A Healthy Alternative to Work

Ok, someone set me straight on this Haiti thing. I haven't paid much attention to the country's politics, but after a little reading this morning here's the picture I have:

Haiti has been led by dictators for most of its 200 years of independence from France. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected the first democratic president in 1990, but was ousted from power, only to regain it in 2000 in an election his opposition boycotted and declared fraudulent. Now rebels are accusing his administration of corruption and wreaking havoc on the country. We sent over 50 Marines to guard the U.S. embassy, and a few thousand more are on the way... only Aristide has, despite his earlier claims of never relinquishing power, vacated the country, to destinations unknown. Rebel leaders are quoted as saying they don't intend to fight any more, and gunfire can still be heard in Port-au-Prince.

So what is it exactly we're doing? Keeping people from shooting each other? Or are we supporting a coup d'etat? I'm not up on this one, someone help me out.

Nota bene: I checked [url=http://www.cnn.com]CNN.com[/url] for this information. I found a link to the bloodshed in Haiti in a sidebar of links beside the big dominant photo of Naomi Watts and "boyfriend Heath Ledger" at the Oscars. What the hell? There's bloody insurrection going in Haiti and the leading story is about that lout from The Patriot?!

I guess this underscores the reason why most people aren't equipped to talk about intenational politics. The Big News we get is the twitter about who's getting the golden statue for what some panel decided was the best entertainment performance of the year.

Not that I don't like movies. They're great, I'm a bit of a buff. But let's get our priorities straight. Knowing something about what's going on in the world isn't a hobby or passing interest like being able to play Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon.

During the mind-numbingly boring White Cell briefings the other day, I doodled in my notebook. Here is one of the results:

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Here's a photo I took while I was out with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry:

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Let me know what you think... back to work.

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I spent the past two days with 1st Platoon, 2nd Military Police Company. I always thought MPs were dicks, but surprisingly, these guys treated me pretty well. I followed the platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Alfred Allard, around all day yesterday, and while he had me do stupid aide-type stuff, he hooked me up with some good information and a seat at the mind-numbingly boring White Cell briefing. I saw more majors there than I thought existed.

Anyway, we stopped off at Camp Casey today during route reconaissance and I picked up a new book by David Frum, called, enticingly, "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror."

David Frum, of course, is a leading neo-conservative, so I knew going in that he'd have a certain perspective.

The good thing is, this guy doesn't mince any words. He makes the point (within the first two chapters) that the war on terrorism is a war against radical -- and I stress [i]radical[/i] -- Islam.

I'm not going to go into an in-depth analysis of the book, because I don't have time and I haven't read the whole thing yet. But there are several points worth making:

1) Terrorism is the main means that anti-Americanism has of making an impact in the western world.

2) Two decades of craven decisions by the U.S. executive branch have suggested to Hamaas, al Qaeda and other militant Islamicists that the U.S. is unwilling to commit to extended military action against terrorism, thereby giving terrorists and their supporters a way out -- all they have to do is wait it out a couple months or survive a cruise missile attack or two.

3) Hatred of America is known in the region as "resistance against the Zionist-Crusader war against Islam," and that influential Arab clerics in many of the regional governments issue [i]fatwas[/i] supporting the murder of Americans, Jews and Christians wherever possible.

There are more, to be sure. But realize that anti-Americanism isn't an ideology that can be reasoned with or talked to or "dialogued" with. It's us or them.

Frum also makes the case that taking out Sadaam Hussein was a good idea regardless of whether [i]stockpiles[/i] of weapons of mass destruction are found or not. WMD programs were in place and known about: Iraqi plans to weaponize anthrax, botulism, plague and smallpox were well-documented items in the world intelligence community. How "imminent" does a threat have to be to justify a strike?

Al-Qaeda would, if they could, have killed countless more Americans than the 3,000 who lost their lives on 9/11. The idea behind their actions is to [i]eliminate[/i] America and create a world dominated by militant Islam. Think about that when people carp about our "forcing American ideals on other cultures."

