Rob Paterson's Page

Why the U.S. Military Is in Shambles

By Andrew Cockburn, CounterPunch
Posted on December 8, 2008

Coinciding with the arrival of Obama and his deputies in Washington, the Center for Defense Information is releasing America's Defense Meltdown -- Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress, a primer on what is wrong with our defense system written by men with long and honorable experience in the bowels of the military services and Pentagon bureaucracy. The book's editor, Winslow Whee… Continue

The New York Times Flames Out in Defense Dogfight
By CHUCK SPINNEY
Counterpunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/spinney12232008.html

The 21 Dec 2008 editorial in the New York Times, "How To Pay For A 21st-Century Military" purports to advocate tough-minded pragmatism to reform a Pentagon that is clearly out of control. Yet its logic is really another example of the kind of hackneyed thinking that serves to protect the status quo. It also suggests indirectly why the mainstream media are in such trou… Continue

Here is a 2 pager in as clear a style as I can manage of the findings of the conference

Here is the link to the UPEI ePresence Portal

The Good News is that the videos up there are in good shape and have the slides embedded

The Bad News is that for reasons we don't understand some videos did not record and we don't have the complete conference.

I am heartbroken because they were exceptional. Like a wedding where the pictures did not turn out

I apologize to you all and in particular to John Robb, Rory Franci… Continue

In summary, I felt compelled to think about Frodo. The true hero is not an obvious hero. He or she is called and he or she answers the call - or not. It's Boyd's great choice to be somebody or to do great things.

As with Frodo and Sam, in the end, the most dangerous work is also done alone or with tiny resources.

My commentary ends with this perspective of courage and w… Continue