I recently received the following chain email. You stay up for 16 hours He stays up for days on end. You take a warm shower to help you wake up. He goes days or weeks without running water. You complain of a “headache”, and call in sick. He gets shot at as others are hit, [...]
Archive for the ‘War’ category
The few, the proud, the suicidal
CNN reported last week that suicide attempts among American military personnel are way up. In fact, they reported that the number reached over two thousand last year. Also, over the last few weeks the NY Times has been running a series of articles about the high level of violent criminal activity among returning GIs, attributing [...]
A country for old men
In college I became so angry with the outrageous acts my government has commited, ostensibly on my behalf, that I researched renouncing my United States citizenship. This research was not merely about youthful anger, it was also guiding my honor’s thesis. My basic thesis was that the nation state was a problematic construction that didn’t [...]
Paul Franzoso, veteran
His parents passed through Ellis Island as part of the swell of Italian immigrants to the U. S. in the early 20th century, and settled in an area of New Jersey called the Lost Valley. Though his parents were poor, they raised eight children – one of whom was adopted because his father couldn’t bear [...]
Thursday open thread: Out now edition
Still no volunteers for Thursday Playlists. So: politics. Do any of our five or so readers still think the U.S. should stay in Iraq longer than the few months it would take to effect an orderly withdrawal? Matt Yglesias offers the following: I still hear it often said, including by liberal-minded people, that all serious [...]
Who got served? Four soldiers’ stories
1. My dear friend’s brother is 43; he’s in a happily rewarding second marriage and his kids are 5, 3, and newborn. Despite this brand-new sprouting family, though, he strongly feels his primary duty is to serve in the war, so he’s decided to enlist. His particular assignment, which is slated to last a year [...]
A special gift
No one ever seems to notice that the U.S. has birthday after birthday without ever receiving a proper gift. Imagine how it must feel to be 231 years old and never once having gotten a birthday present – not even a Glen Campbell album that you already own, or a jacket you would never wear. [...]
Wurld peese
What provokes your strongest reaction, dear reader, in today’s TGW title: the spelling or the idea? Basically, I wanted to avoid the pat reaction that some might have after reading such utopian words—world peace! (spelled correctly)—at the top of the page today.Well, what does happen to you when you encounter these words (spelled correctly)—on a [...]
What can we do?
3,471 United States servicemembers have now been killed in Iraq. By one count, there have been between 64,632 and 70,783 reported civilian deaths in the war, although the best estimate of excess civilian deaths due to the war (the Lancet study published last fall) gives an estimate with a high degree of certainty in the [...]
Help wanted: Patsy
Steven J. Hadley National Security Advisor The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. Hadley: Thank you for considering my application for the position of Implementation and Execution Manager for the Iraq War. Like the other candidates you are interviewing, I, too, have never successfully prosecuted a successful counterinsurgency campaign in [...]
