April 17, 2004, Why Did He Have to be from a SWING STATE?
Batavia, Ohio's Private First Class Keith Maupin, father of one, has the ill fortune to be the first American taken captive since the vaunted "end of major combat operations" in Iraq. As this week's visit to Pravda (part 1) shows us, the young reservist looks scared-- which should surprise no one, as he is not even being held by a "state", but by insurgents who might very well be looking to trade him for money (though they are demanding a prisoner exchange). I cannot conceive of how Maupin's loved ones are dealing with this-- so I won't. They have my sympathy, and my prayers. I will just offer them the faith that our professional military knows what its doing (even if its overlords clearly do not).
It seems unlikely to me, however, that PFC Maupin will be the only situation of this kind before American forces ultimately evacuate the last Americans out of Iraq from the embassy roof in Baghdad (probably before the end of this year, though I can't predict that). This is all an ugly, ugly situation-- all we can do is hope that things work out for the best-- in particular, for PFC Maupin here. I won't even talk about how awful things are elsewhere in Iraq, such as Grand Ayatollah Sistani apparently offering to offer his protection for Baby Sadr, by drawing a "red line" around Najaf. Right now, there seems little objective reason for optimism in the Iraq theatre. I hope I am simply under-informed, and we really DO have the place in hand...
Which takes us to that OTHER apparently unapologetic United States official, itching to have a talking dog tell him to go fuck himself. Our visit to Pravda (part 2) tells us that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is moving right ahead with the 10-30-30 doctrine of the war of the future. Those numbers reflect, more or less, ten days to deploy ANYWHERE, 30 days to crush the enemy, 30 more days to mop up and move on to... the next conflict, in a perceived perpetual rolling conflict (at least 5 a year). Smaller, differently located bases (in the NEW Europe for example, presumably involving good old former Soviet era contractors MUCH more likely to give kickbacks) and smaller "flexible" forces, relying on more high tech shit (see contractrs, kickbacks, etc.) and many more options, including, as necessary, nuclear weapons being used as a regular feature. (I'll have to consult Vice-President Moomaw and some of the other cabinet officials as to whether the charges against SecDef Rumsfeld will just be treason and criminal negligence, or will ALSO include conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity.)
Let's just say that the events of the last three years have told us one thing about the SecDef's brave new worldview: it does not conform to reality, and results in getting far more civilians, and especially Americans, killed and wounded. Fantasies like the super-sonic drone capable of pin-point bombing anywhere will not solve problems like Iraq-- i.e., occupying hostile populaces, which will continue to be necessary if we mean to continue with our imperial ambitions.
So I'll just leave you this quip passed on to me from the veep:
Eisenhower: "In war, any individual plan will always turn out to be useless, but the PROCESS of planning is essential to detect and deal with possible contingencies."
Rumsfeld (when asked yesterday whether it might be necessary to further expand US troop presence in Iraq): "You can't predict the future. You simply cannot do that. So why bother? Why try?"
And this imbecile is in charge of the military, with the full support of an even stupider president.
Comments
In following the 9/11 roadshow, it seems the one clear thing that came from Ashcroft & his ilk, is that it was all Gorelick's fault, because of "The Wall."
So all I can say is Gorelick, Big, Fat, Fucking Gorelick.
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