Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
March 26, 2012
Robert Bales Charged: Military Scrambles To Limit Malaria Drug Just After Afghanistan Massacre
by Mark Benjamin
Posted: 03/25/2012 11:50 pm
WASHINGTON -- Nine days after a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred 17 civilians in Afghanistan, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered a widespread, emergency review of the military’s use of a notorius anti-malaria drug called mefloquine.
Mefloquine, also called Lariam, has severe psychiatric side effects. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, including deaths in the U.S. military. For years the military has used the weekly pill to help prevent malaria among deployed troops.
The U.S. Army nearly dropped use of mefloquine entirely in 2009 because of the dangers, now only using it in limited circumstances, including sometimes in Afghanistan. The 2009 order from the Army said soldiers who have suffered a traumatic brain injury should not be given the drug.
The soldier accused of grisly Afghanistan murders on March 17 of men, women and children, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2010 during his third combat tour. According to New York Times reporting, repeated combat tours also increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.
unhappycamper comment: Why would the DoD use a medication on United States soldiers that is known for "psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations"?
I know you're trying to save a few bucks here and there, but at the risk of our sons and daughters mental health?
Or do you truly not give a fuck?
WTF: Mefloquine . . . . really?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/25/robert-bales-malaria-drug_n_1378671.htmlRobert Bales Charged: Military Scrambles To Limit Malaria Drug Just After Afghanistan Massacre
by Mark Benjamin
Posted: 03/25/2012 11:50 pm
WASHINGTON -- Nine days after a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred 17 civilians in Afghanistan, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered a widespread, emergency review of the military’s use of a notorius anti-malaria drug called mefloquine.
Mefloquine, also called Lariam, has severe psychiatric side effects. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, including deaths in the U.S. military. For years the military has used the weekly pill to help prevent malaria among deployed troops.
The U.S. Army nearly dropped use of mefloquine entirely in 2009 because of the dangers, now only using it in limited circumstances, including sometimes in Afghanistan. The 2009 order from the Army said soldiers who have suffered a traumatic brain injury should not be given the drug.
The soldier accused of grisly Afghanistan murders on March 17 of men, women and children, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2010 during his third combat tour. According to New York Times reporting, repeated combat tours also increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.
unhappycamper comment: Why would the DoD use a medication on United States soldiers that is known for "psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations"?
I know you're trying to save a few bucks here and there, but at the risk of our sons and daughters mental health?
Or do you truly not give a fuck?
March 25, 2012
The aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on Friday.
Navy budget pressures forcing tough moves
By Hugh Lessig, hlessig@dailypress.com | 757-247-7821
6:47 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2012
The Navy wants to slow down construction of two future aircraft carriers at the Newport News shipyard so it can spread out payments to six years. That in itself "is not the end of the world," said Rep. Randy Forbes.
~snip~
Carrier acquisition cycles have lengthened over the years. This latest request, included in the defense budget introduced last month, would delay delivery of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy to 2022. The next carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class, as yet unnamed, would be ready in 2027 instead of 2025.
~snip~
The carrier schedule and the early retirement of cruisers are two separate issues, but they fall in the same harsh category. Both represent how the Navy is juggling money and resources to deal with budget pressures.
The Navy has no plans to reduce its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, and both delayed carriers would remain within required cost caps of $8.1 billion in 2006 dollars, said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman. Also, the later deliveries fit better with the Navy's shipbuilding plan. Delivery of the new JFK in 2022 would better match replacement of the USS Nimitz. The same is true for the 2027-delivered carrier, which is destined to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
unhappycamper comment: Evidently Cate forgot this or is working from another spreadsheet:
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120316/DEFREG02/303160003/U-S-Carrier-Costs-Will-Breach-Cap-Next-Year
Congress in 2008 capped the acquisition cost of the new nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at $11.76 billion. The Government Accountability Office, however, has warned that — if uncontrolled — cost growth on the project could reach as much as $1 billion by 2015.
Does this mean the USS Gerald R. Ford is now going to cost (at least) $13 billion dollars?
(US) Navy budget pressures forcing tough moves
http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-navy-ships-budget-20120323,0,1283223.storyThe aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on Friday.
