Now, General Ray Odierno, the commanding general of the U.S. forces in Iraq, says that he is OK with gays serving in the military. (Seeing here giving Stephen Colbert a haircut.)
It is like the Chinese water torture (enhanced interrogation?) – only in reverse – every week some new commander comes out saying that they are OK with gays serving in the military.
I don't watch much Network news, I drop by to hear a Kieth Olbermann rant occasionally, but I do watch the BBC every once in awhile and this seems to really fit.
NATO soldier training Afghan in the proper use of a rocket propelled grenade launcher – something I would not have expected they would need.
Yesterday – or maybe the day before yesterday – we – that being the coalition forces or ISAF – bombed and killed, by error, a group of Afghan civilians and General McCrystal apologized. Personally! On Afghan National TV. This is the general who is accused of stonewalling the friendly fire killing of Spc. Pat Tillman and of abusing detainees in Iraq!
And he was put there after firing the last commander, General David McKiernan. Firing a commander is pretty unusual in the Army and this was even more unusual because McKiernan was a classic Army commander who came up through the ranks in Armor. For at least the last 60 years, Armor has been the preferred path to promotion in the Army. Sort of like being an aircraft carrier guy in the Navy.
Then the Armor guy is replaced by a Special Forces guy – or snake eater as they used to be called. And now the snake eater is apologizing for killing Afghans. The same day, the new Afghan governor – or mayor – moved into Marjah before the fighting even stopped. He came with a lot of money, is backed by the Marines, and supported by U.S. State Department personnel.
This is an amazing change of attitude. A sea change in the culture of the U.S. Military and the Army in particular. This is a huge bureaucratic organization that is totally changing in the middle of the dance. It is like General Motors changing to manufacturing only compact cars in 1995. (BTW as an example of how hard that is – The General just hired – as a consultant – the CEO the Obama administration forced them to fire last year.)
The military has gone from measuring success by high body counts to courting the local loyal jurga. I am astounded! And delighted at how serious and sincere the Obama Administration and the United States military are – even though I am still not convinced we should be there.
A week or couple ago, Jon Stewart was on the Bill O'Reilly show – The Factor to the consignetti – and O'Reilly asked Stewart how is President Obama is doing, so far? Stewart answered that he wasn't sure if Obama is a Jedi master playing chess on a three level board, or if this is kicking his ass. He then went on to say that it is complicated.
It seems to me that in the matter of gays in the military – atleast – Obama is playing it like a Jedi master. First the Chief of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, came out in favor of letting open gays serve in the military saying I have served with homosexuals since 1968. Everybody in
the military has.,
then General Colin Powell came out in support.
Now, General David Petraeus
has come out in support. It just seems to be spontaneously happening. But, of course, it isn't spontaneous. But it is happening. My guess – and my hope – is that by summer, DADT will be history.
During some some history of the West class, probably sometime in highschool, we studied Rome. One thing I remember is how Rome’s constant wars bankrupt the state and left the populous too poor to buy bread. To keep the people from rioting, the government gave out free food and held games to keep them distracted.
I remember wondering Why do they have all those foreign wars? and how does it bankrupt the state? At the time, I understood that looting was making some people rich – like Caesar and his fellow Centurions. And it was also making them powerful. Later – much later, like last week – I began to realize that there were other people making money by making roads that went to Gaul or Hispania, armaments, and war support equipment.
Money that could have been spent to make Rome stronger, making Rome a better place to live, was actually spent to make Rome only look stronger. Money that could have been spent on schools or aqueducts, was being spent on the greatest army the world had ever seen and a wall in England.
So I sit here, watching the Olympics, thinking about all the money we spent on Iraq and Afghanistan. All the money we will spend on Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next year and into the foreseeable future. I have heard the arguments for being in Iraq and Afghanistan and they are alway presented in an vacuum. Nobody ever says Should we spend the money on drones for Afghanistan or schools for Los Angeles? Should we build more F22s or start rebuilding our infrastructure?
President Obama has signed legislation lifting the cap on
government borrowing to $14.3 trillion except for Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps; and I am beginning to wonder how this is different from the Roman Senate handing out bread and putting on games in the Coliseum?