By all accounts I was a failure of the public education system in Chicago. My class rank was something like 152 out of 154 and I had to attend 4 years of summer school despite starting high school 2 years earlier than most. It wasn't really for a lack of ability. I eventually did quite well in college and the juxtaposition of my dismal grades with my test scores were always a source of contention with my teachers. Obviously there were several factors that contributed to this later on in my high school career but the reality was I had given up on school a long time prior.
I actually remember when everything went down hill. It was the second grade... stay with me here..
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Following up
Subsequent to my last post my friend has had a version of her letter posted on Foreign Policy's blog. The link can be found here: http://afpak.fo
After posting my last post her and I had a very interesting exchange regarding the nature the place of emotions in things like this. We were discussing whether or not it was worthwhile to tone down our response to these types of things. I was suggesting that sometimes it may it is necessary to tone down your emotions in order to get your point across. Her response was something like, well not all of us are as emotionless as you. Somewhat inadvertently this discussion sent me down an introspective trail that I hadn't really intended to go down. I've written down some of my thoughts on it after the jump.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Perspective
A while back, when I was getting ready to go to Iraq and when I went to school, a big topic of discussion was whether or not we were able to get an accurate reflection of what people really thought about what we were doing in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I haven't really seen it discussed a lot lately and I'm not sure why. It could be because the international uproar over our engagement has died down or maybe it's just not as relevant as we've changed our tactics for dealing with the populace.
Yet, it's still something I often consider as we talk about whether or not we can succeed in places like this. When I first started to study the social sciences I was incredulous at how disconnected and utterly worthless a lot of the discussions were on some of the key issues facing the problems I grew up experiences. Bottom line: Inner city schools suck and paying teachers an extra 3 grand is not going to change that. So, I often wonder how skewed our perspectives are when we talk about bringing stability to places like Kandahar.
I'm writing this because I got an interesting letter from a friend of mine from Kashmir. She talks about the ongoing situation in Kashmir and one of the things that jumped out at me is how things are portrayed in the local media and how skewed some of the perspectives of people involved in the conflict are. I obviously can't attest to the veracity of the letter and while I'm sure there is some level of bias to it, I wouldn't even know where to begin picking it out. So I present it here in its unadultered form with the caveat being that none of these are my thoughts and definitely not that of the United States Government:
John McCain comes to visit
When you work for the State Department one of your biggest responsibilities is to handle visits from high ranking officials who are interested in what is going on in whatever region of the world you happen to be in. In peace time these types of visits can be career makers or breakers. When I was in Karachi I was flown up to Lahore for an entire week to staff the visit of Secretary Clinton to Pakistan. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Here's how the typical exchange went:
Overstressed Staffer: Do you think we have these chairs in the right place?!?
Me: I don't know. It's a conference table? Actually, I don't really give a shit. Feel free to move them however you want. I'll be in the shade.
As you can imagine I enjoy these things immensely and don't avoid them like the plague at all.
Yea. So, aside from high level official visits there are can also be CODELS or Congressional delegations. This is when policy makers from Washington visit a particular place to get more information about the impacts of a strategy or a particular policy that we my have. You can imagine that Kandahar has suddenly become a very popular place. The new counter insurgency put forward by McChrystal predicates success on making demonstrable progress in Kandahar. It's the second largest population center in Afghanistan and the "Spiritual home" of the Taliban. In the midst of the new emphasis on Kandahar, we're in the process of transitioning from a Canadian led engagement to a US led one. I'll talk a bit more about this later, but needless to say everything is coming to a head here. Article on McCain's trip visit after the jump.
Regardless of whether we succeed or fail it's likely that the politicians will be jockying for to place blame or claim credit and they'll all need to prove that they know what they're talking about by making a visit. So, I can only imagine who else will be stopping in over the next few weeks/months. This week we had John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham come through for a visit. Should be interesting. Article on the McCain visit after the jump.
Overstressed Staffer: Do you think we have these chairs in the right place?!?
Me: I don't know. It's a conference table? Actually, I don't really give a shit. Feel free to move them however you want. I'll be in the shade.
As you can imagine I enjoy these things immensely and don't avoid them like the plague at all.
Yea. So, aside from high level official visits there are can also be CODELS or Congressional delegations. This is when policy makers from Washington visit a particular place to get more information about the impacts of a strategy or a particular policy that we my have. You can imagine that Kandahar has suddenly become a very popular place. The new counter insurgency put forward by McChrystal predicates success on making demonstrable progress in Kandahar. It's the second largest population center in Afghanistan and the "Spiritual home" of the Taliban. In the midst of the new emphasis on Kandahar, we're in the process of transitioning from a Canadian led engagement to a US led one. I'll talk a bit more about this later, but needless to say everything is coming to a head here. Article on McCain's trip visit after the jump.
Regardless of whether we succeed or fail it's likely that the politicians will be jockying for to place blame or claim credit and they'll all need to prove that they know what they're talking about by making a visit. So, I can only imagine who else will be stopping in over the next few weeks/months. This week we had John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham come through for a visit. Should be interesting. Article on the McCain visit after the jump.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
So what brings you out here?
I was having lunch with an older member of the PRT. He's a guy who in all reality has no business being here because he's done enough in his life that he probably doesn't have to worry about his legacy. Yet, here he is. I was sitting there wondering what would bring him out here when he caught me off guard by asking the same question.
Him: So what brings you out here? I'm sure you could be doing something else back home.
Me: Uhh..I don' t know. I guess it just seems like the place to be.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Canada Day!
So, apparently our friendly neighbors to the north celebrate their national day about the same time we do. Who knew? I didn't. Apparently that's offensive or something. Anyhoo. It was a good as time as any for the Canadians to celebrate monthly "Beer call".
One day a month every Canadian soldier and civilian gets "exactly" two beers to consume as they see fit, i.e. at a designated time and place. It's a festive time to say the least. This year, they did up the common area, otherwise known as the 1 star Mexican, in full Canadian regalia. They even went so far as to forcibly apply Canadian tattoos to unsuspecting Americans. I got two. Pictures after the jump.
One day a month every Canadian soldier and civilian gets "exactly" two beers to consume as they see fit, i.e. at a designated time and place. It's a festive time to say the least. This year, they did up the common area, otherwise known as the 1 star Mexican, in full Canadian regalia. They even went so far as to forcibly apply Canadian tattoos to unsuspecting Americans. I got two. Pictures after the jump.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Confronting the past.
I officially left home when I was 17 years old. It wasn't an ideal situation. For all intents and purposes I was a high school drop out, I had no money, I had no job and worst of all, I had a pretty nappy fro. Seriously. It was pretty atrocious.
After drifting for a couple of days I met up with a guy who was more of a friend of a friend at the time. We'll call him C. C and I we were both in the preparatory program at our high school together and we both had done everything in our power to not avail ourselves of that opportunity. Even still, I wouldn't say that C and I were close at that time as we had come to know each other at a time when I was still struggling with who I was as a person, while C was always a popular, confident kid. Nevertheless we still had several mutual friends and maintained a cordial relationship at best.
Even still, C would invited me into his house where I ended up living for several months. I consider C one of my dearest friends today. His family didn't have a lot to go around. I slept on the floor under my jacket initially and under a sheet eventually. They still took me in like one of their own and I never forgot that. Today I meet people and half the time I'm convinced they want to talk to me because I have a good job or I work in an organization they want to know more about.
Back Then? LoL. Not quite. I had nothing to offer them. I could have died or ended up in prison and nobody would have batted an eyelash. It's not exactly newsworthy when a poor black kid falls through the cracks on the South side of Chicago. Yet, they still offered me a hand. That's some real shit.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Deployment Fro
It has become somewhat of a tradition for soldiers and those who work in places like Afghanistan and Iraq to grow out their beards while away from home. This phenomenon is affectionately referred to as the "Deployment Beard". It's a horrible tradition that often makes people look like mangy vikings after spending several months deployed. The bottom line is that there are only a select few people in this world who can pull off a beard effectively, and I am not one of them.
When I try and grow out my beard I look like the combination of a 14 year old kid and someone whose face just got attacked with a weed whacker after spending several months in prison. It's pretty appalling. If only puberty hadn't left me behind. However, not wanting to miss an opportunity to make an ass out of my self for other people's amusement, I have embarked on an alternative course of action: The Deployment Fro. I may not be able to grow a beard but I can definitely grow a mean fro. I only hope that this trend becomes as pervasive as the deployment beard. I'll provide monthly updates on the progress of the deployment fro, with pictures! So, on that note: June 28th update:
It never gets any easier.
