A Second Hand Conjecture

Respecting all races and religions over at The Conjecturer.

Defense & The War

• It turns out the U.S. repeatedly refused to investigate or handle any of the complaints about Blackwater allegedly murdering civilians. But don’t worry—there are clearly laws against murder, so we can rest assured the lack of convictions is evidence that no crimes have been committed.
• Interestingly, the CIA was warning the White House of the dangers of trying to occupy Iraq. But George Tenet declared it a slam dunk, Dick Cheney declared flowers, and we’re still there.
• Fred Kaplan wants to know why we’re not debating the largest military budget ever. I do too, especially considering how much fraud, waste, and abuse happens… as well as the seemingly impunity with which the military wastes money on gadgets instead of spending it on people. There is a balance to be struck, and rushing to field the latest hyper-expensive technical panacea (MRAP, the F-22) for what amounts to a technologically unsolvable doctrine problem (IEDs, battling counterinsurgencies) is how all that money seems to disappear. All part of the MICC (that’s military-industrial-congressional complex, as Eisenhower wanted to put it).
• I do wonder how many innocent people were killed by the sniper bait-and-snipe tactics. I guess I should state it is deeply unfair to the snipers to ask them to look at some schlub picking up a weapon and determine, through their scope, whether he is an insurgent or just looking to sell it to feed his family. Again: that is a doctrinal failure, one of many in this war, and not a personnel one.
• In an otherwise excellent (and quite damning) indictment of the Bush administration’s failed wars, the highly-respected Barnett Rubin describes the “thankless labor of documenting the administration’s crimes and blunders in Iraq,” as equivalent to convincing “a skeptical audience that water is wet.” Heh.
• Meanwhile, a buddy of mine who works at World Vision describes the herculean efforts going into the equally thankless task of caring for the millions of refugees Bush created but refused responsibility for.
• Some uncomfortable questions for the U.S. Air Force.

Around the World

• Is Virgin Mobile illegally using Flickr users in their advertising campaigns?
• Is human trafficking a crock? I sure hope not… because if it turns out some people have exaggerated the problem, then the very real issues—of slavery, forced prostitution, and so on—will continue, just under the radar.
• Safrang posts a neat vignette of an Afghan farmer who successfully switched from farming opium to farming saffron. That is how alternative livelihoods should work!
• The U.S. embassy in Islamabad might have finally been given permission to grow the balls to protest Musharraf’s failing regime. In other “America’s complicity with thugs and murderers” news, there are now allegations the U.S. guaranteed the freedom of Radovan Kradzic, one of the butchers behind the Srebrenica massacre (recently, if perhaps incorrectly, deemed a genocide).
• The future is Asian… or so they’d have you believe.
• 100,000 protest the military junta in Burma. Not yet revolution, but the courage on display is truly stunning. More, please.
• America is losing the PR war against Iran.
• A survey of Central Asian humor.
• The problems and opportunities of entrepreneurial African infrastructure development.

Back at Home

• The rotting Dupont Circle embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo. My question is: how does a reporter afford a place in Dupont Circle? Ever since the metros chased the gays out to Shaw, Dupont has become ridiculously expensive—almost as expensive as my beloved Arlington.
• My God, why am I agreeing with Think Progress? Oh right—I’m a free speech extremist, and I bristle at anyone’s attempt to silence anyone else. When even President Bush think it’s okay to let Mahmoud tell a University full of wealthy homosexuals there aren’t any of their kind in Iran when they’re hung (quite literally, from posts) on a regular basis… well, then, might it be safe saying Hunter might have jumped the shark?

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