Arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics....

Even if you win

YOU'RE STILL RETARDED

the thing is,

we're still fighting what the original patriots were fighting...

monied families...royalty, le roi

and them gaining control of government resources to their advantage and to everyone elses' disadvantage...

that is why there are term limits, so one man or family can not _stay_ in so long as to become _the system_

papa bush was in for over 50 years, making friends making connections, little georgie inherited it all, or they inherited him and he gave them the keys to run the country.

that is what royalty does.

they run countries, they use peasants, they kill, murder and asassinate those that don't listen to them...

democracy? right, they believe in that as much as communism

what was McCarthy on about? well what about all the money that was lost to George H.W. Bushes Uncle in Cuba, his holdings in the West Indies trading Co....no small piece of cheese...and the MAFIA had BIG gambling casinos in Cuba

think they lost any money?

Who was George H.W. Bush working with to kill Castro? CIA/MAFIA that seems like a familiar pairing, doesn't it?

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beging against having your civil liberties suspended and your country sold out from under 'neath of you

is the essence of patriotism...

you fought for this country, the soil, and built the companies that are selling your jobs...

this is _your_ land

not some intimidating ahole, that wants to sell you faulty election machines so they don't have to actually get elected...or sell you homophobia as a tactic, or a gawd that _they_ don't believe in...

take it back, make them pay you with what they've stolen, legally confiscate their properties...give them to the General Fund, remove the stain of their putresence upon the soul of this nation...

defeat ugliness of the soul

it needs emphasis ...

the "War on Terror" is the wrong way to think of the conflict we're in ... one of the many thought-mistakes Mr. Bush makes

Mr. Arkin is right on the mark about moving people in and out too quickly also

loose parallel - in tough neighborhoods in the US you can keep a lid on things with community policing - where the cops actually know everybody and visa versa ... in occupied Iraq we're screwing that up for sure

during WW II troops knew they were in for the duration ... maybe we draft everybody who got a tax cut during Mr. Bush's 2 terms, and tell them (me, you, everybody who hasn't suffered) that we're strapping on boots and lugging a gun around the middle east until we make peace and friends ... imagine all our CEO's in full battle dress ... staying in the same location for the duration ...

instead of sticking it to a small handful of our most patriotic, most dedicated citizen-soldiers now stuck there ....

I don't like to do this usually, an won't again, but little Abner, is sort of an irritating, little wheenier...

whiner+smallweenie = wheenier

Negroponte, Honduras and Iraq
by Peter Watt

quoted material:

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The Contras were trained in some of the most gruesome guerrilla war techniques. Some were trained by military officers from Argentina's dirty war who knew nothing about the jungle but plenty about torture and execution. Others were trained in Florida and California while many others, like Honduras' military dictator, General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez, were educated in torture techniques, execution and

combat at the School of the Americas

in Fort Benning, Georgia.

While it was purported by Reagan that the Contras were fighting the evil scourge of communism, referring to them as "freedom fighters," the Contras raped, tortured and terrorised the civilian population throughout the subsequent decade, leaving the destroying the civilian infrastructure, leaving tens of thousands dead and many more displaced.

Negroponte's role in Honduras was crucial as it meant maintaining US dominance in the region. Jeane Kirkpatrick, Negroponte's predecessor at the UN once declared that "Central America is the most important place in the world for the United States today." Maintaining political control of the region meant controlling its vast and rich natural resources. The Sandinistas were beginning to take matters into their own hands and started to redistribute wealth and land in Nicaragua, thus threatening US dominance in the region. Panic in the Reagan administration reached feverish and sometimes surreal levels, with the president declaring that the Sandinistas were on the verge of invading the United States. The real cause for alarm among Reaganite neo-conservatives (including the virulent anti-communist Negroponte) was that the Sandinista revolution would spread throughout El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. It had nothing to do with communism, just as the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with preventing terrorism. More, it was that the economic system the US had maintained in Central America since 1945 was falling apart - it was simply untenable for the impoverished masses who barely had enough to eat. Washington's solution, like its present incarnation in the Middle East, was one of force and overwhelming military power in order to maintain US hegemony. Just as Negroponte acted as the strong arm of US imperialism in Central America in the 1980s he will protect US business and political interests in the Middle East, now the "most important place in the world for the United States today."

