Lew, Jakin, Obama and ABBA
Who can forget Kipling’s story about an unnamed British regiment, who first time out in Afghanistan, fled before a charge of the Ghazis.
Horrified, amused, and indignant, the Gurkhas beheld the retirement of the Fore and Aft with a running chorus of oaths and commentaries.
‘They run! The white men run! Colonel Sahib, may we also do a little running?’ murmured Runbir Thappa, the Senior Jemadar.
Everyone that is, but for the regimental drummer boys, Lew and Jakin, who were left behind as they were unable to keep up with the retreat.
Jakin and Lew would have fled also, but their short legs left them fifty yards in the rear … ‘Oh, the devils! They’ve gone an’ left us alone here! Wot’ll we do?’ …
‘We’re all that’s left of the Band, an’ we’ll be cut up as sure as death,’ said Jakin.
‘I’ll die game, then,’ said Lew thickly, fumbling with his tiny drummer’s sword. …
He slipped the drum-sling over his shoulder, thrust the fife into Lew’s hand, and the two boys marched out of the cover of the rock into the open, making a hideous hash of the first bars of the ‘British Grenadiers.’ …
The tune settled into full swing and the boys kept shoulder to shoulder, Jakin banging the drum as one possessed … The Fore and Aft were pouring out of the valley. What officers had said to men in that time of shame and humiliation will never be known; for neither officers nor men speak of it now.
Everyone who’re read Kipling knows what happened to Lew and Jakin.
The death of Times of London correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochilik by Syrian artillery in Homs may have similar results. It has prompted the British to summon the Syrian ambassador to protest amid reports that Damascus ordered the press center to be targeted as an object lesson to meddling foreigners.
Meanwhile, in other news, “the Obama administration, which has firmly rejected calls to arm the Syrian opposition, appeared at least to allow for the possibility Tuesday by emphasizing that “additional measures” might have to be considered if President Bashar al-Assad continues to escalate his military assault on civilians.” That means the administration is apparently considering arming the Syrian opposition.
The model for intervention in Syria appears to be Libya, though administration sources say that Libya was different. Apparently, Libya was potentially better. The situation in Syria is far more complicated. The Washington Post continues:
shelling of Syrian opposition strongholds, including the city of Homs, by government forces has all but assured that the subject of arming the opposition will be on the table at the “Friends of Syria” gathering, where Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will head the U.S. delegation …
The Tunis meeting is patterned after a “Friends of Libya” conference that preceded international military intervention in that country. But administration officials said the Libyan situation had been far different, with a united political and military force opposed to leader Moammar Gaddafi.
The administration has been disappointed at the inability of the largely Sunni Syrian opposition to unify and to persuade minority Shiites, Christians and other groups to join against Assad. The leadership and organization of opposition military forces, primarily defectors who have formed the Free Syria Army, remain relatively opaque.
That means that if the rebels are armed it will be a dispatch of support to “whom it may concern”. Although the President has named his policy “leading from behind”, certain aspects of diplomacy ought to take their name from ABBA’s hit tune, “Take a Chance on Me”.
The problem with leading from behind is that it leaves the direction of events to individuals whose eventual goals are unknown. The death of Colvin and the French photographer are unlikely to be the last. More events like these, like the fatal charge of Lew and Jakin, are likely to draw in Western politicians out of sheer shame.
But shame is not thought; still less is it leadership. As Syria becomes more an more unstable, the vortex will draw in forces backed by outside powers from all around the region, like the Spanish Civil War did nearly 80 years ago. That is perhaps now unavoidable, but the worst policy to implement in such a dangerous confluence is to Lead From Behind.
Sooner or later the Man From Chicago is going to have his move. Maybe the spin doctors are working on it already. Fortunately, there’s a ready-made sound track for it. Here’s the Lego version.
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Time for the World’s SWAT Team! We cannot have vigilante justice, so bring in the universally respected liberator of free peoples worldwide, G I Joe!
A few ground attack planes ought to git ‘er done, then on to those accessories to the murders of innocent children hiding in Iran!!! We could have this wrapped up before Putin loses the election next month!
Hillary would “deserve” the Nobel Peace Prize! Take that Barry and Der Slickster!
Hey, if Barry takes orders from Michelle, why wouldn’t he take them from Hillary while she’s away skiing?
