| Monday
27 February 2006
Begin with mail in response to my
misgivings about Guantanamo in View for
26 February.
This message is from a serving officer
no longer deployed in the Middle East. He has both high integrity and
reliability:
Hello Dr Pournelle.
I'm staying busy down here.
So, American Gulag. First, I'll point out something
obvious. Lawyers have no ethical commitment to honesty. Instead, they have
an "ethical" commitment to doing what they think is good for their clients.
That being said, lets take a look.
We took tens of thousands of prisoners in Afghanistan
and Iraq. We had hundreds in Gitmo at the height of operations, and
considerably fewer now than when the peak hit. For each chucklehead taken in
Afghanistan by a warlord and given to us, we need to think about what
happens. Bored interrogators stashing a few against a rainy day? No, they
will need to justify getting transport to send somebody to Cuba instead of
just letting them go or shipping them back to their own government. Having a
watch isn't going to justify space on an aircraft to a government worker,
even in the armed forces. No, you have to be a very special prisoner to have
been sent across the world, and a special prisoner to have been kept rather
than released since that is by far the simplest way to deal with them.
I'll note that an unknown but significant percentage of gitmo releasees have
later been killed or recaptured fighting against the US. I know of perhaps a
couple of dozen such instances, and it is likely that others occurred.
As you may recall, I've expressed confidence that I
can kill or defeat the armed enemies of my nation. I'm not so sanguine about
the other enemies, and I'll flat out call much of the press corps as part of
those other enemies. Leaving aside stories I can't tell or couldn't support
if I did, it should be obvious that what comes out of Iraq through people
you know is different than what comes off of the news channels. I can't
imagine anything short of a direct order in writing from somebody who
unequivocally had the authority to do so that would make me allow the press
to tour the gitmo camps. I've seen enough exercises and even sitcoms to know
that anything can be spun as evil and bad no matter the objective truth. I
don't know if the press is less dangerous when they make things up, but it
is less work for us when they don't have anything to hang a story on.
The stories told in the base article are hokum. We are
taught that physical torture simply encourages them to make up stories to
get the pain to stop, which doesn't help us get true information. However,
al queda training stresses claims of torture be made by every prisoner.
Funny how the armed forces investigate and punish troops for doing that and
don't seem to find these guys. We know that the press has found out about
some incidents after the investigation was underway, and yet these mass
beatings just don't ever get corroborated. An analyst might have something
to say about that.
I have no trouble believing that anything interesting
on some of these prisoners is classified, and I certainly hope they wouldn't
show it to a lawyer. Note that the series of treaties normally referred to
as the Geneva Convention says that you are not a soldier, and you are not
entitled to protection, if you are not taken in a uniform. There are no
soldiers held in gitmo. President Bush requires us to treat captured Taliban
as if they were covered, but that is the only legal requirement in US or
international law that says we must, or even should. In fact, when those and
the earlier Hague treaties were written, they were intended to encourage
correct behavior by allowing bad treatment including summary execution of
those who didn't follow the rules.
My suggestion would be to distrust anything said by
the mainstream media unless you can get it independently verified, and don't
trust those who are paid to lie unless it is verified by an unimpeachable
source. Don't despair. Those troops are the same sort as were in Korea, just
better trained. They don't maim dogs for fun, they give children candy, they
know that obeying an order to do something illegal is itself a crime and
they are constantly drilled in when they can and cannot use force. The
competition, lawyers, reporters and terrorists... don't have that sort of
reputation and for good reason.
And of course that is my first
reaction to such stories: they are generally made up. None the less, as
I will try to make clear in a followup essay, armies are for breaking
things and killing people; I am not all that concerned with the people
in Guantanamo as I am with the troopers required to do that kind of
duty. It cannot be a beneficial experience to order a man tied to a
chair and have a feeding tube stuffed up his nose even if you and he
both know this is part of an elaborate dance.
And, at bottom, we are losing the war,
largely because we are employing armies. Armies are intended to fight other
armies. They fight wars. They break things and kill people. And if you
retrain them to do something else, the result is usually poor: they lose a
lot of the edge and ability of soldiers, but warriors don't often retrain
well to become county sheriffs, while really good special operatives are
rare to being with I'll refer to this again, but Bacevich makes the point
well <http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_02_27/article1.html>
regardless of your opinion of his overall views.
If you ask the average person in the
Western world for the name of a soldier who served in Iraq, the answer will
either be the name of a relative, or Lynndie England . Now I pretty
thoroughly understand what happened at Abu Ghraib; I also think it was
inevitable, and that incidents like that will happen again and again. The
kind of officer from a combat unit who ends up in a place like that is not
usually the best you can find; he's the chap that the Colonel can spare.
Once you put certain kinds of people in positions of great power over
others, then subject the system to stresses -- combat units want
intelligence NOW and don't much care how it is obtained -- the results are
seldom going to be pretty. So it goes. That's the nature of war.
