Archive for category military
Happy Veterans Day
Obama’s speech at Fort Hood on Tuesday was one of the best he’s given so far as President. While its not his Veteran’s Day speech, I find it appropriate for today as well.
Every single soldier in our volunteer military, is a veteran, whether thay have fought on foreign soils, protected those at home, or died tragically while preparing for deployment. It is not about the struggles they will face, it is about the sacrifice they have already made before they ever learn to shoot a gun or run a drill. This is a sacrifice that too often goes unnoticed – forgotten — even as we are engaged in two militarized conflicts.
Here is a list of the names of the fallen. Please take a moment to read at least one name. Remember that this is someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, etc. And whether or not you believe in the wars we are fighting, honor the sacrifice that so many have made. As Obama said:
Your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we all too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that is their legacy.
If you are feeling very humbled, consider donating to this charitable operation: Clearwater Initiative.
Founded in 2007 by Army Capt. Ben Sklaver while stationed in Uganda, Clearwater provides clean water ”to populations effected by natural or man-made humanitarian emergencies.”
Ben was killed on October 2 of this year in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. This post is dedicated to him, and to the thousands of others like him, who sacrifice so much so that we may be free.
What Makes This War Different From All Others?
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, health, human rights, international, malfunction, military, tragedy on May 12th, 2009
Recent news reports of the murder of five US troops by a fellow soldier on an army base in Baghdad, Iraq went more or less unnoticed, despite the fact that it is the deadliest attack of its kind (US soldiers killing their own), although by far not the first.
Monday’s attack marks the sixth incident in which a service member was killed by a fellow service member since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In March 2003, Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division were killed in a grenade attack at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, that wounded 14 other officers. Sgt. Hasan Akbar was convicted by a court-martial in 2005 and sentenced to death.. Sgt. Joseph Tackett was fatally shot in June 2005 by a fellow soldier in Baghdad. Lt. Willie Davis later pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent homicide and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, the independent Army Times reported. The same month, Capt. Phillip Esposito and Lt. Louis Allen were killed in an explosion at a base in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. The military charged a sergeant in their company, Alberto Martinez, with murder in their deaths, but a military jury acquitted him in 2008. Two U.S. sailors based in Bahrain, Seaman Anamarie Camacho and Seaman Genesia Gresham, were shot and killed by a third sailor who then shot himself in October 2007, the Navy said. A 39-year-old soldier was charged with killing Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley Durbin in Tunnis, Iraq, in September.
While five or six years ago, such an event would 
have made headlines at multiple media outlets, CNN most likely would have named the incident and created a graphic, it wasn’t even covered by a majority of news sources and its appears the reason is a lack of interest among the public. To go one step further, it seems the civilian population has given up on outrage and instead adopted their own, “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy concerning the deteriorating mental state of our armed forces.
And perhaps for the first time, the Military are asking for help. Reports of long term and widespread Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, reaching all the way up the rankings, and an alarming suicide rate, by far the highest ever for the Army, which prompted a $50 million study from within to try to help the young people serving abroad and those who have come home.
A U.S. soldier is now more likely than a civilian to take his own life. The Army crossed that threshold at the end of 2008 — a year in which 140 soldiers killed themselves — a record high. And the situation is getting worse, not better.
So why is this happening? There are those who credit the current state of the military on lack of new recruits, perhaps due to a general unenthusiasm with the war. This thins out the soldiers they already have, sending them back for second and third tours, far sooner than they had expected to have to go. And the general outlook on the conflict can’t help. Instead of fighting for a defined purpose, this military finds itself trapped in what feels like an endless war that nobody believes in, seeing things they were never trained to see. The answer to this question is actually fairly obvious to me: “the first casualty of war is innocence.” Imagine yourself in this situation, imagine having killed dozens of people, mostly civilians at that (which make up a huge percent of the casualties in Iraq) for reasons you’re not quite sure about, to serve the most unpopular Commander in Chief we’ve ever had. I would be traumatized, depressed, and probably suicidal as well.
The real question is, why don’t we care anymore?
