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unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
November 7, 2012
Testimony: US soldier knew he killed Afghans
Nov. 7, 2012 4:47 AM ET
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) — Staff Sgt. Robert Bales made a mid-massacre confession, asked for help bleaching his blood-stained clothing and deliberately destroyed his laptop computer, fellow soldiers have testified — statements that prosecutors say show he knew what he was doing the night 16 civilians were slaughtered in two villages in southern Afghanistan.
The remarks, offered by soldiers testifying for the government Monday and Tuesday, could pose a high hurdle for defense lawyers who have indicated that Bales' mental health will be a big part of their case. Testimony continues with several more witnesses Wednesday in a preliminary hearing that is being held to help determine whether the case goes to a court martial.
Bales, a 39-year-old father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the March 11 attack on the villages of Balandi and Alkozai, which counted nine children among its victims.
One of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the attack prompted the U.S. to halt combat operations for days in the face of protests, and military investigators couldn't reach the crime scenes for a month.
Testimony: US soldier (Bales) knew he killed Afghans
http://hosted2.ap.org/txdam/54828a5e8d9d48b7ba8b94ba38a9ef22/Article_2012-11-07-Afghanistan%20Massacre/id-adac6ce92b3a4ba6b2c84e0869042cd6Testimony: US soldier knew he killed Afghans
Nov. 7, 2012 4:47 AM ET
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) — Staff Sgt. Robert Bales made a mid-massacre confession, asked for help bleaching his blood-stained clothing and deliberately destroyed his laptop computer, fellow soldiers have testified — statements that prosecutors say show he knew what he was doing the night 16 civilians were slaughtered in two villages in southern Afghanistan.
The remarks, offered by soldiers testifying for the government Monday and Tuesday, could pose a high hurdle for defense lawyers who have indicated that Bales' mental health will be a big part of their case. Testimony continues with several more witnesses Wednesday in a preliminary hearing that is being held to help determine whether the case goes to a court martial.
Bales, a 39-year-old father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the March 11 attack on the villages of Balandi and Alkozai, which counted nine children among its victims.
One of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the attack prompted the U.S. to halt combat operations for days in the face of protests, and military investigators couldn't reach the crime scenes for a month.
November 6, 2012
Brown Nosing the Banks
by Cenk Uygur | November 5, 2012 - 10:37am
I can't believe that the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren race is still uncomfortably close. Do the people of Massachusetts realize that Scott Brown took $20 billion of taxpayer money and handed it straight to the banks? How could anybody vote for the guy who basically asks the big banks, "What can Brown do for you?"
Brown held Dodd-Frank hostage until he got more concessions for the banks. Businessweek explains all the loopholes he inserted in the bill here. But what's even worse is that he demanded that instead of the banks paying the $20 billion it costs to implement the legislation that the American taxpayer foot the bill instead. Since the good people of Massachusetts put in a Republican instead of a Democrat into Ted Kennedy's old seat, the Republican Senator was able to shift the cost onto TARP instead of the banks. So, he did what a good Republican does -- protect his big donors, in this case, the top banks in the country, at your expense.
&feature=player_embedded#!
Why would anyone in Massachusetts want to make that mistake again? Especially when you have the single best candidate to fight against the abuse of the big banks running against him (that's why they're scared to death of her).
Brown seems like an amenable guy who is an average Joe, but it's all a ruse. His pickup truck was used to carry his daughter's horse before it became a prop for his campaign. Don't let him use it next time to carry all the loot he got from the banks for selling out his vote to them.
Brown Nosing the Banks
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/cenk-uygur/46385/brown-nosing-the-banksBrown Nosing the Banks
by Cenk Uygur | November 5, 2012 - 10:37am
I can't believe that the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren race is still uncomfortably close. Do the people of Massachusetts realize that Scott Brown took $20 billion of taxpayer money and handed it straight to the banks? How could anybody vote for the guy who basically asks the big banks, "What can Brown do for you?"
Brown held Dodd-Frank hostage until he got more concessions for the banks. Businessweek explains all the loopholes he inserted in the bill here. But what's even worse is that he demanded that instead of the banks paying the $20 billion it costs to implement the legislation that the American taxpayer foot the bill instead. Since the good people of Massachusetts put in a Republican instead of a Democrat into Ted Kennedy's old seat, the Republican Senator was able to shift the cost onto TARP instead of the banks. So, he did what a good Republican does -- protect his big donors, in this case, the top banks in the country, at your expense.
