The NY Times article is well worth the read, about a smart American who is now a jihadi leader in Somalia. Hammami should have been a valuable American soldier in the War on Terror. Instead, he's the enemy. Well, respect the enemy. Let him teach us, so we can defeat him.
A more intimate enemy is the "Dear John" letter to the deployed soldier, which I witnessed as early as Basic Training. I wondered at the time, the wife/girlfriend's need to break up with him is so urgent she can't wait 8 weeks until after he's finished with one of the most stressful and difficulty undertakings of his life? The reason she does it that way, according to this self-forgiving column from a woman who apparently Dear John'ed her soldier, is it's easier for her. Never mind that the especial cruelty of the Dear John letter is the letter arrives in the place and time he needs her loyalty the most. A strong soldier needs - and deserves - a strong woman to be his wife or girlfriend. Unfortunately, too many soldiers' wives and girlfriends prove to be weak.
Eric
Sunday, 31 January 2010
John Yoo cleared
Good news: "[An] upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations."
Eric
Eric
Thursday, 28 January 2010
I hope DADT will go down in 2010
President Obama made a commitment to repealing DADT in his State of the Union address: "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It's the right thing to do."
CNN reports DoD leaders SecDef Gates and ADM Mullen will discuss proposals with Congress next week to end or at least change the implementation of DADT. Support for ending DADT, coupled with the majority party seeking a progressive 'score', is strong enough that I believe a set of palatable military-vetted ideas should be the tipping point to push it through Congress.
I support a thoughtful change of the policy that is sensitive to any effect on soldiers doing very difficult, important things right now, but I believe the transition from DADT will be relatively smooth. I hope the change is sooner, ie, within a year as the President stated, rather than later. DADT is bad policy that has harmed honorable gay soldiers who have served, are serving, and will serve, DADT is counter to my social and cultural concept of the American military of which I'm a proud veteran, and ending DADT is a key step toward returning ROTC to Columbia University.
Eric
CNN reports DoD leaders SecDef Gates and ADM Mullen will discuss proposals with Congress next week to end or at least change the implementation of DADT. Support for ending DADT, coupled with the majority party seeking a progressive 'score', is strong enough that I believe a set of palatable military-vetted ideas should be the tipping point to push it through Congress.
I support a thoughtful change of the policy that is sensitive to any effect on soldiers doing very difficult, important things right now, but I believe the transition from DADT will be relatively smooth. I hope the change is sooner, ie, within a year as the President stated, rather than later. DADT is bad policy that has harmed honorable gay soldiers who have served, are serving, and will serve, DADT is counter to my social and cultural concept of the American military of which I'm a proud veteran, and ending DADT is a key step toward returning ROTC to Columbia University.
Eric
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Another Obama = Bush article
Check out Nate Hentoff's George W. Obama in the Jan 12 Village Voice. Hentoff makes his bias clear by citing the ACLU as the highest authority for the War on Terror. He's just the latest 'liberal' pundit upset at the realization that in terms of foreign policy and national security, the Obama administration is similar to the Bush administration. In contrast, before President Obama took office I predicted that, more likely than not, Obama would follow in Bush's path on foreign policy and national security.
Related, New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote in his Sunday column, "Obama’s highest approval ratings are now on foreign policy and national security issues".
Eric
Related, New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote in his Sunday column, "Obama’s highest approval ratings are now on foreign policy and national security issues".
Eric
Monday, 18 January 2010
Glen Quagmire inspired by Hogan?
Last night, I watched a few minutes of 1963 comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree. Jack Lemmon plays the lead character Hogan. Like Family Guy's Quagmire, Hogan is an unrepentant lech who pursues sex with a sophisticated amoral single-mindedness. Also like Quagmire, Hogan has ample means to pursue his libidinous passions and his home is customized as a hidden lothario's den that reveals itself with the flip of a few switches. However, where Quagmire is likeable with a good heart, Hogan is entirely unsympathetic, devious, and despicable.
