Democratic Veteran :: Chickenhawk Talking

previous entry | main | next entry | TrackBack (0)

November 10, 2004

Chickenhawk Talking

It comes as no surprise that the Chickenhawks live to hear the sounds of their own shreiks for war. Michael Ledeen, who should really really be riding around Iraq in a semi-well-armored Humvee, checking for IED's takes the cake again. From his Not-So-Greatest Hits:

I think the level of casualties is secondary. I mean, it may sound like an odd thing to say, but all the great scholars who have studied American character have come to the conclusion that we are a warlike people and that we love war. . . . What we hate is not casualties but losing. And if the war goes well and if the American public has the conviction that we're being well-led and that our people are fighting well and that we're winning, I don't think casualties are going to be the issue.
Michael Ledeen
AEI Breakfast
March 27, 2003

Brave words at a breakfast meeting, far from any hostilities. Today, Michael Ledeen, writes about who should be in Preznit Not-My-Kids-in-Battle's "War Cabinet".

...They are right, and I hope the president agrees with them. I also hope that he knows it is a mistake — a potentially enormous mistake — to look at Iraq as a thing in itself instead of one battle in a far larger war. We will never have security in Iraq so long as fanatics rule in Tehran, Riyadh, and Damascus.

How interesting...he's openly advocating opening new fronts in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. I'm guessing that he's either looking for new employment for his daughter a la the Coalition Provisional Authority, Tehran office, or he's interested in seeing more young Americans die to fulfill his NeoCon Tough Guy Masturbatory fantasies. Michael Ledeen hardly seems like the kind of guy whose interest is peace...his main interest is killing the most soldiers possible in the shortest amount of time over the largest amount of land, to prove that his theories of geopolitics reign supreme. Iron Chickenhawk!

And then let's turn to his incredible NeoCon powers of prescience:

Just as political considerations (mostly Tony Blair's, not ours) delayed the liberation of Iraq beyond all rational measure — thereby enabling the terror masters to plan the Iraq strategy we have seen — so politics (driven by the Jerry Bremer and endorsed by the State Department and the National Security Council brain trust headed by the soon-to-depart Robert Blackwill) imposed the catastrophic withdrawal of the Marines from Fallujah last spring. I trust that nothing of the sort will happen this time, for each retreat only ensures more deaths and a more difficult and costly battle next time.

Really? Enabling the Terror Masters? Ah, the ones presently in Iraq who were not there until the ummmm...."liberation"? Yeah, those guys. And as for Fallujah, I don't seem to recall that it was any particular problem until Chimpy McCokespoon had a hissy fit at the behest of a campaign contributor over the unfortunate killings of four Blackwater contractors, who knew the risks they faced for sums of money exponentially greater than the grunts currently footing the bill for what will be recorded as one of history's most costly temper tantrums.

I wonder at what point after the invasion of either Iran or Syria, Ledeen will retire to a secluded ranch or something in a red state, and write "If they had only followed my fabulous, bold plan, then we would not be losing this War on Terror!". As he fixes another martini, and writes an op-ed about how the government is spending too much on Veterans benefits and a Middle-East War Memorial...things that are only making us more introspective and not celebrating our Warrior Culture.

Oh, wait...now I remember, Michael Ledeen, honor graduate of the George Armstrong Custer Military Academy. Yeah, that's it.

posted by Jo Fish on 11.10.04 at 08:42 AM

Comments:

Anybody know where I can find a "Don't blame me I voted for SANITY" bumper sticker?

posted by: majkia on 11.10.04 at 09:09 AM [permalink]

"What we hate is not casualties but losing. And if the war goes well and if the American public has the conviction that we're being well-led and that our people are fighting well and that we're winning, I don't think casualties are going to be the issue."

That's actually true and quite astute. The sticking point is the "well-led" part.

posted by: Tony Goins on 11.10.04 at 10:13 AM [permalink]

Spare a moment for the GIs and Marines who are doing all the heavy lifting for Ledeen.

Too bad Mike can't be with them in Fallujah today, but he probably has other priorities.

A sad but funny squib on NPR this morning. Some Marine Cpt PIO type was stating that the performance of one of the Iraqi units in Fallujah was "awesome". When pressed a little on just how awesome they were, the Cpt said that of the 41 - man unit, 20 had deserted over the weekend but, as of now, the other 21 were still in there and just doing a swell job.

posted by: fbg46 on 11.10.04 at 12:12 PM [permalink]

Happen to find this today at Progressive Democrats of America.

http://www.soldierforum.org/

The blurb goes:

Bridging the Gap

We are building a progressive community within the military and bridging the gap that exists between civilian and military progressives.

By exchanging ideas and through grass-roots coordination, we ensure the progressive community reaches out to like-minded service members. We foster military service among progressives and build supportive networks within our Armed Forces. We advocate that the strength of our military comes not only from a dedication to duty and country but also from its ideological diversity. We assert that supporting your troops does not mean suppressing your conscience.

We are soldiers and veterans who have not shed our responsibilities as citizens, and we are citizens who understand our vital role in championing progressives in our military.

"To allow the military services to drift away from the society that must nurture them is to put great institutions in great jeopardy."

--Richard Danzig, Former Secretary of the Navy

posted by: LotusFawkes on 11.10.04 at 12:28 PM [permalink]

I just finished rereading a book written in 2002, about a civil uprising in a big, sprawling city with some deep, dark, slums and paranoiacs in charge, giving torturers free rein with the people picked up in the crackdown of curfew, and how it can happen what is, essentially, an allegory of the modern world with old-fashioned trappings.

Here's a line about the guy who gets put in charge of the main police dept, which is a demoralized mess of corruption and politics and incompetence, and is supposed to be very "keen" and patriotic, just what is needed to take a "firm hand" with popular unrest:

"...The new captain looked up. Oh, good grief, Vimes thought. It's bloody Rust this time round! And it was indeed the Hon. Ronald Rust, the gods' gift to the enemy, any enemy, and a walking encouragement to desertion.

The Rust family had produced great soldiers, by the undemanding standards of "Deduct Your Own Casualties From Those Of The Enemy, And If The Answer Is A Positive Sum, It Was A Glorious Victory" school of applied warfare. But Rust's lack of any kind of military grasp was matched only by his high opinion of the talent he, in fact, possessed only negative amounts..."

posted by: bellatrys on 11.10.04 at 01:03 PM [permalink]

DemVet/Jo

Syndicate with the Guardian in the UK............ this is powerful stuff.

posted by: Cloned Poster on 11.10.04 at 01:20 PM [permalink]

Lynndie England is going to jail, and Gonzalez is becoming attorney general. If I were a veteran, I'd be pissed.

posted by: Tony Goins on 11.10.04 at 03:45 PM [permalink]

all those non-muslim dead are with jesus!

posted by: on 11.10.04 at 05:23 PM [permalink]

Aaaahhh, the corruption of the Bush administration and it's many neo-con artist advisers...the gift that keeps on giving !!!!

Can we return the hellish gifts of the Bush administration NOW, and get a full refund...PLEASE ! ! ! !

Otherwise, the hemorhagging of Democracy will continue until our nation's lifeblood is sucked dry by these neo-con vampires.

posted by: Paul Sorrells on 11.11.04 at 01:00 AM [permalink]

"I think the level of casualties is secondary"

Of course he does. It's not HIS relatives, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends that are out there busting their butt getting bullets shoved up their ass. Rich pukes like him never worry about anything like that, nosirree. 'Cause they know they're too fine and rich to serve in something as unseemly as the United States Army. You can feel their disdain for our men and women in uniform all the way from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

F***'em all. Left, right, up, down, every single one of these neo-con b*****. Strap'em all in a jet plane, land'em at George W. Bush Airport in Baghdad, Iraq, slap an M-16 in their hands, and let'em fight their own F***'ing war.

"the level of casualties is secondary"... f***'ing chickenhawk b*****'s.

- Badtux the Irate Penguin

posted by: Badtux on 11.12.04 at 03:10 AM [permalink]