One third of Iraq's new army (which we trained to take over our duties) quit
Grok Headline matches for One third of Iraq's new army (which we trained to take over our duties) quit
A third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday. Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the 700-man battalion lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin operations this
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General: Much of Iraq's Forces Have Quit (AP)
General: Much of Iraq's Forces Have Quit (AP)04/21/2004 03:36 PM AP - About one in every 10 members of Iraq's security forces "actually
worked against" U.S. troops during the recent militia violence in
Iraq, and an additional 40 percent walked off the job because of
intimidation, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said
Wednesday.
Iraq's Jaafari Wants Foreign Troops to Quit Najaf (Reuters)
Iraq's Jaafari Wants Foreign Troops to Quit Najaf (Reuters)08/11/2004 01:28 AM Reuters - Iraq's interim deputy president has
called on U.S.-led multinational troops to leave the Shi'ite
holy city of Najaf to end almost a week of fighting there.
Hundreds Call on Sadr Militia to Quit Iraq's Najaf
Iraq's Old Army May Be Recalled (AP)07/11/2004 01:18 PM AP - Iraq's new leader wants to call some of its old army back to duty
to help restore peace in his war-torn land. Disbanding that defeated
force 13 months ago was a mistake made in Washington, says a U.S. Army
colonel who held a pivotal role in Baghdad at the time.
Nearly half of new Iraqi army has quit. Similarities to Viet Nam disappearing every day
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Managerial Duties
Managerial Duties05/26/2004 07:51 PM Back Stage,NY-3 hours ago ... do your diligence! A quick Google
search, while not foolproof, will sometimes yield tons of helpful
information. Checking a few ...
Chief constable returns to duties
Chief constable returns to duties09/13/2004 05:17 AM Police chief David Westwood, criticised in a report into the Soham
murders, returns to work after his suspension is lifted.
Siebel hands CEO duties over to former IBM exec
Siebel hands CEO duties over to former IBM exec05/03/2004 04:45 PM NEW YORK - Siebel Systems Inc. said Monday that founder Tom Siebel
will step down as the company's chief executive and be replaced by IBM
Corp. sales and distribution head Mike Lawrie. Siebel will remain the
company's chairman.
IBM hands over NAS duties to NetApp in mega storage tie-up
Peter
Brown's latest book provides a dispassionate, rational and compelling
argument for the need to change our economic, political and social
systems in order to properly steward the planet, and practical ideas
on
how to do so.
Conservationist Peter Brown
moved a few years ago from Maryland, where he still manages a forest,
to Quebec, where he also now manages a forest, to take up the role of
Director of the McGill University School of
Environment, where he continues to teach. His latest, innocuously
named book The Commonwealth of
Life was recommended by four environmentalists I respect
enormously (and have written about), David
Suzuki, Elizabeth
May, Peter
Singer and Herman
Daly. I just finished reading the book and it's astonishing.
Brown starts by laying out the false assumptions by which our
economic, political and social systems currently operate:
that well-being can be measured by economic
growth
that humans enjoy a unique moral place in the
universe
that we can safely predict the consequences of our
actions
that nation-states are morally privileged
that
markets and democracy are mutually reinforcing institutions, and
that the world is largely unperturbed and
unperturbable by human actions
The book systematically and thoroughly deconstructs these false
assumptions and provides an alternative framework for the
reorganization and management of our economic, political and social
systems, that could create a society based on respect for all life on
Earth, and at the same time, not coincidentally, maximize human
well-being.
He starts with an argument, which he eloquently provides historical
context for and then defends, that there are three rights that must be
satisfied for a healthy, functioning society: the right of bodily integrity (freedom from
injury and undue confinement), the right of moral, political and religious choice, and the right of
subsistence (to make a decent
living and hence provide for the basic needs of life).
He goes on to say that in a functioning society these rights are
honoured through three duties: individual duty to respect the rights
of
others, government duty to enforce these rights when individuals
abrogate them, and international organizations' duty to enforce these
rights when governments fail to do so. He then, again using
historical,
moral and philosophical argument, says that in our interdependent and
finite world we must, to fulfill that duty, extend these rights across
space (to all people of all nations), across time (to future
generations), and (at least insofar as the first and third rights are
concerned) to all other species that reason, communicate and feel
pain.
He further argues that such rights can only be granted and enforced if
we have respect for the entire interconnected 'commonwealth of life'
including not only all sentient species but the ecosystems in which
they live as well. These duties and responsibilities of commonwealth
are, he says, analogous to and natural extensions of our duties and
responsibilities of citizenship. They are what he calls duties beyond borders (geographic,
temporal and ecological). Not surprisingly, he calls the exercise of
such duties stewardship.
Recognizing that this is groundbreaking argument, he rigorously raises
and then dispels the objections that can be made to each of these
theses, and analyzes and contrasts alternative theses for their
ability
to provide direction towards sustainable human well-being. He's his
own
critic, diligent and rigorous in his analysis.
