Category Archives: Propaganda

Clinton Cops To ‘Collateral Damage’

Bush, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Neoconservatism, Propaganda, The Military

Under Bush and his backers (who have NO claim to the tea-party movement), it was verboten to mention that nation-building or democracy-spreading—whatever the term du jour to describe America’s assorted missions and monster slaying—costs the people upon whom these “blessings” are visited.

Bush backers in the media became indignant—still do—whenever it was suggested that America’s bravest inadvertently, and unintentionally, killed scores of innocent civilians.

Today, after one of those expeditions that resulted in “collateral damage,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that “Washington ‘deeply, deeply’ regrets the death of Afghan civilians killed by an air strike.”

But what are you going to do about it, Madam? Why not terminate the “mission” to Afghanistan?

That “mission” I summed-up in “A War He Can Call His Own“:

Nations building is Democrat for spreading democracy. Spreading democracy is Republican for nation building. These interchangeable concepts stand for an open-ended military presence with all the pitfalls that attach to Iraq.

Americans are currently training the Afghan army. As in Iraq, it’ll take years if not decades before the training wheels can be removed. The men of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions have made magnificent progress in pushing the Taliban back. But the gains are short-lived. The Taliban invariably regroup. Their stake in that country is simply greater than ours. Always will be. Then there are the costs and the casualties. When Special Forces target the Taliban, they frequently infringe on tribal territory instead. Civilians die. Tribal elders are enraged, and rightly so.

Nation building in that country also entails policing a corruption-riddled police force. Afghani officers of the law are “uniformed thieves.” They run the opium trade by which the impoverished Afghani farmers survive. Somewhere on the food chain sit the drug traffickers. We mediate between them and other crime bosses, or war lords, as they are known. When we supply impoverished farmers with basic supplies, the Taliban first fleece these long-suffering folks and then punish them for collaborating with the Americans. By swooping down to save the locals from the Taliban we cripple them with kindness and deepen their dependency.

Another of the contradictions of occupation: The Pashtun population we patronize happens to disdain the central government we hope to strengthen. So it goes: We help local groups we believe to be patriots but, at the same time, end up establishing an authoritarian protectorate. Pakistan anyone?

Clinton Cops To 'Collateral Damage'

Bush, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Neoconservatism, Propaganda, The Military

Under Bush and his backers (who have NO claim to the tea-party movement), it was verboten to mention that nation-building or democracy-spreading—whatever the term du jour to describe America’s assorted missions and monster slaying—costs the people upon whom these “blessings” are visited.

Bush backers in the media became indignant—still do—whenever it was suggested that America’s bravest inadvertently, and unintentionally, killed scores of innocent civilians.

Today, after one of those expeditions that resulted in “collateral damage,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that “Washington ‘deeply, deeply’ regrets the death of Afghan civilians killed by an air strike.”

But what are you going to do about it, Madam? Why not terminate the “mission” to Afghanistan?

That “mission” I summed-up in “A War He Can Call His Own“:

Nations building is Democrat for spreading democracy. Spreading democracy is Republican for nation building. These interchangeable concepts stand for an open-ended military presence with all the pitfalls that attach to Iraq.

Americans are currently training the Afghan army. As in Iraq, it’ll take years if not decades before the training wheels can be removed. The men of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions have made magnificent progress in pushing the Taliban back. But the gains are short-lived. The Taliban invariably regroup. Their stake in that country is simply greater than ours. Always will be. Then there are the costs and the casualties. When Special Forces target the Taliban, they frequently infringe on tribal territory instead. Civilians die. Tribal elders are enraged, and rightly so.

Nation building in that country also entails policing a corruption-riddled police force. Afghani officers of the law are “uniformed thieves.” They run the opium trade by which the impoverished Afghani farmers survive. Somewhere on the food chain sit the drug traffickers. We mediate between them and other crime bosses, or war lords, as they are known. When we supply impoverished farmers with basic supplies, the Taliban first fleece these long-suffering folks and then punish them for collaborating with the Americans. By swooping down to save the locals from the Taliban we cripple them with kindness and deepen their dependency.

