Monday, 22 June 2009

In Passing

Politically-correct generalship

“Age of Obama-nus” Dept
1:
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said Monday...

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of international forces in Afghanistan this month, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the “number of Afghans shielded from violence,” and not the number of militants killed. - AP story via Breitbart
“Number of Afghans shielded from violence” sounds about as bogus (and as measurable) as the president’s “number of jobs saved or created.”  And if it’s not about killing “militants,” then wotthehel are our soldiers doing there?

UPDATE 090624 14:45 (via IP):  At Captain’s Journal, Herschel Smith has a summary of reaction, and makes this point:
...one of the most important Marine Corps operations thus far in the campaign wouldn’t have been conducted under the new ROE because there was no certainty regarding noncombatants.

2:
The written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees’ routine training, includes a multiple-choice question that asks:
“Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?”
  • Attacking the Pentagon
  • IEDs
  • Hate crimes against racial groups
  • Protests
The correct answer, according to the exam, is “Protests.”

“It’s part of a pattern of equating dissent and protest with terrorism,” said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained a copy of the question after a Defense Department employee who was taking the test printed the screen on his or her computer terminal. - Fox News
Ya see, despotic, totalitarian governments do view protests as dangerous, so whaddaya expect?

3:
The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced in Annapolis recently that “diversity is the number one priority” at the Naval Academy.
The Naval Academy superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, echoed him. - Bruce Fleming, The Capital
To which “Uncle Jimbo” declares, “Good gravy sir, I would have hoped that turning out the best Naval officers possible would have been the number one priority.”  Well, that was then...


Via: Ace (1, 2, 3)

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