What's PAF reading?

James Caroll, House of War: The Pentagon and the disastrous rise of American power.

This is a weighty book, both literally (over 600 pages) and figuratively (dealing with the militarism at the core of American society and the global order built around it); but it's highly readable, deeply thoughtful, and thoroughly documented. This is one of the most important books I've read in years, and I recommend it very strongly.

If you're a military hero, a little flaming racism is ok, I guess

Does McCain's POW past mean that he get's a blank check to use overtly racist language?

NYRB quoting from a new book about McCain and the press:

Brock and Waldman write:

"And since few of the reporters who cover him were themselves in the armed forces in Vietnam, there may be no small amount of guilt involved, or at least the belief that they have not earned the right to ask him critical questions. On a 2006 episode of Hardball, Bloomberg News reporter Roger Simon noted that reporters have given McCain "a break or two or three or four or five hundred," to which host Chris Matthews immediately replied, "Because he served in Vietnam, and a lot of us didn't." ...[Journalists] testify that his POW experience is not only the sum total of McCain's "character," but constitutes the lens through which character itself must be viewed in any race in which McCain participates."

So McCain's "character" is axiomatic, even when he says things like this:

"I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." (John McCain, 2000)

Sticks and stones can break your bones, but these words were integral to a project of racialized extermination. Racist epithets such as this made it possible to dehumanize people and justify wholesale abuse, torture and killing like this, and this. Free fire zones and the Phoenix program meant that this kind of killing was not an aberrration, but the norm. The US military killed somewhere between one and two million Vietnamese, both military and civilian, during our part of the war.

The fact that McCain was imprisoned and tortured by Vietnamese forces during this war shouldn't give him a liscense to use the language of racist extermination. I don't want a President who thinks in those terms.

Like this guy isn't scary enough.

New Media: Pentagon Propaganda

Academic freedom under attack

Jane Kramer writes in The New Yorker on the scurrilous effort by pro-Israel forces to destroy the career of Palestinian-American anthropolgist Nadia Abu El-Haj. Larry Cohler-Esses of the Nation refers to this attempt to institutionalize a compulsory pro-zionism in the academy as The New McCarthyism.

But this isn't just about Israel, it's also about America's place in the world. Elsewhere I have discussed this broad anti-intellectual campaign, and the conservative forces behind it, in these terms:

The role of academics in US politics and foreign policy is very controversial. A McCarthyite effort to silence dissent on American campuses has been led by Lynne Cheney’s American Council of Trustees and Alumni, William Bennett’s Americans for Victory over Terrorism, Daniel Pipes’ Campus Watch, and David Horowtz's Students for Academic Freedom. In the wake of 9-11, these organizations have sought to pressure US academics into eschewing critical reexamination of America’s role in the world and instead to reaffirm what these neoconservatives see as ‘traditional Western values’ – axiomatically identified as ‘the great heritage of human civilization’ (ACTA, Defending Civilization, 2002: 5) - which are understood to be embodied preeminently in the USA and for which US foreign policy is seen as a powerful evangelical vehicle. Their leading personas are drawn from the incestuous tangle of neo-conservative political networks, the ideological visions they project are very nearly congruent, and they are funded by the notorious troika of ultra-conservative and strategically deliberate foundations: Bradley, Scaife, and Olin (on the which, see the data collected by the Media Transparency project). Here's an article at History News Network describing this conservative network and the funders behind it.

Stuck in Iraq Forever?

Thomas Powers offers some scary thoughts about how hard it may be for an incoming president to end the Occupation of Iraq.

America's leading foreign policy expert?

Or one of the great douchebags of our time?

Thomas "Suck on this!" Friedman.

In case we neeeded another reason to let go of network news

Glenn Greenwald on the failure of TV news, and especially NBC, to face up to their role as conduits for pentagon propaganda, and their utter failure to uphold basic journalistic standards of honesty and accountability:

Just consider what is going on here. The core credibility of war reporting by Brian Williams and NBC News has been severely undermined by a major NYT expose. That story involves likely illegal behavior by the Pentagon, in which NBC News appears to have been complicit, resulting in the deceitful presentation of highly biased and conflicted individuals as “independent” news analysts. Yet they refuse to tell their viewers about any of this, and refuse to address any of the questions that have been raised.

More amazingly still, when Brian Williams is forced by a virtual mob on his blog yesterday finally to address this issue — something he really couldn’t avoid doing given that, the day before, he found time to analyze seven other NYT articles — Williams cited McCaffrey and Downing as proof that they did nothing wrong, and insists that his and their credibility simply ought to be beyond reproach because they are good, patriotic men. But those two individuals in particular had all kinds of ties to the Government, the defense industry, and ideological groups which gave them vested interests in vigorous pro-war advocacy — ties which NBC News knew about and failed to disclose, all while presenting these individuals to their millions of viewers as “independent.” Is there anyone who thinks that behavior is anything other than deeply corrupt?

PAF observes Loyalty Day

Thanks to my buddy Bag for pointing out with irony and relish (not to be confused with onions and relish) that today (May 1) is Loyalty Day.

Loyalty Day, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America


White House News



Americans believe that every man, woman, and child has unalienable rights, dignity, and matchless value. Advancing these ideals was the honorable vision of our Founders and the mission that helped shape this great country. On Loyalty Day, we celebrate the legacy of freedom and the shared ideals that bind us together.

Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen demonstrate their love of country by stepping forward when America needs them most. By putting our country's security before their own, the men and women of the Armed Forces have strengthened our Nation and brought hope to millions around the world. All Americans are grateful to the members of the military and their families for their service, sacrifice, and dedication, and we are proud of their accomplishments.

Through their good works, our Nation's volunteers bear witness to their steadfast love for America, as exemplified in their commitment to service and good citizenship. Loyalty to this country brings with it a commitment to aid our family, friends, and fellow citizens all across this broad and welcoming land. These volunteers demonstrate their gratitude for the blessings of freedom by helping build a more hopeful future for our children and grandchildren. All Americans can put their loyalty into practice by learning more about the history of our country, flying the American flag, and contributing to our communities.

Two hundred and thirty-two years after the founding of our country, we remain committed to advancing freedom and renewing the values that sustain our liberty. Through the spirit and determination of our people, our Nation will prosper and our liberty will be secure.

The Congress, by Public Law 85-529, as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as "Loyalty Day." This Loyalty Day, and throughout the year, I ask all Americans to join me in reaffirming our allegiance to our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2008, as Loyalty Day. I call upon all people of the United States to join in support of this national observance and to display the flag of the United States on Loyalty Day as a symbol of pride in our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand below the belt in order to wag my weenie toward the White House.

Presumed guilty and tortured to "prove" it

NYT:

The former chief prosecutor here took the witness stand on Monday on behalf of a detainee and testified that top Pentagon officials had pressured him in deciding which cases to prosecute and what evidence to use.

The prosecutor, Col. Morris D. Davis of the Air Force, testified that Pentagon officials had interfered with his work for political reasons and told him that charges against well-known detainees “could have real strategic political value” and that there could be no acquittals.

...Testifying about his assertions for the first time, Colonel Davis said a senior Pentagon official who oversaw the military commissions, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann of the Air Force Reserve, reversed a decision he had made and insisted that prosecutors proceed with evidence derived through waterboarding of detainees and other aggressive interrogation methods that critics call torture.

Call me conservative, but the idea of government presuming someone to be guilty and then torturing him/her to extract "evidence" with which to prove their guilt in a miltary star chamber strikes me as tyrannical on its face.