RUJAX!

...James Wolcott is a REALLY smart guy. And he can REALLY write, which puts him waaaaay ahead of me on both counts.

I however can remember things...a little...and I remember Viet nam. I was draft age and I "lost" the all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia. I did do my part at home and activated and protested and voted and I sure do think about how it is soooo similar now as to how it was back then. I'll probably do more on that later.

Wolcott though...he has a great long column today about a lot of stuff. It's great. Go read it. And one link stuck out for me. It's a long essay about Moshe Dayan (of all people) and what he learned when he went to Viet Nam.

Mr. Wolcott says, "In November of last year, the iconoclastic military historian Martin van Creveld, peering through a glass darkly, foresaw this spectre of defeat in an essay called Why Iraq Will End as Vietnam Did." Read the whole thing.

And isn't it just true today:

"In other words, he who fights against the weak – and the rag-tag Iraqi militias are very weak indeed – and loses, loses. He who fights against the weak and wins also loses. To kill an opponent who is much weaker than yourself is unnecessary and therefore cruel; to let that opponent kill you is unnecessary and therefore foolish. As Vietnam and countless other cases prove, no armed force however rich, however powerful, however, advanced, and however well motivated is immune to this dilemma. The end result is always disintegration and defeat; if U.S troops in Iraq have not yet started fragging their officers, the suicide rate among them is already exceptionally high. That is why the present adventure will almost certainly end as the previous one did. Namely, with the last US troops fleeing the country while hanging on to their helicopters’ skids."

...how fucked ARE we? REAL fucked.

...The President of the United States.

"Why are these helicopters being used as a backdrop for President Bush, instead of assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina?
Why are members of the Coast Guard being used as a backdrop for Bush’s press conference? Don’t they have more important things to do? " (from Think Progress)

...and the First Lady.

"As the first lady toured the Red Cross shelter at the Cajundome this morning, a line of evacuees waiting to eat their lunch trickled out the door of the Dome.
First lady Laura Bush arrived about midday to tour the shelter and meet evacuees.By 12:50 p.m., the trays of food were still covered and hungry evacuees stood in line, holding empty plates. Rice, beans and jambalaya were on the menu. About that time, volunteers began rolling the carts of food into position to serve. "

...Elisabeth Bumiller tool of the Bush Adminitration.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - A political furor intensified on Thursday over President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina as Democrats, local officials and members of an increasingly bewildered public accused the president of a slow response to the flood that has plunged New Orleans into chaos.

Mr. Bush, in a rare morning television interview, fought back.

..."The Bush Administration-When it ABSOLUTELY has to be fucked-up OVERNIGHT!"

...a PONY???

"The United States has given away eight of its long-range maritime patrol and anti-sub aircraft without charge to Pakistan's Navy, allowing it to more effectively engage in long-distance surveillance and fire Harpoon missiles at targets, the Indian-based Sify news service reported Wednesday.
The craft, new, are made by Lockheed Martin for $36 million apiece, making the gift a generous one indeed. The last Navy P-3 came off the production line at Lockheed in 1990."

..."NOW will you tell us where Bin Laden is???"