Most arguments against the "War on Terror" and the invasion of Iraq center around "not offending" our Arab and European friends. When you pull the lever this November, ask yourself whether it's more important to placate the sensibilities of our fair-weather friends the Saudis (whose internal politics are heavily influenced by al-Qaeda and anti-Americanists) or the French, who seem to have forgotten our role in keeping them from adopting German as the national language in our grand-parents' generation, or if we should [i]continue[/i] to make the point, as we have in the two years since 9/11, that we will not be trifled with, and that we will not back down when we say that we will do everything in our power to thwart the efforts of those who mean to do harm to our people.

This administration is far from flawless. But if we back off now, we will send the message to the al-Qaedas and jihadists in the world that they, in effect, have won: that they can perpetrate macro-murder on the United States and get away with it, provided they can hide for 24 months.

To [url=http://redtigress.tblog.com]Redtigress[/url] , if she's reading: Frum also states that victory in the war on terror requires the U.S. to abandon the idea that the creation of a Palestinian state would aid in the peace process. "Zionist-Crusaderism" is what they have set themselves immutably against.

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I went on that media "embed" mission Monday, and it worked out to be quite an experience.

We drove out to Chipori training area in the office Humvee, and once I linked up with Bravo company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry in their perimeter, there was nothing much else to do for the rest of the afternoon. I stood around and made small talk with some of the infantry-types, and watch [i]agima[/i] set up her chow tent. I'm sure she made a killing selling "ham-egg-cheesies" and [i]yakimandu[/i] to the GIs.

Later I found the company first sergeant in 'ma's tent.
"Hi, First Sergeant," I said. "I'm with Division Public Affairs... any way I can get a ride down to the alpha-alpha tonight?"
"Sure... we've got lots of room in our Humvees..."
"Well, First Sergeant," I said, "I was hoping to get a lift in one of your Bradleys."
"No problem," he said. "Hold on a minute."
He stepped out of the tent and was back in about 30 seconds.
"You'll be the CO's gunner tonight. Find Bravo 66's driver, he'll square you away."
I was pretty surprised. At the most, I'd been hoping to get a ride in the cramped crew compartment in the back of a Bradley. The gunner's hatch is in the turret, right next to the track commander's hatch. Now I was desperately hoping I wasn't going to have to shoot anything.

The driver turned out to be a guy named Johnson who'd been in-country for 15 months. He knew his track and his job pretty well, and gave me the quick and dirty version of how to be a Bradley gunner.

"What should I make sure [i]not [/i]to do?" I asked.
"There's pretty much nothing you can fuck up," he said, shrugging. "The turret and guns are disabled, so you just have to hang on."

Late that night we rolled out onto highway 43. The whole battalion was moving, and the column stretched almost a mile. It was cold in the turret, and my nose was running from under the goggles over the CVC I had on my head. The CVC is a helmet track crew members wear, and it has a radio in it that only works if it's plugged into the "spaghetti cord" that snakes up from inside the turret. It always comes undone, so you have to check it every time the battalion net seems to get quiet. Mine came undone every time I tried to signal a vehicle to go around us, so instead of warning the driver someone was coming up from behind, I was usually rooting around inside the turret looking for the damn spaghetti cord.

I'll post some photos when they get back.

More later.

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We drove out yesterday to the range to pick up some civilian reporters (including the Stars & Stripes guy) who had been embedded with some of the line units during Iron ARTEP, a training exercise that's currently underway. I was supposed to link up with 2/9 Infantry and follow them during an infiltration-on-foot.

The weather turned miserable as soon as the exercise started. Cold rain turned everything to mud, and soaked everyone who set foot outside. I wasn't looking forward to spending a night marching through the hills in it. Fortunately, Maj. Roberts called their HQ and it turned out they had been delayed, and I won't be going out until today. The weather's cleared up, but it's still cold, and it's still a long way to ruck... oh well.