In Part Two he goes on to explain what changes to our economic,
political and social systems will be needed to act on these duties,
protect these rights and achieve a properly-stewarded commonwealth.
Starting with the 'stewardship economic' system needed to restore,
protect and enhance the commonwealth (and extension of Keynes'
definition of the function of classical economics to 'protect human
life and culture'), he argues that in order for the new economic
system
to entrench the three basic rights it is first necessary to constrain
the extravagant and wasteful use of some resources (notably water,
energy, forests, heavy metals and soil nutrients), which has been
allowed to continue because of the pervasive myths that we are not
significant actors in Earth's biophysical systems. He counters the
argument of "technological optimists" that prices, supply and demand
will self-regulate the depletion of resources (implausible in the
presence of market-distorting subsidies and in the absence of full-costin
g
of resource extraction) and that new substitutes for scarce resources
will always be found in sufficient time (because the cascading impact
of the depleted resources on other parts of the ecosystem, including
parts critical to our economy, can be catastrophic). He concludes his
economic prescription by saying "The space between the lower boundary
of satisfying basic rights, and the upper boundary allowing other life
forms to flourish is the space for legitimate human wealth". He need
not add that, in today's economy, that space is negative.
Turning to political systems, he sees the role of government as a
trustee, acting only when individuals and groups fail to respect the
commonwealth of life, or abrogate the three basic rights or their
responsibility to protect them. Government therefore has seven
duties:
duty to preserve and enhance the well-being of
all
duty to discharge its obligations impartially
duty
to uphold the three basic rights
duty to prohibit wasteful use
of resources
duty to address crises of scarcity
duty
to respect the virtue of commerce to optimize the production and
distribution of necessities of life
duty to protect the
commonwealth undiminished for future generations
He demonstrates that the exercise of such duties need be no more
interventionist than existing government, and that it requires
government to be altruistic, rather than merely responding to the
collective parochial demands of today's citizens, corporations and
special interests. And he skewers the myth of the infallibility of
'free' markets, demonstrating that 'free' markets do not exist today,
and never have.
Next up is the changes to social systems, to the functioning of civil
society, which must intervene when necessary to check the excesses of
both the economic and political systems, and give them direction. He
shows why the most common solutions to dealing with the Tragedy of
the Commons
(those solutions being: making all property privately owned, or making
all property government-owned) don't work. He describes the essential
aspects of property rights (right to exclude access, right to use,
right to dispose) and proposes a merging of today's property rights
with a new public trust
responsibility
commensurate with those rights. This responsibility is identical to
the
seven duties of governments bulleted above, insofar as that property
is
concerned, and is consistent with the stewardship theme of Brown's
entire philosophy.
In Part Three Brown extends the personal and government
responsibilities to the international arena, arguing that the world is
in essence a community of 'fiduciary states' (nations with stewardship
responsibility). He says that individual nations and supra-national
organizations (like the UN) must ensure that all
nations exercise the seven duties transparently, and that each person
and nation has a community responsibility to all others. In response
to
self-proclaimed 'realists' whose view of human nature is cynical and
who see human motives as inherently opportunistic and Machiavellian,
Brown counters with the Aristotelian view of human nature, and
provides
historical context to justify its greater plausibility. In response to
the argument that nations 'need' to be able to act in their own
self-interest, he reviews the entire history of nation-states and
shows
them to be a largely arbitrary and evolving concept, suggesting that
they are readily adaptable to a more altruistic purpose and may in the
future evolve or devolve into a very different form or disappear
entirely in favour of other forms of government.
This is the part of the book I struggled with the most, for two
reasons. First, I've gone on record as saying I think any solution to
the current ecological crisis will require political and economic
power
to first devolve from nations to communities. Secondly, I've argued
passionately in favour of the rights of national sovereignty, even,
with limits, when the exercise of that sovereignty may sometimes
offend
our personal and cultural values. I'm re-thinking my positions on
these
two issues.
In the final chapter, Brown starts with a lovely quote from Albert
Schweitzer:
Sooner or later there must dawn the true and final
renaissance which will bring peace to the world.
He then lays out a 14-point action plan to migrate our economic,
political and social systems to their new stewardship of the
commonwealth roles:
Assess the current state of the three basic rights in
each country.
Inventory the current state of productive
resources,
capacity to rebound to natural, sustainable levels, and capacity of
'sinks' to absorb human activity.
Compile an overall global
biological survey of ecosystem health and robustness.
Design
and construct new institutions to protect the commonwealth, modeled
after Elinor Ostrom's Governing the Commons analysis
of effective common pool resource management
structures.
Introduce new regulations and incentives (emphasis
on the latter) to extend and entrench the three basic
rights.
Create national Councils of
Stewardship to supplant Councils of Economic Advisers.
Create
incentives for good-stewardship substitutions e.g.
grants, tax changes, short-term subsidies, that could, for example,
lead to the elimination
of the need to raise animals for food.
Grant legal
standing to future generations and other sentient species, so that
actions can be launched on their behalf.