I've been at the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team for three weeks and I just attended my third memorial service. On a day to day basis it's easy to forget that you're operating in a war zone, especially if you never leave the camp or live in a place like Kabul. You go about your day to day business and never really have a connection to the people who go outside the wire looking for trouble, so hopefully I and those back home won't have to. But it's hard to ignore it when the reminder is right there in front of you all of the time.
Every person on the camp shows up to these memorials. At the end, everybody except the Soldier's unit dispersed while the unit pays their respect to the deceased. Generally most people don't look back. Today I stayed behind for a bit to watch as the unit filed through to give their comrades one last salute. I don't know why I did. I guess it just seemed like the thing to do. Or maybe I was just a little lost in the moment; trying to comprehend what would it means to never come home. You'd think that I'd be used to this by now, but it never gets any easier.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Afghan Weekend
By far, the most asked question I get is "What do you do for fun?" in Afghanistan. The answer to that question is "not alot". This is usually a surprise to most people and I'm not sure why. I guess people are so used to me finding any and every way to have a good time that it's hard to imagine that I wouldn't be setting the Kandahar night life on fire. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. For those interested I'll detail the typical "weekend" in Kandahar after the jump.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Kissinger on Afghanistan
I made a visit to Dand today and heard the inevitable "Dan is in Dand!" jokes about 47 times. It was an interesting trip. I'll probably write more about it when I get my pictures from the trip later. It's an interesting area which will likely have a microscope on it over the coming months/years. I'm writing this short update to share an article I found to be fascinating.
I can't claim to be a fan of Kissinger but he makes what I find to be a novel suggestion in that we should be engaging Afghanistan provincially. I've always wondered how the decision was made to make a strong central government in Afghanistan considering the lead role that America had at the time and the political party in charge at the time. Anyway, If I haven't passed it already I've rapidly approaching that line between what I'm not supposed to talk about in an online forum..so I'll just show the link with the text after the jump.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Rough Day
Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me.
One of the hardest parts about being deployed to places like this is having to manage the expectations and desires of the people in your life. In some cases people are understanding about the fact that you are so far away from home, but with instant communication and email its easy for people to lose sight of the fact that you are in a place like Afghanistan and that there may actually be some things going on that transcend your relationship with them. What may be a reasonable expectation of discourse and engagement for a personal relationship can very easily cross the line of unreasonableness when someone is in Afghanistan. This came to a head yesterday with an individual who I was particularly close to and lets just say it didn't end well.
One of the hardest parts about being deployed to places like this is having to manage the expectations and desires of the people in your life. In some cases people are understanding about the fact that you are so far away from home, but with instant communication and email its easy for people to lose sight of the fact that you are in a place like Afghanistan and that there may actually be some things going on that transcend your relationship with them. What may be a reasonable expectation of discourse and engagement for a personal relationship can very easily cross the line of unreasonableness when someone is in Afghanistan. This came to a head yesterday with an individual who I was particularly close to and lets just say it didn't end well.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
That was fast
Well...that took all of of 5 minutes. The biggest news regarding Afghanistan:
Obama orders McChrystal back to Washington after remarks about U.S. officials
Knocking the dust off..
In Kandahar City. Yep, that's where I'm at right now, on the cusp of another major engagement of the United States Government in what we used to call the Global War on Terrorism.
It's hard to imagine that it has been six years since I first put some of my thoughts to keyboard on this blog. A lot of things have changed since then, the least of which being myself. I'm now a State Department Official specializing in reconstruction and political stabilization. Although I find myself in the same places as before I'm definitely a long way away from the Infantry and the JSOTF. I've been with the Department for almost three years now. The office I'm in is not much older than that. It was created in response to some of our 'difficulities' in places like Iraq and Afghanistan but given a mandate to change the way in which we approached complex emergencies and crisis environments around the world. Through this office I've worked on Georgia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Haiti, Sudan and now Afghanistan.
It's been fascinating to watch us grow from a shoestring operation to one that is helping guide some of the most critical foreign policy engagements of the day. Actually, interesting is probably the better word. It's been interesting.
As a soldier I took it for granted that we had it all figured out, and that all we had to do was execute our mission for things to work out. The reality is that we didn't then and it's arguable whether or not we do now. As the years have gone by I've had the opportunity to have a front row seat as the US Government has grown and refined its approach to these type of environments. Interesting. Yea. That sounds about right.
Which brings me to today. 8 something years after we invaded Afghanistan we've hinged our entire strategy on making demonstrable progress for the average Afghan in places like Kandahar, a historical base of operations for the Taliban movement. The contrast between this and similar "make or break" operations in places like Fallujah and Mosul is striking. Sure, we talked about building a better life for the average Iraqi and "Winning hearts and minds" but that was more of an euphanism for kicking ass and taking names. I remember sitting in my slit trench less than a mile outside of Fallujah watching as heavy artillery and air assets pounded the city for weeks and weeks before our eventual assault.
In Kandahar today? Not so much. There are no howitzers pounding away in the distance and the number of warplanes bombing buildings inside of the city is way down. We aren't encouraging a mass exodus of civilians and the city itself is still in relatively good shape. Even the Generals are talking about putting governence first and emphasising that this will not be a "military" campaign but rather a concentrated effort to link the government of Afghanistan with its disenfranchised people.
Is this better? I guess we'll find out. At least it'll be interesting to watch.
-----
I'm resuming my contributions to this blog to chronicle my life here in Afghanistan. I'll probably also use this as an opportunity to put down some of my general thoughts of life and my place in it. It's been very fascinating to go back over what was running through my mind before as I approached war for the first time. I can only imagine what it will be in many years as I chronicle my growth as a person and what that means when I approach what is hopefully my last war. As before, I won't comment on ongoing operational engagements until they are well over. I may however highlight news articles or events that I find particuarly relevant.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
The life we live.
I sit here in tears on a saturday morning. I sit here reminded of the paths I've tred and the roads I've walked, unable to to grip the tragedy of it all.
It’s not the pain in my feet that has my chest heaving, nor the burden of the load that has my tears streaked.
No.
Those I can bare for as long as I can, but they will never bring such tears to my eye.
No.
My sadness stems from the road I never had to cross and probably never will.
Today started off well; like any other that I can recently recall.
My life is good, if only as of late.
I should feel happy to be here, and that I am.
But there is an emptiness to that happiness. An emptiness that knows that it is not well deserved.
I’ve worked hard for everything I have, and here I am.
Yet, so have others and well..there they fall.
And that’s why I cry.
Not because there is no justice, but because it’s like we don’t even care.
Last week I sat with another individual within the military talking about the direction this country has taken, and the path it led the both of us on, and I made the weary observation that everything is over come 2008....for America.
I didn’t really appreciate the significance of my pragmatism. Afterall, am I not right? Does not the American people want to see an end to this war?
That sounds nice doesn’t it? No more war. No more death. No more pain.
Yea. It does.
But the question is, will that happen? Or will we simply turn our eyes from the reality of the situation?
I long for the former, but I know the latter to be true.
This morning I read the news like I always do: With a sense of detachment from the events and the trials of the rest of the world.
And then I lost it with these words: “ I am Iraqi and to me the possible consequences of this vote are terrifying.
Just as we began to see signs of progress in my country the Democrats come and say: "Well, it's not worth it, so it's time to leave.”
These simple words hit me harder than I have ever been hit before.
He’s right.
Everyday we wage a war of words back home in America, pretending to want what is best for the people of Iraq and the world, but it’s all a lie.
The politicians don’t care, and even more importantly neither do the people. Well, maybe some do, but usually only in a manner that benefits them.
They want their father, husband, brother or son home.
If an Iraqi, or even a Sudanese, Ruwandan, or Checyn die it’s just how it is.
Cindy Sheehan, Karl Rove. They’re all the same.
One’s just more honest than the next.
We play these political games, never really realizing that the fate of thousands hang in the balance, and it saddens me. It saddens me, not because of what we do, it’s the pretext of how we do it.
We say it’s right, when we should know it’s not.
We ignore the wrong.
But some of us can’t. Some of us, maybe through blood, or maybe through deed can not.
So, I sit here. On a saturday morning.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Crazy
Sometimes life is crazy.
Often times we're so caught up in dealing with the craziness that we can't really appreciate the craziness.
Somehow I found my way back to my old blog from Iraq. I say somehow, but it's not really a mystery. I should really be doing school work but I can't really bring myself to do it. It's funny because it seems like I'm at the same point in my life that I was 2 years ago. I had just gotten to Iraq and was adjusting to what that all meant; the weather and the 16 hour missions, now I'm getting used to class debates, midterms and calculus (not so much).
