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| 5/17 |
| 2005/8/17-22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:39155 Activity:moderate |
8/17 Dear brother of the low IQ infantryman who is being sent to Iraq,
what is your brother's stance on Iraq? Is he still believing
Bush and the Faux News?
\_ Uh, he's pretty smart. Go read Starship Troopers, the book.
\_ Send him Stranger in a Strange
Land. Anyone who takes ST as
a guideline for life needs
to have their intelligence
questioned
Combine that and the horror of 9/11, and that'll clue you into
what he's thinking. Anyways, before he signed up, I told him at
least he'll be relieving all those poor guys in Iraq now.
\_ if anything, Iraqis are more poor than under Saddam:
http://tinyurl.com/cnuw9
\_ I think he was referring to US soldiers.
\_ Ah, so he thinks Iraq was about 9/11?
\_ If he were really smart, he'd do pretty well on the placement
exam and either end up doing support or logistic related jobs
(U.S. has a ration of 5-10 support for each frontline man)
or move up as an officer, instead of being just an infantryman.
\_ He scored well enough on the test to do whatever he wanted.
He chose Infantry.
He also chose to start as a grunt, since he didn't want to be
one of those know-nothing officers. If he was going to lead
men, someone would have to promote him.
\_ My sister-in-law did the same thing. She could've been
an officer and chose to be a grunt. She's an idiot. So
is your brother. Sorry to have to break the truth to
you.
\_ I have no idea whether your sister in law is an idiot,
but I've definitely seen this before in non-idiots.
A friend of mine from highschool who was really
really smart, and extremely talented at pretty much
everything he tried (various academic subjects, art
sports) did exactly this. He got really high scores
on everything and chose infantry. His CO wanted him
to do ranger school, but he didn't go just to piss
the guy off. Sometimes very intelligent people act
irrationally, but are still intelligent people.
He finished his army time in the 90's and is a lawyer
now.
\_ i don't know. don't people ever thought that they
might die or seriously wounded for being a infintry?
\_ I mean 'idiot' as in 'fool'. Lots of smart
people are unwise. Your friend sounds like my
sister-in-law. She didn't want to be an officer
because she didn't want to be a 'know-nothing
officer'. I have a lot of family in the military
and they will all tell you that's idiotic. You
definitely want to be an officer. Your friend
would've benefitted by Ranger school, but he
fucked himself over just because his CO at the
time was a jerk. That's a bad decision. FWIW, my
sister-in-law has 2 master's degrees and is
still an idiot for going in enlisted and
refusing to take advantage of what the military
had to offer.
\_ yea, but I watched Heartbreak Ridge, and
I wanna be like Clint.
\_ I could see that being true in peacetime,
but I also respect the decisions of those going
grunt first during wartime. They might not be
so pro-officer that being the case.
Some people really don't feel ready to send people
to die. We're talking Infantry.
\_ They have no problem being ordered to go
kill people, though? You can be the poor
sucker taking orders or you can give them.
At least officers are told what's going
on. There are lots of other benefits, too.
Grunts get paid less and get less respect
(from the brass) to do more work.
\_ (You didn't really need to tell anyone that
officers get paid more, much better perks,
and better career advancement for less
work.)
To repeat again what I've already written:
Some people don't necessarily want to be
Infantry officers during war-time,
especially those with no prior battlefield
experience. And that's fine.
Do I really need to tell you there's a
difference between being reponsible for
a whole platoon, and being one of the
platoon members? I think you're smarter
than that, so I don't need to tell you.
In peace-time, I can see how it would be
foolish not to become an officer if you
could.
\_ If you're talking about decision-making
it's better not to be in the infantry at
all, like was said earlier by someone
else. However, it's always better to
be an officer. Always. Any other
opinion is an attempt at rationalizing
a poor decision, IMO.
\_ I can see: "It's always better to
have money."
I can see: "It's always better to
be an officer, if you can live with
men dying under your command."
I can see: "It's always better to be
an officer if you want to live."
I can't see: "It's always better
to be an officer."
\_ Were you in the military? How
familiar are you with it?
There are people who think
it's better to be enlisted,
but they are (to use the same
word) idiots. I say this as
someone with both enlisted
soldiers (privates) and
high-ranking officers (colonels)
in my family.