Navy budget pressures forcing tough moves
By Hugh Lessig, hlessig@dailypress.com | 757-247-7821
6:47 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2012
The Navy wants to slow down construction of two future aircraft carriers at the Newport News shipyard so it can spread out payments to six years. That in itself "is not the end of the world," said Rep. Randy Forbes.
~snip~
Carrier acquisition cycles have lengthened over the years. This latest request, included in the defense budget introduced last month, would delay delivery of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy to 2022. The next carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class, as yet unnamed, would be ready in 2027 instead of 2025.
~snip~
The carrier schedule and the early retirement of cruisers are two separate issues, but they fall in the same harsh category. Both represent how the Navy is juggling money and resources to deal with budget pressures.
The Navy has no plans to reduce its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, and both delayed carriers would remain within required cost caps of $8.1 billion in 2006 dollars, said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman. Also, the later deliveries fit better with the Navy's shipbuilding plan. Delivery of the new JFK in 2022 would better match replacement of the USS Nimitz. The same is true for the 2027-delivered carrier, which is destined to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
unhappycamper comment: Evidently Cate forgot this or is working from another spreadsheet:
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120316/DEFREG02/303160003/U-S-Carrier-Costs-Will-Breach-Cap-Next-Year
Congress in 2008 capped the acquisition cost of the new nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at $11.76 billion. The Government Accountability Office, however, has warned that — if uncontrolled — cost growth on the project could reach as much as $1 billion by 2015.
Does this mean the USS Gerald R. Ford is now going to cost (at least) $13 billion dollars?
March 25, 2012
The Twofold Western Dilemma
By Alberto Negri
Translated By Hourya Herrou
13 March 2012
Edited by Rica Asuncion-Reed
Every war has its turning point. In Bosnia, the Srebrenica massacre forced Americans to intervene. In Kosovo, it was the Racak massacre that triggered the last conflict against Milosevic. The mass murder of Kandahar in Afghanistan and the carnage in Homs in Syria put the following dilemma in front of us: Despite the mistakes made, we cannot leave Kabul, and in Damascus, the West does not move an inch. Moscow and Beijing have repeated that what happened in Libya will not happen in Syria and have prevented any action from being taken, even humanitarian.
The massacre of Homs was announced, although there is still no irrefutable evidence of the regime’s responsibility. However, the video showing tortured women and children is an indescribable horror. The international community and the UN have not concluded anything so far. Neither the government nor the opposition has accepted proposals of a cease-fire or talks. The regime thinks it can stop the revolt, while the rebels hope for help from Arab countries. Instead, they may end up crushed in a civil war the same way Lebanese or Iraqi rebels were. From here, however, we are not able to give a convincing response, whether in Afghanistan or in Syria.
As we had predicted, we ended up in the Afghan trap. The date 2014 to withdraw troops is virtual; we will have to stay, perhaps with military advisers, to prop up Hamid Karzai. Kabul cannot be left to its destiny to repeat the same mistakes of the past. It is necessary to attempt a civil reconstruction; otherwise all that has been done will be to no avail. Here is some information: If in the next 10 years the GDP increase to 12 percent per year, Afghanistan in 2022 will reach the current level of Bangladesh. 30 billion dollars in aid could vanish into thin air. This is a significant amount of money in a country where people live on less than a dollar a day.
The real enemy here, besides the war, is the lack of motivation. This is one of the reasons why some unjustifiable events keep happening, from the offense on corpses by Marines to the burning of the Quran at Bagram Air Base — this last episode being a fit of madness as the commanders know very well, “outpost syndrome” developed due to the isolation, the feeling among those who risk their lives on the field of being disconnected from the reasons that led us to the peaks of the Hindukush. The same happened in recent years in Somalia.
