I’m going to quote the whole thing;
Afghanistan was politically oversold because it was not Iraq. It was useful in order to establish the narrative of a “good war” in contrast to the ‘bad wars’ of GWB. The price for doing this was to pervert its true value while while the centers of enemy gravity were simply defined out of policy existence. Eventually they would have to take back their shoddy goods. To weasel out from under their extravagant promises.
What we are watching is a changing of the narrative. The “good war” is about to become “a failure of bad intentions made worse by the blunders of George W. Bush”. Well it was never the former nor the latter; worst of all it was never what it was said to be: one battlefield in a global war whose existence is too inconvenient to be recognized.
The Wikileaks episode, considered in the context of the last 9 years, suggests that the media and the political elite are almost totally dishonest. Their economics is a lie; their global warming a lie; their military ’strategy’ another lie; and even their accounts of the lies are lies. Personally I think [Wikileaks founder Julian Assange], far from being a revolutionary outsider, is just another operative in the backroom. But that’s not news. The really significant thing is that things don’t work the same way any more. That apart from being total liars they are now total bankrupts. The global financial crisis, the discrediting of “global warming” and the crisis in the media are really reminders that the old magic is losing its power.
Your credit is good, but we need cash.
Maybe someone had the idea that mega-exposes like the Washington Post’s Secret America and the Wikileaks dump of classified would bring back the golden years of 1973. When everybody wanted to be Woodward or Bernstein. Maybe Assange thinks that Hollywood will soon get a top matinee idol to play him in the new version of ‘All the President’s Men’. Maybe. But I wouldn’t take out a big loan to attend J-school just yet. The sparkle isn’t there any more; and the movie that is really going to bill is ‘Sunset Boulevard’. There is a curious flatness in the public response to these earth-shaking revelations. It’s the dog that didn’t bark in the night.
h/t Maz2
I think that this event, planned or rogue, is a ‘first node’ in the link that will see the end of the Afghan War.
It began as a ‘good war’, defined as ‘legal’ (is there such a thing as a legal or illegal war??) by that font-of-morality-and-wisdom, the UN. Set up as a NATO run war. Chretien immediately jumped in, to ensure that he wouldn’t go with the Iraq War.
I maintain that the Iraq War was a ‘just war’ (there’s a specific definition of such a war) and served to break the hold of tribalism in the ME and start the long road to democracy and a middle class economy.
Afghanistan had no such agenda; the country remains a hodge podge of tribalism which, in an industrial era, is always corrupt and dysfunctional. Harper has made it clear that Canada is out as of next year.
The real problem is not simply the tribalism in Afghanistan but the agendas of Pakistan and Iran in the Middle East and their use of Afghanistan as a base for such an agenda. These two are the real problems and the Afghan war is preventing the West from confronting both of them.
Since Obama won’t confront either Iran or Pakistan then, what’s the future? War in the ME. Between the ME nations. I’m beginning to think it’s inevitable.
I know they are about to nail some lowly private on this but I wonder if he wasn’t a pawn in a much bigger game whereby the Pentagon embarrasses its political masters into doing something. Politically Correct Wars are wars you wage when you want your enemy to win and some in the Pentagon don’t like to lose.
Michael Ledeen has a nice column on Iran in Pajamas Media.
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2010/07/26/the-brothel-named-iran/#comments
There’s a great deal of unrest in the country.
I agree with most observations but disagree with his conclusion.
The MSM is an extension of the ruling class. If the lies, misdirections, crisis and other MSM public manipulating is ‘losing its magic’ it’s because people are onto the ruling elite game plan. They reject the mouthpiece of the ruling class.
It is becoming apparent to more and more people as they wake from the disinfo grid of MSM, that most free nations (and particularly America) are in a post-democratic spiral – run by a corrupt monied oligarchy who control all parties in government. Corrupted governments govern for the comfort and profit of a tiny elite and now use the common working class to underwrite the costs of their investment failures – be those wars, derivatives markets, currency spec., eco hustling, or credit abuse in reserve banking.
Last week even Rush Limbaugh had to admit this – that the 2 party system worked for the same boss and that boss was not the American people.
OK we know our democracies, economies and governments are run by a grasping dissolute elite. We see the results. They are aware we are awakening and have used their media to scare and manipulate us with ‘terror’ wars and global crisis to regain our conformity and beg their governments to pillage us further, but it isn’t working.