\_ No, I haven't been in the
military. I'm the one with the
brother who signed up as a
private.
In any case, I'll go with
"It's always better to be an
officer, if you can live with
men dying under your command"
rather than
"It's always better to be an
officer".
My opinion, only.
Perhaps you can talk to the
colonels again and ask them to
compare the two sentences and
see which one they like better.
Don't push an opinion on them,
please. Oh yeah, and it's
Infantry, too, and you're
getting sent to Iraq.
\_ Their opinion is to join
as an officer if you
can. I know this because
I have a niece who is in
now (not in Iraq - yet),
a brother-in-law who
just came back from
Iraq, and now my nephew
wants to join (Marines).
This is the opinion of
two Army colonels and an Air
Force captain. YMMV.
BTW, best of luck to
your brother!
\_ Thanks. I can agree
with their advice.
The impact of the advice
is to seriously consider
becoming an officer, and
if you don't, its your
choice, and your family
members could always
discuss pros/cons with
the colonels.
\_ Nonono ... you meant: "Sorry to have to express my
opinion of it in that way."
\_ I'd say your brother is worth about 10 of the sissy pricks
like the op that post on the motd.
like the op that post on the motd. -jblack
\_ Which makes you worth what, exactly? Thank God our nation
has brave young men willing to post freeper links to the
motd every 20 minutes.
\_ I'd like to see you serve in Iraq.
\_ Don't make assumptions like that. I spent three years
(as a medic) in the 82nd Airborne and I post on the
motd all the time. -ausman
\_ Great thing. Basing your life on a book promoting fascism,
manifest destiny, mini-nukes and Cold War sensibilities.
Ah Heinlein, where everyone is beautiful, the men all get
laid and the women give it up like it's going out of style...
\_ Fascism? Manifest Destiny? Have you even read the book?
If you have, then either your reading comprehension skills
need work, or you're looking with REALLY biased, politically
slanted glasses.
\_ Have you ever wondered why he wrote ST and SIASL at the
same time. I have a friend who suggested it was on a dare.
"Write two good books promoting opposing political stances
and sell them both."
\_ give me a call when Heinlein writes a good book. -tom
\_ you know he's dead, right? What fiction have you read
that you consider "good"?
\_ yes, I know he's dead, and good riddance.
I've got shelves full of good fiction books.
In sci-fi, notables include Hyperion and
A Fire Upon the Deep. -tom
\_ Perhaps the problem is you see Heinlein as SF
instead of political theory?
\_ perhaps the problem is that he's a hack. -tom
\_ Vinge is good, so is Banks. Banks has some
interesting !scifi stuff also. Vinge gets bonus
points for cool physics, and inventing the
notion of Singularity, Banks get points for the
setting and society, and of course his ship names.
-- ilyas
\_ Bah, Heinlein was a pussy. He should have started his own
religion like L Ron. That's how you get paid and laid, yo. |
| 5/17 |
|
| tinyurl.com/cnuw9 -> www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4289059&fsrc=RSS rss Struggling to pick up the pieces Aug 17th 2005 From The Economist Global Agenda A new report from the International Monetary Fund says that Iraqs econom ic growth is stalling because of the deteriorating security situation. P olitical progress, too, seems to have slowed, with the government strugg ling to produce a new constitution. Without substantial improvement in o ne of these areas, the future of Iraq looks grim IN IRAQ these days, officials are constantly confronted with the conundru m of the chicken and the egg. If the government can get the struggling e conomy back on its feet, rising incomes will sap the supply of desperate insurgents. But as a new report from the International Monetary Fund (I MF) makes clear, it will be devilishly hard to get the economy back on t rack without first stemming the tide of the insurgency, which is devasta ting efforts at reconstruction. Iraqs all-important oil industry is the most obvious victim of this. This slump in expectations is caused by the unexpectedly low volume of oil production, which is now p redicted to reach an average of just 2m barrels per day (bpd) this year, nearly 20% less than the 24m bpd originally forecast, and still well b elow the 25m bpd that Iraq was pumping before the 2003 American-led inv asion. The report attributes this to the insurgency, which has made Iraq s oil infrastructure one of its primary targets. The insurgency is hobbling development efforts in other ways. The threat of violence has deterred investment in the country; to date, says the re port, none of the foreign banks granted licences in 2003 has yet opened up shop. It has also required donors and the government to divert an inc reasing share of funds meant