Thursday, July 31, 2008

Someone finally gets it right--Iraq invasion was f*cking stupid


Someone with Whitehouse connections has finally gotten it right about the war in Iraq.


Iraq invasion was f*cking stupid!


David Kilcullen, a counter-terrorism expert from Australia, who is now an adviser to Condoleezza Rice, called the decision to invade Iraq "stupid" -- in fact, he said "f*cking stupid." He goes on to say, "The biggest stupid idea was to invade Iraq in the first place."

Kilcullen's comments are printed by The Washington Independent from a draft copy of A Counterinsurgency Guide for Politicos-Eighth in a Series: The Rise of the Counterinsurgents. This manual is be prepared to help those involved in policy making to have the same kind of understanding that the military does. It is intended for "Cabinet-level" officials and their staffs.

Among the novel concepts included in the manual are:


  • negotiations are a two-way street in counterinsurgency

  • integrate civilian and military agencies into a concerted strategy

  • intervening to support an oppressive, authoritarian or abusive government against an insurgency is extremely problematic

  • it is folly to intervene . . . unless there is a reasonable likelihood that the affected government will cooperate

  • and a really novel idea (at least for the Bush Whitehouse) RESPECT PEOPLE
Since this is draft, one must wonder how much of this will make it into the published version. I seriously doubt that the "f*ucking stupid" comment will survive. Of course many of us started saying this (without the colorful metaphor) before the war and have been saying it continuously for years. Of course, I do not have the slightest doubt that it will be ignored by those who make the decisions.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Crimes Against Nature?

This is a little out of the ordinary for me to address a story like this one, but it raised a red flag. NewsOK.com carried a news story entitled Dog sex tapes lead to Tulsa arrest, charges which tells of a women in Tulsa who was arrested for "crimes against nature" which included beastiality. Specifically she and a friend were charged with performing various sex acts with dogs. Let me state emphatically, that I in no way condone this kind of behavior. My question is,
Why is it against the law?

Why are there even statutes on the books that address this kind of
behavior? Is it repugnant? Yes. Is it disgusting? Yes. Is it
stupid? Yes. Is it unsanitary? Most likely. But is it criminal? I
don't think it should be. But obviously it is in Tulsa. I wonder how
many other cities or states have laws covering "crimes against nature."
Apart from global warming and pollution, how do you commit a crime against
nature?


I was especially disturbed that the Tulsa DA's office was recommending that the dogs be "taken away from the suspects and be put down." They want to kill the dogs because the stupid people had sex with them. What possible reason can they have for doing that? This case has ACLU, SPCA and PETA written all over it.