Journal: Afghanistan & America’s Loss of Integrity I

Government, Military
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Full Letter Online
Full Letter Online

Foreign Service Office & Former Marine Resigns

Full Explanation Letter Available Online

This officer's letter is both extraordinary and common–it is extraordinary in its demonstration of integrity and common sense, and common in that we all feel this way less a few craven individuals so enamoured of power they have forgotten where they left their integrity.

Journal: Afghanistan & America’s Loss of Integrity II

05 Civil War, Government, Military
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Full Story Online
Full Story Online

Blood for nothing

GIs die while Taliban thrives

Ralph Peters

October 28, 2009

AFGHANISTAN isn't com pletely hopeless, just use less. It's a strategic joke with a bloody punch line. Even if everything went perfectly in Afghanistan — which it won't — the results would be virtually meaningless: Our mortal enemies (above all, al Qaeda) have dug in elsewhere, from Pakistan to Somalia.   …  From line doggies up to bird colonels (and even a few junior generals), there's a powerful sense that we're throwing away soldiers' lives for theories that just don't work. We enforce rules of engagement that kill our own troops to avoid alienating villagers who actively support the Taliban and celebrate our deaths.   …

Iraq made sense to me. The stakes there were (and are) enormous. But Afghanistan's a strategic vacuum that sucks in resources and lives to no sensible purpose. By propping up President Karzai's government of thieves and attempting to force our vision on Afghanistan we've rescued a defeated Taliban from oblivion. So much for COIN theory.

Killing our nation's enemies always makes sense. Sacrificing our troops for the Pentagon's equivalent of Beanie Babies is despicable. Won't a single four-star general stand up and be counted?

Worth A Look: European Media Monitor (EMM)

Tools, Worth A Look
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Mr. Gerhard Wagner, MA Informatics, works for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and is leading the EMM Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Suite as part of the research agenda.

His briefing, which should be posted soon at the Danish Counterterrorism Conference website, is excellent, and the capability being briefed equally impressive.  His biography is at the website.

SOUTHCOM Week in Review Ending 27 Oct 09

Uncategorized
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Hot Topics

AA: Uruguay #1 for Prosperity in South America; Venezuela and Bolivia the Worst 10/26/09

CL: Chile president proposes limiting military courts 10/27/09

CO: Uribe requests repatriation of Colombians murdered in Venezuela 10/26/09

DO: Lucrative charcoal spurs Dominican- Haitian crime cartels 10/26/09

HN: Honduran forces blast recordings of sound effects outside Brazilian embassy 10/22/09

HN: Censorship vs. hate speech in troubled Honduras 10/24/09

TT: Govt spends $.5m to deport Africans 10/23/09

VE: Venezuela to Save Water, Power as El Nino Curbs Rain 10/22/09

VE: Torture Case of PSUV Activist Fuels Debate Over Police Reform in Venezuela 10/22/09

VE: Venezuela complains about Colombia spying 10/26/09

Below  the Fold: Instability, Special Operations, Security Forces, Foreign Affairs, Crime

Continue reading “SOUTHCOM Week in Review Ending 27 Oct 09”

Review: The Fourth Star–Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army

3 Star, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Force Structure (Military), Insurgency & Revolution
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Amazon Page
Amazon Page
3.0 out of 5 stars Been There, Done That, Shinseki & LISTENING
October 26, 2009

Greg Jaffe

This is unquestionably a great book but it is so narrow, and so oblivious to the larger context within which the U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki GOT IT RIGHT and knew exactly what was needed, and the impeachable offenses of Chenez, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith, that I have to respectfully limit it to three stars in order to make the points that no one seems to want to acknowledge:

1) General Powell let us all down when he failed to resign on principle and challenge Cheney who committed 23+ documented impeachable offenses, including letting 9-11 happen and taking us to war against Iraq for the oil, on a platform of 935 documented lies. ALL of our generals, but Colin Powell especially, should be shamed for not protecting America against domestic enemies bent on bankrupting the country morally and financially

2) General Shinseki, and General Schoomaker, and General Garner all got it right, but did not go the distance in challenging a corrupt civilian leadership. I have often fantacized about what would have happened if Shinseki had thrown his stars on the table, resigned, and thrown Wolfowitz down the steps of Capitol Hill as he so richly deserved.

Continue reading “Review: The Fourth Star–Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army”

Review: National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z

5 Star, Congress (Failure, Reform), Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Public Administration
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Amazon Page
Amazon Page

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great Airport Book, Really Substantive

October 26, 2009

Martin L. Gross

The publisher has failed to use the tools that Amazon provides, so “Look Inside the Book” and especially the Table of Contents, are not available. Shame on the publisher. I would normally take away one star for this lack of due diligence.

This author and the books this author provides are serious investigative journalism and great reporting. Below are just five of his eleven previous books, all non-fiction, all blowing the whistle in detail.
The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z
Political Racket
Tax Racket
Medical Racket
The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools

Although the author certainly has a formula, I do not consider these formula books or light in any sense of the word. The author's introduction is a proper overview of all that follows, and the conclusion connects the dots.

I am not going to list the 44 alphabetical topics here, from Alasakan Oil to Zip Codes–the publisher really needs to do their duty to the reader and the author and get Inside the Book details posted.

I am hugely impressed by the details in this book, and its over all coherence. If the public ever wanted a czar for both structural and financial reform of the federal government which is, as Ron Paul, the author, and I and manz others agree, totally broken, this author is the man for the job.

Continue reading “Review: National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z”

Journal: Internet Language Shake-Out

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Key Players
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By Jonathan Fildes
Technology reporter, BBC News

The internet is on the brink of the “biggest change” to its working “since it was invented 40 years ago”, the net regulator Icann has said.

The body said it that it was finalising plans to introduce web addresses using non-Latin characters.

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