The Twofold Western Dilemma
http://watchingamerica.com/News/149905/the-twofold-western-dilemma/The Twofold Western Dilemma
By Alberto Negri
Translated By Hourya Herrou
13 March 2012
Edited by Rica Asuncion-Reed
Every war has its turning point. In Bosnia, the Srebrenica massacre forced Americans to intervene. In Kosovo, it was the Racak massacre that triggered the last conflict against Milosevic. The mass murder of Kandahar in Afghanistan and the carnage in Homs in Syria put the following dilemma in front of us: Despite the mistakes made, we cannot leave Kabul, and in Damascus, the West does not move an inch. Moscow and Beijing have repeated that what happened in Libya will not happen in Syria and have prevented any action from being taken, even humanitarian.
The massacre of Homs was announced, although there is still no irrefutable evidence of the regime’s responsibility. However, the video showing tortured women and children is an indescribable horror. The international community and the UN have not concluded anything so far. Neither the government nor the opposition has accepted proposals of a cease-fire or talks. The regime thinks it can stop the revolt, while the rebels hope for help from Arab countries. Instead, they may end up crushed in a civil war the same way Lebanese or Iraqi rebels were. From here, however, we are not able to give a convincing response, whether in Afghanistan or in Syria.
As we had predicted, we ended up in the Afghan trap. The date 2014 to withdraw troops is virtual; we will have to stay, perhaps with military advisers, to prop up Hamid Karzai. Kabul cannot be left to its destiny to repeat the same mistakes of the past. It is necessary to attempt a civil reconstruction; otherwise all that has been done will be to no avail. Here is some information: If in the next 10 years the GDP increase to 12 percent per year, Afghanistan in 2022 will reach the current level of Bangladesh. 30 billion dollars in aid could vanish into thin air. This is a significant amount of money in a country where people live on less than a dollar a day.
The real enemy here, besides the war, is the lack of motivation. This is one of the reasons why some unjustifiable events keep happening, from the offense on corpses by Marines to the burning of the Quran at Bagram Air Base — this last episode being a fit of madness as the commanders know very well, “outpost syndrome” developed due to the isolation, the feeling among those who risk their lives on the field of being disconnected from the reasons that led us to the peaks of the Hindukush. The same happened in recent years in Somalia.
March 23, 2012
Afghanistan and the Roman Empire
by Renee Parsons
Published on Friday, March 23, 2012 by Common Dreams
As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stepped off the plane in Afghanistan recently, he accurately summed up the evils of war. Arriving to calm Afghani reaction to the massacre of sixteen civilians in their homes by a U.S. soldier, Panetta said that "war is hell." The Secretary went on to predict that these "incidents are going to take place. This is not the first and probably won't be the last."
In other words, as U.S. military tentacles wrap themselves around the world just as the Roman Empire spread its military dominance from Baghdad to Britain, Panetta was serving notice on the American public that the violence and pattern of disturbing behavior on the part of American troops is less than an aberration but represents an endless war culture that may be expected to continue.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told Meet the Press host David Gregory last week that the 'Taliban are basically decimated to a larger degree" and that 'we are winning." Unfortunately, there was no followup that if the Taliban are decimated and there are virtually no al Qaeda in Afghanistan, what are we fighting for?
Afghani President Hamid Karzai rejected the latest in a series of U.S. apologies that promised a "full investigation," to hold the perpetrator "fully accountable' and all the usual mea culpas explaining that he was 'at the end of the rope.' The latest setback for the U.S. in Afghanistan came after weeks of drone strikes on civilians and Afghani border guards, the burning of the Koran. urinating on corpses and other 'inadvertent' attacks.
unhappycamper comment: The United States is currently paying $500 million dollars a year for the 'Northern Route' that we must use to get supplies in since we droned Pakistani soldiers: http://www.rferl.org/content/countries_scramble_to_be_natos_exit_route_from_afghan_exit_route/24522872.html
Ka ching
Afghanistan and the Roman Empire
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/23-0Afghanistan and the Roman Empire
by Renee Parsons
Published on Friday, March 23, 2012 by Common Dreams
As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stepped off the plane in Afghanistan recently, he accurately summed up the evils of war. Arriving to calm Afghani reaction to the massacre of sixteen civilians in their homes by a U.S. soldier, Panetta said that "war is hell." The Secretary went on to predict that these "incidents are going to take place. This is not the first and probably won't be the last."
