RANGER AGAINST WAR: WOT -- Me Worry? <

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

WOT -- Me Worry?


You don't become a cop because you want to serve and protect.
You join the force because they let you carry a gun and a badge.

You do it because you get respect.

--Righteous Kill
(2008)
________________

How does one make a killer? Disregarding sociopaths, is one more effective if motivated by one's God, or country, or revenge or some other reason altogether?

These thoughts are prompted by a recent viewing of the HBO series,
"Generation Kill," and the story of former Guantanamo detainee Abdallah Saleh al-Ajmi, who became a suicide bomber following his release. Though Marines and al-Ajma visualized different aims, they both set about achieving them via the directive to "Kill".

For the Marines, their chain of command ends their formation with the chant, "Kill". Though they are a likable bunch, it is clear they consider themselves stone cold killer, bulldogs being let off the leash to kill and depredate.


Ranger is uncomfortable with "kill" being a valued concept in the U.S. Military.
We are not killers but soldiers. Ranger's tax dollars are not paid to support a network of killers. Killers cannot win hearts and minds. Killing is never a constructive effort.

For al-Ajmi, who spent almost four years in Gitmo detention and later in Kuwait upon his repatriation, killing meant driving
an explosive-laden truck "onto an Iraqi army base outside Mosul, killing 13 Iraqi soldiers and himself. It was the denouement of a nihilistic descent. . ."(A "Ticking Time Bomb" Goes Off.)

Of course, to call his action "nihilistic" is to dismiss the validity of his calling to jihad, which is probably a mistake. Just as the Marines see purpose in killing, so did al-Ajmi.


The
WaPo says,

"[T]here is also a view in some quarters of the U.S. government that cases such as Ajmi's are the inevitable result of locking up 779 foreigners in an austere military prison, without access to courts or consular representation, and subjecting them to interrogation techniques that detainees say amount to torture. Some of them are bound to seek revenge, these officials believe. The challenge is figuring out which ones."

The problem is, secrecy under the guise of security has sabotaged complete and accurate record-keeping. Though al-Ajmi's behavior at Gitmo indicated problems, they went unnoted in his court file here, "which Kuwaiti legal officials deem a complete repository of the material provided by the United States."

His brothers reported his behavioral changes upon his return.
"He stared all the time. You could not have a normal conversation with him. . . . It seemed as if his brain had been washed," brother Mansur Saleh al-Ajmi said.


Unable to fit back into Kuwaiti society, al-Ajmi was nonetheless lionized by radical elements for having survived his treatment at
Gitmo, the "rest house" on the path of jihad, as al-Ajmi described it. While al-Ajmi was fascinated with radical Islam before his capture, his problems were exacerbated by his incarceration according to his Kuwaiti attorney, Khaled al-Mahan.

"Guantanamo added problems to the original problems," he said. "It didn't treat the problem.
You cannot correct a wrong by a wrong." Though tried in criminal court in Kuwait, al-Ajmi's court file did not contain "interrogation transcripts, or any data that corroborate U.S. claims that he was a Taliban fighter."

Al-Ajmi and four others were released by the Kuwaiti court after defense attorneys argued they "lacked jurisdiction over alleged crimes that occurred in another country" and questioning American evidence and interrogations procedures.

"At the last session of the trial, Azmi gave the court a copy of a report issued by United Nations human rights inspectors that February. It argued that many of the detention and interrogation practices used at Guantanamo amounted to torture, and it called for the prison to be closed 'without further delay.'"

The court decided there was no merit to the ill-gotten American testimony, and dismissed the case. Al-Ajami later made his way to Iraq via Syria, where he would drive his truck into the center of Combat Outpost Inman probably with help from someone on the inside, where he would detonate his payload with maximum effect. Actions like his are not aberrant occurrences.

So both al-Ajmi and U.S. Marines are motivated to kill. But al-Ajmi has the added motivation that came from being tortured and indoctrinated. Viewed in this light, it is hard to believe the U.S. thinks can win this war. On the individual level, it is a failure.


The only way we will win those hearts and minds is when we put them in a body bag.

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This then is the subject of imperium and America.
Are we, or are we not an Empire?
I say no.
But if the mentality of the Government is an imperium, then there is a methodology consistent with imperial policies...the carrot or the stick.
Be good, you get carrot, step out of line and you'll get the stick.
However, if we're not an imperium, and we have no interest in imperial policies then wacking the wogs a few times to keep them in place is counter productive to our interest.
I think this is where we have the duality of the mindset...we don't want to be seen as imperial, but hot-damn! the methodology of keeping imperial order is really useful.
So, the boneheads in our government need to make a decision...to be imperial, and thus validate our current use of imperial methodology,
OR
Not to be imperial, and abandon our current methodology for the tried and true one of "okay, we came, got what we wanted, and now here is your country back, have fun, laters!"

Of course, all this is crap because we're stuck in the middle of the swamp (thank you ever so much George W. Bush for your leadership on that effort, jerk), and now...well, now the gators are awake and crawling all over one another to get their share of our bacon.

If Obama doesn't pull our collective asses out wholesale...WASF...and I mean FUBAR WASF.
We just cannot, as a nation, sustain this massive drain...it has to end, and end...well, now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, and definitely not next year.
Now.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 10:27:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

sy hersch is reporting that the bushies had themselves an executive assination squad made up of delta operators and a few SEALs. they were out of any congressional oversight, would not report in to the embassy, or CIA station chief. they would simply roll into town, kill some folks, and blow.

a team of killers, reporting to dick cheney.

we. are. so. very. fucked.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 11:38:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Ael said...

Anyone who looks at the list of battle honors on USMC War Memorial knows instantly that the USA is, indeed, an empire.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 12:43:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

MB,
I will research this info ,but if it's true and can be proven then Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Socom Cdr. all violated US and international law.

I've consistently written that DOD special operators were tasked by the NCA to bypass Congressional oversight of clandestine opns.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 6:34:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973695,00.html

What you and MB are looking into alway reminds me of this case. It's good to see nothing has changed only gone meaner. Sad
jo6pac

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 9:02:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Range, we're an empire, baby. Any country that has 7-800 bases around the world is a true empire. BUT--we're not a "the natives are restless m'Lord"-type empire, but we ARE a "Ward Cleaver"-type empire.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 9:31:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"a team of killers, reporting to dick cheney."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/29666798#29666798

Apparently, this has been picked up by the MSNBC as well.

I would love nothing more than to see Cheney and Bush in the docket, facing charges of War Crimes, and Crimes against humanity.

However, I'm also of the opinion that this is the moment of Obama to sh*t the proverbial golden brick, because Fineman in the interview says that what is said in the Sy Hersch article is that this "team" still seems available.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 11:29:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

sheerahkhan/MB,
What I find strange in this scenario is that the VP is not in any chain of command that i'm aware of.The Pres is the Cin C but the VP is NOT the Vice Cin C.
The entire JCS had to be complicitous in this little game.
jim

Friday, March 13, 2009 at 10:18:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ranger,
I have to agree...if this is true, and note the caveat "if" then the likelyhood of Cheney being Darth Sidious is a little to quaint.
However, that said, Fineman and Olbermann reiterated that President Bush was in the know, which would then put Bush as the signatory to that order.
With that said, Bush would rely on a JCS individual(s) to select out the core group, with the understanding that the JCS individual(s) limited participation and future "I have no recollection of this..." should it come to light.
All in all, I suspect that there is going to be a lot of finger pointing, and Cheney, evil and corrupt as he is, is most likely going to be the scapegoat rather than an accessory.

Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11:21:00 AM GMT-5  

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