One cool aspect about public affairs is that I'll have every reason to track down the company commander and get an interview while riding in his vehicle. Hopefully I'll swing a ride in a Bradley, too -- I was looking forward to that.

Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be marching a helluva long way, and it's going to be freezing out tonight. This battle better be worth it.

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We don't get a huge variety of stuff to cover here in 2ID, but some of it is frickin' cool, I must admit:

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That's an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank firing a Sabot round. A Sabot is basically a long spike designed to penetrate enemy armor. When it does, it goes through so quick that it creates a vacuum inside the bad guys' tank, and everything that isn't nailed down gets sucked out through a hole the size of a quarter. Including people. Naturally, I haven't personally seen this happen, but there are photographs from the last go-round we had in Iraq... not pretty. It looks a bit like meatloaf splattered in a "V" on the opposite side of the tank. On a lighter note, the Sabot does photograph well!

I was supposed to be going out with 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment tomorrow to ride around in the back of a Bradley for three days. When I got back from Indianhead distro this evening, Sgt. K told me it wasn't happening. Oh well. In a weird way, I was sort of looking forward to it.

Anyway, I better go. Hope you enjoy the photo.

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The first sergeant was short on RAM guard people last night, so he pulled all of us extra duty-types and stuck us on RAM indefinitely. I can't think of a better thing to have happen. Instead of mopping barracks all night after a day of work, we'll be on guard duty all night, which amounts to about two and a half hours of actual work, and then we get the whole next day off. I took it upon myself to do laundry, watch [i]The Sopranos[/i] season three and drink beer during my time off. It was great.

I also called up Zach's house in Steubenville. He and Jake were hanging out there with a bunch of Jake's friends from home who'd come down to visit. Apparently they brought two huge handles of gin, and the lot of them were roaring drunk. Zach went off on the middle east for a while, and Jake spent half the conversation making loud, lewd comments to the other people in the room.

I can't wait to see my brothers again. I'm so close to getting home I can almost taste it. 50 days left in Korea.

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Okay. First off, thanks to anyone and everyone who's taken the time and effort to reply to any of my posts. It's always exciting to see that someone's actually read what I've written.

Regardless of what you think of my political views, they are the result of study and deliberation. I haven't just latched on to what my parents thought, or my teachers thought, or anyone else. In school I read Kant, Marx, Adam Smith, Aristotle, Plato, Sartre, Dostoyevsky, Engles, Freud, Homer, Jefferson... and a host of others. What I'm trying to do here, when I bring up politics, is to make valid, reasoned-out points worthy of discussion.

It's discouraging when the only response I get to a nearly 1,000-word essay is "[i]You'll feel even sicker when Bush, Powell and the rest of the clique stand where they belong, i.e. at La Hague tribunal.[/i]"

That's just one example. It isn't intelligent argument or debate, that's just being an arrogant blowhard. I'm perfectly willing to respect an opposing argument, but not hot air. I suggest backing up your opinions and feelings with hard facts. There are plenty of statistics around to prove anyone's point. Start there. If you want to go further, go ahead and read some articles on [i]The Nation's[/i] website. If you really want to go the extra mile, try looking up the other perspective on [i]National Review[/i].

In short, let's not waste our time posting idiotic phrases and platitudes, okay? You're not going to change my mind -- or anyone else's -- without some sensible train of thought.

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If you ever want to feel like a well-informed type of person, pick up a copy of [i]Foreign Affairs [/i]and read it. Make pencil notes in the margins and underline key passages. It gave my intellectual self-esteem a nice boost.

This month’s issue features an article by Secretary of State Colin Powell, defending the Bush administration’s foreign policy. The phrase “Bush Administration” has come to be identified with all that is evil and wrong with the world, but Powell’s article makes some very good points about the nature of partnership, and brings up some often-overlooked accomplishments made by the current president and company. Powell is bound to defend the administration, being that he’s a major part of it, but if we were to reduce our leadership to a Freudian personality, he’d be the [i]Superego[/i] to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s [i]Id[/i].