It does.
In tribute to Marie Colvin, I’ve been scouring for good examples of her writing over 27 years. Meanwhile, Wikipedia is debating what this valorous woman’s birthday should be.
I’ll start reviewing Remi’s work after I’m done with Marie…
The principle is that if you can’t avoid a fight then get ready to win it. Even if you don’t want a scrap, given that’s going to happen, then you ought to make sure that you finish up stomping on the other guy.
In political terms that means ensuring that the successor state is friendly — not just to the West, but insofar as possible to the local people, or at least friendlier than the ancien regime.
The worst possible outcome it would seem to me, is to get pulled kicking and screaming into a scrap only to get the living daylights beat out of you screaming all the while, “I didn’t want to!”; or worse, to lend one of the participants a gun only to have them turn it on you.
That’s almost as bad as the story of Amy Winehouse’s boyfriend doing a stretch for robbing a store with a toy gun, after he couldn’t earn enough money by peddling nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend.
Yet this appears to be the outcome of preference. To get the crap beaten out of America. Maybe the worst thing to come out of Vietnam was the idea that there were no consequences to stupidity in foreign affairs.
Well this is the era of expensive gasoline and a Europe that looks about as healthy as a 90 year old man on a diet of cardboard. Maybe the old Vietnam era attitude won’t work any more.
But it still lives apparently, in the idea that everything can be fixed by getting the media to misreport it. That nothing is beyond spin. That the teleprompter is the source of magic.
The political class hasn’t gotten the memo yet. The Design Margin is gone. The teleprompter is busted and ABBA has retired. But seriously, what’s happening is that there is finally no more room to kick the can down the road. The problems of the Middle East have to be faced for real, not just used as campaign talking points.
The crisis is now displaying its many aspects. The demographic collapse of Europe, the dependency on oil, the underinvestment in defense, the reliance on corrupt foreign dictators, the ballooning deficit: these are all cells of the same expanding mongo bubble that have reached the bursting point at more or less the same time.
The really frightening thing is that a political elite which has come to power on the basis of their power to obfuscate, mislead and spin is finally facing a problem that can’t be spun, though they’re still trying. President Obama and the whole political class are now in over their heads.
It’s time to send in ACTORS.
That’ll fix ‘em.
I’m recommending Sean Penn, Suze Sarandon, Danny Glover and Vanessa Redgrave.
Team Hollywood ™ — the opfor doesn’t stand a chance.
Wretchard wrote: “More events like these, like the fatal charge of Lew and Jakin, are likely to draw in Western politicians out of sheer shame” – I wish, but for metro-sexual products of the 1960s Ivy League ethos, there is no sense of shame. It is retrograde and patriarchal and should be treated with Ritalin.
It’s interesting that, of the major Presidential candidates, only Rick Perry had military service and was proud of it. Ron Paul grumbled that he went when he was drafted and it does not seem to have occurred to the rest that military service is something a man does (I’ve read that Gingrich had an authentic medical exemption).
This reminds me of an interview with some Mujahidin in Afghanistan before the 1992 election. They were all for G.H.W. Bush because they thought he was a man of honor. The U.S. reporter didn’t understand. To her, Bush and Clinton were both middle of the road technocrats. But, even in the hills of Afghanistan the Muj had heard of H.W. as a naval aviator and Navy Cross awardee in WWII and it counted with them.
“Sooner or later the Man From Chicago is going to have his move.”
Well he can ignore it as long as the Republicans don’t force the issue before years end. I mean the administration must have stationary that is printed on top with “It is the Republicans fault because …”
wretchard – It seems you are an advocate of highly armed deterrence.
Planes to the north (Incirlik), the west (Aviano), the east (2 CVNs), the south (Diego Garcia). We’ve got ‘em surrounded!!!
Please remember I did offer them an alternative where they would accept a peacemaking force mentored by Queen Consort Noor of Jordan! So are they going to mind what Mama tells them or are we going to have to wait until Daddy gets home?
I would be surprised if “additional measures” amounts to more than a strong letter to follow.
As to that word follow… seems it might more accurately describe whatever constitutes “leading” from behind.
But Jay Carney will no doubt set us all straight on that issue.
