211 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 119 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H1'ed 5/6/11

A Troubled Nation Feeds On bin Laden's Corpse

By       (Page 1 of 6 pages)   13 comments

John Grant
Message John Grant
Supplying an army at a distance drains the public coffers and impoverishes the common people.

 -Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

__________________

 

With the killing of Osama bin Laden by a 79-member JSOC hunter/killer team inside Pakistan, the nation has entered yet another of those moments when a news media that professes independence has become an unashamed cheerleader for militarism.

 

No one can deny the JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) Seal Team executed its killing mission with great competence and aplomb. They were also lucky that the bin Laden entourage had apparently become so confident of its safety that it was a bit lackadaisical.

 

Ever since the Desert One debacle in 1980 in Iran, US special operations commanders were determined that the system evolve into a sophisticated program with double and triple backup plans etc. Apparently a motto in the Seals is, you come out of an operation either as "a Zero or a Hero." In this case, it's "Hero" in spades.

 

The competence exhibited by the team is especially welcome in many quarters in the US following a decade noted for too many examples of huge and really bad decisions that were examples of what happens when you link incompetence with great power.

 

Just to name a few of the big ones: There was the decision to insert into Afghanistan an incredibly expensive army and the creation, there, of an entire government that involved a network of heavily corrupt loyalties that had to be sustained with payoffs and other blandishments. That decision has led to an incredibly wasteful logistical nightmare. Then there was the completely dishonorable decision to invade and occupy Iraq based on dishonestly misdirected 911 revenge politics. Recently, we have added Libya to the list of mission-creep wars; it has gone from a no-fly zone to a palace bombing that killed three of the leader's grandkids. All this consumes gobs and gobs of tax dollars that could be used in neglected areas at home.

 

Just to round out the list of disastrous decisions, let's not forget the elimination of financial regulation begun by President Reagan that led inexorably to the 2007-08 economic meltdown, which was followed by a huge tax-payer bailout of the very pirates who got the nation into the mess in the first place. In that bargain, homeowners were supposed to get help, but it somehow never arrived.

West Virginia students revel in killing and John Brennan tells a whopper
West Virginia students revel in killing and John Brennan tells a whopper
(Image by unknown)
  Details   DMCA

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Supported 4   Well Said 3   Must Read 2  
Rate It | View Ratings

John Grant Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

I'm a 72-year-old American who served in Vietnam as a naive 19-year-old. From that moment on, I've been studying and re-thinking what US counter-insurgency war means. I live outside of Philadelphia, where I'm a writer, photographer and political (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact EditorContact Editor
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

The Drug War: A Roller-Coaster To Hell

A Conspiracy of Whores

Me and The New York Times

They're "Slow Torturing" Bradley Manning Right Under Our Noses

A Troubled Nation Feeds On bin Laden's Corpse

Bradley Manning and the secret world

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend