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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! May 14, 2004 14 May 04 Morning BriefingBy GreyhawkTOP STORIES 1. At Iraqi Prison, Rumsfeld Vows To Punish Abuse 2. Rumsfeld Visits Prison In Iraq 3. Senators Assail Request For Aid For Afghan And Iraq Budgets 4. Soldier Details Abuse, Offers To Plead Guilty 5. Marines Walk Softly And Carry A Big Stack 6. A Deepening Rift At The Pentagon IRAQ 7. At Prison, Rumsfeld Promises Justice 8. Rumsfeld Dismisses Criticism 9. U.S. Missed Chances To Stop Abuses NA 11. Iraqi Tells Of U.S. Abuse, From Ridicule To Rape Threat 12. Let Iraqis Decide How To Try Ex-Rulers, U.S. Justices Say 13. Marine Killed In Convoy NA 15. Poland, Bulgaria Won't Leave Iraq DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 16. Military Faulted On Assault Cases 17. Vaccine Reaction Documented CONGRESS 18. Wolfowitz Draws Democrats' Ire 19. Congress Hesitant To Write 'Blank Check' 20. Congress Seeking To Clarify Iraqis' Role Under Self-Rule 21. Boeing Tanker Lease Gets A Push In House WHITE HOUSE 22. Confidence In Bush, Iraq War Is Sinking, Polls Show ARMY 23. U.S. Military Lawyers Felt 'Shut Out' Of Prison Policy 24. Wave Of Mental Problems Follows GIs Home NAVY 25. Secretary Of Navy Says Brig Performed Well In Inspection NA AIR FORCE 27. Survey: Cadet Behavior Improves GUANTANAMO 28. Red Cross Renews Criticism Of Conditions At Guantanamo 29. Duo Alleges Guantanamo Abuse In Letter To Bush MISSILE DEFENSE 30. Planned U.S. Missile Shield Is Useless, Scientists Warn EUROPE 31. Britain Says Photos Showing Abuse Are Fake 32. France And Germany Jointly Criticize Abuse Of Iraqis And Express Horror At Beheading AFRICA 33. Libya Halts Military Trade With North Korea, Syria And Iran 34. Chad Rebel Group Says It Holds Qaeda-Linked Terrorist RUSSIA 35. Rice Has Iraq, Terror On Her Mind UNITED NATIONS 36. Broader Coalition Expected After Transfer 37. Brahimi Faces Heat On Leader Selection 38. Restraints Urged On American Military TERRORISM 39. Zarqawi Beheaded Berg, CIA Finds MEDIA 40. Al-Jazeera: Beheading A Fake BUSINESS 41. Reports Further Imperil Boeing Bid 42. Firms Stymied By Backlog On Security Clearances Posted by Greyhawk / May 14, 2004 2:07 PM | Permalink 1 Comment |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Good summary. You had quite a busy day!!
On the prison torture issue: I like any sane person am disgusted by what I've read and seen, but let me pose a hypothetical:
If several dozen members of the U.S. Armed Forces winding up being involved, and lets say 20 dozen Iraqis were "tortured" in some way.
I'm saddened. I move on. I recall the limited news that's been leaking out from all the records and videos etc. in Saddam's records that weren't torched and shredded.
I wonder what the reaction to Saddam's (and others') public trials will be? I wonder if the incredibly tragic number of deaths and mutilation will "just be numbers" because they just won't "play" as well on TV? And why not? As elsewhere noted by so many links on this blog, some of them are so terrible that blotting out the faces won't be enough to blot out the terror. The whole pictures will have to be blotted out, or, obviously, not shown at all.
The unique kind of "torture," especially that related to sexual acts, is indeed horrible. We DO have a need to understand that in the Arabic culture they have especial meaning. Some would cause serious mental illness after effects in our culture.
War has never been a nice thing. And the numbers mentioned above, excessive at this point in the investigation, have to be noted. We killed "a lot" of civilians too. But one would have been too many. One Jew being gassed in WWII would have been too many. One Russian farmer of the millions who died in Russia would have been too many.
Society needs to get its head screwed on right.
I'm proud that two of my children are teachers. I'm proud they've had a large American flag (or more) flying at their homes since 9-11. I'm glad the teachers, one a high school band instructor, allows his class to touch on such issues as that's also part of education. And I'm glad his students know where he lives, have seen the flag(s) in his relatively small city, and have heard him explain the importance of our liberty, have listened to him stress the importance of playing the National Anthem well and proudly.
We need more parents, teachers, policemen, and others who will teach our children these things. Those will loose screws are already likely lost causes. But we must look to the future of our children, grandchildren and others if we are to see them enjoy the freedoms we've had in our lifetimes.
Jerry
Proud Nam vet