War

So - simple question: do you think that the US will launch some kind of significant attack against Iran sometime before the elections in November?

I ask because for months this has been the supposed plan - and there are indications that the information coming out of Iraq seems to be setting up justification for taking this action.

Personally, I think that it would be nearly suicidal for us to do so for a whole bunch of reasons. But almost nothing that the Bush Administration might do could surprise me at this point, no matter how stupid.

So, will we, or won't we?

Jim Downey

Our guys out in Iraq don't get the recognition they deserve. Placed in impossible situations, surrounded by a country in which half the population hates your infidel guts, and the other half expects you to do their fighting for them, with impossible goals set by pencil-pushing political fuckwads back in Washington - they still manage to pull it out of the fire and make progress.

Case in point. Our military units in Sadr City have been tasked with helping the Iraqi Army take the lead in the fight against the Iran-trained and equipped "Mahdi Army" Shiite militia. So, when the other shoe drops and the bullets start flying, do the Iraqis step up to the plate?

Well, some of them do. Others? Not so much. They "bravely ran away", leaving a ragged hole in the combined Iraqi/American line for the militia to exploit.

[link] Major Sattar calmly explained that he was leading the remainder of his 80-man company away from the fight. As if to underscore the point, a convoy of Iraqi vehicles piled high with furniture was parked in front of the American position.

Abandoning the stronghold, however, would allow the militias to move in again and seed the road with roadside bombs. Other Iraqi units had stood their ground through several long firefights, and Captain Veath was surprised that the major’s unit was leaving after holding off another militia attack.

“You went through a whole battle and are now removing yourself?” Captain Veath asked incredulously. “Are any of your men dead?”

Major Sattar acknowledged that his unit had several wounded but none killed. But he and other Iraqi soldiers insisted that they were poorly equipped to battle the militias. Iraqi forces, they said, were short of ammunition, had only a few armored vehicles and were up against militia fighters they said were equipped and trained by the Iranians.

“We are not afraid,” the major responded.

He also complained that he had no means to communicate directly with the American troops.

“That is an excuse, and you know it,” Captain Veath shot back. He argued that one of the major’s platoons was situated just 100 yards from some of the American Stryker vehicles and that the two sides had agreed that the Iraqis could send a runner over to the vehicles to ask for help if necessary.

The Iraqi commander returned to his convoy and Captain Veath followed, promising a Stryker escort if the Iraqi soldiers would only return to their positions.

Dozens of excited Iraqi soldiers began to join in the discussion. As tempers flared and voices rose, Sergeant Angulo ordered the company’s soldiers to stay close to Captain Veath.

The Iraqi convoy drove off, and the Americans began to scramble to find a new Iraqi unit to plug the gap.

Look, folks, I wish this damned thing never started. Thanks, President Bush. However, the cold hard facts are that we are in this thing up to our eyeballs. We need to figure out a way to disengage from this war without completely destroying the country of Iraq, leaving it to the tender mercies of the Iranian theocracy. The regular citizens there don't deserve that.

What a clusterfuck.

First of all, let me say that I am fairly sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian people. One of the most amazing and dynamic professors I had in college was this man. However, the conflict between the Israeli's and the Palestinians is a huge mess that effects everyone in the world, directly or indirectly. Until a peaceful settlement can be reached, violence will be the regions main export.

Of course religion does absolutely nothing to help. As a matter of fact, religion is just another issue to divide us, cause more conflict and further complicate issues. That's why I get so upset when I see video's like this:

And here is a longer version.

*The Good*

TooManyTribbles put together an AWESOME video collage of her favorite atheist/free thinking websites. And yes, UTI is in there at about the 2 minute 10 second mark. I had no idea there were so many of us.

*The Bad*

I implore everyone to read John Scalzi's hilarious report on his trip to the Creation Museum. It will make you laugh, cry and shake your head. He also includes a 101 picture photo tour so none of us will ever have to go. It started as a small joke this summer and only got better. Scalzi promised to go the museum if he could raise $250 for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He wound up raising over $5000.

*The Ugly*

So. Would you be at all surprised to find out that over the last 50 years your tax dollars have gone to support such things as remote viewing, spoon bending, even attempts to walk through walls or kill with a thought?

Probably not, if you've been paying attention to what your government has been up to, and the strangeness that surrounds any authoritarian organization such as the US military and (so-called) intelligence agencies. But to see it all nicely wrapped up in three one-hour long programs for the UK Channel 4 is something else altogether. From the Google video site hosting the programs:

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Three years in the making, Jon Ronson’s Crazy Rulers of the World explores the apparent madness at the heart ... all » of US military intelligence.

OK, as noted in another thread, I like things that go boom, things that burn, all that 'rapid oxidization' stuff. Now, remember from your high school chemistry class that fun demonstration (do they still do this these days?) of what happens when you drop a piece of metallic sodium into water? Well, how about dropping 20,000 pounds of the stuff into a lake?

