9 thoughts on ““My point there is, at that moment early in 2009, that see-saw had shifted so that within the national security apparatus, the military is in a position, not entirely but to a very considerable extent, to call the shots regardless of what the president wants.””
I know glass is going to abuse me for not trimming the URL, but that's okay. I just finished this book and it's quite amazing to read things like this written by a retired Boston University history professor who was also a career Army officer:
"By 2007, Americans in growing numbers were sick of Iraq and all that the fighting there entailed. Yet allowing popular opposition to end the war would jeopardize prerogatives to which members of the national security elite had become accustomed. Since World War II, the president and those enjoying access to the president had determined when, where and how the United States would fight. With Vietnam the exception, the American people had exercised little say. The importance of fending off any further challenge to these arrangements transcended Iraq itself."
Lemme get this straight — Bush, who barely showed up for the Reserves, and put Rumsfeld in charge of the military strategy, who this guy *just in the previous paragraph* explained was a completely moronic strategy that made no sense, that was fine, but then Obama "didn't know squat" about, apparently anything compared to…W? And also let a military guy run his military ops, who also fucked them up, but didn't screw the pooch nearly as much as Rumsfeld and, therefore,let's bring back the draft? What the fuck is this right-wing Boomer bullshit I am reading before I've had enough coffee?
Since it's related to the post quote: 2008 Bamz campaigned on sending an additional 10,000 troops to Afgh.
I remember that b.c. I still have dents in my head and wall from when I heard that.
Ugh, this dumb article is still bugging me. "No combat experience" has, for decades, been held up as a reason why women shouldn't be elected POTUS, so really not surprised to see these dudes trotting it out again this year (even though Donny's only combat experience is getting sent to military school for being a brat). Gah, it's evil on so many levels.
Read that one too. As the most unwilling of former conscripts, I totally support conscription. It's too easy to go to war when only poor kids have to do the dying.
I know glass is going to abuse me for not trimming the URL, but that's okay. I just finished this book and it's quite amazing to read things like this written by a retired Boston University history professor who was also a career Army officer:
"By 2007, Americans in growing numbers were sick of Iraq and all that the fighting there entailed. Yet allowing popular opposition to end the war would jeopardize prerogatives to which members of the national security elite had become accustomed. Since World War II, the president and those enjoying access to the president had determined when, where and how the United States would fight. With Vietnam the exception, the American people had exercised little say. The importance of fending off any further challenge to these arrangements transcended Iraq itself."
Lemme get this straight — Bush, who barely showed up for the Reserves, and put Rumsfeld in charge of the military strategy, who this guy *just in the previous paragraph* explained was a completely moronic strategy that made no sense, that was fine, but then Obama "didn't know squat" about, apparently anything compared to…W? And also let a military guy run his military ops, who also fucked them up, but didn't screw the pooch nearly as much as Rumsfeld and, therefore,let's bring back the draft? What the fuck is this right-wing Boomer bullshit I am reading before I've had enough coffee?
Since it's related to the post quote: 2008 Bamz campaigned on sending an additional 10,000 troops to Afgh.
I remember that b.c. I still have dents in my head and wall from when I heard that.
Ugh, this dumb article is still bugging me. "No combat experience" has, for decades, been held up as a reason why women shouldn't be elected POTUS, so really not surprised to see these dudes trotting it out again this year (even though Donny's only combat experience is getting sent to military school for being a brat). Gah, it's evil on so many levels.
Read that one too. As the most unwilling of former conscripts, I totally support conscription. It's too easy to go to war when only poor kids have to do the dying.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Like health care and public education. Or potable water from the tap.
True story: I was in an MFA program when I got drafted.
I wasn't aware Mother Fucking Arts was a degree option.
Tough program? It was a motherfucker.