Now what? What new global ‘crisis’ can be manufactured by the elite to scare us into compliance with their agenda of subserviant austere micro-managed populations. What will they resort to now they see we aren’t buying what their MSM tells us to buy?
Remember the primary proponent of a bill forcing China-like censorship of the internet is a senator named John Rockefeller. That sir-name and the effect of his bill should tell you all you need to know about where the elite is going now ‘the magic’ of their MSM spin fails to impact popular opinion and perspective.
“When everybody wanted to be Woodward or Bernstein.”
Absolutely amazing. Since I’m somewhat of an older person, I remember being impressed by a profound change in journalism following the Watergate scandal. Every freaking journalist on the planet wanted to be the next Woodward and Burnstein and went about trying to manufacture a big scandal. Watergate was indeed the watershed. I’ll betcha most of the younger folks, journalists included, don’t know why every scandal since then has been suffixed with the word “gate”, but still they won’t give up.
occam – interesting. I had wondered what new crisis Obama would create to assist him in his spiral downward into rejection.
At the moment, he’s focusing on is usual ‘racism’. He and the Democrats can’t campaign on the ‘achievements’ of the Obama years because they’ve been disastrous and are the focus of strong rejection by Americans. So – it’s racism at the moment. But there has to be another crisis to ‘warm’ the American people to Obama.
The usual anti-Bush rhetoric is always there, with Obama playing the victim card (race is also a victim card). Are you saying that the Afghan War is going to be set up as a Bash Bush Event? That Obama will use this as an excuse to get out of the war – fast – to appease his left base? Obama is, after all, losing that left base rapidly.
But Bashing Bush is now a very weak strategy and is seen, more and more, as a whining Obama.
So- I can see that this leak was planned, and is a way to get the US out..but I’m not sure how much it will help Obama.
What’s wrong with Wikileaks? Anything that makes it easier to expose big government lies (or corrupt [political] science) is a good thing, in my opinion.
I wouldn’t be surprized if this bunch are also tied to the discredited Journolisters. Perhaps they figure the only way
the Democrats can make a come-back is to upset things even more and bring back Bush into the conversation.
Watch for the 2010 and 2012 elections to be all Bush, Bush, Bush!
I think the leaks are relatively minor. The ones I read really did not reveal much of anything. As one ex-military specialist stated they call that BS. There is tons of these reports every day and from them they try to get a picture of what is going on. The one I read reported unnamed Arabs at a meeting. Who didn’t know Arabs were involved?
What is perplexing is the reaction trying to make these into something bigger than they are. I guess AGW isn’t selling anymore. Hey, Michelle rented 30 rooms in a five star hotel for her getaway in Spain. Maybe an article on when she became Queen would fill the gap.
The swipe at Julian Assange is pure ad hominem. WikiLeaks is doing a great service. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these documents (or the Apache footage) being released. Like the commentator who wasn’t surprised about Afghanistan, I wasn’t surprised about the gunship attack. We’re at war and they gunned down a target. I was genuinely astonished that people were outraged. It’s war!
I think it’s good for people to see what’s being done in their name. If you don’t have the stomach for those sorts of things, don’t send the boys to war. If you send them, then get the hell out of the way and let them do their jobs. But there’s no shame in being honest about what’s happening over there.
There is always someone or something behind “leaks”; I cannot even begin to speculate. What is clear is that the material doesn’t appear to say anything we didn’t already know, if we cared to think about it.
As usual, the real conflict is left unnamed, making it very difficult to fight.
Also, I am not the first to notice that the liberal media are chortling over the “leaks” while they absolutely repudiate the “stolen” climategate files.
ET: “It began as a ‘good war’, defined as ‘legal’ (is there such a thing as a legal or illegal war??) by that font-of-morality-and-wisdom, the UN. Set up as a NATO run war.”
To me the notion of legality or rules pertaining to war is an oxymoron. What is war, other than a breakdown of all law and order? I think it’s high time to relegate this nonsense to the dustbin of useless ideas. If the other guys don’t follow the rules, all bets are off. Civilians who have allowed their monstrous governments to behave the way to do, are equally responsible for the mess they are in. Trying to tip-toe around them only provides the enemy with a reason to hide among them.
Nobody seemed to want to be Woodward and Bernstein after the ’60 election, which was clearly stolen by Kennedy from, btw, Nixon.