This brings back memories of a conversation I had with an Arabic businessman about 18 months ago. He was trying to find the best way of selling his assets in Egypt, so that he could invest the proceeds in Syria — a much better place to do business, he thought.
Point is that very smart individuals who are culturally & linguistically inside the fence are having difficulties understanding what is going on in that part of the world. Those of us outside the fence ought to recognize that our chances of making correct judgments are pretty low.
Fortunately, there is little that a bankrupt disarmed EU can do in that part of the world. And a US with a Political Clique aping the EU can do little more. At least Assad keeps $5 gasoline, 20% real unemployment, and rampant money-printing off the front pages. Maybe that is the true interest for Western “elites”?
wretchard – It seems you are an advocate of highly armed deterrence.
Actually, I don’t know what to do. All courses now run ill, with some only slightly less evil than others. The time to fix this nice was long ago. Maybe 5 years ago it could have been finessed. But the patient is in a situation where the ambulance has paused at a liquor store for some Wild Irish Rose. And whatever chance he had of surviving now depends on whether you lop off his arm or his leg. The Golden Hour is down to overtime, or maybe the buzzer has already sounded. Now where was that second bottle again?
Maybe from here on the moves are going to be forced, as they sometimes are in chess. Nothing else to do but lose the bishop, trash the rook, pull the king behind the dwindling screen of pawns.
By definition that’s what a crisis is: when you reach into your back pocket when the bill arrives and come up with only your comb. It’s time to start thinking about whether the waiter will take your watch or cell phone as security so you can hit up your friend for a few bucks and square the beef. You hope he’s home. Give him a call. Oh darned, where was that cell phone?
No boots on the ground. The occasional SAR but no armored columns sweeping across the ancient battlefields of Syria. Go after command and control. Start with Iran.
Show Assad how the US Air Force plays “Wack-a-MUllah”.
A vigorous bombing campaign would be good for the economy, good for Obama’s re-election chances, good for just about everybody except the Mullahs. When we catch them they go straight to paradise, so it could be said to be good for the Mullahs also.
#7 – “Planes to the north (Incirlik), the west (Aviano), the east (2 CVNs), the south (Diego Garcia). We’ve got ‘em surrounded!!!” … that might sound ok if our enemy was conventionally armed Imperial Japan (although it didn’t work out too well in late 1941) … it might be a challenge with respect to an asymmetric threat.
Keep sending in Hillary and her lover until they die of shame?
Shame: a negative emotion that combines feelings of dishonor, unworthiness, and embarrassment. I believe that most people don’t feel any shame from a sense of unworthiness. The 60’s generation on up has been taught that all opinions are important, everyone is a winner, and they’re all unique with their own positive qualities. Everyone gets a trophy even if they can’t hit the ball off the T.
Embarrassment? Dude, seriously? Primetime television is filled with video evidence of individuals doing, wearing and saying things that defy any sense of dignity, self respect or modesty. Recently a woman on the Fear Factor TV show was actually upset that the network refused to air the episode of her drinking donkey semen. She actually did TV interviews discussing her unhappiness with their decision. Dude, seriously?
Dishonor. This is a tricky one because dishonor is something that can bring shame onto yourself or other people associated with you. The problem with this one is if you believe that everyone is worthy regardless of their opinions or actions and cannot be embarrassed because, who are You to judge their actions or words against some 2000 year old document or some other measure of right and wrong, then dishonor is really not possible. I am always amazed at man’s ability to rationalize their own bad behavior. Trust me; I’ve done it many times.
As Bing West put it “The Strongest Tribe’.
Who’s stronger than G I Joe?
Want a second opinion? The Sheriff of Ramadi.
A third, Osama bin Laden (“The Strong Horse”) http://tinyurl.com/74nepf4
“The 60’s generation on up has been taught that all opinions are important, everyone is a winner, and they’re all unique with their own positive qualities.”
Nah. This is a common misperception on the part of youngsters, at least with regard to the 60s and 70s. The kids who came of age in the 60s and 70s were born in the late 40s and 50s and raised by parents born, mostly, in the 1920s or thereabouts: which is to say, they were brought up in the old-school way. I was born in 1950 and I can assure you that the phenomenon that you describe, of everybody of have worthy opinions and everyone being a winner, was almost nowhere in evidence. It was not taught, certainly.