While the country was used as the launching ground for the war against Nicaragua, US aid to Honduras increased from 5 to almost $100 million with $200 million given in economic aid. Honduras now received more aid than anywhere else in the region, most of the money ultimately being controlled by the military.

Jack Binns, Negroponte's predecessor as ambassador appointed by Jimmy Carter, complained about the blatant human rights abuses in Honduras and briefed him as he took office.

He later reported that Salvadoran NUNS who fled to Honduras after the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero had been tortured by the Honduran secret police and thrown out of helicopters alive -

a speciality of the Argentine military officers employed in Honduras during Negroponte's stint. One official, Rick Chidester, claims Negroponte ordered him to remove all mention of torture and execution from his report on human rights in Honduras.

During Negroponte's stay in Honduras, human rights violations peaked. The infamous US trained death squad, Batallion 3-16, was notorious for the torture, rape, kidnapping and killing of Honduran dissidents. Hundreds of people disappeared. By the end of the 1980s at least 10,000 were dead, not to mention the conservative estimate of 200,000 deaths in Central America as a result of US intervention. Negroponte, however, claims no knowledge of the human rights abuses the US carried out and funded despite being ambassador at the time. He told CNN, "I think on balance if you look back at what we did, I think a good case can be made that there was actually less suffering in Central America as a result of the actions the United States took than there would have been if we had just folded our arms and done nothing."

Many other Honduran victims of the US led war in Central America ended up at the El Aguacate airstrip, whose creation was supervised by Negroponte, and where dissidents were detained and tortured - 185 corpses were dug up there in 2001.

When George W. Bush appointed Negroponte as US ambassador to the UN, members of Honduran death squads who had previously been granted asylum in the US were deported. It was feared they testify about Negroponte's role in human rights abuses while ambassador to Honduras.

Interestingly, none of this came up in the US and British mainstream media when career journalists heaped praise on Reagan shortly after his death. Somehow, amidst the fawning in mainstream and elite circles it was forgotten that the Reagan administration carried out in Central America one of the worst campaigns of state terrorism of the late 20th century. All of this in the context of the present situation in Iraq - one might expect that the media would pick up on the fact that many of the present incumbents in Washington are those who were responsible for the terror in Central America in the 1980s. John Negroponte's appointment as ambassador, as if it was not clear enough by now, tells something about what Bush et al have in store for Iraq.

I'm recalling that Fort Bragg is a vast acreage, which includes swamps. Magnolias bloom in April. A river runs through it on the way to Cape Fear. The banks are as picturesque as you will find anywhere. It's the home of the Signal Corps, among other training groups and units. I've been at Bragg several times. I was sent to Bragg during Desert Storm.

The above diversionary travelogue harkens me back also to the great huzzahs our military received after that last Gulf War skirmish.

Although there is a great deal of TALK about Iraqui War unrest, it's mainly from the media, especially from our Mr. Arkin. However there are no marches on Washington. No bra or flag burning. No one has set fire to themselves, seeking martyrdom as an end to our current war.

Conclusion: most of us are just trying to pay our taxes, make a little money and hopefully saving enough money for retirement.

I have to conclude, after all the hysteria from Mr. Arkin and similar hand-wringers and foot-stompers, that most of us feel that the 'country's in the very best of hands,' to quote a song title from that great stage musical, "Li'l Abner."

and it's not an event, it's a series of events...

_THIS UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT_

was set up so that the will of the people would be represented. Not the will of a group or family.

I had mentioned earlier that there had been a bush_family presence in the United States Government for well over 55 years...at the Federal level.

One of the reasons that a President may_not hold office for more than 8 years, is that they don't want anyone derailing the democratic process. They had years, centuries of experience dealing with leaders that were miserable examples of human beings.

Our own escape from King George of England occured mostly because he was fighting other battles simultaneously and the ravages of syphillis....sound familiar?

