Let's see what has been happening this week while most of us were out working. First, the Republicans decided the biggest issue in the Country today was whether Nancy Pelosi's jet was going to be too big. Ignore the fact that it was requested by the Sergeant at Arms and ignore the fact that the issue is whether it can go across country or not (Why should the Republicans start worrying about facts now), they decided that the deaths of 3,000 soldiers was NOT something to work on but rather, the size of the Speaker's plane was the issue. Leaks from the Pentagon to spread lies and misinformation to discredit the speaker of the house.. hmmm sounds like the military coup is in full force on this one.
Then there is the matter of our military - should I say mercenary army? Yes, despite the uproar that caused in my last DailyKOS posting, I still believe the statement fits. And, the Commandant of the Marine Corps agrees with me.
According to the Stars and Stripes the Commandant sent out an email to 50,000 Marine Corps NCOs begging them to stay in the military. Then he told them that there would be all sorts of monetary and benefit "incentives" to have them go fight. Hmmmm interesting. So, let's see. By definition, he must believe that these Marines would NOT go fight in the numbers needed unless they were PAID more. Sounds like an interesting combination of events which support Arkin's position on our mercenary military.
Now, how many wing nuts will write me with the "webster's definition" of Mercenary I do not know (probably a lot). But, the point is that the military would have you believe all of these people are randomly volunteering for the war and therefore supporting the war. The data does not agree with this assertion. What the data shows is that we as a Country have to pay A LOT to GET people to go. And, the longer this goes on the more we have to pay. Do the soldiers love their Country? Sure, just as I and Arkin do. But, are they all just "volunteering" to go fight? HELL NO! They need more and more incentives the longer this war goes on and the Commandant agrees with this.
We also learned this week that there clearly was manipulation of information by the Pentagon concerning intelligence leading up to the beginning of the Iraqi war. The office of Douglas Feith did the following (According to a Pentagon report):
"The office 'developed, produced and then disseminated alternative
intelligence assessments on the Iraq and Al-Qaeda relationship, which
included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of
the intelligence community, to senior decision-makers,' the
unclassified summary of the report said.
Ah, more of the steady "drip drip" of information concerning how the Pentagon and others in the Government manipulated data and created data to support an already made conclusion to go to war with Iraq.
Then Bush decided to launch his bloated budgetwhere we will be raising the money going to the Pentagon and taking it away from much needed programs in the United States. I guess it is more important that an Iraqi go to school than a student from Kalamazoo.
The Pentagon is the most bloated and wasteful bureaucracy on the planet. There is nothing more wasteful than that building (Take it from me, I was there). There are more generals running around making copies for powerpoint presentations than there are people actually doing work. Hell, there is a shopping mall in the main floor so people can leave their office and wander around waiting for the end of the day!
We are now going to give the Pentagon more money than God has so that they can blow it faster than anything. You watch, there will be a huge bureaucracy built. I wonder how many soldiers we would have available for combat if the Pentagon just became 15% more efficient? A LOT.
We already outspend the entire world in defense spending and we almost outspend it all combined. But, we need more! An appetite for death and destruction that no man has ever seen on this planet.
Why do we need more? Because Condeleeza Rice could not negotiate her way out of anything if her life depended on it. Virtually all prior Secretary's of State agree with this and they (both Republicans and Democrats) have called on her to actually practice diplomacy. In the words of former national security adviser Brzezinski:
"That's what we hire a secretary of state for, not to sit there and
proclaim categorical statements, but to engage in the process,"
When you have no new ideas, when you can't think through complex issues, when you cannot deal with those who disagree with you because you have no compelling arguments, you return to your base instinct - which is to fight. That is what a schoolyard bully does and that is, apparently, what the Bush administration does.
And now, the week ends with the new General taking over Iraq, GEN Petraeus and the best thing he can say about Iraq is that:
"The situation is not hopeless"
OK, it is a disaster, it is a mess, it is full of incompetence but, I guess it is not hopeless. When your leader starts off with that statement you can be assured the situation is, well, close to hopeless.
He finished up by by saying, "The mission is doable". What he did not enlighten America on was what exactly is the mission? Guess that is a "Stay tuned for next week". Or, in typical Bush fashion, whatever actually happens will "become" the mission in a Fahrenheit 411 type remake of news.