For cripes sake, in gym class we player killer dodge ball, no holds barred, no mercy, and losers aplenty (with welts where sidearm-whipped balls hit them). We fought on schoolyard playgrounds. We flunked out or were held back a grade if we our classwork didn’t measure up. Etc., etc.
The whole concept of generational cohorts acting in some related way–as if they were Roman army cohorts marching lockstep into battle–is really fallacious. In effect it is like the class warfare being waged by the Left and the Democrats. When I hear kids born after, say, 1980 excoriating Baby Boomers I am reminded that we spoke exactly the same way about our parents. And, as my dad (born in 1922, God rest his soul) once told me, his age group thought their parents were stodgy Victorians.
That said: Get off of my d**n lawn, punk.
“it might be a challenge with respect to an asymmetric threat.”
NO, asymmetrical warfare is nothing more then a challenge to conventional minds. Asymmetrical warfare still has center od gravity, command and control links and logistics trails.
They are just harder to recognise. Conventional logistics might be a a couple of trucks full of AK-47′s. Asymmetrical logistics might br a wire transfer from Bank A to bank B. Bank B then disburses the funds to a terr, who buys the AK-47′s locally. It is still logistics.
Roughcoat you and I came up in the same school; people failed who didn’t get with the program but there was a whole group our age from other circumstances who believed in the whole flower power/revolution thing. A huge number of them were Red Diaper babies or from privelaged backgrounds; Bill Ayers types who bought into Marxists logic. They are the zombies who took over the school system while I did field research and got a Ph.D. in Forestry. We are fighting a cowboys vs. hippies battle and at this point I am not sure who wins.
cowboys vs. hippies
Now this should be the title of a blockbuster movie. However, the sequel will probably be hippies vs zombies or cowboys vs werewolves.
Roughcoat @ 16: what he said.
Docbill @ 18: yes there were hippies and red diapers in the 1960s, but neither of THEM believed everyone had equal ideas! heck the 1950s had beatniks, yada yada back through history, different issues.
what was the question here? it wasn’t an unnamed regiment, it was the Fore and Aft regiment. do a couple of reporters getting killed shame us into massive action? hardly. we put up with stuff a thousand times worse, rioting about burning Korans, etc. we shame the world with our excessive virtue and tolerance. it earns us points to see reporters killed while we do nothing, this *is* the Obamanation and that’s how it’s done nowadays.
The “Fore and Aft” was an alias for what may have been a real regiment, but is fictional in Kipling’s story.
The supreme court happens to be debating the Stolen Valor Act presently. Perhaps it should apply to journalists too (real or imaginary).
The Ninth Circuit Court struck down the conviction of “Xavier Alvarez. He is a Democrat Party politician who was elected to the Three Valley Water District Board in San Bernardino County, CA. There he claimed to be a ‘retired marine’ who had been ‘wounded’ in combat and had been awarded the ‘Medal of Honor.’”
Here is a picture of Alvarez wearing his supposed decorations. He claimed the Medal of Honor was awarded for rescuing the American ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis.
It’s a sad commentary on the state of education that Mr. Alvarez actually thought that story would fly. Perhaps he judged that among those who would vote for him something like that might actually work. Anyway someone eventually blew the whistle and he was convicted under the Stolen Valor Act.
In striking down the conviction, the court cited New York Times vs Sullivan, in which the US Supreme Court held that the NYT could not be held liable for printing falsehoods provided it intended no malice. The decision has been hailed as a cornerstone of Free Speech.
Mr. Alvarez is a minor politician and I suppose that if every person in his profession were jailed for lying things might quickly get out of hand, insofar as jail space was concerned.
New York City still being evacuated after “dirty bomb” explosion. Death toll in Houston continues to rise. President Obama claims it is all Bush’s fault.
Give Syria back to France. Serves ‘em both right.
The Obama administration protesting that they are being forced reluctantly to arm the Muslim Brotherhood linked rebels in Syria sounds like Mark Antony protesting that he is being forced to read Caesar’s will, which he never actually does.
I am a little reluctant to interfere when my enemies are killing each other, and that is what we have got in Syria. I just don’t see any friends over there and if there were any the Israelis would figure a way to arm them. Of course just enough fire power to keep it going might not be a bad idea. Suck the Iranian Al Quds into the fray, keep everyone bleeding and then when it looks like both sides are all but dead or one within inches of winning finish them both off.