A few highlights from his article, entitled: “A Strategy of Partnerships:”

Powell says that it is natural for foreign policy to focus on terrorism: “(T)errorism –potentially linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) – now represents the greatest threat to American lives.” People tend to forget this when they start ranting about civil liberties; Powell tacitly indicates this: “These days, an administration can develop a sound foreign policy strategy, but it can’t get people to acknowledge or understand it,” comparing the situation to the old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

As to the seemingly unflagging criticism of Bush’s foreign policy: “It is an unfailingly effective applause line for critics of any U.S. administration to charge that the president has no vision for the world, that he has no strategy.” This has definitely been true since domestic anti-Americanism became popularized with Noam Chomsky. Critics and commentators are automatically given credibility by decrying the current administration for rampant stupidity. Powell brushes these allegations aside: “President George W. Bush does have a vision of a better world. And he has a strategy for translating that vision into reality. I know – I was present at its creation.”

Let’s take it for granted that Gen. (Ret.) Powell knows more about what the administration is doing than we do, and probably more than Michael Moore does.

A friend of mine emailed me and finished with the comment that George W. Bush is “the worst president since Nixon.” Powell disagrees. “This administration’s public pronouncements… reflect the personality of the president himself, a man who, with great consistency, says what he means and means what he says.”

A consistent criticism of the Bush administration has been the concept of preemption, as outlined in the National Security Strategy of the United States. This has elicited howls and gnashing of teeth from the opposition, but Powell explains it simply and clearly: “If you recognize a clear and present threat that is undeterrable by the means you have at hand, then you must deal with it. You do not wait for it to strike; you do not allow future attacks to happen before you take action.”
Video of victims leaping to their deaths from the Twin Towers during Sept. 11 was eventually banned from television airwaves, which, in retrospect, seems like a mistake. While the images were grisly and violent, it might have done us well to have them burned into our memories a little better. It’s been less than three years since the event, and people are already questioning our motives in striking the Middle East. (For more on the dynamics of al Quaeda in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, see “The Saudi Paradox,” by Michael Scott Duran, in the same issue of [i]Foreign Policy[/i]).

Powell hits the nail on the head when he discusses criticism from “abroad,” which has come from our friends across the Atlantic. “Using their own mottled political histories as a reference point, they have asked what they would do with the power that the United States possesses and have mistakenly projected their own Hobbesian intentions onto our rather more Lockean sensibilities.”

Simply put, Europe fears the ability of the United States to bring war to other nations because, historically speaking, that is exactly what they have done. The difference between what the U.S. is doing now and what the kingdoms and fiefdoms of Europe have done for centuries is the same as the difference between Locke and Hobbes. Europe’s history is largely the account of kingdoms conquering other kingdoms in order to expand their wealth, power and influence.

Times are different now. Foreign relations with nations such as France and Germany, who have ostensibly stood in the way of United States efforts to combat global terrorism, have been mischaracterized to seem like open hostility. “These are differences among friends,” Powell chides. “(NATO) is based so firmly on common interests and values that neither feuding personalities nor occasional divergent perceptions can derail it.” In other words, don’t worry, we’re all adults here.

“Today’s peace will not just take care of itself,” Powell says, addressing the complacency that seems so prevalent in American society. Our administration, however, is not complacent, and Powell states the case firmly:

“Our enlightened self-interest puts us at odds with terrorists, tyrants, and others who wish us ill. From them we seek no advice or comity, and to them we will give no quarter.”

---

Quick and Dirty: I’m sick of this trendy Bush-knocking bullshit.

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I was on staff duty at Division HQ today and Mom called. She had just gotten back from taking fifty-odd kids to a Franciscan retreat in Syracuse, and she was filled with even more Catholic zeal than ever. She asked me if I was praying every day.