My favorite was the Texas town where everybody who didn’t vote earlier in the day showed up to vote in alphabetical order at the close of the polls. BTW, Kennedy lost in the popular vote too.
tim in vermont
Yeah I remember that oh so obvious thingy about that Texas town…..Democrats as usual.
Notice those ACORN enumerated dead folk and kids voting and then during the Franken/Coleman recount in Minnesota—that Judges/adjudicators allowed excluding absentee ballots (over-seas service votes). Then it leaked out that these overseas service votes are generally majority Republican…..
The analysis of the service votes makes OBOZO and company unable to rely on the military to subdue political opposition. Ordering the military to fire on the TEA PARTY would seem to likely result in a fully equiped and fully trained militia wing to the TEA PARTY…..that’s what occurred in the Philopines when Marcos called out the army to interdict the unrest.
At some point where all going to have to face the crooks who have taken over Democracy. With its militant arm the Jihadists. The Lefts stalking horse Islam. In Canada we call them the Progressives/NDP. THe Party of dippers.In America their called Progressives/Democrats. The Party of Slavery!!!
I read a lot of history & you see great scandals, but nothing, nothing approaches the corruption of modern Times by this Elite . Starting with the oil for food, than the Y2k scam. rapidly moving to the chimera of Global warming. Mean while our Elitist Government people are sucking our freedoms away daily to rob us even more.
All this while the Islamists infiltrate every part of society to conform to an ideology based on hate for humanity with a superiority complex. Dove tails nicely with the Fascist elites.
JMO
Canada got a taste of this years ago during meech and charlottetowne. The media really never fully recovered from that – particularly in western cda.
As for woodstein – they were very public parts of a process that would have brought down RMN with or without felt’s deep throat leaks. The DOJ was grinding it out quietly as part of the prosecution of the burglars. Remember it wasn’t the media that brought about the firing of haldeman and ehrlichman and the Saturday night massacre, it was DOJ and court actions.
Thus Woodstein’s impact on the Nixon presidency is vastly overrated.
They did however have a massive impact on the press as it made stars out of lowly reporters rather than just network news anchors. The result was mobs of reporters swinging for the fences in their investigating so as to grasp the ring of fame and leapfrog over their peers to higher profile (and higher paying) jobs.
The Internet is now the medium for such exposes – see brietbart etc. And by and large I think this is a very good thing. And it will go a long way towards reducing the powers of the elite.
I think its hilarious how conspiratorial the blurb sounded…Julian Assange is part of some global media liberal conspiracy to discredit XYZ? Wikileaks has been around for a long time exposing tons of other groups, not just the U.S. military.
Johan i Kanada says “What’s wrong with Wikileaks? Anything that makes it easier to expose big government lies (or corrupt [political] science) is a good thing, in my opinion.”
So had Wikileaks existed during WWII, it would have been a “good thing” to release information in regard to Normandy? Or details of conflicts between allies?
Are these people ever going to be held to account? That’s what I want to know.
Releasing those documents is akin to being a card carrying member of the Taliban, those involved should be charged with high treason and tried by the American Military. Giving the enemy access to field notes, how can anyone justify that kind of treason is beyond me.
Johnny at 3:12 PM, are we to believe that these idiots don’t know that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have recruits that are internet savvy or should we believe that folks like Assange as just fifth columnists working for the enemy. I know which one I believe, and I suspect you agree.
Gord Tulk at 2:37 PM, I have no bone to pick with Woodward and Bernstein. What they did was a brilliantly executed act of investigative journalism. Tricky Dicky deserved what he got.
It’s what followed that which got me wondering. It’s all very fine to be a government watchdog, but to make the assumption that every act of every democratically elected government involves something criminal, and to go to extremely ludicrous lengths in the quest to prove that the assumption is correct, is just plain stupid.
IMHO, before Watergate, journalists used to focus on a much wider range of issues than they do now. Now, it’s grossly over fixated on governments and on bringing government’s down, no matter what the cost.
War efforts are being compromised and people are endangered, and by people I include more than just soldiers. The good folks in Iraq were victims of Western journalism’s propensity to encourage, aid and abet the terrorists. They acted as free publicity agents for the Islamofascists who were slaughtering ordinary Iraqi citizens.
