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Author Topic: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack  (Read 13564 times)

freeformschooler

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #75 on: April 14, 2011, 07:17:51 pm »

I wish this sort of thing could be less of a clusterfuck, but . . . ehhh.  Maybe we should work more on tiny, ludicrously precise missiles.  Then the problem becomes figuring out who you want dead, which isn't going to stop being a problem anytime soon.

And then actually hitting them is harder, too. If you blow up the building with them probably inside then obviously that's not a problem.
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Gorjo MacGrymm

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #76 on: April 14, 2011, 07:31:56 pm »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have read that right now, the Pakistani goverment is torn between wanting (and needing) US help and intervention and between the need to pacify a large segment of their population who currently hates the US.  I do not mean this to imply that this segment of the population is all terrorists or al queada or taliban or anything like that.  Just people with opinions and a strong sense of national pride.  I am of the opinion its a case of public face vs. private face on this issue.  And like I said earlier, I was wondering when it was going to blow up.
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nenjin

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #77 on: April 14, 2011, 08:21:01 pm »

Quote
I swore I had read that several groups had done interviews with the tribal people actually living in the area targeted by the drone strikes that indicated that they were remarkably okay with them, and after looking around I managed to find it.  It's in the Wikipedia article on drone attacks in Pakistan, and it does come with reasonably credible-sounding sources.  I find this interesting in combination with the official Pakistani government's opinion on the drone strikes.  I would not be surprised to find that the Pakistani government were overblowing things in an effort to gain more political clout, like basically every national government anywhere. 

A favorite tactic of Taliban fighters is to hide among non-combatant populations. It shields them, they can get support from many of them, and when the US goes after them, even if they kill all the Taliban they were looking for, the civilian causalities are a PR nightmare. It hamstrings the US from conducting all out warfare, or even aggressive warfare. So when you ask x tribal member about their opinion of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, it depends on what their relation/involvement to them is. The same goes for US military action. For those with no links to Pashtuni members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, who aren't being used as meat shields, they're more than likely ok with it. For those that have ethnic links to the group, they're probably reserved or hostile, possibly just on the basis of a Western presence in their country. And the ones actively supporting and shielding Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters are the ones that will be most vocal about civilian casualties and discriminate or indiscriminate use of American force.

And that's just at the tribal level.
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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #78 on: April 15, 2011, 12:35:23 am »

Shall we count up the #'s of dead civilians and military in Iraq, Nikov? We went in there on multiple fabricated pre-tenses, in the face of international outrage, claiming a moral imperative to strike at the enemy regardless of the costs. The numbers of dead from that, still going, rank in the thousands. Just so we can be clear, do you still support the Iraq War and the attitudes and claims that brought us there? Because it doesn't square with your attitude here.

What does my support or lack thereof for OIF have to do with drone strikes in Pakistan?
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Zangi

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #79 on: April 15, 2011, 07:11:41 am »

Quote
I swore I had read that several groups had done interviews with the tribal people actually living in the area targeted by the drone strikes that indicated that they were remarkably okay with them, and after looking around I managed to find it.  It's in the Wikipedia article on drone attacks in Pakistan, and it does come with reasonably credible-sounding sources.  I find this interesting in combination with the official Pakistani government's opinion on the drone strikes.  I would not be surprised to find that the Pakistani government were overblowing things in an effort to gain more political clout, like basically every national government anywhere. 

A favorite tactic of Taliban fighters is to hide among non-combatant populations. It shields them, they can get support from many of them, and when the US goes after them, even if they kill all the Taliban they were looking for, the civilian causalities are a PR nightmare. It hamstrings the US from conducting all out warfare, or even aggressive warfare. So when you ask x tribal member about their opinion of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, it depends on what their relation/involvement to them is. The same goes for US military action. For those with no links to Pashtuni members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, who aren't being used as meat shields, they're more than likely ok with it. For those that have ethnic links to the group, they're probably reserved or hostile, possibly just on the basis of a Western presence in their country. And the ones actively supporting and shielding Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters are the ones that will be most vocal about civilian casualties and discriminate or indiscriminate use of American force.