Anyway, it's weird to sit back and see what I had to say about life during times that others would undoubtedly count as "significant". I mean, did I really make all those typos? Jesus.
In all seriousness, craziness is the only word I think to describe what its like to step back in time and analyze some of the things I've said, and the things I've done since then. It's amazing to me that some of my worst fears have come to fruitation, such as the Iraqi situation degenerating into a civil war. The United States still hasn't learned that you don't win someone's gratitude while you're pointing at gun at them.
It's also amazing to be able to go back and watch my thought processes as I came to the conclusion that the United States Military is not the organization to win hearts and minds.
This leads into probably the number one new dilemnia that I face today. In the past, I thought it was so simple and that I was about to set forth on a path that would make the world a better place. I sit here two years later, uncertain about the good I've done in my life and uncertain about what I can do to really make the difference that I want. If there is anything I know today that I didn't before, its that I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing.
Me not knowing what I'm doing?
Crazy.
Yet, if anything its the only thing I've become to know with any sort of certainty. I've learned more at AU than I ever imagined that I would, but the irony is that the more I learn, the more questions I have and the more I realize that I don't really know shit.
It's crazy to think that I'm still struggling with the very issues that I identified years ago and that I'm no closer to finding the solution today than I was then.
Crazy.
Often times we're so caught up in dealing with the craziness that we can't really appreciate the craziness.
Somehow I found my way back to my old blog from Iraq. I say somehow, but it's not really a mystery. I should really be doing school work but I can't really bring myself to do it. It's funny because it seems like I'm at the same point in my life that I was 2 years ago. I had just gotten to Iraq and was adjusting to what that all meant; the weather and the 16 hour missions, now I'm getting used to class debates, midterms and calculus (not so much).
Anyway, it's weird to sit back and see what I had to say about life during times that others would undoubtedly count as "significant". I mean, did I really make all those typos? Jesus.
In all seriousness, craziness is the only word I think to describe what its like to step back in time and analyze some of the things I've said, and the things I've done since then. It's amazing to me that some of my worst fears have come to fruitation, such as the Iraqi situation degenerating into a civil war. The United States still hasn't learned that you don't win someone's gratitude while you're pointing at gun at them.
It's also amazing to be able to go back and watch my thought processes as I came to the conclusion that the United States Military is not the organization to win hearts and minds.
This leads into probably the number one new dilemnia that I face today. In the past, I thought it was so simple and that I was about to set forth on a path that would make the world a better place. I sit here two years later, uncertain about the good I've done in my life and uncertain about what I can do to really make the difference that I want. If there is anything I know today that I didn't before, its that I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing.
Me not knowing what I'm doing?
Crazy.
Yet, if anything its the only thing I've become to know with any sort of certainty. I've learned more at AU than I ever imagined that I would, but the irony is that the more I learn, the more questions I have and the more I realize that I don't really know shit.
It's crazy to think that I'm still struggling with the very issues that I identified years ago and that I'm no closer to finding the solution today than I was then.
By all accounts my life is going amazing well, but I'm still struggling with the apathy and indifference that threatens to destroy everything I've worked for. I'm still haunted by the memories of my father, and whether or not those memories will become my reality. Home is still the Hood and vice versa. I still can't escape the mentality and the legacy of where I've come from. It doesn't matter that the place I sleep has some guy at the door with an accent. I thought it was all supposed to get better with success? I guess not. Oh, and you know what is crazy? The fact that the more I succceed and do well, the more people expect out of me. I can't help but look back on my life and feel this sense of accomplishment, but now when I look ahead I see more work to be done than I ever imagined before.
Crazy.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Xmas thoughts
Well, here I am again; Staring at my open office text editor (plug) determined to write about something. It's definitely been a while and a lot has happened that I could have written about. Yet, things are rather difficult when the things happening are personal. That's not to trivialize anything I've said over the past year and change, but the reality is that I have been able to detach myself form the things I have done or been apart of. I haven't been able to do that with the things that have happened since I've come home. I could just as easily have a change of heart and leave Iraq and the rest of the world to their own business, but I could never just detach myself from my friends and family. Selfish or shallow? Possibly, but that's just the reality of the situation.
Anyway, my life has been moving at a very rapid pace. Especially compared to the last 4 years where I've had the luxury of looking at every move and decision with the knowledge that crunch time wasn't for months or even years.
The rest of my life has pretty much been filled with relaxing and having fun, things I really haven't given myself the luxury of for the last 6-7 years. I wish I could say it's been a good thing, but the reality it's not. I haven't really done anything constructive, unless of course you call drinking myself stupid more than a few times and getting out of shape constructive.
Anyway, my life has been moving at a very rapid pace. Especially compared to the last 4 years where I've had the luxury of looking at every move and decision with the knowledge that crunch time wasn't for months or even years.
No more.
I've flown across the country half a dozen times in the last few months trying to get school and the next few years of my life situated. I'm registered for classes, I have my classes and have made all the necessary arrangements, and now it's time to DO, which in a lot of cases is easier said than done. I still haven't come to a specific consensus of what's the right thing to do. Of course, being back in Chicago hasn't been helping. Everyday I'm confronted with the rampant impossibility that permeates every corner of this place. When I say impossibility I mean the inherent promise of prosperity that is the basis of this country and is yet unattainable by a significant portion of this society.
I can ignore it in other places, but here I can't because it's my friends and it's my family. I can't be in this place for more than a week without having to deal with the people close to me being damn near killed or going to jail and the utter poverty is impossible to avoid.
I know I should be happy that I have so many good things going on in my life, especially considering what I've been through. I just can't help but feel bad when I go to my buddies house in the projects, only to see his nieces struggling to get by in a household that the word broken only begins to describe.
I can't escape the feeling that I've somehow abandoned these people who have been instrumental in my life, even if I know it's self destructive and utterly useless. Suffice to say, I acutely remember why I felt the need to leave in the first place and realize that while my heart will always be here, that this can never be my home if I ever want to do something for myself and those I care about.
The rest of my life has pretty much been filled with relaxing and having fun, things I really haven't given myself the luxury of for the last 6-7 years. I wish I could say it's been a good thing, but the reality it's not. I haven't really done anything constructive, unless of course you call drinking myself stupid more than a few times and getting out of shape constructive.
So, I'm actually kinda anticipating the start of school even if it means 3-4 hours of sleep every couple of days and little to no social life. There's a part of me that wishes that I could really relax, but then there is the more powerful urge inside of me that precludes that from happening. One of the most significant being the desire to never be like my father. I bring this up because I recently sat down and “talked” to my father for the first time in over five years. I don't have any love for the man, but there are certain aspects of my life that I feel that are unavoidable and they are a direct result of the relationship I've had with my father; which is due in no small part to the relationship he had with his father, and his before him. I had hoped that maybe he had actually changed a little bit like my mother and everyone else had tried to convince me of, but he's still the same person he's always been, and that is to say unbearably conceited and completely oblivious to the world outside of himself.
I'm not gonna get into bashing the man as I've tried very hard to move him out of my life and I came to realize a long time ago that my life and future has everything to do with myself and nothing to do with him or his actions. It's my responsibility to mitigate those various inherited flaws that I've been struggling with for awhile now. Needless to say, I don't feel the need to ever speak to the man again and I only extend him the courtesy of existing for the sake of my family who has undoubtedly suffered because of our enmity over the years.
Friday, August 05, 2005
High Society
So anyway, I apparently spoke way too soon in my last post. A week later our squadron got orders to go somewhere else and our troop got doled out to different infantry battalions again. This marks something like the 14th time our platoon has made a major move or went to another unit. The only thing that is different this time is that we're holed up in the palace that Saddam's sons made their last stand in (it didn't last long). It's a cool experience to say the least. I mean, how many people can say they played soccer in a grand foyer? The only bad part is that this is where the Task force command is at, so you have more captains walking around then privates. The nit picking from people who have never left the fob in the few months they've been here gets old pretty quick, but its all made up for when a mortar goes off and you see a few staff people running like the Tet Offensive just kicked off.
Other than that, the only thing difference is the fact that our re-deployment is right around the corner. We've started packing our bags and beginning to prep for what appears to be a painful move home. Just as an example, I'll be carrying 3 duffel bags, 1 ruck sack and an assault pack on the plane with me. That's not gonna be fun at all, but truthfully, I don' t think I'll mind too much, afterwards.