Right now having squandered billions and bled twice for Iraq we have turned it back over to our enemies and doubled down on an Afghan war we could never win and shouldn’t have wanted to. Give away the center of the board and fight like hell for the edge is not a smart strategy. We have been rope a doped.
Obama needs a distraction.
Assad needs a distraction.
Turkey needs a distraction.
Iran needs a distraction.
Russia needs a distraction.
China needs a distraction.
To get the damn focus OFF Assad. (And off themselves.)
Killing an American woman war reporter—with an eyepatch no less—along with a photographer with French nationality was not a terribly bright move for Assad. No not a good move at all.
(Or maybe we should chalk it up to mere bad luck.)
Certainly, he’s been killing, torturing, mutilating and imprisoning Syrians by the s***load with impunity. But targeting foreign reporters isn’t very bright. Especially a woman reporter with an eyepatch.
An American woman reporter with an eyepatch.
So what’ll Obama do? What’ll Hillary do? Golly.
They need a distraction. Fast. If they can only hold out for two weeks—until Bibi shows up in DC—so that they can blame the whole fricking fiasco of US foreign policy on him and on the Likud and on the Zionists and on the Israel Lobby.
If they can hold out until then. (Maybe they’ll push up the meeting?)
The last time they met, Obama cut Bibi’s legs off at the knees. Now he can cut off the rest of the stumps—all the way up to Bibi’s pelvis.
Yeah, maybe Obama can move that meeting up.
And maybe the Palestinians can help out a bit by launching a mini-intifada or something along those lines (they’ve already begun, somewhat)—something the MSM can refer to as a “Ghandi-like show of non-violence” (which in real-speak means rocks, knives, slingshots and rockets).
In fact, the Iranians and Hezbullah have arranged their own distractions recently—targeting Israeli diplomats in various capitals (soon to be a new Olympic sport). Distractions for what?, you ask?
Distractions. Can’t have ‘em soon enough.
File under: Responsibility to Distract
Mention or list all or any of the massacre events taking place in Syria and you’ll end up with this similar scenario- hundreds of civilians murdered by government forces. This has been going on …since…what…last spring? summer? All the way back to when Hillary in State Dept was heralding Assad as “a reformer”, and the pending age of Syrian “Reform”.
Hmmm, in the time since, up til now, I ask myself, what was the big beef against, first, Mubarek? And was what was going on there in Egypt at that time really comparable to what’s going on now in Syria? And then two, the so called beef against ghadaffi in Libya?
Oh, I remember the “coverage” in Egypt, People were gathering in Freedom Square, or some such, a pro-democracy movement peacefully protesting and dissenting against Mubarek regime, and……and…..as i recall, Mubarek regime was letting them do it. That’s right, he dared not make any trouble what with “the whole world is watching”, and all that. But of course after 60 billion days, the press reported, if you believe them, that one of the innocent protesters got roughed up by government forces, and he got a big bruise on his arm, seee? Look here!
Ok, this was all before events in Syria that we are all familiar with in the time since, but, no matter! Mubarek regime- out! and….uh….just who?- in!? Muslim Brotherehood™, last I heard.
Ghadaffi abandoned his nuke program, but he must’ve been mean to his own people, or else why regime change his sorry asp? It’s not like it was blood for oil or anything.
My point here is that, given the disreputable and hackneyed contrived “reporting” of the “Arab Spring” revolts in Egypt and Libya, I’m not so inclined to believe the media narrative this time neither. Oh, sure, I’ll bet there is murder of innocent civilians and government protesters at the hands of Syrian Assad army, but things are different this time. Egypt and Libya are in the control of ….again, who? Muslim Brotherehood in Egypt, and who knows who in what remains of a united tribal factional Libya.
