This is a rather long diary, but I hope to share a bit of long-term perspective on the conflict and share some ideas on how we can engage Russia, if you can follow me all the way to the end!
Two viewpoints on the conflict in the Caucasus got me thinking again about the conflict. The first, Georgia at War: What I Saw by Bernard-Henri Levy, a French journalist, provides a Georgian perspective on the conflict. Russia Never Wanted a War by Mikhail Gorbachev is an op-ed in today's New York Times. As you can imagine, they come into some conflict. The truth, it would seem, lies somewhere in the middle.
Earlier this week, James Hoyt, one of the first four soldiers in WWII to discover the Buchenwald concentration camp which led to its liberation in 1945, died at his home. He was buried yesterday.
Hoyt had rarely spoken about that day in 1945, but he recently opened up to a journalist.
"There were thousands of bodies piled high. I saw hearts that had been taken from live people in medical experiments," Hoyt told author Stephen Bloom in a soon-to-be-published book called "The Oxford Project."
We have truly lost a great American hero, but his story can still teach us about a much-discussed issue plaguing America today: the thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD.
"America is one of three." Some might say the United States is one in a million. Surely, the superiority of this western nation is rarely questioned. The "land of milk and honey" is frequently referred to as a Superpower. Most think America might be considered truly supreme. Politically, economically, and militaristically the United States excels. This democratic nation has clout. America is able to control a situation, or a strategy.
Sixty-three years after the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Bomb is still very much with us. The U.S. retains over 5000 nuclear weapons -- does this surprise you? -- with better than 4000 said to be "operational." There are plans to reduce this number, but only by 15%. The Russians still have many of their nukes but these remnants of the "superpower" era -- and the lack of airtight security surrounding them -- get little play today. All we seem to hear about are alleged or possible Iranian or North Korean or freelance terrorist nuclear devices.
The fact is, our "first use" policy, dating back to 1945, remains in effect and past Gallup polls have shown that large numbers of Americans would endorse using the The Bomb against our enemies if need be. More and more often the U.S. seems to brandish its nukes. So at this time of year it is always important to review how the original "first-strike" was officially announced on August 6,1945 (as an attack purely on a "military base")and explained and distorted, and then became part of the decades-long narrative of how, in this view, nuclear weapons can be used -- and used again.
Three score ago, after a long history of service, superior, and yet segregated, Black soldiers were recognized as equal, or at least consideration for the possibility was put forth. In truth, then and perhaps now, manpower needs took precedence over racial prejudice in name only. The story begins on July 26, 1948, or perchance, years earlier.
The right has a way of using phrases invented in one context, and having one meaning, to serve in another context, with a totally different meaning.
The term “unconditional surrender” was used at the end of the second world war to communicate that the defeated axis powers could pose no conditions to ceasing combat, by opposition to previous wars where each side could lay down conditions for ceasing hostilities.
The news came today, via the New York Times, that Dinko Sakic, the leader of a Nazi death camp, has died:
Mr. Sakic, the last living commander of a World War II-era concentration camp, died Sunday at 86 in a hospital in Zagreb, the Croatian news agency Hina reported, citing Croatia’s prison system as its source. Mr. Sakic was serving a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity.
Given how the mainstream media has handled the death of other unrepentant racists and bigots, this is how I imagine they'll report his obituary:
Sakic was a disciplined worker who was strongly dedicated to his beliefs. During World War Two, he ran a popular camp, which helped many a participate just melt off the pounds, using a modern-day approach to ancient techniques. He was known to have a sense of humor, laughing and clapping in the face of adversity.
The list of veterans’ and education groups advocating passage of Jim Webb’s update to the GI Bill continues to grow
Earlier this week, the president/CEO of the Air Force Association emailed his members to inform them of the association’s stand on the current legislation by Virginia senator Jim Webb (Senate Resolution 22) to improve post-service benefits to US military troops. Here is the text of that statement:
On June 6, 1944, Allied troops stormed ashore at Normandy. Americans, Brits, and Canadians, with Poles, Czechs, the Free French and others flying planes, helping out on ships, and preparing to fight on the continent.
We salute our remaining veterans on this anniversary. But Democrats can do what Republicans expressly do not do: make real a new GI Bill that in a small way paid back our veterans of the Second World War II.
It's easy to fly a flag, call a vet, take a moment to remember, and it's a good thing. But June 6th is a day to call for the new GI Bill.
Right now, it appears as though Hillary Clinton still has roughly the same chance of being the Democratic nominee as the Confederacy had of winning the Civil War on the day before Lee's surrender at Appomatox Courthouse. Lee had received orders from Jefferson Davis to disperse the Army of Northern Virginia to get them past the Union lines, and then to continue to fight a guerilla war in the mountains. There's a book, April 1865: The Month That Saved America, of which that episode forms a big part.
But Lee and his top subordinate generals had been horrified at the carnage that had accompanied guerilla war in Kansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, looked at the situation, realized that it was over, and that their obligation to the people of the South, and indeed of the entire country that they had considered theirs until a few years previously, was to accept reality with dignity and grace, and not to cause any more useless carnage.
Comments made on Memorial Day by Barack Obama concerning his uncle's role as a liberator of a concentration camp in World War II have attracted considerable attention. Obama told the story of his great-uncle being among the liberators of a death camp he erroneously identified as Auschwitz (read here). Republican blogs (read here and here) immediately pounced, stating correctly that Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, and charging Obama with lying . Fox News followed suit, absurdly claiming that the fact that the uncle was in fact a great-uncle was scandalous (read here). The Obama campaign replied that, in fact, the story was true and that the concentration camp involved was a satellite camp of Buchenwald.
The story of the World War II memorial is about 21 years old. (It can drink with the veterans who inspired it. How fitting.) It begins with a veteran asking his representative for a memorial. It ends with President George W. Bush dedicating the memorial on this date in 2004.
In between are three House bills that never saw debate, more than a little controversy over the land and design selected for the memorial, and $197 million.
My purpose today is not to tell you about the memorial — you can find out more about it here.
My purpose today is not to give you a brief history of World War II. If you want to know about the war, read something a historian wrote. Go to a VFW and talk to a veteran.
My purpose today is to tell you about a veteran who died about five years before the memorial was built — about five years after his doctors expected him to die.
Today I introduce you to the boy from very humble beginnings who became a man, then a soldier, then a husband, then a father, and then my Grandfather.
Okay, this probably won't be much of a diary, but I came across something this evening that I thought was worth a comment or two.
Sometimes when I'm bored, I like to look up random shit on Wikipedia, follow the various links to other Wikipedia articles, and just see where the path leads. It's fun, and sometimes I even learn something. Tonight's topic: the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, partly inspired by Ken Burns' epic documentary, The War, which I had the pleasure of watching on PBS.
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
While Memorial Day weekend is recognized as the unofficial start of the summer season with the first family picnics and backyard barbeques, we must take time to remember the true meaning of the Memorial Day holiday. First and foremost, Memorial Day is to remember and honor those who accepted the call into military service to protect our country. I always take a few moments while visiting local cemeteries on Memorial Day weekend to notice the flags marking the graves of deceased veterans.
It is early Monday morning and across this nation people are waking up to observe Memorial Day 2008. To some it is a day first holiday of the ensuing summer season. To many others it is a just a paid holiday. But to me, a veteran of the United State Marine Corp, it is a day to remember, and give thanks for two fellow Marines whom I am proud to call Mom and Dad. So before I head off to participate in my town’s parade and Memorial Service I want to pay homage to the two of them.
Teen PTSD researcher Ilana Rice