The only thing is that this is probably the most dangerous time for us. When we first got here everyone was amped up, ready to kill and so on and so forth, but now everyone is tired, agitated and pretty much just focusing on getting home. The reality being that nothing is different for the people here and all that translates to is that someone somewhere is gonna get caught slipping. And it goes without saying that it would suck pretty hard to spend a year here only to die in the last week. The unit we replaced lost several people on their last mission, and a buddy of mine who was in the national guard died in the chow hall bombing in what was supposed to be his last week in country.
It's still pretty hard to not think about going home, because above all else its something different. If someone asked me to describe the last 3 weeks of my life I'd probably say it was a mix between the movie groundhog day and the ever lingering possibility of maiming. I've gotten into the habit of sleeping whenever I have free time (which is a lot) and I've been procrastinating on my school work because I know that it's the last class I can take over here and if I finish it in a week like I've done before I'll have absolutely nothing to do for the next 5 weeks... you know, besides that whole combat thing. *cough
Other than that, the only thing difference is the fact that our re-deployment is right around the corner. We've started packing our bags and beginning to prep for what appears to be a painful move home. Just as an example, I'll be carrying 3 duffel bags, 1 ruck sack and an assault pack on the plane with me. That's not gonna be fun at all, but truthfully, I don' t think I'll mind too much, afterwards.
The only thing is that this is probably the most dangerous time for us. When we first got here everyone was amped up, ready to kill and so on and so forth, but now everyone is tired, agitated and pretty much just focusing on getting home. The reality being that nothing is different for the people here and all that translates to is that someone somewhere is gonna get caught slipping. And it goes without saying that it would suck pretty hard to spend a year here only to die in the last week. The unit we replaced lost several people on their last mission, and a buddy of mine who was in the national guard died in the chow hall bombing in what was supposed to be his last week in country.
It's still pretty hard to not think about going home, because above all else its something different. If someone asked me to describe the last 3 weeks of my life I'd probably say it was a mix between the movie groundhog day and the ever lingering possibility of maiming. I've gotten into the habit of sleeping whenever I have free time (which is a lot) and I've been procrastinating on my school work because I know that it's the last class I can take over here and if I finish it in a week like I've done before I'll have absolutely nothing to do for the next 5 weeks... you know, besides that whole combat thing. *cough
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Back at it again
Back at it again
Well, we all knew it was going to happen one day, but weren't really prepared for when it did happen. Yes, the unthinkable happened: Our super, high-speed, ultra awesome special operation mission came to an end and we went back to our parent unit. The only way I can adequately explain the transition is to vividly describe a swift kick in the nuts, so imagine that and if you find yourself without the requisite equipment for such a visual, than I dunno what to tell you.
I still can't really talk about what we did, but I can say that there was a minimal amount of BS and we were actually doing something that felt important... and now .. we're back to the world of IED patrols and screen lines among other things. There are a bunch of fancy sounding military terms to describe what we do but it pretty much boils down to sitting in the middle of the hot desert for hours at a time or driving up and down the road to “find” bombs. For the sake of my mother I'll not get too much into what that entails, but needless to say the same amount of job satisfaction isn't there.
Yea, I'm bitching but in reality we've (as in me and my platoon) have been pretty lucky throughout this deployment. We've probably seen more of Iraq and made more of an impact than any other platoon in the entire brigade and have take zero casualties as of today, July 6th. -- Which reminds me: Happy Birthday Irene. I can't believe you're 16. --
It's not a stretch to say those 6 months were probably the best I have spent in the Army and few people in the Regular Army can say they've done similar things. Anyway, at least I've gotten some pretty good pictures.
So moving on, but It's hard to imagine but we're (as in our brigade) almost done. It doesn't seem like it but I was I left Fallujah over 7 months ago, and it's still vivid in my mind. It's kinda hard to grasp the reality that in a little over a month and a half we'll start packing up to come home and a little while after that I'll be packing up to leave the life I've lived for almost 4 years now. I don't really have a lot of time to think about all that when I'm out on mission, but its time when I take the time to think about things that it really hits home. I've probably covered this ad nauseum in the past so I'll not really go into this time.
Anyway, I haven' t really personally been up to a whole lot. For the most part I'm finished with my Film class, which leaves me a science class and English 102 (which I'll be starting in the next few days) short of my associates. A two year degree in 4 years doesn't really sound too impressive, but its a lot more than I ever hoped for and I've gone through an awful lot to make it happen. I always hear about people bitching about having to pull an all nighter once or twice a year but I have to wonder how many people have had to take a test after 15 hours of combat patrols. I've also been messing around with my new computer. I'm now running Linux on my new laptop (I kinda destroyed the old one) and loving it and I only have the destruction of 90% of my files to show for it. It's alright, the only thing I'll really miss is my music and I have copies of that on my desktop back at lewis. So all and all it's not too bad. I've also been reading a lot, but with me that's pretty much a given in any situation. I've also been writing a little and continue to discuss various things in various online forums. In fact, I wrote a pretty long one a few days ago because we had a day of no patrols and I was rather bored. I'll add it to the end of this post so people can kinda see some of the things I talk\think about. Anyway, that's about it, not really much to talk about but I said I'd try and post more, so here it is.
War and peace in the 21st century
When I started posting on these boards several years ago (it seems like yesterday) I really didn't' t know a lot about politics. In fact, up until that point I really didn't care because I had much more pressing matters in my life to take care of, but being in the military I found myself in a situation where global politics would effectively define how the next few years of my life went. So, being the type of person I am I set out to find out as much as I could about this politics business and I eventually found my way here. It was only natural as I spent too much time posting here as it was.
To say that was a “novice” in the field of politics would have been a pretty big understatement as the extent of my knowledge was the few (few being purely relative) books I had read and my beliefs of what constituted right and wrong. I can't really say that things are too different today but I have read a lot more books and improved my ability to articulate my feelings significantly. For the most part I've tried to approach things objectively without aligning myself with any one side out of general principal. In short, I try not to be a lemming like most of the people who have a vested interest in politics. It's been hard and I'm sure I've contradicted myself on several occasions, but hey no ones perfect.
Anyway, moving on to the point I'm writing this post to announce the fact that I think I've finally reached a consensus on what it is I truly want out of the world and the war in Iraq more specifically and I can't really claim that its something that I came up with all by myself because it's not. In fact, it comes from a book that I recently read and before I go further I'd like to really stress the fact that it's taken a lot for me to admit that I don't know everything and defer things to an outside source. Hopefully it's for the best.
The book is The Pentagon's New map by Thomas P.M. Barnett a guy who works at the Naval War College and a security expert of some kind. The thing that really appealed to me about this book was that a lot of what he said coincided so perfectly with my personal beliefs that at points I knew what was gonna come on the next page before I even got there. Before, you start getting scared I'll just say that this guy goes far more in depth and makes a lot more sense than I ever have. Needless to say the book comes highly recommended, and while I don't entertain any notions that everyone will necessarily agree with what is said I hope that people can get something out of it.
The book is about security in the next century and the role the pentagon has to play in securing peace and waging war. It's also fairly old (a couple years) so you'll have to bear with me if you all have already covered all this. You can blame the cute girl who worked in the O'Hare airport who made me think that I just had to buy a book. ;)
Anyway, on to the basis of the book; He goes along with the premise that the United States has the greatest power to influence the world and that the pentagon is the great entity in the government to accomplish anything. I'm sure there is a certain level of bias inherent in this assumption but I'm more than inclined to agree with it. He also begins with the notion that the age of state wars, or wars between two competing states is over, thanks in large part to the cold war and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union. I'm not so convinced of this myself and I'll return to it in a few sentences. Playing off this he's done a considerable amount of research into the nature of post cold-war conflicts around the world and created something he calls the Pentagon's new map.
The short of it is that he believes that the world is split into two “camps” for lack of a better world, the “core” which principally includes North American, Western Union and several other Eurasian countries among others, and the “Gap” which is everyone else in the Southwest and Southeast Asia, Africa and certain parts of central and southern America. He believes that the major dividing factor between these areas is connectedness or the lack of globalization, meaning the people of the “core” enjoy such things as universal rights, representation in their respective governments, relatively open markets and most importantly the ability for social and economical mobility. In the book he includes a map of the world with a dotted outline around the “gap” and dots to indicate the major US and UN military operations between 1990 and 2003. I don't think I need to say that most of these “dots” fall within the gap.
