Topic: Don't you know there's a war on? (Read 68786 times)

Shinra · « **Reply #540 on:** December 28, 2011, 10:28:37 AM »

Quote from: Doom on December 19, 2011, 05:24:49 PM

I liked all the articles in the news about the US Army leaving in such a hurry that they abandoned thousands of pieces of equipment. The articles tried to play it off as us being so gosh darn nice to the new Iraqi Army. I laughed pretty god damn hard.

We did this during the Gulf war too. My understanding about this is that it's a lot cheaper for us to just leave equipment behind and remake it back in the US than it is to load it all back up into crates and send it back home.

Büge · « **Reply #541 on:** December 28, 2011, 10:35:12 AM »

Quote from: Shinra on December 28, 2011, 10:28:37 AM

Quote from: Doom on December 19, 2011, 05:24:49 PM
I liked all the articles in the news about the US Army leaving in such a hurry that they abandoned thousands of pieces of equipment. The articles tried to play it off as us being so gosh darn nice to the new Iraqi Army. I laughed pretty god damn hard.

We did this during the Gulf war too. My understanding about this is that it's a lot cheaper for us to just leave equipment behind and remake it back in the US than it is to load it all back up into crates and send it back home.

It also "creates jobs."

Mongrel · « **Reply #542 on:** January 08, 2012, 01:13:01 PM »

The supposedly voiceless speak. To the sobering shame of us all.

Quote

Two excellent NTY op-ed pieces today from Guantanamo survivors:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/my-guantanamo-nightmare.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/notes-from-a-guantanamo-survivor.html

Classic · « **Reply #543 on:** January 08, 2012, 03:14:12 PM »

In both, when they first realize they're being handed to Americans, they think, "Ah, it's going to be OK. The Americans are here. They're the good guys."

Ffff.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #544 on:** January 08, 2012, 03:43:17 PM »

Shinra · « **Reply #545 on:** January 09, 2012, 12:09:46 PM »

Quote from: Mongrel on January 08, 2012, 01:13:01 PM

The supposedly voiceless speak. To the sobering shame of us all.

Quote
Two excellent NTY op-ed pieces today from Guantanamo survivors:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/my-guantanamo-nightmare.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/notes-from-a-guantanamo-survivor.html

Quote

One of the documents said American military guards thought I was dangerous because I had prayed during the American national anthem.

I am pretty fucking ashamed that we live in a country where the department of defense takes the gut feeling of roughneck shitkickers as gospel over the joint consensus of one of our strongest allies and our own diplomats that someone is fucking innocent.

Büge · « **Reply #546 on:** January 24, 2012, 03:05:22 PM »

Marine guilty of murdering 24 Iraqi civilians sentenced to three months confinement

Mothra · « **Reply #547 on:** January 24, 2012, 03:35:37 PM »

Quote

"But the fact of the matter is that he has now been totally exonerated of the homicide charges brought against him by the government and the media. For six years he has had his name dragged through the mud. Today, we hope, is the beginning of his redemption," the statement said.

You have got to be shitting me.

Mongrel · « **Reply #548 on:** January 24, 2012, 04:25:28 PM »

They're not War Crimes if you win.

Brentai · « **Reply #549 on:** January 24, 2012, 05:14:34 PM »

He wasn't found guilty of murder because he did not personally murder anyone.

There are still grounds to discharge him dishonorably though.

Thad · « **Reply #550 on:** February 17, 2012, 12:43:12 PM »

Top story on Google News is that the FBI has arrested a guy who was planning to blow up the Capitol.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out it's yet another story where the guy was not actually planning to blow up the Capitol until the FBI entrapped him.

You know, I'm not opposed to the idea of keeping an eye on people who are unstable, potentially dangerous, and prone to spouting violent anti-government rhetoric. But I continue to question whether these guys would have actually done anything if the FBI hadn't approached them pretending to be Al Qaeda and said "Here are some guns and bombs, go nuts."

Thad · « **Reply #551 on:** February 24, 2012, 09:23:30 AM »

Boingboing: two reporters at EFF are suggesting that the two reporters killed in the recent Syria bombing weren't collateral damage, they were the target. And they were tracked using their phones.

Grain of salt for now, but it makes sense -- at least, if you assume whoever gave the order had the thoroughly-mistaken notion that killing western journalists would suppress their message.

Thad · « **Reply #552 on:** February 27, 2012, 12:11:50 PM »

So, okay.

How the fuck could anyone, anywhere, have the thought "Hey, I think it would be a good idea to burn this Koran" enter into his head?

What's that? You didn't know it was a Koran? You thought it was some other book?

Well okay then. Precisely which book did you think you were burning that was a perfectly all right book to burn?

Classic · « **Reply #553 on:** February 27, 2012, 12:35:01 PM »

Because these are people who equate burning flags to burning books and they thought of it as a reciprocal punitive measure?

Thad · « **Reply #554 on:** February 27, 2012, 12:41:36 PM »

Okay.

And they thought that was a good idea?

Brentai · « **Reply #555 on:** February 27, 2012, 01:01:37 PM »

The Korans in question had all sorts of anti-Western messages scrawled in them, and the heads who ordered their disposal believed they were being passed around as a form of viral propoganda. The people in charge of making sure the heads don't make any incredibly bad decisions showed up on the scene too late to stop the heads from making an incredibly bad decision.

Mongrel · « **Reply #556 on:** February 27, 2012, 02:35:23 PM »

Which was the plan, no doubt.

You know, we all know the Taliban and their ilk are actually quite smart in spite of their lack of any sort of "book schoolin'", but damned if that isn't a plan a five year-old could come up with.

Thad · « **Reply #557 on:** February 27, 2012, 04:16:15 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on February 27, 2012, 01:01:37 PM

The Korans in question had all sorts of anti-Western messages scrawled in them, and the heads who ordered their disposal believed they were being passed around as a form of viral propoganda. The people in charge of making sure the heads don't make any incredibly bad decisions showed up on the scene too late to stop the heads from making an incredibly bad decision.

Right. All of which still circles back to my "Who the fuck was so indescribably stupid that he thought burning Korans was a good idea?" question.

I mean, presumably this decision was made by somebody capable of dressing himself and operating a motor vehicle.

I don't know from military codes but honest to Christ I think this should be treated the same as if he'd shot a bunch of his buddies because he forgot to put the safety on. I think it's the equivalent in unbelievably stupid carelessness, and it certainly had the same end result of a bunch of soldiers shot to death because somebody was unbelievably carelessly stupid.

Ziiro · « **Reply #558 on:** February 27, 2012, 04:19:46 PM »

Someone who probably wasn't on on the front or has a hatred of Islam. A lot of the things I read from soldiers that have been to Afghanistan is that one of the first things you have to learn is respect and how to deal with the locals in order to get anything useful out of them.

Thad · « **Reply #559 on:** February 27, 2012, 04:56:44 PM »

Right. But my point is "People get pissed off when you burn their holy book" is one of those things people should not need explained to them.

Stewart made a joke the other night about how silica gel packets say "DO NOT EAT", because we are so stupid that we would if that warning were not there. That is the kind of stupid I think we are talking about here.

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Author Topic: Don't you know there's a war on? (Read 68786 times)