Historically I've been pretty good about religion. I've taken it seriously and done a lot of studying in the philosophy and theology of Catholicism, which has led me to believe that the actual tenets of the faith are solid, well-thought-out and reasonable -- which stands in stark contrast to the fuck-ups that are fucking it up these days. From pederast priests to lay-focus-group-therapy sessions, there's very little in the modern practice of Catholicism, as it manifests itself in society, that bears any resemblance to the faith that I studied and grew to respect and love.

However, lately I haven't had a whole lot of time for religion. I've been a bit busy doing push-ups, getting yelled at by sergeants major, balancing writing and managing the newspaper, and sneaking in sleep and fun when I can -- so prayer and Mass have taken a hit, and, truth be told, I haven't missed them too much. I'm thinking of Korea as a religion sabbatical, and when Mom asked me if I was praying the rosary every day, I was honest.

"No," I said.
She was speechless for a while. The conversation was unpleasant, and she basically gave me up for a heathen.
"Say the rosary! You don't have to believe it, just say it!"

I got pissed off and decided to take the offensive.
"Don't antagonize me just because I put a little thought into what I do before I swallow it, hook, line and sinker!" I was almost shouting. "I don't believe in rabbits' feet, either, and I'm not about to start carrying them around!"

This drew silence. For a moment, at least.
"Are you comparing the rosary to rabbits' feet?" Mom asked, her voice lowering into that voice reserved for the damned.

"No, Mom. I'm just talking about the way people should approach systems of belief. I don't think it's a good idea to go around practicing rites that you don't believe in. I'm not going to go around drinking other people's Magic Kool-Aid."

She went off about something. I can't remember what it was, she basically was repeating herself.

I was getting mad. "You realize that I'm not the first person to put some thought into this, right? You familiar with a guy named Aquinas? Maybe Kirkegaard? Or that one fellow, John Paul II? These people have spent years critically analyzing the Catholic faith and tradition, and haven't just swallowed the whole thing just because someone told them to!"

The conversation ended shortly after this. I was out in back of Division headquarters and decided it was an inappropriate place to talk about this in loud tones.

Mom's just not the sort of person that can be troubled with reasoned-out systems. I'll have to call her back and make peace sometime soon, but I'm still pissed that she'd call me from halfway around the world and read me the riot act about not saying my [i]ave Marias[/i] regularly enough.

I just don't have time for religion at the moment.

Sgt. K came and saved me from the jackasses on extra duty. I didn't come off as clean as I thought a while ago; the command screwed me as hard as they possibly could. Anyway, I'm not working today -- instead, I'm going to sit here, listen to Rancid, and screw around on the Internet.

One interesting detail here on Camp Red Cloud is a guy we call "Rocket Man." He's the Korean guy who delivers food from the KATUSA Snack Bar on one of those strange little mopeds. He's a fixture here, just like the sign at the golf course...
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... and the uncooperative dry-cleaners. You'll see him putting back and forth from the barracks or offices to the snack bar, getting off to limp into one building or another with an order of [i]yakimandu[/i] or cheese [i]ramyun[/i]. I'll have to throw a picture of him in if I catch him some time.

Mac and Sgt. K went out on a Recon Leaders' Surviellance Course hike, and in the process of climbing a descending several mountains, Mac broke the big Tamron lens for our Nikon. We got a new lens and spiffed the body up a bit, and the camera's back in shape, which is good news. It's the only decent digital we have in the office.

Got my assignment, at long last: Fort Knox it is. I hear it's in a dry county (we still [i]have[/i] those??), but fortunately that ordinance doesn't apply to post. Maybe the local women will leap at the chance to party on-post. We'll see.

In politics, looks like the "worries" certain parties had over the president's military service were unfounded. One good thing about the military is that personnel records (called "201 Files") are pretty detailed and exhaustive, even if it takes them a while to update them. I guess I can't blame them for looking for something, but it does show a certain desperation on the part of the smear campaigners.

