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The Tragedy of the American Military

As far as I know everything the Atlantic publishes in print is free on their website. I have a subscription to the Economist which is pretty fiercely paywalled.
 
Your library might have a zinio subscription to the economist, but that is basically a pdf of the print edition and might not be as user-friendly as subscribing and using the website.
 
TuffaloDeac10 said:
Your library might have a zinio subscription to the economist, but that is basically a pdf of the print edition and might not be as user-friendly as subscribing and using the website.
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plus when you subscribe you get the Economist app with tablet and mobile friendly weekly download of the entire edition. Very much worth the price of admission.
 
In congressional testimony just before the Iraq War, General Eric Shinseki, then the Army’s chief of staff, said that many more troops might be necessary to successfully occupy Iraq than plans were allowing for—only to be ridiculed in public by Paul Wolfowitz, then Shinseki’s superior as the deputy secretary of defense, who said views like Shinseki’s were “outlandish” and “wildly off the mark.” Wolfowitz and his superior, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, ostentatiously marginalized Shinseki from that point on.
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Between this and the ignored ("not received") request for Ranger troops in Tora Bora, there seems to have been a terrible lack of trust or communication in the early years of Iraq/Afghanistan between the top military brass and DoD.

That Americans are largely silent about this, the torture report, and the bill we'll be paying for the wars for generations to come, is pretty sad.
 
In an ideal world, sure, more civilian involvement would be good. but our political system is broken and our constituencies are full of idiots. getting those people more involved will not fix anything. figure out some way to free us from the grips of defense contractors, and stop bombing innocent people to oblivion with robots. those are my hopes, and they can be accomplished by one motivated president just as well as an involved populace. beyond that, the political system needs to be fixed before it can fix the military.
 
(the point about spreading defense contracts around congressional districts was new to me and so insidious. is there any other side to that story, or is it really that bad?)
 
TownieDeac said:
Between this and the ignored ("not received") request for Ranger troops in Tora Bora, there seems to have been a terrible lack of trust or communication in the early years of Iraq/Afghanistan between the top military brass and DoD.

That Americans are largely silent about this, the torture report, and the bill we'll be paying for the wars for generations to come, is pretty sad.
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It isn't just sad. It is un-fucking-forgiveable. And most Americans won't ever even realize it is an issue. BAH!

I'm far from a Hawk, but there is no way that anybody that served this country in our military should be treated the way that ours actually are after their tours are over. It is unconscionable.
 
You're far from a Hawk because you believe that. Hawks are the last ones to consider the long term consequences of creating hundreds of thousands of more war veterans who will carry their scars for the next 50+ years.
 
ProfessorDeac said:
In an ideal world, sure, more civilian involvement would be good. but our political system is broken and our constituencies are full of idiots. getting those people more involved will not fix anything. figure out some way to free us from the grips of defense contractors, and stop bombing innocent people to oblivion with robots. those are my hopes, and they can be accomplished by one motivated president just as well as an involved populace. beyond that, the political system needs to be fixed before it can fix the military.
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I'm not so sure a motivated President could change things that much. I tend to believe the military industrial complex is more or less on autopilot. As long as war is profitable, nothing changes.
 
ProfessorDeac said:
(the point about spreading defense contracts around congressional districts was new to me and so insidious. is there any other side to that story, or is it really that bad?)
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The fact that this is new to you is a major symptom of the problem. It would be news to most Americans who aren't part of the money train.
 
Deadbolt said:
I'm not so sure a motivated President could change things that much. I tend to believe the military industrial complex is more or less on autopilot. As long as war is profitable, nothing changes.
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Profitable?
 
deacvision7 said:
Profitable?
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For some individuals, not for taxpayers.

The military industrial complex runs on autopilot powered by fear and jobs. Common sense and knowledge aren't powerful enough to counter them.
 
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PhDeac said:
For some individuals, not for taxpayers.

The military industrial complex runs on autopilot powered by fear and jobs. Common sense and knowledge aren't powerful enough to counter them.
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This. We buy military hardware that will never even be used on a battle field...we supply the Barney Fife's of the world with armor piercing rounds and armored vehicles to combat teenagers on the streets. And we do it because people we've never heard of are getting filthy rich off of it.
 
Oh, ok. I read that as saying that wars are profitable for the government.

My mistake.
 
At the rate drone technology is progressing, the shelf life for the F-35 will be pretty short even if they could fix all of its problems.
 
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