Assad and family are Shia, a rarity in there in Syria, most being Sunni, christian. I’ve heard that Hindu and Bhuddists vacation there because it’s such a tolerant place to practice religions. So the situation favors Muslim Brotherhood fifth column action in the outcome, because Sunni Muslim Britherhood does not care a wit for Iranian Shia designs on it’s client state of Syria, and the region, nor Hezzbolah, similarly client state leenkt to Syria and Iran. Muslim Brotherhood got Egypt for a song, sung by the media since 0bama’s instructions to them in his great Cairo speech, so why not Syria as well, to enlarge the caliphate in Sunni hands rather than rival Shia hands? Oh, sure, there will be plenty of bloodshed instigated by Muslim Brotherhood there, but it is all the will off 0llah of course, and besides, the Syrian army government forces will get the blame for any extracurricular fifth column action by muslim brotherehood. It’s a two fer , if the media is in charge of the narrative. Israel, considers Assad the enemy they know, not the entity they would suspect, muslim brotherehood, in future. I don’t think Israel thought Mubarek as a enemy, but a goood faith partner, since Mubarek abided by the Israel/Egypt peace treaty all these years since camp David in 1978. Libya was in a chastened state, and similarly punished for it’s lack of bad deeds, and now the whole place is a mess. But don’t think there is not a plan underway, it’s just the plan about what kind of united caliphate is in the offing for the future of the entire region- Sunni (muslim brotherehood) or Shia (Iranian theocracy). Iran doesn’t need nukes to take on it’s sunni rivals, muslim brotherehood, it’s just needs the kind of favorable press muslim brotherehood is getting. Notice the Administration is saying no to intervention in Syria. They think they can play both sides of this at the same time, and that by doing so, it will be more “fair”.
Fair.
In the meantime, Assad has neither an enemy nor a friend in D.C.
Fair?
“Did you say… …Oh, nevermind”.
“Sooner or later the Man From Chicago is going to have his move.”
1. I think that move is called “open his presidential library.”
2. Did you leave out a letter. Isn’t that supposed to be “movie?”
boff, “Africacom” has a plan !
#17. stoicheion wrote: “NO, asymmetrical warfare is nothing more then a challenge to conventional minds”.
I could not agree more. Unfortunately, our political, media, academic and senior national security executive types tend toward conventional minds. Even combat arms and intel officers in the Army and USMC don’t seem to really grasp the nuances of asymmetric warfare and aren’t excited by it (those who served as junior officers in Iraq and Afghanistan are more engaged).
Asymmetric warfare and COIN get a lot of lip service and journal articles, but in my experience conventional operations tend to get the spotlight and support with asymmetric aspects possibly being a “check the box” in the operations plan. For example, as a thought experiment, care to guess for Iraq circa 2008 the percentage of Brigade/Regimental Combat Teams that had lists and minimal intel on the top ten hawalas in their areas of operation (either from their own collection or from other reliable products)?
In my view, Iran just beat us in an asymmetric war for influence in Iraq. Do you disagree?
I think your comment is a bit ironic given that in your initial post you gave gave a cheer for the presence of two aircraft carriers close to Iran. They are the quintessential mid to late 20th century weapons system (although I admit it made me feel good to look up and see F18s overhead).
Left with no way out and no way to blame anyone else the Obama and the Islamist are working resolutely on the chance to become the focus of a nuke and pave event in syria. I have no solutions to the problem, but then again I ain’t got a dog in this fight.
Oh, but our dear Ms Amanpour was all beside herself over Syria the other day, especially after some journos got killed. It was terrible, why didn’t somebody do something, blah, blah, blah…
I’m getting on a bit, so my memory may be fuzzy, but I don’t remember hearing any of those sentiments from her with regards to Iraq when Saddam was feeding his citizens into industrial shredders. In fact, it often sounded like she was more on his side than she was for the people who were trying to do something about it. Didn’t her employer CNN admit to sucking up to the regime in return for access?
These people sicken me with their selective politicized morality.
The problem is, as always, to which “opposition” group would the goodies be sent?
I am reminded of the situation in Jugoslavia during WW2:
There were Tito’s Partisans and Mihaelovich’s Chetniks opposing the German occupation.
Neither side was spectacularly effective at first.
The British Special Operations Executive sent in “their man” to sort things out on the ground. Oddly enough, he insisted that ALL the goodies be sent to Tito’s troops.
Said Partisans then spent at least as much time killing Chetniks as killing Germans.
Unsurprisingly, the British Liaison chap seemed to have an interesting connection to some other chaps from a certain university, who in turn, had VERY interesting connections with the nice chaps in Moscow.
Absolutely every chance that something similar to this is about to be visited on Syria.