&feature=player_embedded#!
Why would anyone in Massachusetts want to make that mistake again? Especially when you have the single best candidate to fight against the abuse of the big banks running against him (that's why they're scared to death of her).
Brown seems like an amenable guy who is an average Joe, but it's all a ruse. His pickup truck was used to carry his daughter's horse before it became a prop for his campaign. Don't let him use it next time to carry all the loot he got from the banks for selling out his vote to them.
November 6, 2012
The American Exception
Le Point, France
By Pierre-Antoine Delhommais
Translated By Amelie Filliatre
25 October 2012
Edited by Molly Rusk
Goldman Sachs employees are ungrateful. Four years ago, they were among the most generous contributors to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. This time around, according to the Wall Street Journal, 75 percent of their donations went to Republican candidate Mitt Romney. And yet they do not have much call to complain about President Obama’s mandate. While it is true that the president called them “fat cats,” he has also allowed them to carry on playing the game at which they excel: pure and unbridled speculation. Goldman Sachs has just announced a third quarter net profit of $1.5 billion and company executives should receive bonuses averaging around $500,000 for the year 2012. “Yes they can.”
Goldman Sachs, then, is as healthy as it is hated, Wall Street is in good shape (up 11 percent since Jan. 1) and the American economy is doing better —at least, much better than that of the Eurozone. But, to be fair, that is not saying much. The unemployment rate, which had reached 10 percent in late 2009, has just gone back down below 8 percent. Credit cards are once again burning holes in the pockets of consumers, whose spirits have perked up. Even the property market, where the subprime virus originated, is recovering.
As a result, while the European GDP will fall 0.2 percent this year, that of the United States will increase by 2.3 percent. This is a much slower rate than before the financial meltdown, but it is enough for Barack Obama to enter the election race as a favorite. It is also enough to induce jealousy in all the European leaders who lost political power because of this crisis, which originated in the United States.
To paraphrase the words of Boris Cyrulnik, the American economy has once again shown its power of resilience, its capacity to rebuild itself after a devastating blow, as it did after the Internet bubble burst. From one blow to another, economists always provide the same explanations: better reactivity of financial policies, the flexibility of the job market and technical innovations associated with the excellence of universities, which attract the best brains on the planet, allowing for substantial gains in productivity.
The American Exception
http://watchingamerica.com/News/181478/the-american-exception/The American Exception
Le Point, France
By Pierre-Antoine Delhommais
Translated By Amelie Filliatre
25 October 2012
Edited by Molly Rusk
Goldman Sachs employees are ungrateful. Four years ago, they were among the most generous contributors to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. This time around, according to the Wall Street Journal, 75 percent of their donations went to Republican candidate Mitt Romney. And yet they do not have much call to complain about President Obama’s mandate. While it is true that the president called them “fat cats,” he has also allowed them to carry on playing the game at which they excel: pure and unbridled speculation. Goldman Sachs has just announced a third quarter net profit of $1.5 billion and company executives should receive bonuses averaging around $500,000 for the year 2012. “Yes they can.”
Goldman Sachs, then, is as healthy as it is hated, Wall Street is in good shape (up 11 percent since Jan. 1) and the American economy is doing better —at least, much better than that of the Eurozone. But, to be fair, that is not saying much. The unemployment rate, which had reached 10 percent in late 2009, has just gone back down below 8 percent. Credit cards are once again burning holes in the pockets of consumers, whose spirits have perked up. Even the property market, where the subprime virus originated, is recovering.
As a result, while the European GDP will fall 0.2 percent this year, that of the United States will increase by 2.3 percent. This is a much slower rate than before the financial meltdown, but it is enough for Barack Obama to enter the election race as a favorite. It is also enough to induce jealousy in all the European leaders who lost political power because of this crisis, which originated in the United States.
To paraphrase the words of Boris Cyrulnik, the American economy has once again shown its power of resilience, its capacity to rebuild itself after a devastating blow, as it did after the Internet bubble burst. From one blow to another, economists always provide the same explanations: better reactivity of financial policies, the flexibility of the job market and technical innovations associated with the excellence of universities, which attract the best brains on the planet, allowing for substantial gains in productivity.
November 6, 2012
Outrage in Okinawa
Published: November 2, 2012
The accusation against two American sailors for the rape of a woman in Okinawa in October has worsened tensions on the island, already inflamed by the recent deployment of the troubled MV-22 Osprey aircraft to the Marine Corps base in the city of Ginowan. Okinawans may be running out of adjectives to express their resentment and anger at being unwilling hosts for more than half of the 50,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.
Many Okinawans believe, with justification, that their views are irrelevant to the Japanese government and the United States, whose geopolitical priorities trump local concerns about jet crashes, noise, environmental destruction and crime. That has not stopped protesters from tirelessly raising objections, most strongly in 1995, when three servicemen gang-raped a schoolgirl, and in September, when tens of thousands demonstrated against the deployment of the Osprey.
One of the latest incidents to prompt outrage was the charging of Seaman Christopher Browning and Petty Officer Third Class Skyler Dozierwalker, accused of sexually assaulting the woman as she was heading home. United States officials apologized and imposed a nighttime curfew. Okinawa’s governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, wants Japan and the United States to revise their Status of Forces Agreement to make it easier to investigate crimes by Americans and to deliver accused service members to the Japanese justice system. (The sailors are in Japanese custody, because local police got to them before the United States did.)
The Defense Department will resist, fearing what it would mean for similar agreements elsewhere. America’s continued military presence in Japan is important to regional stability. But Washington needs to be more responsive to legitimate Okinawan concerns. It should impose stricter limits on its troops’ behavior and more effective training and oversight. And it should move swiftly to lighten its presence on Okinawa, by shifting troops to Guam, Hawaii and elsewhere in Japan. Okinawans will feel safer and less aggrieved only when they believe that Japan and the United States are taking their objections seriously.
NYT OpEd:Outrage in Okinawa
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/opinion/outrage-in-okinawa.htmlOutrage in Okinawa
Published: November 2, 2012
The accusation against two American sailors for the rape of a woman in Okinawa in October has worsened tensions on the island, already inflamed by the recent deployment of the troubled MV-22 Osprey aircraft to the Marine Corps base in the city of Ginowan. Okinawans may be running out of adjectives to express their resentment and anger at being unwilling hosts for more than half of the 50,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.
Many Okinawans believe, with justification, that their views are irrelevant to the Japanese government and the United States, whose geopolitical priorities trump local concerns about jet crashes, noise, environmental destruction and crime. That has not stopped protesters from tirelessly raising objections, most strongly in 1995, when three servicemen gang-raped a schoolgirl, and in September, when tens of thousands demonstrated against the deployment of the Osprey.
One of the latest incidents to prompt outrage was the charging of Seaman Christopher Browning and Petty Officer Third Class Skyler Dozierwalker, accused of sexually assaulting the woman as she was heading home. United States officials apologized and imposed a nighttime curfew. Okinawa’s governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, wants Japan and the United States to revise their Status of Forces Agreement to make it easier to investigate crimes by Americans and to deliver accused service members to the Japanese justice system. (The sailors are in Japanese custody, because local police got to them before the United States did.)
The Defense Department will resist, fearing what it would mean for similar agreements elsewhere. America’s continued military presence in Japan is important to regional stability. But Washington needs to be more responsive to legitimate Okinawan concerns. It should impose stricter limits on its troops’ behavior and more effective training and oversight. And it should move swiftly to lighten its presence on Okinawa, by shifting troops to Guam, Hawaii and elsewhere in Japan. Okinawans will feel safer and less aggrieved only when they believe that Japan and the United States are taking their objections seriously.
November 5, 2012
Thousands in Tokyo protest US deployment of Osprey aircraft amid anger over recent crime
By Associated Press, Published: November 4
TOKYO — Thousands of people have rallied against American deployment of Osprey military aircraft on a southern Japanese island amid escalating anti-U.S. military sentiment following recent crimes.
