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March 9, 2010

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Stop the Goodwar , I wanna get off

By Greyhawk

House liberals force vote on pullout from Afghanistan. Almost forgot this was an election year.

The resolution, which has 16 co-sponsors, calls for the United States to remove all of its troops from Afghanistan in 30 days -- or by the end of the year, if it is determined that trying to do so in a month would be too dangerous.

There's no point discussing the resolution itself on serious terms. If there was, my first question would be 'don't they know the capabilities of the US military? Do they really not know whether or not such a thing can be done in the time frame they describe?'

"We haven't had a real debate," Kucinich said in explaining why he was pushing the resolution. "We want to light the fire of the American peace movement." (And, he added, "get out of there!")

Let's give Kucinich the benefit of the doubt and assume he's only pretending to be stupid here, too. The odds that he doesn't know the whereabouts of the American "peace" movement are slim. (Hey, if he wants to bring out the buses and round some up it won't be too hard to find them - many former members are now busy installing insulation and weather-proofing homes as part of the president's "Green Jobs" program. Hey, keeps them off the streets, you know?)

And debate is all well and good - though it seems we have one on Afghanistan every few months - each beginning with a claim that it's the first. But (just a thought here) how about learning a little about the subject matter prior to introducing legislation regarding it? If your intent was actually to debate the topic and achieve a reasonable conclusion you'd actually sound informed on the topic going in.

Update: well, isn't this (via Glenn Reynolds) interesting:

The emails show that the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coordinated their response to a damning Spanish report on "green jobs" with wind industry lobbyists and the Center for American Progress (the progressive think tank founded by John Podesta and funded by George Soros).

Gosh, seems like just yesterday Soros was more interested in funding the anti-war movement than developing Green Energy... funny how so many of the old "anti-war" crowd are cashing in (with your cash now, dear taxpayer, not Georgie's) on "green jobs."

"Funny" as in funny how the wars are still ongoing, too. Sans any real protest, of course.

And...

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...yeah, that's just about right for a close. For now.


Next: Don't turn out the lights



Posted by Greyhawk / March 9, 2010 10:00 AM | Permalink

13 Comments

Interesting how the very people that believe the US military couldn't win the war in Iraq, couldn't win hearts and minds in Iraq or Afghanistan, and can't kill a single enemy in Afghanistan without killing a dozen COB's, are the very same people that think they can snap their fingers and evacuate every soldier, Marine, MRAP, Stryker and piece of gear in 30 days.

I hate to admit it, but after reading too much of Michael Yon's writing, I have come to the same conclusion -- Afghanistan is no longer worth the American lives being lost there.

Damn shame there's only one guy writing about Afghanistan these days.

I agree. But I do not think Yon wants me to draw the conclusion that I do from his writing. Generally, he wants to show how wonderful our troops are and I agree with him. I think they are too wonderful to send them off to die for Afghanistan, for people I do not think are worth it.

I agree with Kucinich. I want to light the "peace" movement on fire.

I've got a match and some gasoline I'll spare for that cause.

No oil for blood!!

Good old American jacketed lead should suffice...

Not sure what exactly you're saying in the first paragraph (other then they're idiots for even proposing).

Would it be possible? Should they have found out before proposing the resolution? Do you think they should know?

On first, I don't know. On second, I don't see a problem with the resolution in the sense that they're saying this is what we want, but here's acceptable "compromise" X. On the third, I think that's unreasonable. If pulling all our troops and equipment out in 30 days is possible, it would be a massive operation. To be fair, I'd be highly suspect of anyone not currently in the military telling me they knew the answer to that question. Frankly, I'd be highly suspect of someone currently in the military answering the question off the top of their head.

The proposal is stupid, and I think short sighted. But hey, it's their right. Sadly, it's what makes us the "good guys".

The only way you could get all our troops out of Afghanistan on anything like the timetable insisted upon would be to leave ALL our equipment behind. That would be the equivalent of throwing down our weapons and RUNNING from the battlefield. My guess is that very few Americans would be pleased by that image and none should (note I say "should") want that image seen by those who mean us harm.

Why should it be any surprise that they're proposing a resolution without having studied it first? We're in some danger of having 1/6th of the US Economy being taken under government control and according to the Speaker of the House "We'll have to pass the law so YOU can find out what's in it". I don't know whether a match and gasoline is required to bring this congress (intentionally uncapitalized as unworthy of respect), but I'm pretty sure tar and feathers is.

Let's give Kucinich the benefit of the doubt and assume he's only pretending to be stupid here, too.

C'mon, there's no pretending to it. Kucinich is a certifiable idiot.

Having attended a fruitcake State U in the great Northwest, I'm fluent in peacenik-ese. Let me translate:"We haven't had a real debate about Afghanistan" means "I'm not winning this argument, so therefore the endless debates we've had thus far aren't *real*. I mean, isn't it obvious? If these were real debates, I'd be winning."

And there'd be rainbows coming out of my butt.

It's all tautological. "Real" is defined as Dennis Kucinich's argument prevailing. "Smart" "Good" "Patriotic" "Green" all mean: Leftism wins.

It's like arguing with a 5-year old.

I live in Ohio. Trust me, anything proposed by Dennis Kookcinich is going to be idiotic.

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November 26, 2010


America@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 shall remain

INDEPENDENT - A non-profit member association, with no government support, that does not lobby for special interests;

NON-PARTISAN - An independent, professional military association with a mission, goals and objectives that transcend political affiliations; and shall encourage

IDEAS - Through its respected journals Proceedings and Naval History, its conferences, its books and its online content, in support of those who serve.

"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:

Closing Blogs is nothing new. So many site's owners just give up on their own. They come and go, you know, these MilBloggers do. Like any other sort of blogger. Many post in the lonely down hours far from home, spill their guts for the world, then abandon their spots when the tour of duty is up. They have lives again somewhere in the world, and no need to share the details. So it goes.

Many are truly gone - no site left at all. "The page cannot be found." Other blogs remain, like abandoned defensive positions in shifting desert sands.

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 | Comments (0) |

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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.
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  • RebeccaH: I live in Ohio. Trust me, anything proposed by Dennis read more
  • lcp: Having attended a fruitcake State U in the great Northwest, read more
  • Ralph Gizzip: Let's give Kucinich the benefit of the doubt and assume read more
  • juvat: Why should it be any surprise that they're proposing a read more
  • Formerly known as Skeptic: The only way you could get all our troops out read more
  • Room 237: I agree. But I do not think Yon wants me read more
  • Brett: Not sure what exactly you're saying in the first paragraph read more
  • Dr. Kenneth Noisewater: No oil for blood!! Good old American jacketed lead should read more
  • TheOaf: Damn shame there's only one guy writing about Afghanistan these read more
  • TheOaf: I've got a match and some gasoline I'll spare for read more

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The Mudville Gazette is written and produced by Greyhawk, who recently retired from 24 years of active duty in the US military, but will maintain this disclaimer: Unless otherwise credited, the opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing here is to be taken as representing the official position of or endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or any of its subordinate components.

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

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*****

Tending Distant
Fires


Far from hearth and home, watching
Cold alone but not alone
On distant shore and only wanting
Safe return and little more

What tales we'll tell
When that time comes
When tales can be told

When things grim
Seem far away
When other fires go cold

Some distant sunset, vision fading
Memories remain
And tired eyes gaze 'pon folded flags
While distant drums beat their refrain

Saluting fallen friends whose names
And youth will never fade
Here's to those on other shores,
for them live well, the price is paid

- Greyhawk,
Baghdad,
December 2004