But that's the nature of war.
I do not like having an America gulag.
If we are going to detain people simply because we think they are likely to
try to kill us later -- and whether or not the people in Guantanamo went
there with that attitude they almost certainly have it now -- then we can at
least improve the conditions. As to the classified nature of their offenses,
I suppose that means largely protecting the sources of the accusations.
Alas, as we all know, in a tribal situation that can be very unreliable --
and the chap who sold us a prisoner is unlikely to downgrade the charges
made against him. After all, this guy is worth thousands of dollars...
We can, at the least, spare the
personnel for a military tribunal that can annually review the status of
those held indefinitely. I could put together a group of officers I would
have faith in from among the subscribers to this web site, every one of them
having had the highest level of clearances; and if I could do it from here,
I am pretty sure the Pentagon could do it.
Just doing that would assure people
like me that your view of the situation is reasonable. There are those who
will never be convinced that the United States is the good guy. The way we
are operating in Guantanamo is likely to add to that number.
One final point: while I have no great
respect for the integrity of many of the better known members of the press
corps, I certainly do not find all the journalists despicable. I remind you
that I am a journalist and a card carrying member of the Press Club...
==
Subject: Along with the GITMO news
There is this,
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/022106a.html , regarding two issues;
a suggestion that the administration exert more time investigating "5th
Columnists" within the U.S., and a contingency contract to KBR to build
detention centers in the U.S.. "KBR would build the centers for the Homeland
Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people
in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require
additional detention space.” There is also a link to Army Regulation 210-35,
which lays out the rules for a "Civilian Inmate Labor Program." Something
that, in light of the first two news items, I find quite chilling.
I look at things like this, along with the gulag in
GITMO and I have to admit I vacillate between being alarmed and feeling
paranoid; and poo-pooing them and wondering if I've got my head in the sand.
The simple fact is that there have been enough abuses and unwarranted
intrusions that I no longer give the government the benefit of the doubt on
almost any issue; and that is something that saddens me. But I think that,
old, fat and tired as I am, I need to get out and get in some range time.
James
Precisely. Note that we seem to have forgotten
Waco. We shouldn't. That wasn't our military- but they did hoodwink the
military into allowing the use of military equipment. And the BATF likes
to act like a military, and that organization is probably the best
argument against militarizing a constabulary as I can imagine. An
inefficient Gestapo is not a lot less frightening than the real thing.
And some of the victims of Waco still languish in
Club Fed: too dangerous to release. But too dangerous to whom? Is the danger
that the real story will get out? Complete with the vanished doors that
would tell, perhaps, who fired the first shots, and which conveniently
disappeared before the local sheriff could see them? I have not forgotten
the TV broadcast picture of a BATF agent crouched behind an automobile,
firing a submachinegun over the top of the car. He was not looking at where
he was firing. And his fellow agents were still trying to get away from the
house. God only knows where his bullets went, but I will bet you that we
will never know for certain whether he hit one of his comrades.
War has its price. War on drugs, war on poverty,
war on terror: they all have their prices. The nature of war is that all
stops are out, actions usually forbidden are allowed and encouraged. And
sometimes the price of war is far too high.
==
Dear Jerry:
In the current New Yorker there is a long article
about Alberto Mora, former General Counsel of the U.S Navy , one of those
who fought long and hard against the measures being used against suspected
terrorists and the whole idea of the Guantanamo Gulag. Again we see the
arrogance of the neocons, who put themselves above both the law and common
sense. In the end, there is only one thing to say about such tactics. Not
only is it un-American, but we're better than that.
Sincerely,
Francis Hamit
==
Subject: Gulags and warriors
The DOD's page on Gitmo can be found here:
http://www.dod.gov/home/features/gitmo/
The links at the very bottom are informative. I don't
know if any of this contradicts the book you read, but at least it's more
information.
Tom Brosz
Discussion continues below
============
Subject: Letter from England
The Sunday news was basically content-free. The
following was in the news on Sunday, with a few Monday follow-ups.
Toxic gas in the jet cockpit? Now really...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1718278,00.html
Death threats for a teenaged animal rights opponent...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1718253,00.html
Politics played English-style. At least they
don't execute the losers anymore...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4752328.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4752364.stm
Monday stories on politics:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4753914.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2060621,00.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article348008.ece
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1718685,00.html
(Ken Livingstone story)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1052-2059940,00.html
NHS computer problems...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1718272,00.html
Theft story winds down. What do you do with
£50,000,000 in £20 notes?
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article347802.ece
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article347882.ece
Monday story on theft:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4754124.stm
Non-controversial university teaching standards
proposed...
http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2028144
Monday was a bit better.
