She's Come Undone
--2010, Angel Boligan (Mexico)She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
Mama, it was too late
--Undone, The Guess Who
How many times must we tell the tale?
How many times must we fall?
--Pretending, Eric Clapton
Ranger Observation of the Day:
COIN is where Shock & Awe intersects
with Rules of Engagement
______________
Why do we Americans pretend that we care about the Koreans, the Vietnamese. the Grenadians, Haitians, Hmong, Iraqis, Afghans, Ethiopians . . . ?
Why do we pretend that we are offended by the Taliban's oppressive treatment of women? Why is any of this our problem? Moreover, how can the U.S., as a fully imperfect society on this account, even pretend to shepherd others?
The bottom line is that we do not care, but we must pretend that we do. When our shock-and-awe fails to kill them and pound them into ground meat, then we must start pretending that we really actually care. It is a disingenuous Plan B. This is when Shock and Awe devolves into Counterinsurgency (COIN), and that is a losing proposition.
Ranger does not give a rat's ass about any country other than the United States, and it is time for the rest of America to 'fess up to the necessity of this fact, even if it means abandoning our fancy words and crummy COIN manuals. Bragging about our fine ability to project power abroad does little to staunch the bleeding at home. In fact, it is a major contributor to the economic morass which will hound the U.S. for some time to come. It may even spearhead our slow undoing.
The Europeans have learned their lesson, but we have not: Money for the military industrial complex is money thrown into a money pit.
Labels: COIN. counterinsurgency, depressed economy, phony war on terror, PWOT
posted by rangeragainstwar at 1:34 PM
6 Comments:
yup. we proclaim our visionary "rule of law" and all that other happy bullshit, when the facts come out, other stories emerge.
we have propped up vile dictatorships and corrupt monarchies in our pursuit of cheap banannas and coffee(somoza, trujillo, noriega, the list is truly endless). we allowed our organized crime to turn havana into america's own whorehouse under batista. we cosy up to the saudi's so we can ensure a steady flow of cheap oil.
too big to fail? how's about our military industrial complex. powerful representatives and senators will keep on building planes and other equipment we are not going to use because too many of our districts and states have bet their economic lives on those products.
if we were truly interested in building a new world and life in afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq, we would be building schools and hospitals.
if peace was our aim we would have sent the fucking quakers or the hippies of greenpeace instead of marines.
major general smedley butler lined it all out, in no uncertain terms (gn'rl butler was not a man to mince words) in his brilliant and scathing War is a Racket
nothing has changed. and, seeing clearly is no assurance of an easy consciousness.
I'll say this: we're a Great Power (like it or not, and I don't, really) and Great Powers have fingers (and economic interests) in international pies. Hence the meddling in the nations and places of others.
If we were willing to admit to our Great Power/Imperial reality we could then admit that all of this overseas fuckery has nothing to do with the interests of Afghans, Koreans, Sudanese, etc. and what's in OUR best interests - ensuring friendly (at "least") and whorishly compliant (at "best") governments in foreign states.
But since we like to pretend that we are still the rebellious characters of 1776 we have to cloak our imperial meddling in words like "freedom".
And the influence of the MICC doesn't help. of course. One wonders, too, whether there are political factions who have decided that there is political profit to be had in endless low-level war. Perhaps because it diminishes interest in who's looting the treasury as we are distracted by the war with Eastasia.
Sounds like Manifest Destiny doesn't it? We're God's Chosen People, delivered unto the Land of Milk and Honey, where we will go forth and prosper. The scary part is some people really believe it.
I think most people with any influence understand that we're always looking out for our selfish interest. The whole "we're bringing freedom and democracy to others" is just a slogan for people with absolutely no education in history. Yes, I know the politicians will say these things, but we know it's not done for philanthropic reasons (or maybe it is if you count us as humans and them as sub-humans). It's not in our collective consciousness to really give selflessly (which in turn would bode better for our collective survival and prosperity in my opinion). Not today. Maybe one day if we can hold on enough to evolve just a bit more. I think our leaders understand that to some extent. I just don't agree with their methods and do believe that they will make things a lot more difficult. They're listening to the wrong anthropologist and psychologist.
The world is a great chess board. Behold the Great Men of Vision. If a few million primitives need to die to ensure this vision, oh well, so it goes. It's for the "good of the species". We can't afford to lose any number of us to the hands of them. The very idea is disgusting.
@ The Minstrel Boy - your reference to Major General Smedley Butler reminded me of this:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/36409
Range, IF I remember right, before the Taliban, most or many of the doctors in Afghanistan were women. If so, it just goes to show you what religious fundamentalism will do to a country if the people just follow along like sheep. We were (are) victims of a Christian Taliban (although not YET as extreme). BTW--HNY to you and Lisa.
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