29 July 2010

Wikiality

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I suppose the ease of smuggling data was a funny part. The non-enforcement of DADT in the field apparently hasn't made the news either. Though I don't suspect listening to Lady Gaga is on the list as a disclosure of one's sexuality per se. It may suggest a bit of an odd preference for music I suppose. But I suppose there's no accounting for taste, as its said.

The really special part is the reaction by people who haven't been following the situation. Was it really a shock when Pakistan's intelligence service is showing up as a villain in the story...and that we've been essentially funding the "insurgency"? No. Yeah, that is a fucked up-edness. But that's been true for 5-10-20 years now. It's kind of a big reason not to be messing with the place the way we have been.

As far as the President being "angry", I concur, who gives a shit. This was mostly (not entirely, some information pertaining to intelligence agencies and agents in the field appears to have been leaked as well) information that should be in the public eye and, in some cases, has been available or known for some time. That the information being summarized and made available may change and alter public perceptions for those that haven't cared much about a little hilly place halfway around the world that we have troops in is not my problem. It's your problem Mr President for committing to a dumb strategy (both in the campaign and in office) and selling it to us as though it could work given the factors on the ground that weren't accounted for by that strategy (local corruption and the degree of control over territory not by "insurgents", but by the enemy, cross-alliances and regional interests, etc).

Same with the Afghani police getting high. I've seen the same "act ridiculous" or "got the giggles" as a behavioral "issue" from people getting drunk as well, usually it's worse in fact. Sure, they shouldn't be doing that right before going on a mission, but that hardly impresses upon me as the most serious problem we're having to contend with. That many of those police or soldiers may be inadequately armed or trained without years of continued American support or occupation, or may be just plain corrupt, is kind of a bigger deal.

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