Implement
cosmopolitan education: teach stewardship,
tolerance, and educate and fund research on good-stewardship
substitutions for existing activities.
Promulgate an international declaration of
stewardship
acknowledging our responsibilities and also the need for all people to
take action to significantly reduce both human population and levels
of
consumption.
Create an annual report of our stewardship and
trusteeship of the planet.
Brown acknowledges that some of the countries that fail to provide the
three basic rights will be belligerent in the face of pressure to do
so. He recommends the program of treaties, oversight, sanctions,
cooperative and collaborative institutions and agencies outlined in Richard Falk's book This
Endangered Planet as a means of dealing with belligerents,
rather than the hasty rush to war, which usually does more harm than
good.
All in all, this slim (160 page) volume is a remarkable mix of
idealism
and pragmatism. Just one more recipe for saving the world, but one
that
has the weight of research, the intelligence to avoid rhetoric and
blame, extraordinary sponsorship and scholarship and the common sense
to take it one step and one country at a time. It deserves our
attention. If people are unwilling to accept the duty of respect and
responsibility that Brown calls for, we are all lost.
(Brown is working on a new book called Reverence for Life: A Philosophy for
Civilization. I'll let you know when it's out.)
If there's any reason this four-year-old book has not
become a best-seller, it must be because it's so hard to find: You'll
search Amazon in vain (though you may find it under its even more
innocuous European title Ethics, Economics and International
Relations). In Britain you can get it under the Canadian title from Politico's
Books. Americans will, alas, probably have to get their local
bookseller to order it in -- publisher and ISBN can be found here, or order it for CAD $20 from McNally Robinson, the great
Canadian independent bookseller.
WMD hunters switched to security duties. Another lie buried beneath the headlines. 11/2
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=459618
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Marines Struggling to Wrap Up Santa Duties (Los Angeles Times)
Marines Struggling to Wrap Up Santa Duties (Los Angeles Times)12/19/2004 03:35 PM Los Angeles Times - CHICAGO — Toys fill the gymnasium —
boxes of teddy bears press against a weapons cabinet, bags of dolls
and games are stacked high — but it isn't Christmas as usual at
this Marine Corps Reserves training center.
WTO panel to rule on EU, U.S. duties on South Korean computer chips
Wasn't Trained? Wasn't Trained?05/19/2004 04:48 AM One of the comments on the Iraq prionser abuse that I hear often on
BBC World Service is that the prison guards wasn't trained for their
role, as if this will lessen the guards' alleged crimes. I, on
the other hand, find this justification somehow absurd. If, say, the
guards aren't performing in their job capacity -- maybe some prisoners
escaped, for example -- then, yeah, one can use the excuse that they
aren't properly trained. But, to abuse prisoners (allegedly)? Does one
need training in order to know that you are not supposed to stack
naked prisoners as a human pyramid?
U.S. Army Selects Verity for its Army Knowledge Online Portal
Taiwanese Cat Is Toilet Trained (AP)04/14/2004 07:52 AM AP - A white and tan Taiwanese cat made his successful television
debut — on the toilet.
Shark Tank: C'mon, who really needs trained staff anyway?
Shark Tank: C'mon, who really needs trained staff anyway?11/14/2003 12:08 AM Money is tight in this data center, and that translates into a policy
of getting rid of experienced computer operators. Then one night a big
disk drive begins to make noise.
Shark Tank: Must have been trained as an engineer
Shark Tank: Must have been trained as an engineer02/05/2005 10:09 PM The buildingwide backup power system at this government agency is
getting old, and everyone knows it. The obvious solution is to add
extra UPSs to servers. But who needs that?
U.S.: Padilla Trained to Kill Hundreds (AP)
U.S.: Padilla Trained to Kill Hundreds (AP)06/01/2004 08:08 PM AP - Former Chicago gang member Jose Padilla is a trained terrorist
who met with top al-Qaida leaders, discussed detonating a nuclear bomb
in the United States and accepted an assignment to use natural gas to
blow up high-rise apartment buildings, the Justice Department alleged
Tuesday.
Bush Says Trained Iraqi Troops Now Outnumber U.S. (Reuters)
Bush Says Trained Iraqi Troops Now Outnumber U.S. (Reuters)04/12/2005 01:52 PM Reuters - President Bush said on Tuesday
trained Iraqi security forces now outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq
and are playing a greater role in fighting insurgents.
"Telegraph: Terrorist behind September 11 strike trained in Baghdad"
Gene treatment turns trained monkeys into workaholics
Gene treatment turns trained monkeys into workaholics08/13/2004 02:02 AM Blocking a set of dopamine receptors turns trained monkeys into
workaholics. Finding can help with understanding a variety of mental
disorders. Grok Description matches for One third of Iraq's new army (which we trained to take over our duties) quit GrokA matches for One third of Iraq's new army (which we trained to take over our duties) quit
One third of Iraq's new army (which we trained to take over our duties) quit
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