or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 16, 2009
New Tomdispatch
An American Foreign Legion
Is the U.S. Military Now an Imperial Police Force?
By William AstoreA leaner, meaner, higher tech force -- that was what George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld promised to transform the American military into. Instead, they came close to turning it into a foreign legion. Foreign as in being constantly deployed overseas on imperial errands; foreign as in being ever more reliant on private military contractors; foreign as in being increasingly segregated from the elites that profit most from its actions, yet serve the least in its ranks.
Now would be a good time for President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to begin to reclaim that military for its proper purpose: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now would be a good time to ask exactly why, and for whom, our troops are currently fighting and dying in the urban jungles of Iraq and the hostile hills of Afghanistan.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at February 16, 2009 09:23 AMI don't recall who originated that "Simple Answers to Simple Questions" meme — or even if it is a meme — but anyway:
Q. Is the U.S. military now an imperial police force?
A. Yes.
Posted by: Cloud at February 16, 2009 01:23 PMI think it actually was snappy answers to stupid questions, and that it was a feature in MAD magazine. To which I might add.
Q. Is the U.S. military now an imperial police force?
A. No, it's an imperial mercenary force of looters and pillagers along the lines of the Ottoman Bashi-Bazouks.