As someone mentioned in the MeFi thread where I came across this, it brings to mind the delightful segment from Brainiac where they played with small amounts of rubidium and cesium. Good times, good times...

Jim Downey

You think you get frustrated when your computer acts up? How do you think the guys who were on the receiving end of 500 rounds of 35mm explosive anti-aircraft fire feel? From Wired's Danger Room blog:

We're not used to thinking of them this way. But many advanced military weapons are essentially robotic -- picking targets out automatically, slewing into position, and waiting only for a human to pull the trigger. Most of the time. Once in a while, though, these machines start firing mysteriously on their own. The South African National Defence Force "is probing whether a software glitch led to an antiaircraft cannon malfunction that killed nine soldiers and seriously injured 14 others during a shooting exercise on Friday."

So, three weeks ago I wrote about the initial reports that the Air Force had managed to lose track of some of its nukes, and accidentally transported them across the country.

Well, the story just keeps getting better. From the Washington Post this past Sunday:

Three weeks after word of the incident leaked to the public, new details obtained by The Washington Post point to security failures at multiple levels in North Dakota and Louisiana, according to interviews with current and former U.S. officials briefed on the initial results of an Air Force investigation of the incident.

The warheads were attached to the plane in Minot without special guard for more than 15 hours, and they remained on the plane in Louisiana for nearly nine hours more before being discovered. In total, the warheads slipped from the Air Force's nuclear safety net for more than a day without anyone's knowledge.

From the AP:

FORT RILEY, Kan. - A soldier who unsuccessfully tried to hold a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing the Defense Department, claiming his right to religious freedom was violated.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges a pattern of practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. It was filed Monday, the 220th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. It names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Maj. Paul Welborne.

According to the filing, Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier assigned to Fort Riley's 97th Military Police Battalion, received permission to distribute flyers around his base in Iraq for a meeting of atheists and non-Christians. When he tried to convene the meeting, Hall claims, Welborne stepped in, threatening to file military charges against Hall and block his reenlistment.

So, Arecibo needs money. Not a lot of money. More than I have. But not a lot of money, as such things go.

Yes, the National Science Foundation has told the folks who run the Arecibo Observatory that they need to come up with outside funding to the tune of half their annual budget, or they will be shut down. How much is this? $4 million. From the news report:

But among astronomers, Arecibo is an icon of hard science. Its instruments have netted a decades-long string of discoveries about the structure and evolution of the universe. Its high-powered radar has mapped in exquisite detail the surfaces and interiors of neighboring planets.

And it is the only facility on the planet able to track asteroids with enough precision to tell which ones might plow into Earth -- a disaster that could cause as many as a billion deaths and that experts say is preventable with enough warning.

OK, you may have already heard about this. But if not, it is my pleasure to introduce yet another right-wing nut who is all for chucking out the Constitution, imposing martial law, and declaring George W. Bush to be President for Life because, see, it's all in the interests of Western Civilization.

And no, I'm not kidding. Here's a taste:

As there appears to be no sensible result of the invasion of Iraq that will be popular with his countrymen other than retreat, President Bush is reviled; he has become another victim of Democracy.

A piece by Melik Kaylan titled "The Last Active Art Gallery in Baghdad" really hits home for me. I've mentioned before that I owned and operated a gallery of fine art for 8 years (for full info, see here), and something about some of the religious intolerance I had to deal with in that capacity.

But nothing like this:

Among the agonies imposed on Baghdad by tormentors in the guise of self-appointed religious enforcers is the proscription of fun. Novelty, convenience, any kind of post-Quranic ease from hardship infuriates them. Ice cream is an abomination, as is mechanized garbage collection, because such delights didn't exist in the time of the prophet. A story is told that last year, on a road overtaken by jihadis, a DVD purveyor was ordered to close because DVDs didn't exist in the time of the prophet. "Neither did the BMW you drove up in," he responded. "When you come back and tell me again on a camel, then I'll listen." They shot him some days later, for his insolence.

So, in this discussion over on dKos this morning, I made the following comment pertaining to the question of whether or not we face the prospect of some kind of civil disintegration in the US, specifically regarding some kind of violence generated by the far Right:

(My paranoia level is rising...) Because this country is a tinderbox, and once some idiot strikes a match, the whole thing could go up in flames around us.

I'm not saying that we have to give in just because some idiots threaten violence. I am saying that we must work in ways that avoid violence. Because as anyone who understands violence will tell you, even if it is justified, once it happens it will change you forever.

To be honest, I'll be astounded if we make it through the next decade without something disasterous happening in this regard. I hope I'm wrong, and will work to do what I can to avoid it - but I fear I'm right.

I was on my way to be the forward guard for our camping trip when I heard a piece on NPR that made my blood boil. It was about how the military was treating soldiers who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems. The official line is that they want to help and treat every soldier with problems. The reality on the ground doesn’t come close to that line.

