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Search: marine corps beirut lebanon

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Barracks Then and Now

The  Long Commission Report was very closely held, at the time only five people including John Guenther and Robert Steele, had access to the entire report.  Here's the bottom line:

1)  The threat changed and no one noticed.  The battalion commander, who had previously served as the senior Marine in the CIA's Special Operations Group (SOG), was told he was in a benign threat environment in which casual shrapnel was the highest threat to his troops, and it therefore made sense, if they were to be billeted ashore (Navy cannot stand dust and bootmarks  on its lily decks), to put them in a solid building.

2) Policy-makers had no clue about the connection between their behavior and the threat.  They  thought lobbing in battleship shells the size of small cars would “send a message” without realizing that a) this changed the Marine Corps role from peace-keeper to belligerent; and b) they might inspire a message back.

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U.S. Blunder in Africa: PlayPumps Not Play

01 Poverty, 12 Water, Civil Society, Commerce, Government, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Media, Misinformation & Propaganda, Non-Governmental
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Play becomes work with playpump + eventually no water, no maintenance, and elder women can't use it. See synopsis and watch the Frontline video here

(clips from the synopsis about the Frontline video documentary)
Five years ago, Amy Costello reported a story for FRONTLINE/World. It was about the challenges of getting water in Africa, and a promising new technology called the PlayPump.

After years of covering “bad news” in Africa, she was happy to report a story that seemed to offer something to cheer about. Her story showed how simple it might be for children to pump fresh water just by playing. Behind it all, a South African entrepreneur named Trevor Field.

“A report commissioned by the Mozambique government on the PlayPump that was never released, cited problems with the pumps – women finding it difficult to operate; pumps out of commission for up to 17 months; children not playing as expected on the merry-go-rounds, and maintenance, “a real disaster,” the report said. “

Field had made his career in advertising, but when he heard about this new device, he formed a company and started making PlayPumps himself.

To cover maintenance costs, he proposed selling ads on the sides of the water tower. He said the PlayPump model would be a big improvement over the hand pumps that Africans have struggled with for years.

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Journal: Colombia-Venezuela Denounce Each Other within OAS–US is the Loser, Cuba Spins Up OAS Alternative Without the North

07 Venezuela, 08 Wild Cards, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence
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While the US watches another CNN story on rape, Latin America has been watching CNN Espanol where  the Ambassador of Venezuela to the Organization of American States (OAS), has just delivered a phenomenally detailed, articulate, and persuasive denunciation of the US and its regional allies, particularly Colombia.

Hugo Chavez has then come out, breaking relations with Colombia (with great sadness), while offering Guyana the oil it needs, and calling again for a regional organization, the only thing “missing” in t he Bolivarian reconstitution.  He anticipates that the incoming government of Colombia will restore rational and reasonable relations.

Off to the side, Cuba is re-presenting its proposal for an OAS without the US and Canada–a regional organization that goes beyond UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) to include the Carribean and Central America.

What one notices from the South is that nothing has changed in the US between the Bush and Obama Administrations.  The Ambassadors are the same, the policies (if they can be called policies) are the same, the military mumblings about Hugo Chavez are the same.

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DHS: A Political Filter for FOIA Info Requests

04 Education, 11 Society, Civil Society, Government, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Media, Open Government, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
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See article showing politics versus public interest

By TED BRIDIS (AP) – July 21, 2010

WASHINGTON — For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured hundreds of requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

The department abandoned the practice after AP investigated. Inspectors from the department's Office of Inspector General quietly conducted interviews last week to determine whether political advisers acted improperly.

The Freedom of Information Act, the main tool forcing the government to be more open, is designed to be insulated from political considerations. Anyone who seeks information through the law is supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose confidential decision-making in certain areas.

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Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade

02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Education, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Civil Society, Commerce, Corporations, Corruption, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, True Cost
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Center for Public Integrity link associated with BBC & the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
BBC page on asbestos industry hazards

Related:
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Poisons, Toxicity, Trash, & True Cost

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NIGHTWATCH Extracts: US Foreign Policy Confused

02 China, 03 India, 08 Wild Cards
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Koreas Comment:

The White House statement presented the exercises in the context of routine behavior among Allies, timid and defensive. The Defense Department and UN Command statements indicated the exercises are pointed, aggressive and intended to be intimidating. The two statements neutralize each other because reassurance always trumps vigilance.

Undermining both statements is the fact that the US did not respond in a timely fashion to the defense of South Korea, which was attacked on 26 March. The response lag time erodes the cogency of all the lofty American words. The bottom line is that South Korea was attacked, but the US response took four months. That is not “strategic reassurance.”

As noted yesterday, in four months, a healthy North Korean army could overrun the Peninsula. Fortunately, it is not all that healthy. Somewhere in Washington the strategic thinking is muddled, timid and misguided in dealing with the Far East.

The Korean peninsula has now become an acute hotspot where an accidental clash can escalate into a full-scale war.

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Journal: NATO Deaf to Bad News, Afghanistan Diving

08 Wild Cards
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Chuck Spinney Recommends

Georges Clemencueau, premier of France 1917-20, said war (WWI) is too serious a matter to be left to the generals.  Matthias Gebauer explains below why the recent Nato conference of ministers in Kabul proves that the Afghan war is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

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The Conference that Wasn't

NATO Diplomats Tune Out the Bad News in Afghanistan

A Commentary by Matthias Gebauer, der Spiegel, 21 July 2010

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,707689,00.html

NATO foreign ministers heard only what they wanted to hear on Tuesday in Kabul as they sought to reassure the world that withdrawal can take place in 2014. The reality, however, is quite different. And in the end, Hamid Karzai, who is already looking for ways to cement his post-NATO power, will be the beneficiary.