If this is true, then there are those (mainly conservative) who would say that we should just say screw it and leave these areas to their own devices, as the welfare of some ass backwards degenerates isn't worth our blood and money. These people couldn't be more wrong, and I don't say this just because it says so in the book. All I can think about is the time in my life where I couldn't really be considered an asset to society (to put it nicely) and the mentality that I had to justify the things I did to myself, which could briefly be summed up as “these people don't care about me so fuck em”. At that time I didn't feel like I was apart of the “American society” so when it came time to do things that went against the established rules, they weren't even a consideration. In the words of Dave Chappelle “You got Kids?! Oh yea, well I eat cottage cheese for dinner”.
The simple fact of the matter is that western society as a whole will never be safe as long as we try and justify our median $30,000 a year incomes while people around the world struggle to get by with less than a dollar a day. We can continue just getting it while the gettin's good, but all we're really doing is setting up another 9\11, if not for ourselves than for our kids.
It may sound like that things are starting to jump into the realm of Marx with the whole “economic disparity is the source of conflict” but It's not. The book believes that the answer to this particular problem is “shrinking” the gap or bringing this areas of the world not connected with the rest into the leviathan that is globalization. The reason that he believes that state-centric wars are a thing of the past is because in today's interconnected world there is no good to be gained from a war when both sides are interdependent on one another. Take the instance of China for example: There are many who believe that China will be America's next adversary and that conflict is inevitable between the two as China grows into it's role as a global superpower. However, the question is, why would China instigate a conflict with it's largest trading partner? It's a good question that I had never really considered, but where my thoughts differ is that I think the author may be discounting the irrationality of people with power. That's not to say that anything is certain but that it remains to be seen.
However, I don't think that uncertainty is enough to entirely disregard what he has to say. I'm forced, once again, to think about how I got to be where I am today and how I came to be the person I am from the person I was. When I went into the Army the first thing I noticed was that there were 3 black kids out of 300, which was remarkably different from what I was used to on the south side of Chicago. My mother was white, but that really didn't make much of a difference as I still thought I was screwed, but as I was forced to live with people I never thought I'd even talk to I began to realize that things were far different then I believed. I mean, who knew there were cool people from Montana? The more I came to know these people I absolutely hated, the harder it became for me to justify the enmity that I believed existed between our respective “worlds”. It's true that I had a white mother, which might have made things different for me, but the same thing has held true for all my friends who gone into the military themselves.
So, yea, I can certainly buy into what this guy is saying. The tougher question is how we go about doing this, especially since there are those who would rather see us just mind our business I.e. The Bin Ladens of the world. Throwing money indiscriminately at the problem isn't the answer, as our own welfare program is a testament to and we certainly can't expect transnational organizations to have much of an effect as long as there are those who would abuse the rule they enjoy at the expense of their people.
The short answer is that those of us who do enjoy the most of what the world offers have to come together and make a concentrated effort to do something. That means the UN and western Europe has to stop pussyfooting around the issues and step up to do something more than issue strongly worded resolutions and that the United States has to get off it's high horse and accept the help of others. It's been established that we can beat anyone down with impunity now let's move on. That also means that we as a whole might have to roll up our sleeves and get a little dirty something that few people can stomach and even less can do. This is where I fully anticipate losing people as I talk about why I think this war in Iraq can be a good thing, and other uncool things.
I won't lie, I was for the war in Iraq before it started for many reasons, but the basic one to me was man these dudes are sucking, I wish someone would've helped my ass out so, so yea lets go do something. I certainly haven't agreed with a lot of the things that has happened since we went in, but I definitely don't think it's the first step towards a new nazism. In this case I'll defer to the actual book to sum up why I think the war in Iraq was\is the right thing to do in the context of the last few pages of text:
What is so amazingly courageous about what the Bush Administration has done in trying to generate a Big Bang throughout the Middle East is that it has committed our nation to shrinking a major portion of the gap in one ell swoop. By doing so I believe this Administration has forced America to finally come through on promises repeatedly offered during the cold war but never delivered. In effect, America has been telling the gap for decades that we would really love to come in there and help straighten things out security-wise, but we always seemed to have bigger fish to fry: the Soviets, the fabled near-pear [The promotion of China has our inevitable adversary], our own self-improvement as the world's sole military superpower... whatever. But by taking down Saddam Hussein and turning Iraq into a magnet for every Jihadist with a one way ticket to paradise, America has really thrown down the gauntlet in the Middle East – It has finally begun exporting security for real. In the past, we always had ulterior motives: to keep the Soviet's, to keep the oil flowing, to keep Israel safe. But reconnecting Iraq to the world is so much bigger than any of those goals. It's about creating a future worth living for a billion Muslims we could just as easily consign to the past... Political commentators who prattle on about how George W. Bush has “staked his entire presidency” on Iraq cannot see the forest for the trees. Bush has staked a whole lot more than his political career on Iraq: He has set a showdown between the forces of connectedness and disconnectedness in our world.. In reality, there are plenty of forces within the Core who favor disconnectedness over connectedness, and we will face as many battles with them in coming years as we will face with the Bin Ladens of the gap. That is because many governments in the core still view the world system as a balance of powers, so any rise in U.S. Influence or presence in the Middle East is seen as a loss of their influence or presence there. Too many of these “great powers” are led by small minds who prefer America's failure's to the Core's expansion, because they see their national interests enhanced by the former and diminished by the latter. They prefer the Gap's continued suffering to their own loss of prestige, and they should be ashamed for their selfishness.
That is not to say that America's motives in the gap, or more specifically in the Middle East, are selfless, because they are not. In the end, it took .. 9\11 .. and all the pain it inflicted to motivate America to finally do something significant to address the long standing security issues and big “significant” I mean more than keeping rogue regimes in the box.
I've been saying for some time that I think the war in Iraq, means a lot more than weapons of mass destruction, or free oil. In reality, it means either a major step forward in the “Global war on Terrorism” on one hand, and a crushing defeat that if we're lucky our great-grandchildren will be able to recover from, on the other. So, as much as I may dislike the “kill em all” attitude espoused by some on the right I absolutely loathe those who would have us leave because people died or even better because “we're one to talk”. Whether or not you like it, we were in this for the long run before 9\11 or even the first desert storm. We just didn't know it then. So, pointing your finger and saying I told you so doesn't really do a whole lot to help. We as a whole need to seriously approach this issue from where things stand, today.
I'd just like to point out that I'm not in the boat that believes throwing a couple hundred thousand more soldiers into harms way will rectify the matter either. My personal experience is that there are a lot of people in Iraq really making a difference, but then there a lot of people are just there to be there. Hey look ma, I'm in Iraq! No hands!
What we need in addition to boots on the ground is a definite plan to rebuild this country and connect it to the rest of the world (something we don't have right now). The governments of the world have to make a commitment to rebuilding Iraq and establishing an infrastructure and a legitimate government entity and yes that entails providing the security necessary to make that happen. It also means outside economic investment from the public and private sectors, which can' t be limited to oil development if it is to have a lasting effect. Unfortunately, people will make money during all of this, so we might as well prepare ourselves for that 'horrible” outcome.
Of the above, the most important aspect is that of formulating a realistic plan for the future. We need a Marshall Plan for the Middle East. I'm not trying to suggest to that there aren't people who are doing this very thing, but the fact is they need to work faster. In the 1940's people couldn't watch the video of their family members getting blown the hell up 5 hours after it happened. So while, a little patience may be in order, the higher ups need to understand that they don't have the time that their ancestors may have had in the 1940's. I'd say the first order of business is a serious re-evaluation of the Department of Defense and it's commitments worldwide and not just Iraq. Like I said earlier there are a lot of people in Iraq who are just kinda there, that doesn't mean that they aren't doing anything, far from it, but the fact is a lot of the shit is made up as they go along to justify someones silver star. I won't even begin to get into the ridiculousness of having tanks patrol cities when we're trying to settle things down. We may have the best military in the world, but our police force is severely lacking and that is something that needs to be addressed if we are to do any good in Iraq or anywhere else and in all seriousness you won't see people lining up to do anything in Iraq as long as they think it's pointless. That's just one of the many reasons we need to supply that point.
Ultimately, I'm not really concerned about the military's ability to adapt to the coming changes in the world. There are a lot of intelligent, motivated people who's job depend on it, and if history is any indication they'll come through with flying colors. Prior to the Vietnam war there were those who believed that we were incapable of fighting in the jungles as it was trained for the preceding Korean and World Wars. However, that same mis trained military was able to win every single battle, but it wasn't the strength of arms that lost the conflict it was a weakness of heart. We as a people just didn't have the heart to support that war (and for good reason) and I'd be lying if I said I thought the people of today had what it took to change the world for the better, let alone win the war in Iraq.
