A Delusional VP.

VP Mike Pence is a colorless "born-again" Christian Zionist with degree in Law and a man who in real meritocracy would not be entrusted with mowing a lawn or tending beets or potatoes. But we live in the world where alternative reality is being sold wholesale and it does sell, at least on some of the occasions. The fact that Mike Pence is an idiot be damned. Yet, he sells this alt-reality non stop. His latest? Even Goebbelsonian NYT cannot take it:

In a series of tweets Friday defending President Donald Trump’s decision to authorize the drone strike that killed Iran’s top intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Vice President Mike Pence reeled off a list of some of Soleimani’s most notorious attacks and machinations. Pence described “an evil man” who had threatened American national security interests for decades. In one of his tweets, Pence claimed that Soleimani helped 10 of the men who would go on to carry out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks cross through Iran and enter Afghanistan. That does not match established historical accounts of Soleimani or public U.S. intelligence about the hijackers.

First, can we finally settle on the obvious fact that US top political echelon in the last 30 or so years simply does not operate in facts. I am not talking about knowledge of the outside world of which there is pretty little precious in there. But even mentally challenged people CAN and often do recognize simple facts. You know, boiling water is hot, if you slam your hand with a hammer it will hurt like hell, do not cross the street in a front of the oncoming traffic and Iran has nothing to do with 911 and, in fact, immediately offered help to the United States in investigation. But never mind, for Mr. Pence, whose qualifications, with the exception of sucking up and being loyal to Israel, are that of the low level bureaucrat who has zero experiences with actual warfare, intelligence and statecraft, facts do not matter and he goes to interpret reality the way he wants. Even NYT is forced to state:

How Pence arrived at this number and this account is unclear. Why Soleimani, leader of a hard-line Shiite Muslim military apparatus, would have come to the aid of members of al-Qaida, a Sunni extremist group with strong ties to Saudi Arabia, is also unclear.

The problem with this statement is in the fact that this is not the only thing which is unclear--pretty much, at this stage, it is unclear if there are any sane people left in D.C. who actually are professionals and can calculate their steps beyond the first one. The consequences of Soleimani's assassination are already felt--but that is just a warm up from some random Shiite groups. Iran is going to take her time contemplating how to hit back, and she will. I will abstain now from going too deep in that issue, Bernhard of Moon of Alabama, as well as Andrei Raevsky and Scott Ritter already made their contributions, so I am not going to ponder this issue. Also of note is an excellent epitaph of sorts from Colonel Lang. I will, however, say this: this bunch of nutjobs in D.C. have no idea what they just unleashed and I don't believe anymore for a second that Trump does this for the sake of some sophisticated multi-dimensional plan of extracting the US from the Middle East. I don't buy this for a second. There is no plan which benefits the United States. Israel? Sure, but not the US, especially since any real war with Iran will shake the United States to its foundation which will make Vietnam look like a vacation. If they do not understand this in the White House and reside in the alternative reality, which second in command in the United States just demonstrated--we may have bigger problem than already a major shift in geopolitical balance since yesterday.

A Very Sensitive Issue.

These are Russian comment which gained most upvotes to a video of the American Green Berets dying in Niger in October 2017. 

не сдались, молодцы, достойно отстреливались. терпения и выносливости Родным,а погибшим-земля пухом. а гневные отзывы-не обращайте внимания,тряпки диванные только пишут и обиженные твари.

Translation: did not give up fellows, valiantly fought back. Patience and endurance to their Relatives, and to the deceased-the earth in down (Russian for--RIP on birds down)). As for angry responses-do not pay attention, only arm-chair door mats and offended low-lifes write them.  

Another one: 

Жаль,по человечески ! Хоть и Амеры но все же солдаты ! 

Translation: so humanly sorry. Although Americans but soldiers. 

Now this from ABC this Wednesday:

Four Army special operations soldiers killed in action during an ambush in Niger last October were part of a largely inexperienced and lightly-armed team outmatched by ISIS fighters who exploited bad decisions by U.S. commanders, families of the fallen soldiers and other sources briefed on the military investigation told ABC News.“They were left on their own and it was The Alamo. They were abandoned,” the parent of one of the American commandos who died told ABC News. “The sad thing is, they didn’t realize they’d been left behind, and by the time the other guys attempted to get to them, it was probably too late, and they’d been killed.”

The reason this whole story came to my attention was this article in TAC yesterday about surviving US Afghan War veteran. And the word which dominated this piece was "futility". But here is a conundrum, and a moral one for me personally--I supported the US war in Afghanistan even before 9-11, after--that was a no-brainer, but 17 years later what do we have? Apart from idiotic meme of "war on terror" (how one "fights" terror is beyond me) the whole idea that one can and must fight Jihad was completely discredited by US actions in Iraq, Libya and Syria--places where Arab leaders (all right, for politically correct--dictators) were natural allies in this fight, not to mention another "dictator"--a Russian one. All that was squandered for neocon criminal agenda of fighting wars in the ME for the benefit of Israel and Saudi Arabia, while neglecting the fight which must have been waged. In Syria today US almost openly supports Al Qaeda and ISIS outlets. I am not talking about despicable lap-dogs of UK and France. 

But the issue, of course, is much larger than merely operational or tactical--a failure for which four real American heroes paid with their lives. The issue is cultural and social. There are many ways of dealing with them--not just some COIN "strategies" or ideological-political mantras repeated by US policy-makers most of whom never served a day in the uniform but most of whom bear responsibility for the US uselessly squandering all huge pool of the good will, say, Russians had towards the United States in the immediate wake of the 9-11 tragedy. Even here, the United States wanted to stay exceptional and refused to recognize that, no matter how dramatic despicable acts on 9-11 were, Russia by that time was fighting Islamic Jihad international in Northern Caucasus for 7 years, with some 30 000 Russian civilians simply gone as a result of genocide in Chechnya and a string of terrorist acts all over Russia, including taking the whole maternity ward hostage in the town of Budyonnovsk. US media cheered for Chechen "freedom-fighters" and condemned Russian authorities. 

Yet, very few Americans know that Russia made a gift to the United States after 9-11, a monument:

Russians know that the real fight is not futile, it just has to be fought differently--not the way United States did it for the last 17 years. For that, the United States must change dramatically, but will it? I don't know, but it is needed to make sure that the lives of  Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, 29, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, 35, an Army support enabler, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, 39 and Sgt. La David Johnson, 25 were not lost in vain. The fight is not futile when it has clear goals and real intent. This is my off the caff thought for Friday.