And that's just at the tribal level.
There is also a tactic of less scrupulous reporters only taking 'favourable' answers to questions...  or honestly, only asked from a small segment.


Kinda hilarious in a way, I suspect, on another day in another place... Y country is gonna use the 'drone bombing' + 'war on X' as reason to bomb people inside another country... using this as precedent.
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Urist is dead tome

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #80 on: April 15, 2011, 08:17:13 am »

There is also a tactic of less scrupulous reporters only taking 'favourable' answers to questions...  or honestly, only asked from a small segment.


Kinda hilarious in a way, I suspect, on another day in another place... Y country is gonna use the 'drone bombing' + 'war on X' as reason to bomb people inside another country... using this as precedent.

Yes, absolutely hilarious. I'm about to split a rib here.
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Lysabild

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #81 on: April 15, 2011, 10:12:29 am »

I just wanted to pop in to remind the dear americans that you can't compare USA and Europa like you keep doing. First of all, Europa is no where near united and talking about Europa as a single entity is completely idiotic, even in modern times, since there are still European nations who do not seek membership with EU.

Strife said "Would you like to know the benefits of America taking her place as a global superpower? Spending a metric crapton on directly rebuilding Europe? Like not "we'll loan you money" or "we'll have American business build shit" but "take our fucking money and unfuck yourselves, please.""

And I say, holy crap. Unfuck ourselves? You're just blaming a whole fucking continent for a few nations war lust. Care to tell me how places like Scandinavia and the Netherlands "Fucked themselves"?

By not spending half their income on military? By not being safe across the atlantic? Would America have punched Germany like Superman punches a bankrobber had it been America sharing borders with Germany?

I am not anti-american, but I am damn fucking sick about nationalist americans and their fucking cavalry attitude. Europa is happy for your support, but it's not like we've not been through worse.

Hitler would've lost sooner or later, with or without America and while you helped speed it up, thank you, you did not save the day with your magical superstate powers. Americas ascending to a superpower happened through the destruction that waged across Europe due to various complicated shit. Coming in last minute does not varrant a heroes welcome, it varrants a thank you.

And from there on, it only got worse. I'll admit I'm ashamed that a dane helped you create that fucking horrible bomb that every state big state is humping or trying to get a hold of to hump today.

Edit: Holy shit it felt good to get that out.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2011, 10:18:08 am by Nine »
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Gorjo MacGrymm

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #82 on: April 15, 2011, 10:34:41 am »

I just wanted to pop in to remind the dear americans that you can't compare USA and Europa like you keep doing. First of all, Europa is no where near united and talking about Europa as a single entity is completely idiotic, even in modern times, since there are still European nations who do not seek membership with EU.

Strife said "Would you like to know the benefits of America taking her place as a global superpower? Spending a metric crapton on directly rebuilding Europe? Like not "we'll loan you money" or "we'll have American business build shit" but "take our fucking money and unfuck yourselves, please.""

And I say, holy crap. Unfuck ourselves? You're just blaming a whole fucking continent for a few nations war lust. Care to tell me how places like Scandinavia and the Netherlands "Fucked themselves"?

By not spending half their income on military? By not being safe across the atlantic? Would America have punched Germany like Superman punches a bankrobber had it been America sharing borders with Germany?

I am not anti-american, but I am damn fucking sick about nationalist americans and their fucking cavalry attitude. Europa is happy for your support, but it's not like we've not been through worse.

Hitler would've lost sooner or later, with or without America and while you helped speed it up, thank you, you did not save the day with your magical superstate powers. Americas ascending to a superpower happened through the destruction that waged across Europe due to various complicated shit. Coming in last minute does not varrant a heroes welcome, it varrants a thank you.