Ask some people to give a dollar to a homeless guy and they'll act like you want their first born, and god forbid you ask someone to give some time or effort. We as a people are too caught up in what we think we deserve, that we have no choice but to turn a blind eye to those people who would kill to get a fraction of it. We'll easily spend a few hundred if not thousands of billions on entertainment in the form of video games, movies, television and other such superfluous things and yet we're talking about withholding our dues form the United Nations.
The down side to connecting the rest of the world is that we have to share a part of their burden, and for that to happen we all have to seriously sit down and reconsider our operational needs. If it necessary to have this big truck? Or an Xbox and a Playstation? I know what I'm saying sounds like bullshit, but in reality its a small price to pay for our security and continued economic prosperity.
Since, I've talked about this book and how great it is I guess I'll mention the one thing that I had a problem with, and it wasn't really what was said, but rather what wasn't. For all it's worth it doesn't even begin to touch the subject of our own disconnectedness. I mentioned myself a couple times earlier, and the fact is that just as there are people in Africa who would threaten our security because they don't feel apart of this world, there exists people in our own borders who feel the same way. If we as a world are going to open ourselves up then that means that there will be more different kinds of people in what we consider our homes, and chances are they won' t be the well to do. So as the system we have perpetuates the inequalities within we'll never really have peace domestically. The classic example is how the American public for the most part didn't give two shits about the drug epidemic in the black and Hispanic community until the same problem began to confront their own children and the response was to systematically go after those people same black and Hispanic people as if they were the root of the problem and they weren't. So we, in the west ,need to look not only without but within if peace is to prosper. How can we honestly tell people to straighten up when there are till systematically depressed people in our own societies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a policy of inaction until we are capable of dealing with our own problems, but we need to move into the information age and start multi-tasking.
I'm alluding to is more of the micro aspect of the book's macro and just like economics I don't think either side can be ignored. As countries continue to make efforts to better themselves they will undoubtedly look for those already there for an example and we if we can't do it what hope do we have for countries like North Korea?
Anyway, the entire purpose of this was to illicit some sort of discussion on the topics covered and so far It's been more of an essay, or even worse a book report. So I guess I'll touch on some things in particular I would really like to talk about so I can get a better idea of what other people are thinking.
1. Do you agree with the premise that the road to world peace is through more connectivity in the modern world, i.e. Through greater economic interdependence etc? If not, why and if you still think its possible by what means do you see it happening?
2. Do you think the United States has the responsibility or even the capability of stepping up to the global plate to secure a better future for us all?
3. Do you think we even should bother with the above?
4. What sort of obstacles do you see presenting themselves as the war in Iraq and the Global War on terrorism progresses? What sort of solutions do you see to these problems?
As an addendum to everything that is said, I'm pretty much going off the assumption that we as Americans aren't totally malicious people hell bent on screwing over the rest of the world. So I'd rather not get into debates on how we're so fucked up that we should just be happy the rest of the world even talks to us. If you've made it this far I thank you for reading. It's just another afternoon for me.
Well, we all knew it was going to happen one day, but weren't really prepared for when it did happen. Yes, the unthinkable happened: Our super, high-speed, ultra awesome special operation mission came to an end and we went back to our parent unit. The only way I can adequately explain the transition is to vividly describe a swift kick in the nuts, so imagine that and if you find yourself without the requisite equipment for such a visual, than I dunno what to tell you.
I still can't really talk about what we did, but I can say that there was a minimal amount of BS and we were actually doing something that felt important... and now .. we're back to the world of IED patrols and screen lines among other things. There are a bunch of fancy sounding military terms to describe what we do but it pretty much boils down to sitting in the middle of the hot desert for hours at a time or driving up and down the road to “find” bombs. For the sake of my mother I'll not get too much into what that entails, but needless to say the same amount of job satisfaction isn't there.
Yea, I'm bitching but in reality we've (as in me and my platoon) have been pretty lucky throughout this deployment. We've probably seen more of Iraq and made more of an impact than any other platoon in the entire brigade and have take zero casualties as of today, July 6th. -- Which reminds me: Happy Birthday Irene. I can't believe you're 16. --
It's not a stretch to say those 6 months were probably the best I have spent in the Army and few people in the Regular Army can say they've done similar things. Anyway, at least I've gotten some pretty good pictures.
So moving on, but It's hard to imagine but we're (as in our brigade) almost done. It doesn't seem like it but I was I left Fallujah over 7 months ago, and it's still vivid in my mind. It's kinda hard to grasp the reality that in a little over a month and a half we'll start packing up to come home and a little while after that I'll be packing up to leave the life I've lived for almost 4 years now. I don't really have a lot of time to think about all that when I'm out on mission, but its time when I take the time to think about things that it really hits home. I've probably covered this ad nauseum in the past so I'll not really go into this time.
Anyway, I haven' t really personally been up to a whole lot. For the most part I'm finished with my Film class, which leaves me a science class and English 102 (which I'll be starting in the next few days) short of my associates. A two year degree in 4 years doesn't really sound too impressive, but its a lot more than I ever hoped for and I've gone through an awful lot to make it happen. I always hear about people bitching about having to pull an all nighter once or twice a year but I have to wonder how many people have had to take a test after 15 hours of combat patrols. I've also been messing around with my new computer. I'm now running Linux on my new laptop (I kinda destroyed the old one) and loving it and I only have the destruction of 90% of my files to show for it. It's alright, the only thing I'll really miss is my music and I have copies of that on my desktop back at lewis. So all and all it's not too bad. I've also been reading a lot, but with me that's pretty much a given in any situation. I've also been writing a little and continue to discuss various things in various online forums. In fact, I wrote a pretty long one a few days ago because we had a day of no patrols and I was rather bored. I'll add it to the end of this post so people can kinda see some of the things I talk\think about. Anyway, that's about it, not really much to talk about but I said I'd try and post more, so here it is.
War and peace in the 21st century
When I started posting on these boards several years ago (it seems like yesterday) I really didn't' t know a lot about politics. In fact, up until that point I really didn't care because I had much more pressing matters in my life to take care of, but being in the military I found myself in a situation where global politics would effectively define how the next few years of my life went. So, being the type of person I am I set out to find out as much as I could about this politics business and I eventually found my way here. It was only natural as I spent too much time posting here as it was.
To say that was a “novice” in the field of politics would have been a pretty big understatement as the extent of my knowledge was the few (few being purely relative) books I had read and my beliefs of what constituted right and wrong. I can't really say that things are too different today but I have read a lot more books and improved my ability to articulate my feelings significantly. For the most part I've tried to approach things objectively without aligning myself with any one side out of general principal. In short, I try not to be a lemming like most of the people who have a vested interest in politics. It's been hard and I'm sure I've contradicted myself on several occasions, but hey no ones perfect.
Anyway, moving on to the point I'm writing this post to announce the fact that I think I've finally reached a consensus on what it is I truly want out of the world and the war in Iraq more specifically and I can't really claim that its something that I came up with all by myself because it's not. In fact, it comes from a book that I recently read and before I go further I'd like to really stress the fact that it's taken a lot for me to admit that I don't know everything and defer things to an outside source. Hopefully it's for the best.
The book is The Pentagon's New map by Thomas P.M. Barnett a guy who works at the Naval War College and a security expert of some kind. The thing that really appealed to me about this book was that a lot of what he said coincided so perfectly with my personal beliefs that at points I knew what was gonna come on the next page before I even got there. Before, you start getting scared I'll just say that this guy goes far more in depth and makes a lot more sense than I ever have. Needless to say the book comes highly recommended, and while I don't entertain any notions that everyone will necessarily agree with what is said I hope that people can get something out of it.
The book is about security in the next century and the role the pentagon has to play in securing peace and waging war. It's also fairly old (a couple years) so you'll have to bear with me if you all have already covered all this. You can blame the cute girl who worked in the O'Hare airport who made me think that I just had to buy a book. ;)
Anyway, on to the basis of the book; He goes along with the premise that the United States has the greatest power to influence the world and that the pentagon is the great entity in the government to accomplish anything. I'm sure there is a certain level of bias inherent in this assumption but I'm more than inclined to agree with it. He also begins with the notion that the age of state wars, or wars between two competing states is over, thanks in large part to the cold war and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union. I'm not so convinced of this myself and I'll return to it in a few sentences. Playing off this he's done a considerable amount of research into the nature of post cold-war conflicts around the world and created something he calls the Pentagon's new map.
