By One Means or Another - US Vets Bring Change

Obama Could Issue an Executive Order to End the Wars Tomorrow (Yes, It's That Simple) | War on Iraq | AlterNet

Read every word. There's too much to quote and I don't wish to focus on one issue at the expense of others. Let's just say that it's become obvious that the skills learned in foreign wars translate well to domestic applications - and to discerning where the incoming fire is really coming from.

The average vet with the scratch to buy a used computer or who is able to make it to a public library has intelligence gathering and "command and control assets" undreamed of even in '91 - and has the training, discipline and knowledge (taken as a group) to make devestatingly effective use of it. This is why there's been surprisingly little Vietnam-style protest. There's no need; we have far better tools now.

Governments have simply lost the overwhelming information advantage that has long allowed them to ignore or minimize the concerns of their vets - indeed, all their citizens. And vets, by virtue of training and experience, have the tools to organize and motivate opposition to foolish government efforts - and, again, by virtue of their training, have a particular, pointed impatience with those who take their duties to be optional or merely ceremonial window-dressing.

I understand that the Bushes have bought a large amount of land in Paraguay. Very strategically important, resource-rich land that should raise all kinds of eyebrows. One could look upon it as an attempt to establish a position for strategic relocation; no doubt their documented alliances with the Reverend Moon and the Paraguayan government impart a profound sense of security.

But the web reaches everywhere - connecting literally millions of people with very legitimate claims of harm against these people. Personally, I cannot imagine living with having made so many legitimate enemies for such very poor reasons, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Actually, what I expect is something far less dramatic than people might imagine from my setup. I think that, far from becoming the nucleus for a brave new South-American empire run by brainwashed Moonie slave-labor, it will become a sort of prison. A large, comfortable prison, where everyone is content to allow former Bushites to relocate to - so long as they stay inside and don't try and fuck with the water supply.

That is to say - the land is strategic in terms of resources and location. The question is, then, under what terms will they be permitted to stay. It may well turn out that they require a fallback for their fallback. I understand there's an increasing sense of impatience in Mexico, Central and South America with those who cling to the mythology of the Divine Right of Dons. They, too, are learning that information warfare is the way to go.

Well, George, there's always Dubai. Of course, one DOES wonder how long those artificial islands will remain above sea level.

But, as US Vets and Zapatistas alike are proving, people no longer have a binary choice - accept whatever government they have, or take up arms. Increasingly, it's becoming possible to network around governments, leaving the people who think they control the situation scrambling to accommodate a feisty and frighteningly well-informed public that's capable of dealing with them on uncomfortably equal terms.

And - to wrap this post up in a bow - the public gains the benefit of people trained by the military and made skeptical and oppositional by it's misuse. This reason alone should be a lesson to everyone world-wide that they misuse, abuse and neglect veterans at their peril.

Should be... but then again, it should have been made clear by what happened to Caligula at the hands of the Praetorian Guard.

Oh, and then of course there's a few Biblical proverbs about honor among thieves. One wonders how long it will take for them to sell one another out.

Yellow Elephant, where were you? - Civilian by webcarve
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