07.28.11

Never having to declare victory has its perks

Posted in War On Terror, Why the World Doesn't Need US at 7:20 am by George Smith

Eternal war-footing and willful blindness to what’s happening on the homefront being two of them. The complete handing over to the military of how the US deals with the world and is perceived as a nation being still another.

Maybe Lady Gaga is famous worldwide. But the ubiquity of Predator drones and camouflage uniforms make them much much bigger.

From the warrior caste:

The top commander of U.S. special operations forces said Wednesday that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida is bloodied and “nearing its end,” but he warned the next generation of militants could keep special operations fighting for a decade to come …

But the four-star admiral warned of the fight to come against what he called al-Qaida 2.0

Does al Qaida actually refer to itself now as 1.x going toward 2.0?

Rhetorical. It’s another fatuous American semantic invention from people who think only in terms of devices, be they digital or real world.

A few one line rebuttals for the one-liner claims in the Associated Press piece:

[With] new leaders like American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, who Olson said understands America better than Americans understand him.

Doubt it. Yeah, every older American whose been living in Yemen for years understands “America.” Righty-right.

Olson said others like al-Awlaki will probably refine their message to appeal to a wider audience …

Not if Inspire magazine and Adam Gadahn are examples. They’re both jokes.

“This idea of being able to wait over the horizon and spring over and chop off heads doesn’t really work,” he said, describing the “yin and yang” of special operations as including capture-and-kill raids as well as long-term engagement with host countries’ militaries.

Then why is that the entire national thrust? And how has propping up toady country leadership with military aid worked out over the last decade?

The latter involves U.S. troops “developing long-term relationships, learning languages, meeting people, studying histories, learning black markets.”

See above. There’s no evidence buying the locals off through the new Peace Corps works. Arab Spring indicates many are pretty much done with thinking highly of us.

The article notes near the end that the next super-leader of special ops will be Bill McRaven, the overall commander of the bin Laden raid.

And where has the dividend of actually disposing of Osama bin Laden gone?

Here at home there was no dividend except for a couple days of cheering. Then it was business as usual. He might as well not been popped at all.

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