And from there on, it only got worse. I'll admit I'm ashamed that a dane helped you create that fucking horrible bomb that every state big state is humping or trying to get a hold of to hump today.

Edit: Holy shit it felt good to get that out.

Thats nice Nine.  Glad you go that out. 

*rest of post erased.  Not rising to the bait.
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Vector

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #83 on: April 15, 2011, 11:43:28 am »

*sigh*

Sorry, Nine, but I'm replying to your post.

I just wanted to pop in to remind the dear americans that you can't compare USA and Europa like you keep doing. First of all, Europa is no where near united and talking about Europa as a single entity is completely idiotic, even in modern times, since there are still European nations who do not seek membership with EU.

We compared the USA with the USSR.  You can compare any two objects.  Saying they're basically the same might be problematic, but there's no reason not to compare two objects that have at least one superficially similar quality.  The European Union is a single object because it has a single name.  Did you know that the states here still don't get along especially well?  They still have strong individual governments and so on.  Oh, and what about talking about North America as one unit?  We've got three big fat countries, all with different degrees of socialism going on, different poverty levels, etc.--and yet we talk about it as though it were one, just because it's convenient.  Language is arbitrary like that.

And hell, if you want to whinge about this, talk to Africa.  I'm sure it's got a lot of things to say, such as "Africa is a continent with a lot of different not-unified-at-all countries in it, not a single big country," contrary to what many people seem to believe.


And I say, holy crap. Unfuck ourselves? You're just blaming a whole fucking continent for a few nations war lust. Care to tell me how places like Scandinavia and the Netherlands "Fucked themselves"?

I suspect you're having English difficulties.  "Unfuck yourself" may mean that someone fucked you, or that you fucked yourself.  The existence of the reflexive is not dependent on the manner in which one was fucked--it only means that the unfucking is being performed by an individual on themselves.

Obviously, some countries fucked themselves, some countries fucked other countries, and some countries were simply fucked under the usual rhetoric.  Examples of each: Germany, Russia, Poland.  As a result, Europe became collectively fucked, as those who were losing the war were fucked, and then proceeded to fuck those who were winning it.  That doesn't mean that each country, as an individual, proceeded to fuck itself.


By not spending half their income on military? By not being safe across the atlantic? Would America have punched Germany like Superman punches a bankrobber had it been America sharing borders with Germany?

By being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people, with the aftermath of a stupid war based on over-strong alliances at your heels that killed off an entire generation of young men, and with two superpowers in deep economic trouble desperate to prove themselves--one convinced that it had come to trouble only because of the unfairness of the settlement of that last war.

Would America have punched Germany?  I dunno.  Based on the eugenics movement of the time, I'd have thought it more likely that America would have been Germany in the given scenario.  Aren't we glad that, indeed, we were on the other side of the Atlantic and we were able to help bail Europe out of the terrible shit it was in?  Note that I put that modifying verb "help" in there.  We obviously didn't do all the work.  Russia, for example, did a hell of a lot of effort it doesn't often get credit for.

But in any case, I'm here to talk about what happened, rather than what might have happened if America had been involved in WWI on its own soil.

I'm also going to add that one of the reasons why America spends half its budget on military is because it keeps Japan demilitarized (and Germany too, IIRC).  Remember how those countries have been told that they screwed up too badly last time and aren't allowed to have any sort of army anymore?  Well, we're in a defense pact with them (or at least Japan--I seem to remember it being written into the Japanese constitution), which says that if they get attacked, we'll move in to protect them--and IIRC, that deal is unique, in that there aren't any other countries to do that.

There you go.  The US, continuing to blow half its income on the military partially so that Japan and Germany can't go bonkers again, as they have multiple times in the past.  You're welcome.


Europa is happy for your support, but it's not like we've not been through worse.

If you can name a European war that was worse than WWI or WWII (your pick based on which one you think was more atrocious), go for it.