Protesters gathered Sunday at a Tokyo park demanding removal of 12 MV-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft from Okinawa. Ospreys were deployed in October despite local opposition over safety concerns following two crashes elsewhere.
They chanted, “Ospreys out! Marine Corps out!”
Anger is running high days after a U.S. airman allegedly assaulted a teenage boy on Okinawa, just two weeks after a curfew was imposed on all 52,000 U.S. troops in Japan after the arrest of two Navy sailors in the alleged rape of a local woman.
Thousands in Tokyo protest US deployment of Osprey aircraft amid anger over recent crime
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thousands-in-tokyo-protest-us-deployment-of-osprey-aircraft-amid-anger-over-recent-crime/2012/11/04/3887a522-268c-11e2-ac64-5d52a2c5953e_story.htmlThousands in Tokyo protest US deployment of Osprey aircraft amid anger over recent crime
By Associated Press, Published: November 4
TOKYO — Thousands of people have rallied against American deployment of Osprey military aircraft on a southern Japanese island amid escalating anti-U.S. military sentiment following recent crimes.
Protesters gathered Sunday at a Tokyo park demanding removal of 12 MV-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft from Okinawa. Ospreys were deployed in October despite local opposition over safety concerns following two crashes elsewhere.
They chanted, “Ospreys out! Marine Corps out!”
Anger is running high days after a U.S. airman allegedly assaulted a teenage boy on Okinawa, just two weeks after a curfew was imposed on all 52,000 U.S. troops in Japan after the arrest of two Navy sailors in the alleged rape of a local woman.
November 5, 2012
But Still Takes 4,660 – and $26.8 Billion
New Aircraft Carrier Does More with Less Crew
Released: Nov. 5, 2012
Our newest aircraft carrier requires a smaller crew but still takes big bucks to build. Its total cost, including personnel, is $26.8 billion.
Now under construction, the Gerald R. Ford-class carrier is due to enter service in 2015 with a crew of 4,660 – 500 fewer than older carriers thanks to technology improvements. She will be the nation’s 12th active aircraft carrier; at the height of the Cold War the Navy had as many as 26.
The U.S. Navy fleet in 2012 comprised 287 ships. During the Korean War (1950-53) it was 1,122 ships. See today’s infographic for more facts about the changing profile of the U.S. Navy.
Budget constraints may complicate future additions to the carrier fleet. $26.8 billion is about half the total annual sequestration cut mandated for the Pentagon.
unhappycamper comment: The prior class of aircraft carriers, the Nimitz-class, cost around $4.5 billion dollars. The very last Nimitz-class carrier (USS George H.W. Bush) cost $6.8 billion dollars, with over $2 billion in overtime.
New Aircraft Carrier Does More with Less Crew
http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/New-Aircraft-Carrier-Does-More-with-Less-Crew/But Still Takes 4,660 – and $26.8 Billion
New Aircraft Carrier Does More with Less Crew
Released: Nov. 5, 2012
Our newest aircraft carrier requires a smaller crew but still takes big bucks to build. Its total cost, including personnel, is $26.8 billion.
Now under construction, the Gerald R. Ford-class carrier is due to enter service in 2015 with a crew of 4,660 – 500 fewer than older carriers thanks to technology improvements. She will be the nation’s 12th active aircraft carrier; at the height of the Cold War the Navy had as many as 26.
The U.S. Navy fleet in 2012 comprised 287 ships. During the Korean War (1950-53) it was 1,122 ships. See today’s infographic for more facts about the changing profile of the U.S. Navy.
Budget constraints may complicate future additions to the carrier fleet. $26.8 billion is about half the total annual sequestration cut mandated for the Pentagon.
unhappycamper comment: The prior class of aircraft carriers, the Nimitz-class, cost around $4.5 billion dollars. The very last Nimitz-class carrier (USS George H.W. Bush) cost $6.8 billion dollars, with over $2 billion in overtime.
November 4, 2012
US Air Force struggles with aging fleet
ERIC TALMADGE | November 4, 2012 01:11 AM EST
TOKYO — For decades, the U.S. Air Force has grown accustomed to such superlatives as unrivaled and unbeatable. These days, some of its key combat aircraft are being described with terms like geriatric, or decrepit.
