Top Bilge, Week Ending 07/31
Aug 01 2009
We present the most annoying, befuddling or just plain strange stories of the week.
On to the ‘honor roll’ (sources are linked in the headlines)…
#5 – Misleading Headline – ‘Military Officials Urge Action on Climate Change’
Just by reading the headline, I expected to find a story about the Pentagon joining up with Al Gore. But the story was a bit different. The ‘military officials’ the story refers to are a group of 11 retired officers called the Military Advisory Board, from the Center for Naval Analysis, a non profit association. The article states that currently active military personnel are reluctant to speak on such issues due to career concerns, but climate change is a military issue. From covering the destruction brought on by increased weather related disasters via the National Guard and the influx of immigrants from devastating droughts, if trends continue, the military will be right on the front line.
#4 – Sarah Palin Invokes Soldiers when Scolding Media for ‘Making Stuff Up’
In possibly the strangest gubernatorial hand-off speech in history, Sarah Palin led off her last chat as the governor of Alaska by attacking the media:
“You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession, that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you, and that is why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up?”
Speechless.
#3 – Veto Threat on NDAA Over Weapons Programs
The Pentagon had stated that they did not need the weapons systems (including the badass yet not currently necessary given world events F-22), but lawmakers want them. A threat from the White House of a veto if the programs are included in the bill. As usual, politics and money rule the day..
About half of the $2.75 billion will be earmarked to private firms whose political action committees donated $789,190 to House appropriations subcommittee members on defense in the past 2 1/2 years, according to Taxpayers For Common Sense.
I have an idea, let’s keep the money and fully fund concurrent receipt, fix the SBP/DIC offset, and improve TRICARE.
#2 – NGOs Criticize NATO Military Tactics in Afghanistan
There’s nothing particularly striking in terms of bilgeness in this article, but it highlights the competing interests between military and civilian contract work. The headline picks out the most provocative issue and makes that the draw for the web crawlers. The recent change of military tactics from hard to soft tactics (fighting primarily without heavy air support) has lessened the civilian casualty rate and made the Halmud offensive successful to date. A quote from the article:
” I don’t really care what you’re talking about when you start talking about hearts and minds. They aren’t won with a pen or a schoolbag,” she said. “They’re won by not killing civilians and they’re won by being here for the long haul and doing the job properly.”
Which is exactly what the military has been trying to do. Counter insurgency is a tricky business, and often local exaggerations of civilian casualties result in propaganda points. The job the military is doing in Afghanistan is extraordinary, highlighting that would have been a nice balance to the article.
#1 – Leaked Report From Colonel Reese in Iraq Say’s the US Should Declare Victory and Leave
I have no evidence to believe the text of the letter, which is attributed to Col. Timothy R. Reese, Chief, Baghdad Operations Command Advisory Team, MND-B, Baghdad, Iraq by the New York Times, is not authentic. It is just a little too impressive and well thought out to be the product of one memo and not either a combination of multiple sources or a highly ‘enhanced’ memo. History shows that these types of stories turn out to contain some inaccuracies. You can read the entire text of the memo here.
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