Pirates of the Arabian
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, environment, human rights, international, malfunction, military, politics on April 15th, 2009
Sorry I’ve been MIA the past week, I was captured by pirates. Bad joke, too soon? Not really, unless you are one of those pirates. In what could be considered Obama’s first…what were the exact words?…”International Crisis” (thank you Biden) he has proven himself a respectable Commander in Chief, and seems to have pleased both ends of the spectrum with his recent action in regards to the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia. And while everyone is pretty content with the result of the simple yet resounding military action (Navy SEALS are pretty badasss) and Obama himself has promised to “halt the rise of piracy“, there seems to be a general lack of interest in WHY this occurred in the first place. So cheers to the State Department, welcome home Captain Phillips, and good shooting Navy Snipers, but there is an ugly truth about piracy in the Indian Ocean, and though we love our Action Adventures here in the US, this story is not as simple as good guys versus bad ones, and no one looks like Johnny Depp.
Here is Africa. On the easternmost coast, The Horn of Africa, jutting up into the Arabian Sea, is Somalia, one of the poorest countries in the world. Notice its proximity to the Middle East, and most especially its access to the trade routes to and from Saudi Arabia. What, might you ask, is all the fighting about? Did you guess oil? If so, you’re actually wrong.
To understand the current climate in Somalia, a little history is required, and while it dates back over 2000 years, for our purposes we can begin in 1990, when the ongoing civil war first broke out in the East African nation. After the complete collapse of central government and a disruption in agriculture and food distribution, Somalia saw a prolonged period of widespread famine. First, and perhaps most memorably in 1992, when UNISOM I was established by the UN and UNITAF by the US, but then again in 1996, and 1999, and 2001, and 2006, and 2008.
The proximity of Somalia to the ocean is a major factor in its economic development, and a modern fishing industry helped fuel the country’s economy through previous periods of drought. With the dissolution of the central government, however, the waters off Somalia became ungoverned, quite obviously. This allowed for two very serious problems to occur simultaneously in the waters off the coast.
Following the massive tsunami of December 2004, there have emerged allegations that after the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in the late 1980s, Somalia’s long, remote shoreline was used as a dump site for the disposal of toxic waste. The huge waves which battered northern Somalia after the tsunami brought with them tons of nuclear and toxic waste that was dumped in Somali waters, by several European firms. The European Green Party followed up these allegations by presenting before the press and the European Parliament in Strasbourg copies of contracts signed by two European companies — the Italian Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian waste broker, Progresso — and representatives of the warlords then in power, to accept 10 million tons of toxic waste in exchange for $80 million (then about £60 million)….there are far higher than normal cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and bleeding, abdominal hemorrhages and unusual skin infections among many inhabitants of the areas around the northeastern towns– diseases consistent with radiation sickness….
At the same time, illegal trawlers began fishing Somalia’s seas with an estimated $300 million of tuna, shrimp, and lobster being taken each year depleting stocks previously available to local fishermen. Through interception with speedboats, Somali fishermen tried to either dissuade the dumpers and trawlers or levy a “tax” on them as compensation. In an interview, Sugule Ali, one of the pirate leaders explained “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits (to be) those who illegally fish and dump in our seas.” Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert at the University of St. Andrews says “It’s almost like a resource swap, Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts and the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters.“
So while the people of Somalia were literally starving to death, a multitude of European and Asian countries saw the opportunity to fish illegally and dump toxic waste off the Horn of Africa. NOT VERY NICE! Democracy Now has a really good interview about this very subject that I suggest to anyone who is interested in the whole truth, and not just the sliver we’re fed.
Barbie v. Barbara Bush; Best Week Ever: 3/3-3/10
Posted by zoboxrox in economy, health, human rights, international, malfunction, military, politics, powerful women, religion, tragedy on March 10th, 2009
1. Obama reverses Bush’s ridiculous Stem Cell funding restriction; I shudder to think of what they will say about us one hundred years from now.
“In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research — and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly.” Obama, 03.09.08
I like to think of myself a realist, and the sad fact that people get sick and die should never change; c’est la vie, as they say. But considering the amount of unnecessary and unnatural spinal cord and brain injuries that have been inflicted on our young soldiers in the past five years, I’d say at this point we owe them at the very least the effort. 
According to Current, the move is more than just a single incident; it is an entire policy change in the way our Government interacts with our Scientists. In fact, what is so ironic about the partisan divide over the issue is, by passing the second half of the resolution, Obama is actually limiting the scope of government: this is, by definition, a conservative idea, which should appeal to the Libertarian views of true Republicans, but is lost upon the ridiculous argument of life at conception.
“Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident,” said Obama. “They result from painstaking and costly research — from years of lonely trial and error, much of which never bears fruit — and from a government willing to support that work.”
The order is part of a broader declaration on science that will guide the administration’s policies on matters ranging from renewable energy to climate change.
“This order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let’s be clear: promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it is also about protecting free and open inquiry,” said the president. “It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient — especially when it’s inconvenient.”
2. Speaking of medical miracles, Obama also began his health care summit this past week, despite the fact he currently lacks an HHS Secretary, Surgeon General, and Health Care Czar. This fact was overshadowed, however, by Ted Kennedy’s return to Washington (since his collapse at Obama’s inauguration in January) and another history book speech by our President.
Each of us must accept that none of us will get everything that we want, and that no proposal for reform will be perfect. If that’s the measure, we will never get anything done.
But when it comes to addressing our health care challenge, we can no longer let the perfect be the enemy of the essential. And I don’t think anybody would argue that we are on a sustainable path when it comes to health care.
Finally, I want to be very clear, at the outset, that, while everybody has a right to take part in this discussion, nobody has the right to take it over and dominate.
The status quo is the one option that’s not on the table, and those who seek to block any reform at all, any reform at any costs, will not prevail this time around.
Meanwhile, Barbara Bush has a valve in her heart replaced with that of a pig… too easy…
3. Unemployment rate at 8.1%, 25 year high. The Dow continues to drop. People all over the world panic. I have no stocks, no job, and no equity, so my life has remained more or less the same, but apparently, this is bad news. 10% rate predicted by Spring 2010.
4. Obama begins his overhaul of the education System; No Child Left Behind finally behind us. 
We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us. The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children, and we cannot afford to let it continue… I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time. We don’t have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term.
5. Barbie turns 50. Mirrors all over the world shatter.
Karma Part Deux: Shinseki No Longer Retired
Posted by zoboxrox in international, military, politics on December 8th, 2008
When “I told you so” doesn’t cut it, the next best thing is receiving a position of power in Obama’s cabinet. Retired Army General Erik Shinseki did just that when he became the President-elect’s choice for Secretary of Veteran Affairs, as well as becoming the first Asian American to ever hold that position.
Like so many other independent minds of the original Bush administration, Shinseki, who was serving at the time as Chief of Staff of the United States Army, was notoriously silenced by Rumsefeld and Wolfowitz for suggesting their Iraq strategy was inherently flawed. The Atlantic has a great article on the Karmic Justice of the appointment:
One of the truly nauseating moments in the run-up to the Iraq war was the humiliating public rebuke that Paul Wolfowitz… delivered to Eric Shinseki…
Shinseki, a wounded combat veteran of Vietnam, was by career and reputation a cautious, methodical person. Those who criticized his performance as Army chief mainly complained that he was too traditional and non-innovative in his approach…
The showdown came just before the war began. Shinseki, who had direct experience with land warfare (in Vietnam) and post-combat occupation (in the Balkans), was urging that the U.S. go in with a force large enough to ensure that it could maintain order and genuinely control Iraq’s sizable territory and potentially fractious society after it ousted Saddam. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz hated this whole idea.
Despite strong objection from the Cabinet, in February of 2003 Shinseki went before Congress and testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he believed a few hundred thousand troops would need to be dispatched to Iraq. The forces Shinseki pushed for were not authorized and four months later he retired, having been both “vilified, then marginalized,” by the administration. His estimate was described as “Wildly off the mark” by Rummy and Wolfy, and his quiet departure from the Military was not what it ought to have been, considering his decorated history.
In 2007, however, President Bush ordered a rapid troop increase. “The Surge,” which has been credited with turning around the direction Iraq seemed to be headed, is more or less an enactment of what Shinseki asked for in the first place. In a classic moment of final vindication, President Bush said the main reason past efforts to stabilize Baghdad had failed was that “there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents.”
As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Shinseki will have the difficult but honorable task of fixing the 
wretched system currently in place to take care of our vets: “Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for disability benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays.”
I’ll leave you with a quote from Shinseki himself that helps to illustrate why he is the perfect man for the job and how, once again, Obama has displayed cunning wisdom in his early days as President:
“You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance.“
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