for rebuilding Iraq to protecting its worke rs and equipment. Security and insurance reportedly make up 30-50% of to tal reconstruction costs. The result is economic insecurity that undoubtedly makes recruiting easie r for the insurgents. With 96% of households receiving monthly food rati ons, the United Nations Development Programme says that nearly half the children under five are malnourished. Infant mortality is over 10% of li ve births, compared with 3% in neighbouring Jordan; and 193 out of every 100,000 births in Iraq end with the mother dying, against 41 in Jordan. Most estimates of unemployment are in the 30-40% range, though one stud y from the University of Baghdad put that figure at 70%. Public services, which help form peoples opinion of the government, rema in patchy and unreliable. Last week Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric who at one time headed his own insurgent force, began calling for protests against the poor level of water and power services. While virtually all of Iraqs households are hooked up to the electric grid, and most of the m have access to piped water, many report that the reliability of supply is very poor. These problems are less likely to be fixed while Iraqs politics remain t esty and fractured. The Sunni Arabs ran the country under Saddam Hussein , despite making up only around 20% of the 25m-27m population. They have since lost influence to the majority Shia (roughly 60% of the populatio n) and the Kurds (20%), and most of the insurgents are thus drawn from t heir ranks. If the main Sunni groups could be brought into the governmen t, this might take some of the sting out of the insurgency, freeing up d onors and the government to concentrate on improving public services and oil infrastructure. But while hopes were raised when Sunni clerics began talking about partic ipating in the political process, talks on a new constitution have becom e deadlocked, with negotiators asking for a one-week extension of the Au gust 15th deadline. The Kurds and Shia, who occupy the territory where t he oil is, are in favour of devolving powerand fundsto the provinces. The Sunnis, unsurprisingly, are fiercely opposed to any such plan, and h ave threatened to veto a federalist constitution. The dismal scientists face grim realities Meanwhile, the countrys economic team struggles on as best it can. The I MF highlights several areas of concern, chief among them the parlous sta te of Iraqs budget. Problems in the oil sector have deprived the state of much-needed revenue for reconstruction. Oil exports, which the govern ment had expected to reach 18m bpd by now, averaged only 14m bpd in th e first five months of 2005, the same as 2004. So far, this has been mad e up for by high oil prices (see table). But spending pressures have gro wn too, especially since the government does not yet have adequate budge tary controls to help it get a grip on what it is spending, and where. The IMF is urging Iraqs economic team to begin phasing out domestic subs idies for petroleum products, which are a drain on the budget; Iraqis ca n buy petrol at a mere 13 American cents per litre. These subsidies are estimated to cost the government nearly $8 billion each year. Ministers seem to agree that ending them is a good idea, but they know that this will not be popular. Consumer price inflati on was over 30% in the year to December 2004. The IMFs Emergency Post-C onflict Assistance programme had envisioned inflation of only 7% that ye ar. The Fund attributes the difference to increased violence in the mont hs leading up to the January 2005 parliamentary elections, which raised the prices of key commodities like gas and food. The Central Bank of Iraq recently broadened the range of tactics it uses to mop up excess liquidity in the system and maintain the dinars de fac to peg to the dollar, which, given the primitive state of Iraqs financi al system, is the best mechanism the bank has to keep prices stable. Inf lation fell in the five months to May, but the IMF gives a warning that much more needs to be done, and thinks that inflation may surge again in the coming months to produce an average of as much as 20% for 2005. Overall, Iraqs economic team seems to be saying the right things. It has plans to modernise the undercapitalised banking system, which currently has no facilities for electronic payments and only a rudimentary proces s for cheque-clearing. It is working to reduce Iraqs external debt, whi ch even after a round of debt forgiveness will stand at an excruciating three times GDP. And it is trying to put in place the fiscal and monetar y mechanisms that will let the government piece the country back togethe r Until the insurgency wanes, however, things may fall apart faster tha n even a crack economic team can pick up the pieces. |