Labour reintroduces the 11-plus.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2060646,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2060097,00.html
And a story on the schools bill.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article348010.ece
BBC article on UK gender pay gap. Despite better
academic achievement, UK women quickly drop behind in pay. It's
complicated-- child-rearing is just one factor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4753360.stm
Bird flu has reached Western Europe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4753776.stm
Alienation from politics.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/apathy/story/0,,1718744,00.html
Politics in the Philippines--results of an 'attempted
coup' on Friday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1718547,00.html
-- Harry Erwin, PhD, Program Leader, MSc Information
Systems Security, University of Sunderland. http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0her
Thanks. I usually try to chase down most of your
stories but I'm running way behind today. I find it interesting that
anything about teaching standards can be non-controversial.
=========
Subject: Boot Commander
Dr. Jerry;
I just renewed my subscription to your site through
PayPal.
One quick question, if I may . . . where can I find
Boot Commander?? (is that the right name?) I have an on-screen calendar that
I got as free-ware or share-ware someplace, I don't remember its name, and
now I want to get rid of it because it doesn't update the date highlight
like it is supposed to, making it basically useless. Only I can't find it to
get rid of it. It's not part of my Startup folder, and it isn't in "Add or
Remove Programs" in the Control Panel either. If I knew the name of it I
could hack the Registry, I've done that before so I feel comfortable doing
it. I've searched my download backups and can't locate anything with a name
that might even be a calendar. A right click on the calendar itself brings
up a dialog box that allows you to modify the font characteristics, and
that's all. There is nothing else in the right click. I really want to get
rid of it and get back the little bit of resources that it wastes. If I had
a boot\start-up commander type program I might at least be able to find out
what its called. I can provide a NortonAV-checked *.jpg screen shot of what
it looks like if you want.
Thanks in advance for any help you or your readers can
provide, and keep up the good work, I know you do a lot of things so people
like me won't have to. Your site is still the only one that I visit on a
daily basis.
Roger D. Shorney
I think there are better solutions to
your problem, and I'll look into them after I do some writing; but perhaps a
reader will have an answer. And we have the answer, see
below.
============
Cry the beloved country
Subject: Teacher Education,
Want a good cry this morning? Look at these course
offerings for teachers in the district we live in. While I applaud keeping
teachers fresh, this selcted list begins to explain why American education
is in such disarray.
Sue
http://www.hamilton.k12.nj.us/curriculum/staffdevelop/2006WinterSpringWorkshops.htm
BETTER ANSWERS (GRADES 3-5)
Do you want your students to look good and sound smart
when they answer open-ended questions? This two-hour, after-school workshop
will teach you how to boost test scores and teach students this valuable and
life long skill. The Better Answers formula will help your students respond
to these questions easily.
SPANISH INFUSION (K-12)
This new, two-hour, after-school workshop will help
teachers learn innovative ways to incorporate the Spanish language into the
curriculum.
GANGS: INFORMATION & RESOURCE WORKSHOP
This new, four-hour, two-evening workshop will present
facts on local gangs, which will allow you to identify gang members and
activity. Prevention and intervention will be discussed for grades K-12.
Resources will be presented to allow you to help decrease the gang problem
in New Jersey schools and in your neighborhood. As a result of this workshop
you will be better prepared to answer and educate parents when approached
and provide prevention and intervention in the classroom. Each participant
will be given a packet to take with them for future reference.
And this, love the jargon:
MATH ARTICULATION FOR TEACHERS OF GRADES 5 AND 6
This new, two-hour, after-school workshop will give
our 5th and 6th grade teachers an opportunity to articulate between grade
levels and schools for instructional and testing purposes.
============
I'm not a big fan of the FAS, but this article
illustrate the stupidity of the reclassification nonsense.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2006/02/022706.html
--- Roland Dobbins
Agreed.
========
Give Civil War a Chance.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=022706G
- Roland Dobbins
I recalled Lutwak when we first went into Iraq and
decided to stay to "prevent civil war."
I have no great difficulty advocating the use of
armed force to smite our enemies and prevent their mobilizing against us. I
have a lot of difficulty believing that we're particularly good at setting
things right in the wake of our invasions. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes
we don't. And sometimes perhaps letting them fight it out is the right way
to go.
If we are going to give something a chance, I'd say
let's give what we're doing a chance. The reports from the ground are far
more encouraging than the reports from Dan Rather.
==========
And this I found in spam-filtered mail:
Subject: The Breakdown of Iraq
Based on what your military commander in Iraq stated,
I can predict three things which will come to pass within the next year.
First, there is going to be a civil war in Iraq.
Second, the military and the White House will insist
that they have everything well under control.
Third, the military and the White House will blame
their inevitable failure on the liberal media.
===========
Subject: Regarding Boot Commander
I think that your correspondent who
asked about Boot Commander will find that SysInternal's "Autoruns"
utility will do the trick. It works, it works well, and it's free! (You
can't beat that marketing plan with a stick.)
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html
I use several SysInternals tools on a frequent basis
and can't imagine not having them in my geek toolbox.
--Gary Pavek
=====
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