In other words, as U.S. military tentacles wrap themselves around the world just as the Roman Empire spread its military dominance from Baghdad to Britain, Panetta was serving notice on the American public that the violence and pattern of disturbing behavior on the part of American troops is less than an aberration but represents an endless war culture that may be expected to continue.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told Meet the Press host David Gregory last week that the 'Taliban are basically decimated to a larger degree" and that 'we are winning." Unfortunately, there was no followup that if the Taliban are decimated and there are virtually no al Qaeda in Afghanistan, what are we fighting for?
Afghani President Hamid Karzai rejected the latest in a series of U.S. apologies that promised a "full investigation," to hold the perpetrator "fully accountable' and all the usual mea culpas explaining that he was 'at the end of the rope.' The latest setback for the U.S. in Afghanistan came after weeks of drone strikes on civilians and Afghani border guards, the burning of the Koran. urinating on corpses and other 'inadvertent' attacks.
unhappycamper comment: The United States is currently paying $500 million dollars a year for the 'Northern Route' that we must use to get supplies in since we droned Pakistani soldiers: http://www.rferl.org/content/countries_scramble_to_be_natos_exit_route_from_afghan_exit_route/24522872.html
Ka ching
March 22, 2012
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, shown in this senior photograph from the Norwood High School 1991 yearbook, is the US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan villagers
War Crimes and the Mythology of 'Bad Apples'
by Robert C. Koehler
Published on Thursday, March 22, 2012 by Common Dreams
~snip~
The media obsession with Bales’ individuality — flawed, perhaps, but heart-breakingly all-American as well (“At Home, Asking How ‘Our Bobby’ Became War Crime Suspect,” ran the New York Times headline) — ignores basic systems psychology, which understands that nobody exists in a vacuum. One person’s aberrant behavior releases the pressure building up in the whole system. In this case, the system is the Army. Could there be something for the media to explore here that would be even more productive than talking to Robert Bales’ childhood neighbor or former principal?
Could there be, for instance, something in the dehumanization of the enemy — a process that makes it possible for soldiers to go against their own nature and take human lives — that results in their own dehumanization as well?
In the midst of the outpouring of news about the Afghan massacre, I started thinking about the extraordinary Winter Soldier hearings held outside Washington, D.C., four years ago. There were four days of testimony on the cruelly dysfunctional war on terror. Two panels were devoted to the topic “Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy.” The panelists talked about how they learned contempt and disgust for all Iraqis and how it manifested on the ground in Iraq, where Robert Bales served three tours.
~snip~
The time has come to challenge the military at the level of its reason for being. The time has come to add up its suicides, its war crimes and the rest of its horrific legacy. How long can it survive and honest accounting?
War Crimes and the Mythology of 'Bad Apples'
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/22-2Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, shown in this senior photograph from the Norwood High School 1991 yearbook, is the US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan villagers
War Crimes and the Mythology of 'Bad Apples'
by Robert C. Koehler
Published on Thursday, March 22, 2012 by Common Dreams
~snip~
The media obsession with Bales’ individuality — flawed, perhaps, but heart-breakingly all-American as well (“At Home, Asking How ‘Our Bobby’ Became War Crime Suspect,” ran the New York Times headline) — ignores basic systems psychology, which understands that nobody exists in a vacuum. One person’s aberrant behavior releases the pressure building up in the whole system. In this case, the system is the Army. Could there be something for the media to explore here that would be even more productive than talking to Robert Bales’ childhood neighbor or former principal?
Could there be, for instance, something in the dehumanization of the enemy — a process that makes it possible for soldiers to go against their own nature and take human lives — that results in their own dehumanization as well?
In the midst of the outpouring of news about the Afghan massacre, I started thinking about the extraordinary Winter Soldier hearings held outside Washington, D.C., four years ago. There were four days of testimony on the cruelly dysfunctional war on terror. Two panels were devoted to the topic “Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy.” The panelists talked about how they learned contempt and disgust for all Iraqis and how it manifested on the ground in Iraq, where Robert Bales served three tours.
~snip~
The time has come to challenge the military at the level of its reason for being. The time has come to add up its suicides, its war crimes and the rest of its horrific legacy. How long can it survive and honest accounting?