The short of it is that he believes that the world is split into two “camps” for lack of a better world, the “core” which principally includes North American, Western Union and several other Eurasian countries among others, and the “Gap” which is everyone else in the Southwest and Southeast Asia, Africa and certain parts of central and southern America. He believes that the major dividing factor between these areas is connectedness or the lack of globalization, meaning the people of the “core” enjoy such things as universal rights, representation in their respective governments, relatively open markets and most importantly the ability for social and economical mobility. In the book he includes a map of the world with a dotted outline around the “gap” and dots to indicate the major US and UN military operations between 1990 and 2003. I don't think I need to say that most of these “dots” fall within the gap.
If this is true, then there are those (mainly conservative) who would say that we should just say screw it and leave these areas to their own devices, as the welfare of some ass backwards degenerates isn't worth our blood and money. These people couldn't be more wrong, and I don't say this just because it says so in the book. All I can think about is the time in my life where I couldn't really be considered an asset to society (to put it nicely) and the mentality that I had to justify the things I did to myself, which could briefly be summed up as “these people don't care about me so fuck em”. At that time I didn't feel like I was apart of the “American society” so when it came time to do things that went against the established rules, they weren't even a consideration. In the words of Dave Chappelle “You got Kids?! Oh yea, well I eat cottage cheese for dinner”.
The simple fact of the matter is that western society as a whole will never be safe as long as we try and justify our median $30,000 a year incomes while people around the world struggle to get by with less than a dollar a day. We can continue just getting it while the gettin's good, but all we're really doing is setting up another 9\11, if not for ourselves than for our kids.
It may sound like that things are starting to jump into the realm of Marx with the whole “economic disparity is the source of conflict” but It's not. The book believes that the answer to this particular problem is “shrinking” the gap or bringing this areas of the world not connected with the rest into the leviathan that is globalization. The reason that he believes that state-centric wars are a thing of the past is because in today's interconnected world there is no good to be gained from a war when both sides are interdependent on one another. Take the instance of China for example: There are many who believe that China will be America's next adversary and that conflict is inevitable between the two as China grows into it's role as a global superpower. However, the question is, why would China instigate a conflict with it's largest trading partner? It's a good question that I had never really considered, but where my thoughts differ is that I think the author may be discounting the irrationality of people with power. That's not to say that anything is certain but that it remains to be seen.
However, I don't think that uncertainty is enough to entirely disregard what he has to say. I'm forced, once again, to think about how I got to be where I am today and how I came to be the person I am from the person I was. When I went into the Army the first thing I noticed was that there were 3 black kids out of 300, which was remarkably different from what I was used to on the south side of Chicago. My mother was white, but that really didn't make much of a difference as I still thought I was screwed, but as I was forced to live with people I never thought I'd even talk to I began to realize that things were far different then I believed. I mean, who knew there were cool people from Montana? The more I came to know these people I absolutely hated, the harder it became for me to justify the enmity that I believed existed between our respective “worlds”. It's true that I had a white mother, which might have made things different for me, but the same thing has held true for all my friends who gone into the military themselves.
So, yea, I can certainly buy into what this guy is saying. The tougher question is how we go about doing this, especially since there are those who would rather see us just mind our business I.e. The Bin Ladens of the world. Throwing money indiscriminately at the problem isn't the answer, as our own welfare program is a testament to and we certainly can't expect transnational organizations to have much of an effect as long as there are those who would abuse the rule they enjoy at the expense of their people.
The short answer is that those of us who do enjoy the most of what the world offers have to come together and make a concentrated effort to do something. That means the UN and western Europe has to stop pussyfooting around the issues and step up to do something more than issue strongly worded resolutions and that the United States has to get off it's high horse and accept the help of others. It's been established that we can beat anyone down with impunity now let's move on. That also means that we as a whole might have to roll up our sleeves and get a little dirty something that few people can stomach and even less can do. This is where I fully anticipate losing people as I talk about why I think this war in Iraq can be a good thing, and other uncool things.
I won't lie, I was for the war in Iraq before it started for many reasons, but the basic one to me was man these dudes are sucking, I wish someone would've helped my ass out so, so yea lets go do something. I certainly haven't agreed with a lot of the things that has happened since we went in, but I definitely don't think it's the first step towards a new nazism. In this case I'll defer to the actual book to sum up why I think the war in Iraq was\is the right thing to do in the context of the last few pages of text:
What is so amazingly courageous about what the Bush Administration has done in trying to generate a Big Bang throughout the Middle East is that it has committed our nation to shrinking a major portion of the gap in one ell swoop. By doing so I believe this Administration has forced America to finally come through on promises repeatedly offered during the cold war but never delivered. In effect, America has been telling the gap for decades that we would really love to come in there and help straighten things out security-wise, but we always seemed to have bigger fish to fry: the Soviets, the fabled near-pear [The promotion of China has our inevitable adversary], our own self-improvement as the world's sole military superpower... whatever. But by taking down Saddam Hussein and turning Iraq into a magnet for every Jihadist with a one way ticket to paradise, America has really thrown down the gauntlet in the Middle East – It has finally begun exporting security for real. In the past, we always had ulterior motives: to keep the Soviet's, to keep the oil flowing, to keep Israel safe. But reconnecting Iraq to the world is so much bigger than any of those goals. It's about creating a future worth living for a billion Muslims we could just as easily consign to the past... Political commentators who prattle on about how George W. Bush has “staked his entire presidency” on Iraq cannot see the forest for the trees. Bush has staked a whole lot more than his political career on Iraq: He has set a showdown between the forces of connectedness and disconnectedness in our world.. In reality, there are plenty of forces within the Core who favor disconnectedness over connectedness, and we will face as many battles with them in coming years as we will face with the Bin Ladens of the gap. That is because many governments in the core still view the world system as a balance of powers, so any rise in U.S. Influence or presence in the Middle East is seen as a loss of their influence or presence there. Too many of these “great powers” are led by small minds who prefer America's failure's to the Core's expansion, because they see their national interests enhanced by the former and diminished by the latter. They prefer the Gap's continued suffering to their own loss of prestige, and they should be ashamed for their selfishness.
That is not to say that America's motives in the gap, or more specifically in the Middle East, are selfless, because they are not. In the end, it took .. 9\11 .. and all the pain it inflicted to motivate America to finally do something significant to address the long standing security issues and big “significant” I mean more than keeping rogue regimes in the box.
I've been saying for some time that I think the war in Iraq, means a lot more than weapons of mass destruction, or free oil. In reality, it means either a major step forward in the “Global war on Terrorism” on one hand, and a crushing defeat that if we're lucky our great-grandchildren will be able to recover from, on the other. So, as much as I may dislike the “kill em all” attitude espoused by some on the right I absolutely loathe those who would have us leave because people died or even better because “we're one to talk”. Whether or not you like it, we were in this for the long run before 9\11 or even the first desert storm. We just didn't know it then. So, pointing your finger and saying I told you so doesn't really do a whole lot to help. We as a whole need to seriously approach this issue from where things stand, today.
I'd just like to point out that I'm not in the boat that believes throwing a couple hundred thousand more soldiers into harms way will rectify the matter either. My personal experience is that there are a lot of people in Iraq really making a difference, but then there a lot of people are just there to be there. Hey look ma, I'm in Iraq! No hands!
What we need in addition to boots on the ground is a definite plan to rebuild this country and connect it to the rest of the world (something we don't have right now). The governments of the world have to make a commitment to rebuilding Iraq and establishing an infrastructure and a legitimate government entity and yes that entails providing the security necessary to make that happen. It also means outside economic investment from the public and private sectors, which can' t be limited to oil development if it is to have a lasting effect. Unfortunately, people will make money during all of this, so we might as well prepare ourselves for that 'horrible” outcome.
Of the above, the most important aspect is that of formulating a realistic plan for the future. We need a Marshall Plan for the Middle East. I'm not trying to suggest to that there aren't people who are doing this very thing, but the fact is they need to work faster. In the 1940's people couldn't watch the video of their family members getting blown the hell up 5 hours after it happened. So while, a little patience may be in order, the higher ups need to understand that they don't have the time that their ancestors may have had in the 1940's. I'd say the first order of business is a serious re-evaluation of the Department of Defense and it's commitments worldwide and not just Iraq. Like I said earlier there are a lot of people in Iraq who are just kinda there, that doesn't mean that they aren't doing anything, far from it, but the fact is a lot of the shit is made up as they go along to justify someones silver star. I won't even begin to get into the ridiculousness of having tanks patrol cities when we're trying to settle things down. We may have the best military in the world, but our police force is severely lacking and that is something that needs to be addressed if we are to do any good in Iraq or anywhere else and in all seriousness you won't see people lining up to do anything in Iraq as long as they think it's pointless. That's just one of the many reasons we need to supply that point.