I'm running out of things to say, so I'll quit now and maybe take a nap.... or brew some coffee.... anything to stay here in the office and not be stripping floors and cleaning light fixtures in the company of morons.

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[i]"Just because we have the biggest house on the block doesn’t mean we can’t be a good neighbor."[/i] -- John Kerry

I heard this on the radio the other day, and decided to look the rest of the address up on the 'net. He had lots of stuff to say, but this was the sound-bite that everyone seemed to latch onto.

And it's a great example of the jingoistic, meaningless nonsense that political candidates seem to spew regularly while on the beaten path of the Campaign Trail.

Of course, the metaphor speaks to a huge number of voters, who, living in their middle-class suburban houses, think to themselves, "Yes, that's right. I might have an in-ground pool and redwood patio, but that doesn't mean I don't invite the Joneses over for dinner on Saturdays." We should be good neighbors, everyone thinks, and that should be extended to the way we deal with our international "neighbors" in the global community.

Well, from my slightly different perspective, which happens to be about 20 miles south of the Military Demarcation line that splits the Korean peninsula into north and south, our "neighbors" don't look much like the Joneses, and I wouldn't really want to invite them, or their artillery, over for dinner on Saturday.

Let's try deepening Kerry's patronizing metaphor a bit, shall we? Let's say we didn't live in, say, Bellingham, Washington. Let's instead imagine ourselves in East Los Angeles, or maybe some completely fictitious neighborhood whose residents include a lady whose primary occupation is the upkeep of 17 cats, a couple bat-shit crazy snipers whose only interactions with the rest of the community is to periodically take pot-shots at one of the 17 cats (or perhaps your own family's dog or children), one guy (you're not sure where he lives) who like to mail letter-bombs to your house, the proprietor of a crack hotel (down the street a bit), and several business-types whose only interest is in making money -- particularly yours.

There are, of course, a couple Joneses around too, but they're just as nervous about the rest of the neighborhood as you are.

Oh, one more thing. If we're going to make this analogy work, then we're going to have to make sure each and every resident is armed in some way or another.

We could apply this comparison in a variety of ways, but let's look at how it affects our responsibility to be what Kerry calls "a good neighbor."

Before our proverbial family unit decided to interact in a friendly way with these neighbors of ours, we'd do well to make sure they weren't the guy mailing us letter bombs or shooting at our dog (or that lady's cats). Do you see where I'm going with this?

Another point to bring up here (hopefully without stretching this [i]too[/i] far) is our Community Council... guess who -- the United Nations. The council's able to do some positive stuff with the community -- planting public gardens, organizing can drives to help the poorer residents out... but when it comes to the letter-bomb guy, they can't seem to get their act together.

Okay. I don't want to beat this into the ground; I think that the point has been made without exhaustive exposition. The real moral of the story is that what you hear political candidates say is usually meaningless, and before you jump on some jingoistic bandwagon, take a little time to make sure the catchy little phrase plays out in reality.

I hope other people have instinctively picked up on the inanity of this Kerry sound-bite.

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Well, I managed to stay clear of the jaws of UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) thanks to an error on the part of the people who charged me with a violation of Article 112 (look it up). Yesterday started out scary, but wound up being all right.

Went to [i]Gothika[/i] last night, which I thought was all right, if a little derivative. If you haven't seen it, think of a combination of [i]The Ring[/i], [i]Silence of the Lambs [/i]and [i]The 6th Sense[/i].

The Wednesday after publication is always slow, so I've brought a phone card and the novel Theresa sent for Christmas, "Prey," by Michael Crichton.

What am I down to now? 66 days? I've made all these plans and schemes for when I get home; it's going to be great... but of course, my orders haven't shown up yet, or shown any signs of emerging, but hey -- they'll come. They have to.

Now to find a safe place to sham for the day.

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