Restrepo
Could be an eyeball, but you'd think
someone would notice losing an eyeball
or really any skin of that amount
--Capri Sun mold brouhaha
Where lowland is,
that’s where water goes.
All medicine wants
is pain to cure
--Cry Out, Rumi
Power gives life and energy;
force takes these away
--Power Versus Force, David Hawkins
_________________
I'm sitting in a coffee shop watching a three-year-old jab a straw into one of those foil packets called fruit boxes, ripping into the little treat like Airborne soldiers hitting a topless joint. (That's topless oysters, of course.)
Which reminded me of an understated yet eloquent scene in the film Retrepo, about a remote base in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. In it, the camera panned the village elders who were squatting around during one of the mandatory weekly shuras with their U.S. occupiers, then zoomed in on one of the old men fumbling with his U.S. issue juice box and sippy straw, unsure of how to make the thing operational.
Meanwhile, we are brought back to the clearly agitated, foul-mouthed aggressive U.S. Army Captain, seemingly making little headway into the hearts or minds of his audience. The juxtaposition could not have been louder: The old man with the gnarled hands could not figure out what in the hell he was supposed to do with the Capri Sun packet distributed at the largess of the U.S. Army. He was looking at the straw not knowing whether to shit or go blind, a poignant microcosm of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.
This man never saw a fruit box and his life was none the worse for this fact. And a smart-ass Captain dispensing a 200 mL drink is not the success story that will blossom in our lifetime. That little fruit box is the symbol of the futility of our wars and their philosophy.
That's the truth according to Ranger, who shuns soda and fruit boxes as there has already been too much artificial sweetener in his life. He reckons the same could probably be said for the gnarly Afghan elder, as well.
Labels: afghanistan, fruit boxes, korengal valley, overseas contingency operations, PWOT, restrepo, war on terror
7 Comments:
Which, frankly, is why when the damn thing made sense as much as it ever did it made sense as a punitive expedition.
We swooped down and clobbered the shit out of the natives (probably 89% of whom were gormless goatherders who had nothing to do with 9/11, but that's been war ever since the first Roman took a Carthaginian baby by the heels and pulped his brains against the wall) and left a proxy to continue for us.
Even the locals could get that; that's been the history of Afghanistan since the hoplites humped through it.
But this? I'm with old Faizal - WTF, dude? Take your fuckin' bag of juice, shoot a couple of the bazaar badmashes, and grab a hat.
They have neither the time nor the inclination to fuck around with this 21st Century nonsense. And neither do we.
Gelidus Maris. and so it is as it is
FDC,
You encapsulate the thing well, as always.
G.D.,
That's a majestic vid, thanks -- I'd never seen it.
We, as a civilization, are continuing our march to our own destruction. Like you said, the incident with the juice box encapsulates our entire ridiculous endeavour. The Romans knew of the very same problems we now find ourselves in and if we don't do something REALLY quick to change that fact, our civilization will crumble like theirs.
Just recently, our A$$hole-at-Large Ben Bernanke was touting how we WANT inflation! WTF? I make less than 20k a year and I sure as FRAKK don't want inflation! Those of us near the bottom cannot afford to see our money continually devalued (and I for one think Hyperinflation is going to be in our future if we don't dump the fraudulent FRNs and Federal Reserve soon).
Just like us, the Romans at the end, their government gave them military adventurism, 'public goods' (bread and/or grain ration) to buy their votes, devalued their coinage (which started off at a purity of 96% silver to something like less than 1% by the end) and generally made it impossible for the common man to get ahead.
Red Leg,
I sure don't need inflation, either, yet that's what's predicted. Oh, and no cost of living adjustment for Social security recipients for the 2nd straight year. Unheard of, and this reveals the leverage of even a strong lobbyist group like the Gray Panthers.
But the COLA has been denied because, y'know, we're told we don't HAVE inflation ...
BRL,
The military and security/intel types will get raises , but not those old folks that have reached their near expiration dates.
Congress gets their pay raises.
I was reading a book called-KILLING HITLER,and he made the cmt that kicking Polands ass militarily didn't keep them from becoming partisans. What did we expect- that the IRQs and AFGHs would role over and die when we invaded.
The problems /experiences of 1939 and 2010 are the same as those experienced by the Wehrmacht concerning rear area protection and partisan activity.
They supposedly teach history at West Point.
I appreciate your comments,
jim
How about this "lesson"..: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOIwl5G9lRo&feature=player_embedded
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