Comments on: Bace for Your Face

By: kenmeer livermaile

kenmeer livermaile — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:49:58 +0000

USA leadership was, at end of WWII, about as crazy as that of our enemies. That war stripped everyone’s gears.

We didn’t intern Germans during WWII like we did Japs because they’re whiteys, like us.

We wanted an excuse to use the bomb so we could stand toe-to-toe with Uncle Joe. Not that we wanted to end Communism or the USSR. They were too convenient an enemy to vanquish, which we could have had we dropped nukes on Moscow and St. Petersberg.

Eezy-peezy. But them’s wuz our allies. Or almost white. Or something.

Easier to incinerate gooks than Krauts. World War elevates our racial tolerance, see?

By: kenmeer livermaile

kenmeer livermaile — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:39:42 +0000

I owes you, mon. Thanx.

By: urdsama

urdsama — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:50:41 +0000

But it is important to note that a good deal of the myth about the Japanese “die (rather) than surrender” meme was from the US.

The propoganda of WWII towards Japan was VERY different from that towards the Germans and Italians. It also helped to justify dropping of the A-Bomb on Japan, even though at the time Japan was willing to consider surrender.

While I don’t totally disagree with you about “the best deterrent will always be the megalomania and ego of the leaders” it can increase conflict when both sides have such leaders.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:21:15 +0000

“Revenge is for suckers” is probably not Bogart, but Paul Newman in “The Sting.” He initially doesn’t want to help Robert Redford run a sting on Robert Shaw, because “revenge is for suckers.”

By: atheist

atheist — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:55:30 +0000

Derelict, I feel that you are misapprehending the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan on several levels. First, as curv3ball stated, the Taliban are not likely capable of taking on the Pakistani army. Pakistan is a troubled country, but the populace has no love for the Pakistani Taliban, who are mostly a local phenomenon in the majority Pashtun North-West. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are strongest in the Pashtun South-East. In all cases, they appear to be a very local-oriented, and Pashtun-linked group. Even in the event of a second Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there is no evidence that they would be interested in the kind of transnational terrorism that Al Qaeda focuses on.

By: Major Woody

Major Woody — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:50:36 +0000

Of course, you’re correct. Let’s give due credit to the valiant Indians, who at great cost stopped the Japanese land advance in Burma. Or is that not what you were talking about?

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:32:03 +0000

Yeah, now it is understandable … And then I just not even know where it is not us with the title ….

By: StringonaStick

StringonaStick — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:50:58 +0000

The lubricant that made The Surge work? Money passed around liberally and judiciously. We could make a Ton O’ Friends in Afghanistan if we’d just pay top dollar for the annual opium crop. Think of how win-win this is:

(1) The starving farmers, who have had the shit kicked out of them by invading nations and serious drought for at least the last 3 decades, finally make enough money to stop dying so desperately poor. Maybe they don’t feel so happy with the Talibs and the war lords when there is a fatter wallet in town.

(2) Buying opium has to be a whole lot cheaper than all the military hardware, bodies, etc. needed for the current might makes right approach.

(3) We’d probably get our national needs for prescription narcotics handled cheaper than we currently do, though the Australians will be pissed that we aren’t buying from them anymore. (They grow the legal poppies used currently for this purpose).

(4) I really, really want to see the DEA/Just Say No complex of the US gubmit have to pay for poppy products.

A further point of order on the general topic: The Pakistani military became full of religious fanatics when we used it as our funnel to get money to the proto-Taliban as our proxy fighters against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 9-11 didn’t happen because we ignored Afghanistan in isolation, it happened because we meddled heavily in order to give our old enemy the Soviets a big black eye, and THEN we ignored Afghanistan.

By: frankbi

frankbi — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:25:07 +0000

All this talk about getting out of Afghanistan is just the Left's ploy to distract the people from the really pressing issue at hand: that Obama needs a teleprompter. -- bi

By: jim

jim — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:55:48 +0000

Off-Topic Surrealism:

http://wonkette.com/410377/meanwhile-in-the-latest-issue-of-parade-magazine

Who knew Bill-O had a secret man-crush on Obama X. Hussein?

Here’s hoping the Freepers make him into a very well-worn chew-toy.