Joint Chiefs of Staff attend President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress (Fox News/Twitter/@WhileInTheWild).
Former NSA analyst and columnist John Schindler reacted in horror on Tuesday after seeing Trump “exploit” Carryn Owens, the wife of slain Chief Petty Officer William (Ryan) Owens.
Mr. Schindler had a great deal to say about it on Twitter.
.@mdfsmith1 @Christi64297529 she was trapped. Literally. Terrible abuse of a grieving widow. She didn't want to stand up. We know why.
— John Schindler (@20committee) March 1, 2017
So "the generals" got S/Chief Owens killed, but let's spotlight his widow on live TV.
Has Stockholm Syndrome overtaken the whole country?
— John Schindler (@20committee) March 1, 2017
Has Stockholm Syndrome overtaken the whole country? That’s an excellent question. I’m starting to think so, because every day I fail to understand why people refuse to wake the fuck up.
You can see all the tweets here.
We also need to remember that CPO Owens was a terrorist who was dropped out of a night sky to sow fear and death among people who were absolutely no threat to him or his country. He was there to enforce the nebulous ill-thought-out geopolitical “goals” of a state that operates outside the rule of law to engage in aggressive warfare wherever it wants to. It’s not just that the asshole generals who sent him in there are responsible: he “was just following orders” and whoever killed him doubtless felt they were acting in self-defense.
I feel sad for his widow. If he had stayed home and not gone abroad to kill people, he’d be downstairs in the kitchen drinking coffee right now. And his victims would be alive, too.
PS -- look at all the ribbons on those serial killers! Such military glory!
Marcus,
I love your posts.
Yeah I have pretty mixed feelings about veteran worship. I mean, I’m pro veterans-as-people who are often used and then badly discarded by their governments, but also seriously question how much koolaid one has had to quaff to support the imperialistic agendas of the so-called first world. I’d like to think the veterans who tried to support water protectors at Standing Rock “get it” now.
Saad, I have always felt that you are a keen and honest observer of things. So I am honored, pleased, and gobsmacked that you would say such a thing.
Shiv@#4:
Yeah I have pretty mixed feelings about veteran worship. I mean, I’m pro veterans-as-people who are often used and then badly discarded by their governments, but also seriously question how much koolaid one has had to quaff to support the imperialistic agendas of the so-called first world.
I am with you on that. I have occasionally started to make comments about my time in the military -- only to be interrupted by someone saying “..thank you for your service.” and then I have to explain that it’s an embarrassment to me, and that I was a stupid kid who thought pew pew pew was cool, who wanted to be a sniper, and who finally woke up and quit. Then, they are less grateful for my service.
My experience is that those who wear the uniform break down into the kool-ade drinkers and the people who are just there for the opportunity to (maybe) struggle out of the underclass, get an education, some paychecks, and some stability. I’d guess that breakdown was about 50/50 when I was in, but a lot of the latter have been weeded out by the colonial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: the paycheck-collectors have realized that it’s a whole lot better to work a job where people aren’t trying to kill you to get you to go home, and where you’re not potentially going to have to end someone’s life in order to protect some rich asshole back home’s profit-margin.
As you can imagine, I don’t talk to serving military much (the kool-ade drinkers tend to dislike me) but I’d say it’s about 70/30 kool-ade drinkers, now. Unfortunately, the state feels it is necessary to ideologize the young soldier with loads of propaganda (otherwise, they wouldn’t do it!) and lace them with amphetamines. There are a lot of soldiers who are, simply enough, there to kill someone. That they feel justified in doing so, simply makes it more likely.
I’d like to think the veterans who tried to support water protectors at Standing Rock “get it” now.
I know a lot of veterans get it, now. Many come home, traumatized, and ask “what was I doing?!” and there really isn’t any answer other than “wrong.”
Marcus,
Reading #6, I am so strongly reminded of poor Ree Dolly in the film Winter’s Bone -- desperately trying to get into the army, just for the sake of mere survival. (Yeah, I get it, it’s fiction -- but there seemed to be a lot of real-life Ree Dollys in W’s Iraq war. )
quotetheunquote@#7:that looks like that was shot in my back yard, never mind my neighborhood.