March 22, 2012
Food fight: More cost overruns, delays and uncertainty for F-35
www.dodbuzz.com/2012/03/20/more-cost-overruns-delays-and-uncertainty-for-f-35/
More cost overruns, delays and uncertainty for F-35
By Philip Ewing Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 6:11 pm
Cost overruns for the first batches of F-35 Lightning IIs total more than $1 billion, Congress’ watchdog agency said Tuesday, in the latest report to detail the woes of the world’s largest defense program.
unhappycamper comment: It appears there's a serious food fight going on at DoD Buzz. Read the comments.
Hell, read everything over there and the comments.
p.s. - That $1 billion they're talking about is for 63, count 'em, 63 F-35s.
March 22, 2012
Military science program OK'd at Robert Smalls, other school board news
Posted by rheaton at 12:28 pm, Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
Seventh- and eighth-graders at Robert Smalls Middle School will be able to participate in a new military science program next year.
The program, which was first presented at the Beaufort County Board of Education's meeting on March 6, was approved at Tuesday's meeting on a unanimous vote. Board member Steven Morello was absent.
We first wrote about the program last week. Denise Smith, the principal at Robert Smalls Middle, said she hopes the program will instill leadership skills in her students and teach them that they are in control of their lives and their decisions. She's also hopeful the program will help ease the transition for students to Battery Creek High School. That school has a large JROTC program — about 240 in 760 students are members.
unhappycamper comment: Anything to avoid a draft. after all, we will need boots on the ground everywhere to support and 'defend' the empire.
Get 'em when they're young
http://blogs.islandpacket.com/41368Military science program OK'd at Robert Smalls, other school board news
Posted by rheaton at 12:28 pm, Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
Seventh- and eighth-graders at Robert Smalls Middle School will be able to participate in a new military science program next year.
The program, which was first presented at the Beaufort County Board of Education's meeting on March 6, was approved at Tuesday's meeting on a unanimous vote. Board member Steven Morello was absent.
We first wrote about the program last week. Denise Smith, the principal at Robert Smalls Middle, said she hopes the program will instill leadership skills in her students and teach them that they are in control of their lives and their decisions. She's also hopeful the program will help ease the transition for students to Battery Creek High School. That school has a large JROTC program — about 240 in 760 students are members.
unhappycamper comment: Anything to avoid a draft. after all, we will need boots on the ground everywhere to support and 'defend' the empire.
March 22, 2012
Men stand next to blood stains inside a home where witnesses say Afghans were killed by a US soldier in Panjwai, Kandahar province
Madness is not the reason for Afghan massacre
By Robert Fisk
Monday, 19 March 2012
~snip~
The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.
This was the same nonsense used to describe the murderous US soldiers who ran amok in the Iraqi town of Haditha. It was the same word used about Israeli soldier Baruch Goldstein who massacred 25 Palestinians in Hebron – something I pointed out in this paper only hours before the staff sergeant became suddenly "deranged" in Kandahar province.
"Apparently deranged", "probably deranged", journalists announced, a soldier who "might have suffered some kind of breakdown" (The Guardian), a "rogue US soldier" (Financial Times) whose "rampage" (The New York Times) was "doubtless (sic) perpetrated in an act of madness" (Le Figaro). Really? Are we supposed to believe this stuff? Surely, if he was entirely deranged, our staff sergeant would have killed 16 of his fellow Americans. He would have slaughtered his mates and then set fire to their bodies. But, no, he didn't kill Americans. He chose to kill Afghans. There was a choice involved. So why did he kill Afghans? We learned yesterday that the soldier had recently seen one of his mates with his legs blown off. But so what?
The Afghan narrative has been curiously lobotomised – censored, even – by those who have been trying to explain this appalling massacre in Kandahar. They remembered the Koran burnings – when American troops in Bagram chucked Korans on a bonfire – and the deaths of six Nato soldiers, two of them Americans, which followed. But blow me down if they didn't forget – and this applies to every single report on the latest killings – a remarkable and highly significant statement from the US army's top commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, exactly 22 days ago. Indeed, it was so unusual a statement that I clipped the report of Allen's words from my morning paper and placed it inside my briefcase for future reference.
