Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
(Who guards the
guardians?)
Not a ton happening in last week's story about the California National Guard — Senator Joe Dunn's investigation, of possible domestic spying by the CNG, is ongoing — but the Guard is still making news, this week for some of the worst anti-Muslim bigotry I've seen attributed to a governmental organization at the state level.
Not a ton happening in last week's story about the California National Guard — Senator Joe Dunn's investigation, of possible domestic spying by the CNG, is ongoing — but the Guard is still making news, this week for some of the worst anti-Muslim bigotry I've seen attributed to a governmental organization at the state level.
National Guard under fire for anti-Islam
display
(To answer the cretinous rhetorical question: At Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, apparently.)
We're going to hear spin about how the flyers were up over one soldier's desk, but we'll know better than to take that at face value. If the flyer was visible enough that a visitor was able to snap a picture during a tour of the facility, the soldier's superiors must have seen it over the time that it was posted, and tacitly approved of it to the extent that they didn't insist it be taken down immediately.
This sort of story gives some credence to the argument of some critics of Dunn's investigation — namely, that the Guard is so seriously fucked up, in so many ways, that to focus on the possibility of domestic spying is to miss the forest for a single tree. I don't fully agree with that assessment, since even the possibility that our state Guard is monitoring our political activities deserves serious attention, but it does seem clear that the question "What's the matter with the California National Guard?" has more than one answer, depending on one's perspective.
Apropos of today's news but on a slightly different subject, here's an image from Iraq. The original was on a .mil.gov web page, but it's since been taken down; I had it via Shakespeare's Sister. I Photoshopped to add the zoomed inset, but otherwise left the image untouched.
To the best of my knowledge, these are US Army regulars, not Guard soldiers, but I don't think it's unfair to argue (from today's news, and this image, and Guantánamo, and Abu Ghraib ...) that we have a systemic problem.
Hearts and minds, people. Hearts and minds.
More elsewhere:
Guard unit spying? (Contra Costa Times)
National Guard criticized for anti-Islam poster (AP)
(San Jose Mercury News) Already under scrutiny for setting up a controversial new intelligence unit and keeping tabs on a Mother's Day anti-war protest, the California National Guard is taking new heat for an anti-Islamic flyer that was hanging in its Sacramento headquarters.Islamic groups and anti-war activists criticized the Guard on Monday after learning that one Guard soldier had a historically suspect flyer touting World War I General John J. Pershing as a hero for executing Muslim terrorists with bullets dipped in pig's blood to deny them entry to heaven.
"Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq?" states the flyer that was posted outside a cubicle in the Guard's Civil Support Division. "The question is, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing?"
(To answer the cretinous rhetorical question: At Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, apparently.)
We're going to hear spin about how the flyers were up over one soldier's desk, but we'll know better than to take that at face value. If the flyer was visible enough that a visitor was able to snap a picture during a tour of the facility, the soldier's superiors must have seen it over the time that it was posted, and tacitly approved of it to the extent that they didn't insist it be taken down immediately.
This sort of story gives some credence to the argument of some critics of Dunn's investigation — namely, that the Guard is so seriously fucked up, in so many ways, that to focus on the possibility of domestic spying is to miss the forest for a single tree. I don't fully agree with that assessment, since even the possibility that our state Guard is monitoring our political activities deserves serious attention, but it does seem clear that the question "What's the matter with the California National Guard?" has more than one answer, depending on one's perspective.
Apropos of today's news but on a slightly different subject, here's an image from Iraq. The original was on a .mil.gov web page, but it's since been taken down; I had it via Shakespeare's Sister. I Photoshopped to add the zoomed inset, but otherwise left the image untouched.
To the best of my knowledge, these are US Army regulars, not Guard soldiers, but I don't think it's unfair to argue (from today's news, and this image, and Guantánamo, and Abu Ghraib ...) that we have a systemic problem.
Hearts and minds, people. Hearts and minds.
More elsewhere:
Guard unit spying? (Contra Costa Times)
National Guard criticized for anti-Islam poster (AP)
Posted: Wed - July 13, 2005 at 08:05 AM | Category: | | | |
Quick Links
Search
Related topics
Categories
Archives
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
XML/RSS Feed
Blogroll
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM
