Archive for category war
Quote From Slashdot
I <3 Slashdot
Post of Slashdot today titled “The Noisy and Prolonged Death of Journalism” I am not going to talk about the topic but I want to point out a comment someone made I thought was spot on.
“I think some of the cyberpunk writers had it right. Has the “information” age made people better equipped with, well, information? Are people more knowledgeable? Or are they retreating further and further into their own private virtual reality bubbles. Are they seeing the infinite shades of gray in this world, or is it all just angels and demons, black and white and us versus them?
And none of this finger pointing at one side or the other. Just aboput everyone is guilty. The moment you start identifying with a political party or an ideological label, or thinking you’re better because of your choice of operating system or the car you drive or books you read you have become part of the problem.
All this tech has done is feed into the antiquated tribal mentality that might have served us well 20,000 years ago, but now it’s just ripping everything apart. Watch yourselves closely for the next couple of days as news stories appear. See if you catch yourself just making huge, broadly based assumptions about certain people. Question every assumption. Be skeptical about *everything* just for a while.
It’s impossible to be an independent thinker any more. If I praise Obama on one thing, I get called a socialist. If I criticize him on another thing, I’m called a right wingnut. There is no correct side here- they are all profoundly effed in the head.“
Coulda, Shoulda And The Love Of Finger Pointy!
Osama Bin Laden
“As President Obama vows to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by sending more troops, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has completed a detailed look back at a crucial failure early in the battle against Al Qaeda: the escape of Osama bin Laden from American forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001.”
“The committee report, prepared at the request of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s Democratic chairman, concludes unequivocally that in mid-December 2001, Mr. bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were at the cave complex, where Mr. bin Laden had operated previously during the fight against Soviet forces.
The new report suggests that a larger troop commitment to Afghanistan might have resulted in the demise not only of Mr. bin Laden and his deputy but also of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Omar, who also fled to Pakistan in 2001, has overseen the resurgence of the Taliban. ”
“The Senate report was prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic staff, whose chief investigator, Douglas Frantz, is a former journalist who has reported extensively on the hunt for Mr. bin Laden.”
This coming up to President Obama making his strategy known in Afghanistan Tuesday. My guess is that some people will hate it because we are not exiting now. Some people will hate it because its not a 1 to 1 pairing of General McCrystal’s requests. Some people will hate it because they hate Obama. Some people will be OK with it. In the end we will still be fighting two wars.
Viva la change.
The UK Iraq Inquiry
Unsure what I think about this really. I believe in transparency and its not wrong asking questions and digging deep. Unless you are scared at what you might find. If the Iraq war was on the level these inquires should be fine, unless they are rigged one way or the other. Unsure things like this can be impartial with people being so fervent either way.