Another of the contradictions of occupation: The Pashtun population we patronize happens to disdain the central government we hope to strengthen. So it goes: We help local groups we believe to be patriots but, at the same time, end up establishing an authoritarian protectorate. Pakistan anyone?

Update III (12/12/018): Swine Flu “Patient Zero” (The Swines Are AWOL)

Constitution, Drug War, Government, Healthcare, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Propaganda, War on Drugs

By the dictionary’s telling, epidemiology is “the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.” During an outbreak, that necessitates tracing “Patient Zero,” the “single individual who bears the unknowing responsibility for having introduced the disease” to a certain population.

The AIDS outbreak in North American, as documented in the late Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, was traced to Gaetan Dugas, a dashing, promiscuous Canadian flight attendant. Dugas had had approximately 1000 sexual partners.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a preliminary update as to the status of the investigation into “Human Swine Influenza.”

We are assured that, “Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.”

Will the Gaetan Dugas of the Mexican swine flu outbreak be identified to the public? Somehow I doubt it.

Just the other day, passive American tokers and dopers were blamed for the fact that Mexican murderers were killing one another over drugs. Like Bush before him, Barack and Madam Hildebeest, will find a way to saddle the US for the spread of another disease.

Updated I (April 26): The Swines Are AWOL. I said it in my latest column, “To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage.” You can trust the government’s untrustworthiness–always. Whether the enemy is a human or a viral invader, “America’s deracinated elites [will never fail] to elevate the interests of the enemy above those of the people.”

We accuse China of not looking out for its people, but as Drudge reports, “in Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on all flights coming direct from affected areas.”

“In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out face masks and using thermography imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.”

Bloomberg: “Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California and Kansas.”

Reuters: Even Guatemalan mask-wearing health officials “interview passengers arriving from Mexico.”

Drum Roll: “US says not testing travelers from Mexico for flu.”

Enforcing the borders and preventing a foreign invasion is perfectly within the purview of the “night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory,” in the words of the late philosopher, Robert Nozick.

Constitutionally, that is the most basic role of government.

Update III (12/12/018): Finally, a real and honest doctor, Jane Orient, looks at the diseases, many deadly like Polio, coming into the USA with the migrant caravan invasion. But it’s worth it, right? For our values:

Update II: Swine Flu "Patient Zero" (The Swines Are AWOL)

Constitution, Drug War, Government, Healthcare, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Propaganda, War on Drugs

By the dictionary’s telling, epidemiology is “the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.” During an outbreak, that necessitates tracing “Patient Zero,” the “single individual who bears the unknowing responsibility for having introduced the disease” to a certain population.

The AIDS outbreak in North American, as documented in the late Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, was traced to Gaetan Dugas, a dashing, promiscuous Canadian flight attendant. Dugas had had approximately 1000 sexual partners.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a preliminary update as to the status of the investigation into “Human Swine Influenza.”

We are assured that, “Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.”

Will the Gaetan Dugas of the Mexican swine flu outbreak be identified to the public? Somehow I doubt it.

Just the other day, passive American tokers and dopers were blamed for the fact that Mexican murderers were killing one another over drugs. Like Bush before him, Barack and Madam Hildebeest, will find a way to saddle the US for the spread of another disease.

Updated I (April 26): The Swines Are AWOL. I said it in my latest column, “To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage.” You can trust the government’s untrustworthiness–always. Whether the enemy is a human or a viral invader, “America’s deracinated elites [will never fail] to elevate the interests of the enemy above those of the people.”

We accuse China of not looking out for its people, but as Drudge reports, “in Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on all flights coming direct from affected areas.”

“In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out face masks and using thermography imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.”

Bloomberg: “Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California and Kansas.”

Reuters: Even Guatemalan mask-wearing health officials “interview passengers arriving from Mexico.”

Drum Roll: “US says not testing travelers from Mexico for flu.”

Enforcing the borders and preventing a foreign invasion is perfectly within the purview of the “night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory,” in the words of the late philosopher, Robert Nozick.

Constitutionally, that is the most basic role of government.