The aging of the U.S. Air Force, a long-simmering topic in defense circles, made a brief appearance in the presidential debates when Republican nominee Mitt Romney cited it as evidence of the decline of U.S. military readiness. His contention that the Navy is the smallest it's been since 1917 got more attention, thanks to President Barack Obama's quip that the Navy also has fewer "horses and bayonets."
But analysts say the Air Force has a real problem, and it will almost certainly get worse no matter who wins Tuesday's election. It was created in part by a lack of urgency in the post-Cold War era, and by design glitches and cost overruns that have delayed attempts to build next-generation aircraft.
Looming budget cuts limit the force's ability to correct itself, they argue, as China's rise as a world power heightens its need to improve. And though the world's most formidable air force never had much use for bayonets, it's got more than its share of warhorses.
US Air Force struggles with aging fleet
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121104/as-america-s-aging-air-force/US Air Force struggles with aging fleet
ERIC TALMADGE | November 4, 2012 01:11 AM EST
TOKYO — For decades, the U.S. Air Force has grown accustomed to such superlatives as unrivaled and unbeatable. These days, some of its key combat aircraft are being described with terms like geriatric, or decrepit.
The aging of the U.S. Air Force, a long-simmering topic in defense circles, made a brief appearance in the presidential debates when Republican nominee Mitt Romney cited it as evidence of the decline of U.S. military readiness. His contention that the Navy is the smallest it's been since 1917 got more attention, thanks to President Barack Obama's quip that the Navy also has fewer "horses and bayonets."
But analysts say the Air Force has a real problem, and it will almost certainly get worse no matter who wins Tuesday's election. It was created in part by a lack of urgency in the post-Cold War era, and by design glitches and cost overruns that have delayed attempts to build next-generation aircraft.
Looming budget cuts limit the force's ability to correct itself, they argue, as China's rise as a world power heightens its need to improve. And though the world's most formidable air force never had much use for bayonets, it's got more than its share of warhorses.
November 4, 2012
Rape and the US Military
We know that at least 30% of military women have been assaulted/raped during active service. We know the lower ranks sometimes have difficulties keeping their dicks in their pants. Their leaders seem to have the same problem.
Google "military rape" or "military rape korea" or "military rape afghanistan" or "military rape (country of your choice)" for more info.
1-star’s Article 32 starts Monday
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/11/army-sinclair-article-32-110212/
1-star’s Article 32 starts Monday
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 2, 2012 14:54:41 EDT
A hearing Monday will help to decide whether a general from Fort Bragg, N.C., will stand trial on charges including forcible sodomy and fraud.
--
Navy removes ship's command after boozy port visit
http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/navy-removes-ship-s-command-after-boozy-port-visit-1.195914
Navy removes ship's command after boozy port visit
The Associated Press
Published: November 3, 2012
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The commander and top officers of a San Diego-based Navy frigate have been relieved of duty after a rowdy, booze-fueled port visit to Vladivostok, Russia.
--
Former IG gets 1-year sentence, dismissal for sexual assault
http://www.stripes.com/news/former-ig-gets-1-year-sentence-dismissal-for-sexual-assault-1.195865
Former IG gets 1-year sentence, dismissal for sexual assault
By Nancy Montgomery
Stars and Stripes
Published: November 3, 2012
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, the former 31st Fighter Wing inspector general and F-16 pilot, was sentenced to a year in jail and dismissed from the Air Force on Saturday after being convicted of aggravated sexual assault.
November 4, 2012
‘OK, Fine. Shoot Him.’ Four Words That Heralded a Decade of Secret US Drone Killings
by Chris Woods
Published on Saturday, November 3, 2012 by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually gets all the credit for the first US drone targeted killing beyond the conventional battlefield.
But it was the military which gave the final go-ahead to kill on November 3 2002.
Lt General Michael DeLong was at Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Florida when news came in that the CIA had found its target. The deputy commander made his way down to the UAV Room, showing live video feeds from a CIA Predator high above Marib province in Yemen.
~snip~
‘Tenet goes “You going to make the call?” And I said, “I’ll make the call.” He says, “This SUV over here is the one that has Ali in it.” I said, “OK, fine.” You know, “Shoot him.” They lined it up and shot it.’
