People who say stuff better than I can
I hate Staff Duty. I really hate staff duty on Saturday nights. Drunken Joes. . .
Anyway, here's my collection of people who make points better than I can after 5 hours of sleep.
On IEDs and how to prevent them: Red State.
A lot of people who are otherwise in favor of winning the war in Iraq are all outraged at the methods the Army is using to win the war. Am I speaking of horrific tortures inflicted on innocent civilians? Of course not--I am speaking of the policy of co-opting tribal groups and working through them to get insurgents to change sides. Badger Six has a couple good points on this.
The way I see it is this: The government, culture, society, political institutions, whatever you wish to point at, in Iraq are all less than ideal. However, societal transformation is a slow process which requires a reasonable security environment in order to take effect. Furthermore, as Leftists love to point out, it is difficult to re-engineer a society from the outside. What those of us on the outside of a society can do is create an environment where ordinary Iraqis can take charge of their own destiny and build something more constructive and creative than they have ever had. After all, the Republic of Korea was hardly a Jeffersonian democracy in 1950. What would have happened had the US demanded that before we stopped the North Korean invasion, the ROK had to fully transition to an ideal society, perfect in every way? Similarly, El Salvador 's FMLN (Marxist terrorist group) was the darling of the Left in the 1980s because of the supposed repressive nature of the Salvadoran government. Granted it was basically a junta of colonels, but whatever. The point is that once the security situation changed, it became safe for the Salvadorans to transition to a far freer and more democratic polity than was possible when the nation was in a fight to survive being turned into Nicaragua: Part Two.
If you get the insurgents to put down their guns or turn them on the incorrigible elements (al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Iranian Quds Force, etc) then you create the necessary precondition for societal reform, which is a sense of security.
The other part of the strategy being used right now is best commented on by Bill Roggio. If you wondered what we needed 30,000 troops for in Iraq that would actually do some good, he's got a damn fine answer. The events in Diyala and Babil have the potential to cripple AQI and other insurgent groups or force them into parts of the country where they simply can't survive because they have no support networks.
On Democrats in Congress: I'm less concerned about the insult offered by Ms. Pelosi's staffers than be the fact that apparently, national-level policy is being influenced by a woman so out of touch with reality that she hires staffers who are this stupid.
Finally, on the United States Marine Corps and the bonds formed in a war zone: Military Motivator.
Anyway, here's my collection of people who make points better than I can after 5 hours of sleep.
On IEDs and how to prevent them: Red State.
A lot of people who are otherwise in favor of winning the war in Iraq are all outraged at the methods the Army is using to win the war. Am I speaking of horrific tortures inflicted on innocent civilians? Of course not--I am speaking of the policy of co-opting tribal groups and working through them to get insurgents to change sides. Badger Six has a couple good points on this.
The way I see it is this: The government, culture, society, political institutions, whatever you wish to point at, in Iraq are all less than ideal. However, societal transformation is a slow process which requires a reasonable security environment in order to take effect. Furthermore, as Leftists love to point out, it is difficult to re-engineer a society from the outside. What those of us on the outside of a society can do is create an environment where ordinary Iraqis can take charge of their own destiny and build something more constructive and creative than they have ever had. After all, the Republic of Korea was hardly a Jeffersonian democracy in 1950. What would have happened had the US demanded that before we stopped the North Korean invasion, the ROK had to fully transition to an ideal society, perfect in every way? Similarly, El Salvador 's FMLN (Marxist terrorist group) was the darling of the Left in the 1980s because of the supposed repressive nature of the Salvadoran government. Granted it was basically a junta of colonels, but whatever. The point is that once the security situation changed, it became safe for the Salvadorans to transition to a far freer and more democratic polity than was possible when the nation was in a fight to survive being turned into Nicaragua: Part Two.
If you get the insurgents to put down their guns or turn them on the incorrigible elements (al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Iranian Quds Force, etc) then you create the necessary precondition for societal reform, which is a sense of security.
The other part of the strategy being used right now is best commented on by Bill Roggio. If you wondered what we needed 30,000 troops for in Iraq that would actually do some good, he's got a damn fine answer. The events in Diyala and Babil have the potential to cripple AQI and other insurgent groups or force them into parts of the country where they simply can't survive because they have no support networks.
On Democrats in Congress: I'm less concerned about the insult offered by Ms. Pelosi's staffers than be the fact that apparently, national-level policy is being influenced by a woman so out of touch with reality that she hires staffers who are this stupid.
Finally, on the United States Marine Corps and the bonds formed in a war zone: Military Motivator.
posted by Just A Decurion at 6/25/2007 12:52:00 AM
1 Comments:
I hereby nominate Michael Yon as the first-ever 'combat ornithologist'. May there be 1000 others who follow the trail he is blazing--bringing together the arts of urban combat and wildlife photography.
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/drilling-for-justice.htm
He doesn't have a sponsoring agency, but why don't we contact the Audobon Society and ask them to give him credentials? He really is a Renassiance man!
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