Madness is not the reason for Afghan massacre
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/madness-is-not-the-reason-for-afghan-massacre-16132942.htmlMen stand next to blood stains inside a home where witnesses say Afghans were killed by a US soldier in Panjwai, Kandahar province
Madness is not the reason for Afghan massacre
By Robert Fisk
Monday, 19 March 2012
~snip~
The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.
This was the same nonsense used to describe the murderous US soldiers who ran amok in the Iraqi town of Haditha. It was the same word used about Israeli soldier Baruch Goldstein who massacred 25 Palestinians in Hebron – something I pointed out in this paper only hours before the staff sergeant became suddenly "deranged" in Kandahar province.
"Apparently deranged", "probably deranged", journalists announced, a soldier who "might have suffered some kind of breakdown" (The Guardian), a "rogue US soldier" (Financial Times) whose "rampage" (The New York Times) was "doubtless (sic) perpetrated in an act of madness" (Le Figaro). Really? Are we supposed to believe this stuff? Surely, if he was entirely deranged, our staff sergeant would have killed 16 of his fellow Americans. He would have slaughtered his mates and then set fire to their bodies. But, no, he didn't kill Americans. He chose to kill Afghans. There was a choice involved. So why did he kill Afghans? We learned yesterday that the soldier had recently seen one of his mates with his legs blown off. But so what?
The Afghan narrative has been curiously lobotomised – censored, even – by those who have been trying to explain this appalling massacre in Kandahar. They remembered the Koran burnings – when American troops in Bagram chucked Korans on a bonfire – and the deaths of six Nato soldiers, two of them Americans, which followed. But blow me down if they didn't forget – and this applies to every single report on the latest killings – a remarkable and highly significant statement from the US army's top commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, exactly 22 days ago. Indeed, it was so unusual a statement that I clipped the report of Allen's words from my morning paper and placed it inside my briefcase for future reference.
March 21, 2012
Sure is a beauty, eh? And only $285,000.
Standing Up for Peace
Monday, 19 March 2012 04:23 By Jim Hightower, OtherWords | Op-Ed
During a recent city council meeting, the mayor of Keene, New Hampshire leaned over to a council member and whispered excitedly: "We're going to have our own tank."
Yes, the tank (or, more specifically, the "armored personnel vehicle"
is the latest must-have toy for mayors and police departments. Even in this picture-perfect and tranquil New England town of about 23,000 residents, officials hurl common sense to the wind at the very thought of having such a cool ride parked in front of town hall. Maybe they'll even get to drive it in the next 4th of July parade! Never mind that Keene has no crime that would warrant rolling out a tank.
Nonetheless, thanks to such richly funded boondoggles as the "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism," the federal government is throwing money at cities and states to militarize their various police forces. Thus, Keene was granted $285,000 by the Department of Homeland Security to buy its very own "Bearcat," an eight-ton combat vehicle.
Of course, corporations that peddle such pricey hardware testily insist that Keene needs a tank. A sales executive for Lenco Industries, which makes the Bearcat, snapped to an inquiring reporter: "I don't think there's any place in the country where you can say, 'That isn't a likely terrorist target.' Wouldn't you rather be prepared?"
Standing Up for Peace
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/7333-standing-up-for-peaceSure is a beauty, eh? And only $285,000.
Standing Up for Peace
Monday, 19 March 2012 04:23 By Jim Hightower, OtherWords | Op-Ed
During a recent city council meeting, the mayor of Keene, New Hampshire leaned over to a council member and whispered excitedly: "We're going to have our own tank."
Yes, the tank (or, more specifically, the "armored personnel vehicle"
is the latest must-have toy for mayors and police departments. Even in this picture-perfect and tranquil New England town of about 23,000 residents, officials hurl common sense to the wind at the very thought of having such a cool ride parked in front of town hall. Maybe they'll even get to drive it in the next 4th of July parade! Never mind that Keene has no crime that would warrant rolling out a tank.
Nonetheless, thanks to such richly funded boondoggles as the "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism," the federal government is throwing money at cities and states to militarize their various police forces. Thus, Keene was granted $285,000 by the Department of Homeland Security to buy its very own "Bearcat," an eight-ton combat vehicle.
