GWOT is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
6/20 UPDATE: Fucked. And it gives us no pleasure.6/19 UPDATE: An hour ago, three Marines serving in Iraq were indeed charged with murder. Man alive, is it ever satisfying when our weblog journalism produces such immediate and drastic results in the military courts. No word yet on whether the two guys who got captured by masked militants will be treated as prisoners-of-war or as "enemy combatants". . .
To the two U.S. soldiers who have been captured by masked militants near Yusufiya, Iraq: you've been busy doing other things, so you may not have kept up with the theoretical minutiae in the GWOTorture.
Don't Worry.
The Bush Administration considers the Geneva Convention's ban on cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war to be, well, "quaint." And, Bush appended a signing order to the Congressional torture ban, which legal scholars agree gives him a sort of "get out of torture ban free card." And, lots of detainees have been kicked, beaten, or suffocated to death while in U.S. custody, and none of the kickers, beaters, or suffocaters have been convicted of murder.
But don't worry. I'm sure that the masked militants hadn't noticed. Even if they had noticed, I'll bet you can count on them to uphold the standards of conduct set by the United States government.
Seriously, though, you're fucked. Sorry.
posted by Swill to Power at 11:05 AM
7 Comments:
I disagree. They're not "fucked"; they're "totally fucked."
And I didn't find this very hopeful, so I hope you'll try harder.
Perhaps you heard that jackass on NPR an hour ago (why we still bother with NPR is a mystery)? The former Navy pilot, Citadel history instructor and current Yale law student concluded his maudlin litany of horse-assery with the assertion that in America, we realize that "the only thing that can overcome history is hope."
We almost ran over a group of passersby, due to the large amount of blood pouring from our ears and eyes...
Hope indeed.
Swill: Well played, sir. They are, in fact, totally fucked or perhaps even post-fucked - the being fucked having long since passed.
MS: As I gave up on NPR's spineless and somnolent droning ages back, I know nothing of what that chronic over-achiever said. I am, however, poised to replace my Tacitus and Herodotus with the books of rainbow poetry written by that terminally ill kid a few years back.
You're too right, gramophone. There's a special use of the pluperfect in Latin to describe how fucked they were, are, now and ever shall be. Poor guys.
You'd need a verb-tense that bends the arrow of time.
Citadel History instructor. Can you imagine? They talked about "warrior castes." In contemporary America.
hey gramophone, feel free to post any of your favorite rainbow poems here -- there's a number of literary types trolling about who could use a bit of hope (cf. squeezychortle)
Right said, Phred. And remember, it's not our fault we speak so unvarnishedly -- or something.
To everybody: We have spent the last ten hours racking our brains, wondering whether we have a good story to tell about Madras, Oregon, whence hails Pfc. Thomas Tucker, recently beheaded.
We don't. And neither do you.
Unlike you (with a notable, recently expatriated and nicely homebrewing exception), however, we have been through there a time or two. Not much to tell.
A visit of your own would confirm what you already know: that the folks getting killed for my right to drive through Madras don't wear madras.
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