1.) Nice discussion (third item) from Patrick Lang about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the significance of rented violence in those places. In Iraq, Lang writes, "our rentals know that we are leaving."
2.) "False positives": Apparently the Colombian government pays cash bonuses to its soldiers for the dead bodies of FARC members, leading some troops to kill random people and dress up the corpses as rebels so they can claim bonus cash. In effect, the government is renting violence from its own soldiers.
3.) Retired Air Force Col.Chet Richards notes a long [old] post from "Fabius Maximus" about the death of the Constitution. Richards frames the discussion in terms of the oath that military officers take: "As officers, we are sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. But what if the Constitution is already dead?" The debate that follows, in the comment threads at both of the linked websites, is not uninteresting, but the post from Fabius Maximus is good stuff, even though I don't agree with all of it. Beyond that, it's interesting to consider the implications: If military officers take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and a significant number come to believe that the Constitution has been (or is being) destroyed by domestic enemies, what should they do about it? What can they do -- that is, what cure could they apply that wouldn't be worse than the disease?
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3 comments:
On point one I am sure our current rentals saw how the Hmong and Montagnard made out after we left Vietnam.
Point 2 That issue works both ways I remember talking to soldiers who did not file contact reports in Iraq because their chain of command had morphed a simple SPOT report into a multiple page painful process so unless it was a major firefight they just did not report it because the paper work was to long.
And on your final point it reminds me of Ben Franklin "Where liberty dwells, there is my country"
Speaking of defending the constitution, I've been wondering if you'd comment on this circus act. If you don't want to, that's fine, too, but just in case you hadn't actually seen it....
That circus act is a circus act. Hilarious what pieces of the wreckage the passengers choose to cling to, once the ship goes down.
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