The Islamofascists wanted to create another Vietnam and they needed Western media to cooperate. And, boy did they ever. In spades. If it wasn’t for blogs, most of us would never have known how wrong the nightly newscast was.
One of my favourite blogs during the war was one called Soldier’s Dad. He did a stellar job of showing how ill informed the media was about nearly everything to do with the military.
I frankly think there are legions of journalists who should be tried for treason, but alas, the crime of treason seems to be too old fashioned today. Unfortunately, it’s innocent civilians in far away lands who pay the price.
There are laws on the books to prosecute the leakers if the government so chooses. Wikileaks and anyone else who leaks does so with that to consider.
The 22 year-old is active service, hence a traitor eligible for capital punishment on conviction but the larger question is how this kid got anywhere near classified material. There has to be another traitor, or so, still in the woodwork.
Assange is an Australian, they can make him dance on a rope as a traitor—-or the Americans can execute him for espionage.
Louise 5:27 PM
“…..are we to believe that these idiots don’t know that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have recruits that are internet savvy or should we believe that folks like Assange as just fifth columnists working for the enemy. I know which one I believe, and I suspect you agree.”
Actually I think “fools” pretty well covers it.
There has to be another traitor, or so, still in the woodwork.
Assange is an Australian, they can make him dance on a rope as a traitor—-or the Americans can execute him for espionage.
==========================
Not while The One is in charge.
“Afghanistan was politically oversold because it was not Iraq…What we are watching is a changing of the narrative”(Fernandez).
I dunno, I don’t think it’s much use pretending that Bush wasn’t the one who messed up the narrative in the first place (presumably unintentionaly), and everyone since has done their darndest to mess it up even worse.
I demonstrated against Bush’s reasons for invading Iraq, before it became the popular thing to do and before people like Michael Moore made millions off books and videos on ridiculous conspiracy theories (e.g. “George Bush planned and orchestrated 9/11”, etc). Once the Left got hold of 9/11 and twisted it into something as unrecognizable as the twin towers themselves, it made Bush’s indiscretions look almost reasonable. So I stopped protesting Bush.
It seems that whenever the Marxist Left gets its dirty fingers into any legitimate issue, they pollute it forever. But we must admit that Bush opened the crack in the door which let all the crazies out of the nuthouse — e.g.: colour-coded indicators of perceived future terrorist threats?!! That’s when I knew that Bush had lost it.
But now I find myself wishing that a (improved) facimile of Bush were back!
ET:
“occam – interesting. I had wondered what new crisis Obama would create to assist him in his spiral downward into rejection.”
ET, it is our nations in the downward spiral and it’s a well planned devolution from free democracy to neo-serfdom. I guess my point is that the ruling oligarchy have an agenda to keep us stupid, tribal and partisan, squabbling amongst ourselves while they have their MSM concoct alternate realities and fear mongering that their corrupt government stooges (both Dem and GOP) disempower us and rob us into a servile poverty.
The issues and agendas the MSM runs with are set ups for legislation or calculated reaction. We see in this instance the great MSM horror over “leaked government docs” to an internet whistle blower site (probably wiki leaks was set up by security spooks). WE also see Breitbart being beat up as racist and an internet slanderer. The reaction is obvious. They are setting up the Internet to be totally government controlled and censored.
It is internet alternative messaging that has put a vast many people onto the economic scams, crisis scams, eco scams, pointless protracted military misadventutres. The I-net has wised us up to the corrupt elite’s agendas and cons.
It (free internet) must be silenced. Bingo, the MSM goes on a rampage blaming the net as being racist, pornographic, pedophilliac, a refuge for neo nazis, slanderous and in need of deep control and censorship (unlike the 1st amendment privilege the MSM hide behind) and presto! Bingo, bango bongo, Senator John Rockefeller has an internet censoring bill on the floor at the time of this concocted internet controversy.
Its a formula and as predictable as sunrise. Hegelian dialectic – problem-reaction-solution. Concoct a crisis that dupes the public while the corrupt crony legislators pass reactive laws that takes us in the direction the elite want to go.
In Obama’s regime we will see citizenship and voting laws changed to make a Dem voting block of illegals and we will see drastic restrictions on the internet and alternative media to remove dissent and counter spin.
And guess what, the GOP will rubber stamp it and if they gain the house they will play along with the changes doing nothing to repeal the Dem unconstitutional legislating.
