worry when he failed to grasp what I have seen to be the early window of opportunity for a new administration -- the first three months -- when the government is relatively fluid. As the months have flown by, I have seen that there are many positive things, mainly in his eloquent addresses on world problems, notably his speech at the University of Cairo on world pluralism, but also quite a few negative things. With sadness and alarm I find that my list of the negatives keeps on growing. Among them are the following... [In Full]
Da Buffalo has Some recommended reading this morning from "Obsidian Wings" ("This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . ")
Losing Hearts While Losing Your Mind
by Eric Martin
July 28 2009
This highly recommended, if heart-rending, story from the Colorado Springs Gazette tells of a group of soldiers that returned from Iraq only to fall prey to severe mental illnesses that were largely self-medicated through, and as a result exacerbated by, drug abuse. The soldiers in the applicable unit have committed serial acts of violence, including murder, since their return. Although painful to read, the article focuses on one of war's inevitable costs, a facet that rarely if ever gets the attention it merits (in fact, the cultural reluctance to acknowledge the severe mental trauma of war often leads to untreated - or self-treated - conditions that only get worse). In the course of the reporting, the article also ends up highlighting some of the primary contradictions and limitations at the heart of the Counterinsurgency ("COIN") Doctrine - the military doctrine that has been given too much credit for "winning" the war in Iraq (Iraqis are still dying each month in the hundreds as the war continues) and that supposedly lights the way forward in Afghanistan.
To generalize, COIN Doctrine - as embodied in the Army and Marine Corps’ Counterinsurgency Field Manual and other relevant texts - makes clear that a large number of troops are required for any successful COIN operation. Further, this large number must usually be kept in theater for 5-15 years, at least. The exact ratio varies, but is usually in the range of 1 soldier for every 50-200 members of the underlying population - a ratio that would have mandated more than double the 145,000 troops committed to the Iraq war at the beginning and, roughly speaking, throughout.
COIN Doctrine also requires that the soldiers involved develop (or already have) some level of cultural sensitivity/knowledge, that they show restraint in the use of force and that they win the loyalty of that same population (the infamous "hearts and minds").
Therein lies the tension: On the one hand, an extremely large force is needed - much, much larger than the force that our military has strained to maintain in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 7+ years. On the other hand, despite the sheer numbers involved, that force also has to be well educated (even if only contextually), well disciplined and capable of showing restraint despite the effects of combat.
Yet, all groups will inevitably have a few bad apples. When you expand the size of the group (especially through lowering standards and turning a blind eye to behavioral problem cases), you only increase the number of undisciplined soldiers capable of hindering efforts to win over the population. But here's the kicker: even the non-bad apples eventually breakdown in a war zone. The stresses and psychological trauma of combat have effects on the decision making/moral faculties of soldiers, regardless - as a rule.
This is especially true when they are required to make multiple, prolonged deployments in the pursuit of those COIN-recommended troop levels. In Iraq, we didn't even reach those vaunted ratios, and the effort to keep a lesser number of boots on the ground still wreaked havoc:The psychological casualties may be particularly heavy in Iraq, he said.
“In the Civil War, if you experienced really traumatic fighting, chances are you didn’t make it,” he said. “Today, you can be blown up multiple times and go right back into the fight.”
In Vietnam, most draftees did one yearlong tour. Since the start of the Iraq war, some soldiers have been deployed three times for 12 to 15 months each.
Those soldiers will not be able to maintain the high level of discipline/restraint required by COIN Doctrine. From the article... In Full @ Obsidian Wings
[After the commentary, Sol K. Bright and his Hollywaiians ride the Hawaiian 'range' once more. Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG radio Freedom California Earth]
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