I would not be surprised if Seth MacFarlane admitted Quagmire is based on Hogan.
Eric
I would not be surprised if Seth MacFarlane admitted Quagmire is based on Hogan.
Eric
Egypt
I was on a Gate1 tour of major ancient Egyptian history/tourist sites. The tour was scheduled for 14 days, but I returned home after 10 days because my classes started last week. So, I missed the Valley of the Kings and Queens by Luxor and the sea resort at Hurghada. But I did get to go on a Nile Cruise, and visit the pyramids at Giza, the Cairo Museum, the temples of Karnak and Luxor at Luxor, the temples of Edfu and Esna, the temple at Philae, Abu Simble, the Aswan dam, and the unfinished obelisk.
The main historical sites in Egypt have streams of tourists and some locations were as jammed with people as a NYC subway train at rush hour. Our tour guide tried to alleviate the crush somewhat by scheduling some of our tours for odd hours.
The highlights were as impressive as expected. The Nile cruise ship and hotel were good. The food on the cruise ship was 'comfort food' level, but made well. I ate plenty. I enjoyed the Nile cruise the most. The Nile was the source of Egyptian civilization and the scenery, the greenery by the shores with sand-colored mountains in the distance, was evocative. The shores were only lightly populated and there were few industrial ships, so it appears the Nile river has been preserved as a tourist attraction. There was many other Nile cruise ships.
We were warned not to drink the local water nor eat foods exposed to the local water, so we used bottled water to drink and brush our teeth. I was tempted to take my chances with the local water and just acclimate, but the tour was short enough where a prolonged "Pharoah's revenge" (like Mexico's "Montezuma revenge") wouldn't have been worth the gamble.
Heavy security for tourists. A heavy presence of the uniformed tourist police in tourist areas, which is a different police force than the regular Egyptian police. Our tour bus always had a security guard wearing a suit and carrying a submachine gun. Supposedly, Egypt is safe in terms of crime, but they are sensitive to the proven risk of Islamic terrorism.
The most annoying part of the trip were the aggressive persistent tourist hustlers that infested every tourist area. My family also doesn't like to haggle and Egyptian merchants haggle.
Both my flight to Egypt and my flight home via Egyptair were delayed, but Egyptair seemed to try to make up for systemic faults with customer service. No complaints there.
Eric
The main historical sites in Egypt have streams of tourists and some locations were as jammed with people as a NYC subway train at rush hour. Our tour guide tried to alleviate the crush somewhat by scheduling some of our tours for odd hours.
The highlights were as impressive as expected. The Nile cruise ship and hotel were good. The food on the cruise ship was 'comfort food' level, but made well. I ate plenty. I enjoyed the Nile cruise the most. The Nile was the source of Egyptian civilization and the scenery, the greenery by the shores with sand-colored mountains in the distance, was evocative. The shores were only lightly populated and there were few industrial ships, so it appears the Nile river has been preserved as a tourist attraction. There was many other Nile cruise ships.
We were warned not to drink the local water nor eat foods exposed to the local water, so we used bottled water to drink and brush our teeth. I was tempted to take my chances with the local water and just acclimate, but the tour was short enough where a prolonged "Pharoah's revenge" (like Mexico's "Montezuma revenge") wouldn't have been worth the gamble.
Heavy security for tourists. A heavy presence of the uniformed tourist police in tourist areas, which is a different police force than the regular Egyptian police. Our tour bus always had a security guard wearing a suit and carrying a submachine gun. Supposedly, Egypt is safe in terms of crime, but they are sensitive to the proven risk of Islamic terrorism.
The most annoying part of the trip were the aggressive persistent tourist hustlers that infested every tourist area. My family also doesn't like to haggle and Egyptian merchants haggle.
Both my flight to Egypt and my flight home via Egyptair were delayed, but Egyptair seemed to try to make up for systemic faults with customer service. No complaints there.
Eric
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