Category Archives: War Commentary

War Commentary, Weird

“Joy Bullets”

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…and death from above:

NATO military advisors in Libya noted a lot of problems that had to be addressed with the ragtag rebel army. But one of the most obvious ones, the habit of firing weapons into the air at the least provocation, is also the hardest one to stop. This, despite the fact that it is a major waste of ammo (which is in short supply) and a major source of casualties. All those bullets eventually return to earth, and people do get hurt. For example, in Iraq, after any major news event, that results in many people firing off rifles and pistols into the air, the hospitals in places like Baghdad will see up to a hundred casualties, including several dead, from the bullets falling down and hitting people. This is all about the Arab custom of firing weapons into the air on happy occasions (they are called “joy bullets” in Arabic), often with deadly consequences. When someone is killed or injured by the bullets that, inevitably come back to earth, the injury is shrugged off, or blamed on a handy enemy. Palestinians blame Israelis, some Iraqis blame any armed foreigners in the vicinity, or nearby Iraqis they don’t get along with. In Libya, it’s got to be someone working for Kaddafi. Otherwise it’s just “God’s Will.”

This reminds me of an old Onion piece.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Egypt And The Media

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The media is basically AWOL:

Suppose knowing in 1932, months ahead of time, that the Nazi Party would dominate Germany’s government or that the Bolsheviks would gain power in Russia. How about knowing in early 1978 that Iran was going to have an Islamist revolution led by the kind of people who would take hostage the entire U.S. embassy staff and seek to spread anti-American revolution and terrorism throughout the region? Might that have sparked some discussion and action?

The Brotherhood is a radical Islamist group that supports genocide against Israel and violence against the United States. It is anti-Christian and wants to keep women as second-class people. It favors killing homosexuals. Here is Egypt’s foremost politician predicting that they will be to a large extent in control of the country, making its laws, and writing its constitution.

But that doesn’t fit the happy narrative of the “Arab Spring.”

Political Commentary, War Commentary

Why Kill Bin Laden?

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Rich Lowry asks the question:

In an ideal world, the Navy SEALs would have been given the order to take bin Laden alive, if possible. He would have been taken to a secret location for interrogation and waterboarded if necessary to break him quickly. Every possible lead would have been wrung from him and hunted down. When he was no longer of use, he’d have been put before a military commission and executed.

In other words, he should have been handled in the same way the Bush administration planned to treat detainees in the first urgent days of the War on Terror. Of course, the Obama administration deems coercive interrogation un-American, and the military commissions — partly because of the administration’s hostility — are a shambles. There remained only one good option for bin Laden: a bullet in the eye.

Perhaps killing bin Laden, a potent symbol, was the best outcome regardless. The suddenness and finality of it may prove a devastating blow to al-Qaeda’s morale and prestige. But targeted killing shouldn’t be the only tool in our arsenal.

I find it bizarre that the same administration that thinks that illegal combatants should be mirandized has no compunction about extrajudicial assassination of them, whether with drones or SEALs.

[Update a while later]

“The SEALs had to kill bin Laden to keep him out of the hands of Eric Holder.”

As a reminder, here’s the Hall of Shame — Republicans who voted to confirm him:

Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Chambliss (R-Ga)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Sessions (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)