Of course, corporations that peddle such pricey hardware testily insist that Keene needs a tank. A sales executive for Lenco Industries, which makes the Bearcat, snapped to an inquiring reporter: "I don't think there's any place in the country where you can say, 'That isn't a likely terrorist target.' Wouldn't you rather be prepared?"
March 21, 2012
Salaries of police officers not paid in Nuristan province
By Ghanizada - Wed Mar 21, 4:08 pm
Hundreds of Afghan national police service members have not received their monthly wages during the past five months in eastern Nuristan province, local officials said.
The main reason behind the delay to pay the Afghan police forces in this province is unknown and the Afghan officials vowed to start an investigation in this regard.
A number of the Afghan police service members who have not received their salaries said they are facing critical financial problems and said that they will be forced to leave their jobs if they do not receive their monthly wages.
This comes as there are mounting concerns over the growing influence of the Taliban militants in eastern Nuristan province.
--
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quagmire
quag·mire
noun \ˈkwag-ˌmī
-ə r, ˈkwäg-\
Definition of QUAGMIRE
1
: soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2
: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament
See quagmire defined for English-language learners »
See quagmire defined for kids »
Examples of QUAGMIRE
<the party was once again facing its quadrennial quagmire: the candidate sufficiently liberal to win the nomination would be too liberal for the general election>
<a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire>
A Girl of the Limberlost is a Cinderella story whose wicked stepmother, in an interesting twist, is the heroine's real mother. She is a crazy person, deranged by grief for a husband who was sucked into a quagmire before her eyes when she was pregnant with Elnora. —Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books, 15 Jan. 2009
http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quagmire
quagmire
quagmire
noun
1
a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <the party was once again facing its quadrennial quagmire: the candidate sufficiently liberal to win the nomination would be too liberal for the general election>
Synonyms bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp
Related Words difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait
2
something that catches and holds <a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire>
Synonyms entanglement, mesh(es), morass, net, noose, quagmire, quicksand, snare, tanglement, toil(s), trap
Related Words knot, snarl, tangle; cat's cradle, labyrinth, maze; cobweb, spiderweb
Another Clusterfuck in Afghanistan
Salaries of police officers not paid in Nuristan province
By Ghanizada - Wed Mar 21, 4:08 pm
Hundreds of Afghan national police service members have not received their monthly wages during the past five months in eastern Nuristan province, local officials said.
The main reason behind the delay to pay the Afghan police forces in this province is unknown and the Afghan officials vowed to start an investigation in this regard.
A number of the Afghan police service members who have not received their salaries said they are facing critical financial problems and said that they will be forced to leave their jobs if they do not receive their monthly wages.
This comes as there are mounting concerns over the growing influence of the Taliban militants in eastern Nuristan province.
--
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quagmire
quag·mire
noun \ˈkwag-ˌmī
-ə r, ˈkwäg-\
Definition of QUAGMIRE
1
: soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2
: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament
See quagmire defined for English-language learners »
See quagmire defined for kids »
Examples of QUAGMIRE
<the party was once again facing its quadrennial quagmire: the candidate sufficiently liberal to win the nomination would be too liberal for the general election>
<a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire>
A Girl of the Limberlost is a Cinderella story whose wicked stepmother, in an interesting twist, is the heroine's real mother. She is a crazy person, deranged by grief for a husband who was sucked into a quagmire before her eyes when she was pregnant with Elnora. —Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books, 15 Jan. 2009
http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quagmire
quagmire
quagmire
noun
1
a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <the party was once again facing its quadrennial quagmire: the candidate sufficiently liberal to win the nomination would be too liberal for the general election>
Synonyms bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp
Related Words difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait
2
something that catches and holds <a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire>
Synonyms entanglement, mesh(es), morass, net, noose, quagmire, quicksand, snare, tanglement, toil(s), trap
Related Words knot, snarl, tangle; cat's cradle, labyrinth, maze; cobweb, spiderweb
Profile Information
Member since: Wed Mar 16, 2005, 11:12 AMNumber of posts: 60,364