According to the piece PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) manifests itself in many ways. It can include depression, drug and alcohol abuse, family problems, spousal abuse and problems with authority. One interviewee was the Sergeant Major of the Army who stated that above all the Army was concerned with “good order and discipline” which is pretty standard. He also stated that they would do what they could for the soldier but that “good order and discipline” was the most important thing.

The trouble with this is that in these cases good order and discipline is in direct conflict with the soldier’s and Marine’s state of mental health. So if those soldiers and Marines cross the line they’re disciplined in the standard way. That means, in many cases, that they’re kicked out of the service. Being kicked out of the service means that they’re then cut off from the health care that they need and deserve.

I understand the military’s dilemma. I DO understand the need to maintain good order and discipline and to maintain unit cohesion. However, when a member of the military has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder those members need and deserve care. Kicking them out seems to me to be the most irresponsible thing that the military can do.

If you haven't read this little-known anti-war short written by Twain, take a few moments and go through it. Not only is it pertinent to our current situation with Iraq, it points up the absurdity of Christians praying for victory in war. My understanding is that it is in the public domain, so I am going to post the entire thing (source: Wikisource, though this version matches others freely available).

Jim Downey

******************

The War Prayer
by Mark Twain

One summer while I was in college, a relative in the construction industry got me a job doing hot tar roofing. It was excellent money (union scale), but absolutely miserable work. I had to get up about five in the morning, and drive to the job site, then spend 8 - 10 hours up on a blistering hot roof in East St. Louis, doing all the physically demanding and horrid things one has to do to replace a 'tar' roof on a large commercial building.

My niece is on a rampage over the treatment, or lack thereof, that our Iraq veterans are receiving. She sent me the following email...

http://www.ninaberman.com/index3.php?pag=prt&dir=marine

There are no words to describe these photos. They both break your heart and give you hope.

I hesitated to pass on this link because the photos are so shocking. But this young man and his bride have nothing to be embarrassed about. There are plenty of people in high places who should be ashamed. But these two are not among them.

and I am at a loss for words.

So, today the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Society is moving the "Doomsday Clock" two minutes closer to midnight, to just five minute before 'Doomsday'. From their website:

We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth.

This has nothing to do with being an atheist.

Unless, of course, you want to say that having the ability to learn from observing the reality around you is typically associated with atheists. But I don't see that critical faculty to be solely ours.

Last night's "Special Comment" from Keith Olbermann is about President Bush's recent trip to Vietnam, and the comments that the president made there in regards to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. Go, listen to it. It'll make you wish it could be piped into the Whitehouse for 24 hours a day at loud volume until it penetrates the thick skulls of the idiots who are in charge of this war.

Jim Downey

The United States military Chaplain Corps has had a privileged place in the American military system ever since it was formed in the First World War. Theses are our shamans, our witch doctors, casting chicken bones and invoking the protection of the god of war to protect our warriors.

In recent years, in response to soldiers complaining that their own faith was marginalized or that they were proselytized to, the Chaplains Corps has attempted to transform itself into a more secular organization that provides not only equal-opportunity magical incantations to our soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but also "counseling" in the field of war, and during wartime. Think "Father Mulcahy" from M.A.S.H. Untrained, bigoted "counselors" who have direct and unfettered access to our soldiers at the lowest, most vulnerable points in their lives.

Here's the kicker: We pay for them. You are paying the salary of a person who dismisses you as a hellbound liar. Someone who makes the claim that you aren't really an atheist and an agnostic, but instead just someone who pretends that there isn't a god so that you can go out and sin like crazy without feeling guilty. Someone who states in a smug voice that there are "no atheists in foxholes", like they just made it up on the spot.

Think I'm kidding?

[link] But as a military chaplain, Father Jaramillo ministers to all the soldiers of his unit, regardless of their denomination.

"I know we have soldiers of all persuasions and religious bents," he said in an e-mail to The Leaven, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan. "We have two agnostics, one atheist and one Wiccan listed on the roster. I would bet anything that when push comes to shove, the four of them will come knocking on my door or seeking a higher power for some peace of mind."

The Chaplain Corps will probably never go away. As long as there are religious folks, the majority will force the rest of us to pay for supporting their stone-age superstitions and their own magical shaman. The military shamans will continue to dehumanize and ridicule the atheists in their foxholes, the only sane ones in the bunch. In the long run, there's really not much we can do about it except to complain. Both ours and their numbers are just too small to really make any sort of real difference.

But, it sure rubs me the wrong way every time I hear or read about one of these prancing, deluded witch doctors pontificating about some obscure magic spell - and I realize that I'm paying him to talk nonsense like that.

Yes, I realize that in the big picture, the long view, the Chaplain Corps doesn't really matter much - but as a veteran I can't not speak up when this sort of thing happens. I have too much self respect to stay quiet.