Category Archives: General Chaos

Administrivia, General Chaos

News blackout

I am going to commit myself to a total news blackout for the rest of the day today; I'm starting to get ill over all this. There's just a little too much personal experience behind me to detach myself from the events of the day; I can identify a little too closely with the Marines in al-Nasirya, having served with Marines aboard ship and having done some mock-urban assaults at Camp Pendleton a lifetime ago. The scenes on the television have brought back some very, very vivid memories, and I need to turn off the source of the bad stimuli.

It would also help if I didn't have Jimi Hendrix music playing.

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General Chaos, politics

The Devil You Know

It appears, fair readers, that the Bush administration may have overestimated dissatisfaction with Saddam in Iraq. They've forgotten the old maxim about sticking with the devil you know; people prefer to be ruled badly by their own than even well by others. Just ask the people on the streets of any US territory (St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Guam) and you'll find resentment alongside prosperity; and we've “owned” those places for a long time now.

We seem to have forgotten the real lessons of Vietnam, among them:

1) When you need to distinguish between friendly civilians and hostile militia mingled with civilians to accomplish your mission, you're already hosed.

2) When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.

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