Ultimately, I'm not really concerned about the military's ability to adapt to the coming changes in the world. There are a lot of intelligent, motivated people who's job depend on it, and if history is any indication they'll come through with flying colors. Prior to the Vietnam war there were those who believed that we were incapable of fighting in the jungles as it was trained for the preceding Korean and World Wars. However, that same mis trained military was able to win every single battle, but it wasn't the strength of arms that lost the conflict it was a weakness of heart. We as a people just didn't have the heart to support that war (and for good reason) and I'd be lying if I said I thought the people of today had what it took to change the world for the better, let alone win the war in Iraq.
Ask some people to give a dollar to a homeless guy and they'll act like you want their first born, and god forbid you ask someone to give some time or effort. We as a people are too caught up in what we think we deserve, that we have no choice but to turn a blind eye to those people who would kill to get a fraction of it. We'll easily spend a few hundred if not thousands of billions on entertainment in the form of video games, movies, television and other such superfluous things and yet we're talking about withholding our dues form the United Nations.
The down side to connecting the rest of the world is that we have to share a part of their burden, and for that to happen we all have to seriously sit down and reconsider our operational needs. If it necessary to have this big truck? Or an Xbox and a Playstation? I know what I'm saying sounds like bullshit, but in reality its a small price to pay for our security and continued economic prosperity.
Since, I've talked about this book and how great it is I guess I'll mention the one thing that I had a problem with, and it wasn't really what was said, but rather what wasn't. For all it's worth it doesn't even begin to touch the subject of our own disconnectedness. I mentioned myself a couple times earlier, and the fact is that just as there are people in Africa who would threaten our security because they don't feel apart of this world, there exists people in our own borders who feel the same way. If we as a world are going to open ourselves up then that means that there will be more different kinds of people in what we consider our homes, and chances are they won' t be the well to do. So as the system we have perpetuates the inequalities within we'll never really have peace domestically. The classic example is how the American public for the most part didn't give two shits about the drug epidemic in the black and Hispanic community until the same problem began to confront their own children and the response was to systematically go after those people same black and Hispanic people as if they were the root of the problem and they weren't. So we, in the west ,need to look not only without but within if peace is to prosper. How can we honestly tell people to straighten up when there are till systematically depressed people in our own societies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a policy of inaction until we are capable of dealing with our own problems, but we need to move into the information age and start multi-tasking.
I'm alluding to is more of the micro aspect of the book's macro and just like economics I don't think either side can be ignored. As countries continue to make efforts to better themselves they will undoubtedly look for those already there for an example and we if we can't do it what hope do we have for countries like North Korea?
Anyway, the entire purpose of this was to illicit some sort of discussion on the topics covered and so far It's been more of an essay, or even worse a book report. So I guess I'll touch on some things in particular I would really like to talk about so I can get a better idea of what other people are thinking.
1. Do you agree with the premise that the road to world peace is through more connectivity in the modern world, i.e. Through greater economic interdependence etc? If not, why and if you still think its possible by what means do you see it happening?
2. Do you think the United States has the responsibility or even the capability of stepping up to the global plate to secure a better future for us all?
3. Do you think we even should bother with the above?
4. What sort of obstacles do you see presenting themselves as the war in Iraq and the Global War on terrorism progresses? What sort of solutions do you see to these problems?
As an addendum to everything that is said, I'm pretty much going off the assumption that we as Americans aren't totally malicious people hell bent on screwing over the rest of the world. So I'd rather not get into debates on how we're so fucked up that we should just be happy the rest of the world even talks to us. If you've made it this far I thank you for reading. It's just another afternoon for me.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
There but for the grace of god goes I...
I kind of let my last post screech to a halt before I touched on something that I really wanted to touch on. So I'm doing this here, raw and uncut from the public computer terminal. I'll try and make this as concise as possible because I dunno who is gonna walk in and my alt-tab might get slow.
Anyway, to the point: One night I got to sit up with Twan and talk about the things that led up to what he did. It was difficult because he obviously had reservations about telling me and this is the guy I've shared shit that NO ONE else knows. So, I listened and it was obvious that he wasn't really comfortable talking about it. I'm not really gonna go into it, but it I guess some of the shit could sound outlandish to some people.
The thing about it though is that I really understood where he was coming from on alot of levels. I went through my times, and I had to fight my demons and until then it didn't really dawn on me as to how lucky I was. I did more than my fair shit of dirt, or even stupid shit and I realized that it could easily be me facing significant jail time, or worse.
Whenever you're in Chicago, in the hood it's like you never left. I could be a 4 star general, with 3 kids and a great life but if I walked down 79th street I'd just be another motherfucker. I guess thats what really scares me about Chicago and why I'm never there. When I see the bums on the street, or just the guys barely making it by trying to survive I can SEE myself as them.
no..
That's putting it lightly.
I can FEEL myself there, as one of them and for all the things I've done and all the things I'm trying to do I can't even imagine myself doing it, even as it's being done. Being in the Army, having money, going to college, being successful to me the shits like a hazy dream that doesn't even real seem like it's there, while all the bullshit, all the despair all the trifles of the streets are cold reality.
I dunno really. I guess the doubt is something I'll never be able to shake.
I alluded to my last post earlier and it was the thought of my father that made it so I couldn't really type anymore. I'll just add a little more on to that as well while I'm at it. I didn't say a word to the man, he tried to talk to me but I just can't bring myself to speak to the man. I think it's because I'm afraid. It's not like the way it was when I was younger. I used to be so afraid of my dad that it felt like I could face anything else in the world because, fuck it wadn't my dad. It's something different though because everything I think of him I try to imagine what it was that made him turn out the way he did. I know hes not stupid, and I know I'm more like him then I care to admit. It's just that I can't ever fathom allowing myself to be like him, but I've been told that he felt the same way about his pop and things didn't work out for him at all. The fear is that I don' t know if I'm prepared to hear what it was, because whatever it was I may not be able to handle and I'm sure I'll have to face it at some point.
Again. I dunno, and I really wish I did.
Anyway, to the point: One night I got to sit up with Twan and talk about the things that led up to what he did. It was difficult because he obviously had reservations about telling me and this is the guy I've shared shit that NO ONE else knows. So, I listened and it was obvious that he wasn't really comfortable talking about it. I'm not really gonna go into it, but it I guess some of the shit could sound outlandish to some people.
The thing about it though is that I really understood where he was coming from on alot of levels. I went through my times, and I had to fight my demons and until then it didn't really dawn on me as to how lucky I was. I did more than my fair shit of dirt, or even stupid shit and I realized that it could easily be me facing significant jail time, or worse.
Whenever you're in Chicago, in the hood it's like you never left. I could be a 4 star general, with 3 kids and a great life but if I walked down 79th street I'd just be another motherfucker. I guess thats what really scares me about Chicago and why I'm never there. When I see the bums on the street, or just the guys barely making it by trying to survive I can SEE myself as them.
no..
That's putting it lightly.
I can FEEL myself there, as one of them and for all the things I've done and all the things I'm trying to do I can't even imagine myself doing it, even as it's being done. Being in the Army, having money, going to college, being successful to me the shits like a hazy dream that doesn't even real seem like it's there, while all the bullshit, all the despair all the trifles of the streets are cold reality.
I dunno really. I guess the doubt is something I'll never be able to shake.
I alluded to my last post earlier and it was the thought of my father that made it so I couldn't really type anymore. I'll just add a little more on to that as well while I'm at it. I didn't say a word to the man, he tried to talk to me but I just can't bring myself to speak to the man. I think it's because I'm afraid. It's not like the way it was when I was younger. I used to be so afraid of my dad that it felt like I could face anything else in the world because, fuck it wadn't my dad. It's something different though because everything I think of him I try to imagine what it was that made him turn out the way he did. I know hes not stupid, and I know I'm more like him then I care to admit. It's just that I can't ever fathom allowing myself to be like him, but I've been told that he felt the same way about his pop and things didn't work out for him at all. The fear is that I don' t know if I'm prepared to hear what it was, because whatever it was I may not be able to handle and I'm sure I'll have to face it at some point.
Again. I dunno, and I really wish I did.
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