Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Latest Reason To Stay In Iraq...

By Cernig



The Bush administration has a new reason for staying in Iraq - to prevent a Vietnam-like crash in military morale.



I kid you not. SecDef Gates, at the end of a speech mostly about buying equipment to fight the war you have, not the war you'd like to have, told a crowd of Heritage Foundation war-partiers "That is the war we are in. That is the war we must win."

But there is a more fundamental point that I will close with � and again historical perspective is important. It is impossible to separate discussions of the �broken� Army following Vietnam � a conscription army � from the ultimate result of that conflict. At a congressional hearing last year, General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, recounted the profound damage done to the Service�s �fiber and soul� by the reality of defeat in that war.
        The risk of overextending the Army is real. But I believe the risk is far greater � to that institution, as well as to our country � if we were to fail in Iraq. That is the war we are in. That is the war we must win.

So we must continue to hollow out the military on a mission that never made sense so that we don't risk hollowing out the military due to dejection at failing in a mission that never made sense...



Just...wow.



Posted by at
Labels:

6 comments:

  1. Ron BeasleyMay 14, 2008 at 3:48 PM

    I agree
    Just...wow
    Not much else you can say!

    ReplyDelete
  2. smintheusMay 14, 2008 at 4:19 PM

    And Gates often is depicted as the voice of sanity within the Bush administration.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1MaNLanMay 15, 2008 at 12:19 AM

    Gambling addicts usually attempt to recoup their diminishing fortunes by gambling even more. The dynamic is most neatly captured by 3 simple words; Winning, losing, chasing.
    The rest is rationalization and denial. Responsibility to the family dictates hocking the silverware cuz LEAVING the casino would be our ruin. Within the distorted frame, staying to recoup is the only responsible thing to do. Or so it seems.
    Gates is merely calling for the "lucky" dice that will surely change our fortunes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. blakenatorMay 15, 2008 at 5:55 AM

    Wasn't Vietnam where we had to "destroy things in order to save them?"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eric MartinMay 15, 2008 at 6:13 AM

    Yeah blakenator, and if you take a look at Sadr City, plus ca change.

    ReplyDelete
  6. CernigMay 15, 2008 at 7:24 AM

    Great analogy 1MaN. Consider it stolen :-)
    Regards, C

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)