I certainly can't.


Hitler would've lost sooner or later, with or without America and while you helped speed it up, thank you, you did not save the day with your magical superstate powers. Americas ascending to a superpower happened through the destruction that waged across Europe due to various complicated shit. Coming in last minute does not varrant a heroes welcome, it varrants a thank you.

... Weren't the Allies basically down to England or something, and Russia was under siege and starving to death, feeding its soldiers sawdust, and Poland was pretty much wiped off the map again (but still resistant, as so many people seem to forget), France occupied under a puppet state, Spain fighting a fascist civil war, many of the Scandinavian nations "working" with Hitler because they didn't want to be invaded (for example, Finland was involved in the terrible siege of Leningrad), Japan hopping its way through China towards the other side of Russia, and so on?

I dunno, maybe I'm just wrong on the facts.  But frankly, I figure that if you get another wave of help, you should give it a hero's welcome.  Not a you-are-heroes forever welcome, or you are heroes no matter what you do welcome, or we-would-have-all-been-totally-screwed-without-you welcome, but a "thank you, God, because we didn't all have to become Russia and our cities were not razed to the ground, we still had our cryptographers working, we still had food."  Not necessarily because of America, but we bloody well helped.

Our young men died too, and two generations of our scientists dedicated themselves to war.  We went without, and we suffered.  Every spare scrap of metal went towards bullets and arms... after school, children spent their time not playing, but looking for a little something to melt down.  There wasn't nylon for pantyhose, due to rationing, so all over the country women drew lines on their calves--pretend stockings.  We sent over so many young men, across the Atlantic, that women were forced into their jobs, and women over here finally got the vote.  We even had women doing plane testing and going into the army.  We were in the middle of the greatest economic recession we'd ever seen, you know.  Some third of our young men was unemployed.  We sent them over to Europe to die.  My grandfather was a crippled mathematician, and so embarrassed at his inability to help with the war effort that he ran off to Mexico.  He was extremely sick, and thought the journey would kill him, but if you were a man it was expected that you would be working for the War in Europe.  "If you're a man, then you're a soldier, and you're going overseas.  If you're a woman, then you're working in the factories or in the fields for Our Boys In Europe.  If you're too young for them to let you in the army legally, lie and make them take you to fight.  If you're a woman, consider pretending to be a man."  That was the sort of atmosphere we had.

And no, that doesn't mean I expect you to bow and to scrape, and it doesn't mean that I expect you to treat our losses as though they were as heavy as your own, and it doesn't mean that I can say we are morally pure, and it doesn't mean that we didn't come at the last minute, and it doesn't mean that we were big fat heroes by our very nature.  We're a damned country, which means that we don't have any sort of real moral unity.  We just have an occasional wind blow through us, which may make us a little bit better or a little bit worse for a while.

But just as I can appreciate and respect the losses, courage, and strength of your people, I do wish you would appreciate and respect ours.  Even if our country is not heroic, our people were heroic.  Even if we have done terrible things, we have done some good things, too--and to sweep those under the rug because of a few whackjobs over here who are too excited about them is kind of sad.


And from there on, it only got worse. I'll admit I'm ashamed that a dane helped you create that fucking horrible bomb that every state big state is humping or trying to get a hold of to hump today.

Every scientific and mathematical advancement over the years led to that bomb.  You can be ashamed for the action of one countryman if you want, but he was just one man.  A country is not a single hated representative... it's a collective action of millions of people, each heroic in their own way, each sinful in their own way.

There's no need to be ashamed that one man made one choice you perceive as bad.  He just happened to be in a position of power, so you heard about it.  We all do things whose effects we can never comprehend every single day, and simply hope that all will be well.

I'm also going to add that Nazi Germany was developing the same bomb.  I'm kind of glad that America got it first and the war ended soon enough that Hitler couldn't crap all over everything, even though I'm not necessarily happy that we still have it, or that we used it.


