L. Reichard White - Antiwar.com Blog

ANOTHER U.S. washout?

The Obama Administration has been catching choreographed flack — from the militaryindustrialcongressional complex — ever since it announced a now wimped down withdraw from Afghanistan beginning no later than July, 2011:

Gen. James Conway: "In terms of the July 11 issue …In some ways, we think, right now, it’s probably giving our enemy sustenance. We think that he [Taliban fighters] may be saying to himself… ‘Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long.’" –Top US Marine: Withdrawal Deadline Boosting Taliban Morale

What the Taliban fighters are REALLY thinking:

"No amount of U.S. pressure would ever have stopped us."

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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The Fog of War

"We were fighting for our independence and we would fight to the last man and we were determined to do so and no amount of bombing, no amount of U.S. pressure would ever have stopped us." –Vietnam Foreign Minister Thieu to Vietnam era U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The Fog of War

The "ground truth" – – –

Col. Douglas Macgregor: "The entire COIN strategy [the COunterINsurgency strategy engineered by Petraeus and McCrystal et.al.] is a fraud perpetuated on the American people," says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. "The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense." —The Runaway General, Stanley McChrystal By Michael Hastings, Rolling Stone, Jun 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT

The only winner? Our Childrens’ Children’s War.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki: The inside story — again

At 8:16 on the morning of August 6, 1945, the world got a glimpse of its own mortality. At that moment, the city of Hiroshima was obliterated by a fireball that sent waves of searing heat, then a deafening concussion, across the landscape. Three days later, a second bomb hit Nagasaki. … [President Dwight D.] Eisenhower said in 1963 "It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

… Besides the Manhattan Project’s internal momentum was an external motive. Its leaders had to justify the $2 billion ($26 billion in today’s dollars) expense to Congress and the public… Byrnes…warned Roosevelt that political scandal would follow if it [the atomic bomb] was not used. … "How would you get Congress to appropriate money for atomic energy research [after the war] if you do not show results for the money which has been spent already?" …the U.S. had produced two types of bombs–one using uranium, the other plutonium. Whenever anyone suggested that the moment the bomb was dropped the war would be over, [bureaucrat] Groves countered, "Not until we drop two bombs on Japan." As [historian] Goldberg explains… "One bomb justified Oak Ridge, the second justified Hanford." Hiroshima was hit with the uranium bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy"; the plutonium bomb, "Fat Man," was used against Nagasaki.

From Why We Dropped The Bomb By William Lanouette, CIVILIZATION, The Magazine of the Library of Congress, January/February 1995

It’s hard for Americans who identify with the U.S. Government to accept the idea that that organization could have engaged in such horrendous acts – twice in three days – without pristine motives.

Here’s what Vietnam era U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara – who was part of Gen. Curtis LeMay’s command when the bombs were dropped – thought about it:

McNamara: "He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals."

It seems things haven’t changed much, doesn’t it?

Somali pirate wannabes?

Earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu once again claimed that when they attacked the Mavi Marmara peace convoy on May 31 in international waters, the high-seas Israeli pirates — euphemistically called "commandos" — were acting in self-defense. The Israeli Pirates murdered at least 19, wounded dozens more, and "arrested" (kidnapped) many others.

By Mr. Netanyahu’s interesting logic, when a tanker crew resists Somali pirates, the pirates would claim they were justified in murdering, wounding, and/or kidnapping the tanker crew because the pirates — not the crew — were acting in self-defense.

Similarly, when a homeowner resists home invaders, the invaders were justified in killing, wounding, and/or kidnapping the homeowner and his family and guests because the home invaders — not the homeowner — were acting in self-defense.

This flawed and self-serving reversal of logic is called "blaming the victim" and seems to be a favorite — if disgusting — ploy regularly invoked by Israeli Government spokes-people.

The REAL question is:

"Why do representatives of the Israeli Government regularly get away with such obviously flawed and self-serving arguments, unchallenged, in front of God, U.S. Main Stream Media, and the whole world?"

And, yes, of course the Israelis have the right to defend themselves – – – when they don’t use piracy, home invasion, etc. But so do the Palestinians.

Afghanistan bottom-line

“The entire COIN strategy [the COunterINsurgency strategy engineered by Petraeus and McCrystal et.al.] is a fraud perpetuated on the American people,” says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. “The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.” –The Runaway General, Stanley McChrystal By Michael Hastings, Rolling Stone, Jun 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT