Uppity Wisconsin

I'm seldom accused of being too kind in my commentary, but maybe I pulled my punch a little on a recent post about Journal Sentinel Managing Editor George Stanley's series of cheerleading articles for the war in Afghanistan.

An online column by Milwaukee Magazine Editor Bruce Murphy makes my comments seem tame.

Murphy calls the series "...at times, embarrassing, and at its heart a boy’s view of war... It’s a comic book view of war, with no room for nuance."

Murphy on Stanley's insistence that we commit to "winning" the war:

Our government’s leadership has spoken, and Obama has set a deadline of 2011 for ending the war in Afghanistan. Stanley proceeds to undercut this idea, telling us every soldier and Marine he talks to wants to stay there as long as necessary to “finish the job.” Well, yes. And football players always want to go for it on fourth down rather than take the safe bet of kicking a field goal. That’s why you have a coach. The American tradition of civilian oversight of the military has long assured that cooler heads on the sidelines determine strategy.

I've refrained from writing anything for several days while reading the series of articles by George Stanley, Journal Sentinel managing editor, about his visit to Afghanistan, where his son serves in the Army.

It has been clear that Stanley decided long ago that the war in Afghanistan is a just war, and that the US is justified in sending its troops and spilling blood there for the past eight years. Many of us would differ and question the underlying premise that the Taliban were responsible for the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, but he is entitled to his opinion. He also seems convinced that our troops being in Afghanistan is the reason we haven't had another terrorist attack in the US -- another dubious and debatable assumption.

Stanley is understandably proud of his son and his decision to serve. As someone who served myself in an unwinnable war long ago, I respect both those who are serving and who have served. I don't think that troops fighting in a combat zone are the best people to decide our foreign policy, however, no matter how gung-ho they might be.

When someone's family is directly involved, as Stanley's is, I am more hesitant to speak up.

...as I listen to our talented young president explain why he is adding 30,000 troops -- beyond the 21,000 he had added already -- I can only think: another Vietnam. I hope I am incorrect, but history tells me otherwise.

-- George McGovern in a Washington Post column.

 McClatchy Newspapers reports President Obama to go the LBJ route, 34,000 more troops. If true, perhaps Obama can run in 2012 on a platform of 'not as many dead.'

From Iowa comes sanity and courage. United States candidate for the Iowa Democratic nomination for Senate, Bob Krause, became the first candidate for the U.S. Senate to call for a draw down of troops in Afghanistan at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner this year. Krause looks to knock down incumbent Republican Senator Sen. Chuck Grassley next year.

Posted from Veterans Today, The Fire Flamed by Bush Must be Extinguished by Obama Before It's Too Late, Bob Krause is Leading!

By Raja G Mujtaba, Pakistan

I find it heartening, indeed, when so many voices in America are clamoring for a troop "surge" to bring about that "big win" in Afghanistan, a win so many us know will only end is destabilization and disaster, that there are still voices of reason.

Tradewell is on the bleeding edge of criticism that our military is leveling against its Democratic commander-in-chief.

From the Times report Monday (Bumiller): "Last week the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., gave voice to the concerns of those in the military when he issued a terse statement criticizing Mr. Obama’s review of Afghan war strategy. 'The extremists are sensing weakness and indecision within the U.S. government, which plays into their hands,' said Mr. Tradewell’s statement on behalf of his group, which represents 1.5 million former soldiers.

No Longer a Monster from Displaced Films on Vimeo.

Veterans testifying at Winter Soldier hearings, reveal the truth about Iraq and Afghanistan in a six-part web series. Watch the moving final episode.  Earlier episodes here.

A new film, This Is Where We Take Our Stand from Displaced Films on Vimeo, tells the story of the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War to bring the testimony of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans directly to the public.  This is the third episode, entitled, "Why We Fight."

And so is our country.

This is pretty stunning to think about in full:

However well-intentioned it was, the catastrophic and unpopular intervention in Iraq has served in some parts of the world to discredit the very idea of western democracy.

The recent collapse of the banking system, and the humiliating resort to semi-socialist solutions, has done a great deal to discredit - in some people's eyes - the idea of free-market capitalism.

Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea.

To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune.

To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president.

- Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Shoddy work by Vice President Cheney's (former?) private defense companies in Iraq and Afghanistan is resulting in U.S. soldier deaths by electrocution.

Halliburton and KBR whistleblowers and U.S. military personnel brought the problems to light as early as 2004.

And they were mocked for their concerns and lied to.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth - a highly-skilled Green Beret - was electrocuted in the shower in a Baghdad military compound three months ago, and the Army told his mom that he died because he brought an electrical appliance into the shower with him ... like the woman just fell off an applecart or something.

These are the same people who wanted us to believe a public relations fairy tale about Pat Tilman and Jessica Lynch.

I may never stop puking.