I am a citizen of a country I love, and I am pleased to be American; but on the other hand, I love all countries, and cannot paint any people or any person as uniformly good or bad.  So, if you please, you can attack the current administration, or you can attack our policies, or you can attack our past actions with your 20-20 hindsight; but do not impugn a great people for your experiences with a few over-the-top nationalists, or the actions of a few scientists that you disliked, or the fact that some historians are somewhat more patriotic than the ideal.

We did our part.
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Mindmaker

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #84 on: April 15, 2011, 12:04:28 pm »

Only the Thirty Years' War comes to mind.
1/4th of ther German population was wiped out.
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Urist is dead tome

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #85 on: April 15, 2011, 12:06:19 pm »

I just wanted to pop in to remind the dear americans that you can't compare USA and Europa like you keep doing. First of all, Europa is no where near united and talking about Europa as a single entity is completely idiotic, even in modern times, since there are still European nations who do not seek membership with EU.

Strife said "Would you like to know the benefits of America taking her place as a global superpower? Spending a metric crapton on directly rebuilding Europe? Like not "we'll loan you money" or "we'll have American business build shit" but "take our fucking money and unfuck yourselves, please.""

And I say, holy crap. Unfuck ourselves? You're just blaming a whole fucking continent for a few nations war lust. Care to tell me how places like Scandinavia and the Netherlands "Fucked themselves"?

By not spending half their income on military? By not being safe across the atlantic? Would America have punched Germany like Superman punches a bankrobber had it been America sharing borders with Germany?

I am not anti-american, but I am damn fucking sick about nationalist americans and their fucking cavalry attitude. Europa is happy for your support, but it's not like we've not been through worse.

Hitler would've lost sooner or later, with or without America and while you helped speed it up, thank you, you did not save the day with your magical superstate powers. Americas ascending to a superpower happened through the destruction that waged across Europe due to various complicated shit. Coming in last minute does not varrant a heroes welcome, it varrants a thank you.

And from there on, it only got worse. I'll admit I'm ashamed that a dane helped you create that fucking horrible bomb that every state big state is humping or trying to get a hold of to hump today.

Edit: Holy shit it felt good to get that out.

He wasn't saying Europeans caused wars or had any sort of war lust, simply that, pardon my French, they were pretty fucked. Scandinavia included.

History lesson: America was not a super power until we got hold of the nuclear bomb. We risked our asses for World War II, you can't deny it. And that means you can't say to nationalistic Americans.

And Lad, while that bomb is a horrible weapon, it the war from going longer. Don't forget that.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2011, 12:12:50 pm by Urist is dead tome »
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Vector

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #86 on: April 15, 2011, 12:11:50 pm »

Only the Thirty Years' War comes to mind.
1/4th of ther German population was wiped out.

Lordy, that looks horrible.  Thanks for the link--I'd totally forgotten about that one.
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Mindmaker

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #87 on: April 15, 2011, 12:13:41 pm »

You're welcome.

Posting to watch, by the way.
I didn't care much for the original topic, but this seems to have taken an interesting turn, altough I still have to find out what derailed it...
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Digital Hellhound

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #88 on: April 15, 2011, 12:15:02 pm »

US help to Britain (and, to a lesser extent, Russia) was a pretty huge help to their war efforts even before the USA joined the war. They also did most of the work against Japan, as far as I recall.

I feel the need to clarify that I am not from the US, but a Finn.
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Vector

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Re: Pakistan to CIA: Hit the road, Jack
« Reply #89 on: April 15, 2011, 12:18:30 pm »

They also did most of the work against Japan, as far as I recall.

Most of the push-back, but China did a lot of stalling and holding on that kept Japan from getting entrenched there, which was good because (IIRC) the island-hopping was a hell of a lot easier to deal with than a big war on the Asian continent would have been.

Land war in Asia, and all that.
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