An interesting op-ed piece by Peter Bergen raises a good question: For all that the various Arab leagues spend time decrying the way in which the West oppresses Muslims and so on, why are they – both as a community and as individual countries – so conspicuously absent when it comes time to help fellow Muslims? The recent disaster in Asia is just an example – even though the hardest-hit area is one of the most predominantly Muslim parts of Indonesia, the Muslim country that gave the most – Saudi Arabia – gave only $30 million, as much as the Netherlands, and the other countries gave even less. But this is hardly a unique incident; these countries are always the loudest when it’s time to claim victimization, and the quietest when it comes time to doing anything about it, especially if it may have a cost to them.
100 words: There’s one born every minute
A scholar once made a deal with the Devil for, among other things, an “annus mirabilis.” He hadn’t read the contract very carefully and the Devil omitted an “n,” leaving him with a talking donkey. “It could be worse,” he noted, “I could have ended up shitting gold bricks for the rest of my life.”
Thus satisfied of the Devil’s good will, he set himself to payment, one soul to be damned. Knowing the Devil would claim an impure soul had gone to Hell on its own power, he set himself to corrupting the innocent in order to avoid damnation.
Questioning war: Ethics, the Military and Civilians
In the past two years, I’ve heard several soldiers say that they dislike civilians questioning the course of the war, since if the soldiers aren’t allowed to do so, why should someone who isn’t even involved?
This is part of a broader question: Can civilians legitimately question the war? Or is it just armchair generalling, and somewhat hypocritical?
This is a very important question, and it’s worth answering. My short answer is, that’s the civilians’ job.
The long answer is:
In our military, we have a rather unusual division between the officers and the enlisted. (Most other militaries – those that didn’t derive from England – do this differently) The officers’ responsibility is to keep the “big picture” in mind, and among other things to question orders and refuse them if they’re not legitimate or moral. The enlisted soldiers’ responsibility is to follow these orders to the best of their ability. However, we are living in an age of small-group operations rather than giant infantry movements across the countryside. In most cases in the field, an E6 may be far and away the most senior person present – since we insist on commissioning people right out of college. An NCO in a position like this can’t rely solely on the judgement of a junior officer; he or she needs training in how to interpret orders and decide when to refuse them at least as thorough as an O1 or an O2.
So my answer to the original question is, the soldiers do and should question the course of the war, especially on the scales for which they are responsible. An officer or an NCO is responsible for the moral conduct of himself (or herself – I’m just going to use one pronoun, bear with me. You know what I mean.) and everyone under his command. And what is a civilian’s job? Well, a civilian needs to keep well-informed about the course of the war as a whole, and offer counsel to the President when something is wrong. And yes, sometimes this can mean saying that something is a bad idea and we should stop doing it – not as an allegation of incompetence (although those are fair game too! Someone has got to watch for it.) but as a simple question of policy.
That’s a basic point in our system of government: A citizen’s responsibility isn’t just to vote for someone and then not pay attention to what they do, but rather to stay part of the process, to keep informed of the progress of everything – especially a war! – and apply pressure to make sure that the people they elected stay on track, and know what the public wants.
So if the public shows serious opposition to a war, it’s the President’s responsibility (and every other elected official’s) to take a good, hard look at why the public is so opposed. If the President really believes that, despite opposition, the war is still a good idea, it’s his responsibility to communicate to the public why he thinks so and convince them that he’s right. If the President can’t convince the public, then something is seriously wrong. At this point, it’s the people’s responsibility to make sure the President pays attention – and that’s not necessarily something that can wait until the next election.
(And if all this isn’t enough, consider that the average president has less experience doing his job than the average junior officer – at least the JO’s went through officers’ training. Would you like a random midshipman to run the country for a while without supervision? Or maybe a 2nd lieutenant, all bright-eyed and excited about Making a Difference?)
A mixed bag of information about some provisions of the new intelligence bill. On the good side, it requires the TSA to establish a process for getting people off the no-fly lists, and directs them to start installing various devices like explosive residue detectors and evaluate blast-resistant cargo containers. Still no requirement on depressurizing suitcases before loading, which is a pity. On the not so good side, it has the TSA keeping logs of everyone who flies anywhere. (Good data mining, but I repeat a previous estimate: We will need internal passports to travel within four years if this goes on) On the somewhat incomprehensible side, the bill bans butane lighters in carry-on luggage.
(Yes, you could make those explode, I suppose. It would take a good deal of work, and it would be hard to rupture a hull that way. Would they also like to ban pens? I’m pretty sure I could kill someone with mine – it’s sturdy enough to penetrate to various vitals. Maybe we should only be allowed crayons.)
Well, everyone else is doing it…
(And I’m just amused by the title it gave me. Maybe I should invade something.)
Jung Explorer Test
Actualized type: ENTJ
(who you are)
|
ENTJ – “Field Marshall”. The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population.
|
Preferred type: ENTJ
(who you prefer to be)
|
ENTJ – “Field Marshall”. The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population.
|
Attraction type: ENFJ
|
ENFJ – “Persuader”. Outstanding leader of groups. Can be aggressive at helping others to be the best that they can be. 2.5% of total population.
|
Take Jung Explorer Test
personality tests by similarminds.com
Responsibility
And the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Abihu, took [coals] from their censers and put them on the fire, and put on them incense, and they brought before ADONAI a strange fire, which he had not commanded them. And a fire came out from before ADONAI and consumed them and they died before ADONAI. And Moses said to Aaron, it is as the word of ADONAI said, “by my intimates [priests] I shall be sanctified and in the sight of all the people I will be honored,” and Aaron was silent.
[Lev. 10:1-3]
The priests are the intimates of God; since they have this intimacy, they may not use it for themselves and in secret, but only openly, and for the people.
The soldier is granted the power of death; since he has this power, he may not fight on his own account, but only for the safety of his country.
The king is granted rule over the land; since he has this authority, he may not use it for his own benefit, but only for the benefit of the people who are his responsibility.
On this day in history:
In 1992, President Bush the Elder pardoned the remaining major players in the Iran-Contra affair, abruptly ending the investigation just before the part where his own role would have come to light. (For those of you who’ve forgotten about it or weren’t around then, here’s a Wikipedia article on the business. I’ll leave the question of who the actual, day-to-day leader of this operation was as an exercise for the reader.)
Feeds
Yonatan Zunger’s Blog 