‘OK, Fine. Shoot Him.’ Four Words That Heralded a Decade of Secret US Drone Killings
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/11/03/ok-fine-shoot-him-four-words-that-heralded-a-decade-of-secret-us-drone-killings/‘OK, Fine. Shoot Him.’ Four Words That Heralded a Decade of Secret US Drone Killings
by Chris Woods
Published on Saturday, November 3, 2012 by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually gets all the credit for the first US drone targeted killing beyond the conventional battlefield.
But it was the military which gave the final go-ahead to kill on November 3 2002.
Lt General Michael DeLong was at Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Florida when news came in that the CIA had found its target. The deputy commander made his way down to the UAV Room, showing live video feeds from a CIA Predator high above Marib province in Yemen.
~snip~
‘Tenet goes “You going to make the call?” And I said, “I’ll make the call.” He says, “This SUV over here is the one that has Ali in it.” I said, “OK, fine.” You know, “Shoot him.” They lined it up and shot it.’
November 4, 2012
Vietnam, Afghanistan: War, Karma, and Peace
New America Media / By Andrew Lam
October 30, 2012
Trying to Google news of my homeland, Vietnam, over the last few weeks has not been easy. The headlines that often showed up were about another country, not Vietnam.
~snip~
After the Vietnam War, Americans were caught in the past, haunted by unanswerable questions, confronted with an unhappy ending. So much so that my uncle who fought in the Vietnam War as a pilot for the South Vietnamese army, once observed that, "When Americans talk about Vietnam they really are talking about America." "Americans don't take defeat and bad memories very well. They try to escape them," he said in his funny but bitter way. "They make a habit of blaming small countries for things that happen to the United States. AIDS from Haiti, flu from Hong Kong or Mexico, drugs from Columbia, hurricanes from the Caribbean."
~snip~
Years ago, the poet Robert Bly argued that Americans have yet to perform an ablution over past atrocities. "We're engaged in a vast forgetting mechanism and from the point of view of psychology, we're refusing to eat our grief, refusing to really eat our dark side," Bly told Bill Moyers on public television. "And therefore what Jung says is really terrifying: if you do not absorb the things you have done in your life...then you will have to repeat them."
It may very well be that the tragedy of Vietnam cannot simply be overcome with some supposed military victory but with another tragedy of equal if not greater proportion. It may very well be that a few years from now, when it's all over, the new American tourists can visit the heavily bombed mountains and caves of Tora Bora, where we once thought Osama bin Laden was hiding, to weep at some hole in the ground, thinking about the futility of it all.
Vietnam, Afghanistan: War, Karma, and Peace
http://www.alternet.org/world/vietnam-afghanistan-war-karma-and-peace?paging=offVietnam, Afghanistan: War, Karma, and Peace
New America Media / By Andrew Lam
October 30, 2012
Trying to Google news of my homeland, Vietnam, over the last few weeks has not been easy. The headlines that often showed up were about another country, not Vietnam.
~snip~
After the Vietnam War, Americans were caught in the past, haunted by unanswerable questions, confronted with an unhappy ending. So much so that my uncle who fought in the Vietnam War as a pilot for the South Vietnamese army, once observed that, "When Americans talk about Vietnam they really are talking about America." "Americans don't take defeat and bad memories very well. They try to escape them," he said in his funny but bitter way. "They make a habit of blaming small countries for things that happen to the United States. AIDS from Haiti, flu from Hong Kong or Mexico, drugs from Columbia, hurricanes from the Caribbean."
~snip~
Years ago, the poet Robert Bly argued that Americans have yet to perform an ablution over past atrocities. "We're engaged in a vast forgetting mechanism and from the point of view of psychology, we're refusing to eat our grief, refusing to really eat our dark side," Bly told Bill Moyers on public television. "And therefore what Jung says is really terrifying: if you do not absorb the things you have done in your life...then you will have to repeat them."
It may very well be that the tragedy of Vietnam cannot simply be overcome with some supposed military victory but with another tragedy of equal if not greater proportion. It may very well be that a few years from now, when it's all over, the new American tourists can visit the heavily bombed mountains and caves of Tora Bora, where we once thought Osama bin Laden was hiding, to weep at some hole in the ground, thinking about the futility of it all.
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