I mentioned that Rumsfeld, Cheyney, Negroponte and several others were nothing more than _part of the family_, that the bushes have established and belong to. This _family_ is international, and belonging to it has has more in common with Royalty than you would like to imagine... Assasinations, control of other countries, court intrigue, managing gossip/propaganda, putting the spin on various family intrigues to make them look quasi-legal, drugs for money, oil_for_economic_control. Acting as_if these actions were for the good of the country, when in fact they are ONLY for the good of the family.

A family that you do not belong to, you may live on the masters lands, but they own the lands, the shops and the buildings that house you...you are prevented from actually having an effect on the world that you build. You are taxed, while their taxes are removed. Witness the attempt to completely remove the estate tax.

Back to basics.

There has been an unbroken FEDERAL connection of the Bush family for more than 50 years...check it out. THIS control of the government by a family is what our system was set up to prevent...the system of checks and balances. This is what must be preserved not the presidents agendae, which you can be assured has nothing to do with patriotism and everything to do with money and favors....

AGAIN: the United States Federal Government has access to the best hardware, intelligence and algorithmic abilities in the world...there is no reason that they couldn't use them, without oversight, for personal gain...drugs for money?noriega/panama/cocaine

IF the president creates/acts_out a disaster with another country's help and says "he can't leave office," don't be surprised. He's already been successful at defeating the aim of the people that founded this country to establish a different sort of government than rule_by_family...and you have helped him by being credulous....

are the soldiers gettting shares in the oil profits?

they should be.

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their lives are what are buying it.

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Secrecy and the Superstate!

Let's see now, we have secret prisons, secret negotiations, secret commanders, secret satellites, secret meetings, secret weapons...

I wonder, what is Mr. Bush's secret?

By the way, who is the current President of the U.S.A. I listened to the second half of the Rush Limbaugh show in my car today.

Given Mr. Bush's repudiation by the Supreme Court today, all the man could talk about was Bill Clinton, and was he exercised about it. If one did not know any better, one would think that Mr. Clinton is still the President. Clinton is still Limbaugh's obsession.

Limbaugh called the occupation in Iraq, Clinton's war...

With regard to the news leak by the NY Times and others, Limbaugh invoked the name of Clinton again..., i.e., The Press would never have done such a thing to Clinton.

Bush's secret Presidency is really about Bill Clinton, I guess! I suppose that Rush feels that the Supreme Court is also a Clinton court!

Back around the time of Vietnam, every officer felt he had to go through jump school like Gavin and Taylor. I think the number of officers running around who were airborne qualified exceeded the planes available to push them out the door. In deed, the 82nd and 101st would have been grounded because of a lack of planes. This ticket punching gets pretty ridiculous.
This is one of the reasons I have favored the CIA for special operations. While they would probably be ex-military, they could have, at least, a regional speciality and languages. With these types of operations, you can't go in there cold and expect to get any results. More than any other miltary campaign, you have to know the ground, the culture, the history, and the people to get results. Punching tickets won't cut it.

That is the way a railroad runs. Most railroad officers move every two years to climb up the ladder. Rank and file go where their told just to keep a career. Moving targets are hard to hit when the "____ " hits the fan. Military Industrial Simplex.

as the air force prepares to eject 40,000 troops and about another 10,000 civilians (on top of the projected BRAC losses) to save money for aircraft upgrades, it's heartwarming to know that at least in some quarters, life goes on.

Heavy rotation makes perfect sense in peacetime. You get massively cross-trained people who are at least casually familiar with more and more parts of the whole picture.

Plus, it helps the morale of peacetime troops (although this sounds more like "morale of the peacetime General staff"), by keeping things interesting, and not finding a niche for a person, and then burying them in it.

It also, perhaps, serves as cover, during wartime, for moving Generals out of posts at which they suck.

I spent 7 years of enlisted time in 3d SFG and this constant rotating of commanders drove me nuts. An officer just starts to figure things out and he's moved on or he never really bothers to try and learn because he knows he'll be gone in a year. Very hard on readiness.

Bill-

You've known the rotation policy for the military since the 70's when you were in the Army. This is nothing new. It didn't make much sense 30 years ago and makes less now. The bigger question is whether or not the constant ticket punching for the "Up or Out" philosphy makes sense. That's what is drinving this rotation stuff.