Two parties, one boss. Even Rush has come to that conclusion.
This going to be played out by the usual suspects as George Bush, War Criminal II, for the Nov election. By the way, where are all the antiwar freaks with their buckets of blood since it became Obamugabe’s war? Just more marxist front groups no longer performing on cue with overwhelming media coverage? Who would have guessed?
Perhaps Oliver Stone was thinking about Hitler – the early years while musing about historical revisionism. It would behoove the Republicans to ensure all firefighting facilities and personnel around the Capitol are ready for action.
Occam’s Disposable Razots at 7:44 PM that’s one of the best conspiracy theories I’ve read in a long time.
And BTW, when did you change your name from Disposable Razors to Disposable Razots. And only a few days ago it was Occam’a rather than Occam’s.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/014498.html#c518850
ricardo at 7:32 PM, since my children’s DNA is 50% Iraqi, let me tell you that I will honour Dubya for the rest of my life. Contrary to popular opinion the Iraqis did welcome their liberators at the beginning.
Sure, Bush made mistakes, but there has never been a war without mistakes. Bush’s only problem was he was a lousy communicator, but the justice of removing Saddam Hussein from power does not rest upon whether or not the American president is a brilliant orator.
No long after the invasion my ex’s brother, who had been a diplomat most of his life, took a post in the Iraqi embassy in Washington. That’s hardly a move one would make if they believed Americans, or even Bush alone, had done the wrong thing.
Tell me where there is a “theory” Louise.
Sorry for the keyboard errors, you have an eye for detail. Micro vision is OK but it negates seeing a full picture. Perhaps if you move back to get a larger perspective quibbling fly specs and pointless labels won’t mean as much.
Louise: “And BTW, when did you change your name from Disposable Razors to Disposable Razots. And only a few days ago it was Occam’a rather than Occam’s.”
It must be a conspiracy. What do you think? Maybe I’m a government or police troll on a fishing trip.
Bwaaaaaaahahahahaha!
Oh, I donno. Maybe it was this: “…it’s a well planned devolution from free democracy to neo-serfdom.”
combined with this: “…the ruling oligarchy have an agenda to keep us stupid, tribal and partisan, squabbling amongst ourselves while they have their MSM concoct alternate realities and fear mongering that their corrupt government stooges (both Dem and GOP) disempower us and rob us into a servile poverty.”
And besides, I think they might have a wee bit of trouble shutting down even all the American blogs, let alone the non-American ones, especially considering that servers can be positioned in any country.
Maybe you need to upgrade your software. You should only have to type in your name etc. once.
occam – I don’t buy your conspiracy theme that this agenda is all to control the Internet. I don’t think that’s possible. Even China can’t do it.
And remember, there is such a thing as the First Amendment.
I happen to be, and always was, a strong supporter of the Iraq War. It was the correct response to Islamic fascism…to enable the development of a middle class economic and political infrastructure in the ME.
Afghanistan is different. It’s not even a ‘real country’ but a hodge podge of different adversarial tribes, used by two external nations, Pakistan and Iran, for their own agendas in the ME. There’s nothing to win. The real focus ought to be on Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan has got to confront itself..and so does Iran. Do they want to be part of the global community? I suspect that Pakistan wants that. I suspect that the Iranian people want that – but the Iranian leadership has an imperialist agenda.
ET: “I happen to be, and always was, a strong supporter of the Iraq War. It was the correct response to Islamic fascism…to enable the development of a middle class economic and political infrastructure in the ME.”
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IMHO, it was the only logical place to start the so called War on Terror, and not just because of Saddam Hussein’s well know history of support for terror and for terrorist organizations.
Iraq has an ancient civilization that excelled all others, a reasonably functioning infrastructure that could be brought up to standards very quickly, a population with technical skills that far exceeded any other in the region, and a history of association with the Brits (If anyone bothers to visit London, England, they’ll soon discover Iraqis all over the place) that made it far more likely to be able to build a functioning democracy once the monster was gone. Plus, it was a secular state.
And more importantly, the Iraqi dictator had the wherewithal and the inclination to begin once again producing WMD which could be handed off to any Tom, Dick and Harry terrorist wanna be of his choosing. He had to go before any other backward state, such as Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, could get their hands on it.
And another thing. Higher rates of literacy than just about anywhere else in the region.