The problem with the phrase 'evil-doer'

I had conversation with a friend over lunch last week that got me thinking about how the word 'evil-doer,' specifically how use of the word has become more common in foreign policy discussions. This friend has been working for Program Executive Officer Soldier since he finished undergrad in 2005. He had limited exposure to politics or history as an accounting major, so he was picking my brain about the 'surge' and the War on Terror more broadly.

It is difficult to discuss U.S. foreign policy towards the Near East in the abstract, so before delving into my views, I asked him about how much he knew about the region. Not surprisingly, his response was 'very little,' so I refined my question to 'Do you know why a guy like OBL is a terrorist'? The response to that was 'He hates America and wants to take over the Near East. I don't know why he uses terrorism though. Evil is kind of hard to understand.'

At this point, I gave him a 20 minute primer on the origins of linkage between Islamic fundamentalism and grand terrorism -- starting from Sayyid Qutb's Milestones to today. He was particularly surprised to hear that even though Osama bin Laden and Saddam are not explicitly linked, al Qaeda's existence and mission are deeply intertwined with the 1991 Persian Gulf War and its aftermath.

[Explainer: Part of bin Laden's hatred towards the Saudi royal family comes from the fact that they chose American support over his offer to wage an Afghan-style guerrilla war in defense of Kuwait. Bin Laden's 1996 fatwah states that the presence of U.S. troops on Saudi soil as an affront to Islam. It also claims that the U.S. is culpable for the deaths of the millions of Iraqi children due to sanctions.]

We need to move away from terms like 'evil-doer' because they allow people to paper over the murky elements of politics and war. We're not facing-off against an opaque, cartoonish foe, such as Cobra Commander or Skeletor. Bin Laden and his ilk more like Tony Soprano or even Tony Montana. They ruthlessly pursue a set of fairly clear objectives in a manner that is bounded by their own twisted sense of right and wrong.

After mentioning this conversation to another friend, she suggested that I photoshop Cobra Commander into the photo of Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein shaking hands in the 1980s.

Update: SG has just been brimming with great ideas. Here is a rough breakdown of what goes into G.I. Joe's definition of the "The Battle":

Now that is cool

Explosives-geek and writer David Hambling recently did a short piece for Noah Shachtman's DANGER ROOM blog on Navy beach-clearing experiments using continuous-rod warheads. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a CR warhead is cylinder of explosives jackets in ductile metal rods that are welded together at opposite ends. When the warhead goes off, the rods deform into a ring of hot metal that can deeply into targets. CR warheads are typically used on anti-aircraft missiles because their effect radius can compensate for a mediocre guidance package.

This is a picture from the Wikipedia entry for CR warheads and there are only two words that can possibly describe it: flippin' sweet. (Note: A reader pointed out that this may be a picture of a Canadian pipe bomb and not a CR warhead. Either way, it is still an amazing photo.)

Pimp my F-35

In response to Noah's challenge, I tricked out the interior and exterior of the Joint Strike Fighter using the standard "Pimp My Ride" formula: Add a frivolous multimedia center to the interior...

...and cover the exterior with an obnoxious, brightly-colored pattern.

I considered putting some high-gloss faux-woodgrain panels in the interior, but there is literally too much crap in the cockpit for such a Photoshop feat to be worthwhile.

PEO BOONDOGGLE, 1st draft

Well folks, here is my first draft of the Program Executive Officer Battle-Oriented Optical Network Data Operations Ground Geared Linkage Elements (PEO BOONDOGGLE) seal. I think I am going to tweek it some tonight -- seems like I haven't crammed enough platforms into it.

FCS's new name

Ladies and gentleman, I present you with the new name for Future Combat Systems, the Totally Awesome Force. I've even taken the time to put together a new seal that combines all of the elements of what will truly be an awesome force for today -- ninjas, lasers, satellites, UAVs, futuristic tracked vehicles, and most importantly, America! Hooah! Army Strong!

I have even been meditating on a motto for the Totally Awesome Force, but I can't decide between "F*ck yeah!" and "Kicking ass and taking names since 2015."

Readers in Mauritius?

So someone pointed this out to me today: I supposedly have readers out in the middle of the Indian Ocean:

Pretty wild huh? If only it were true... The hits are probably coming from a proxy server based in Mauritius (or possibly the overseas French department Réunion).

Diet Coke Plus

I've been wanting to do this photoshop for a while:

MC Ahmadinejad's New Album

In celebration of the IAEA's new report on the implementation of NPT safeguards in Iran, MC Ahmadinejad has released a new album entitled "My Nuclear Report Card."

Update: For those not familiar with the burgeoning hyphy hip-hop scene coming out of the San Fransisco Bay area, this cover is loosely patterned off of album cover of E-40's My Ghetto Report Card. Its a terrible album by the way -- the only redeemable song is last summer's hit "U and Dat."

One down, one to go

I finished my paper for defense transformation this weekend. The only thing left before graduation is a paper for Mike Mochizuki's class next Monday. Posting should pick up once I get this last bit squared away. Check back tomorrow evening for my reaction to Neil Abercombie's announcement that he will slash $800 million from the House's fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.

Some of my readers have asked me about how the PMF process is going. After four second interviews, I've recieved three "Dear John" letters. Fortunately, I am still on the short list for the job that I really want -- a spot at one of the State Department's offices that deal with chemical and biological weapons. I'd really like to thank everyone for the support they've given me over the last few months, it has been really great.

I photoshopped this image macro on a whim. Figured it is worth a few laughs.

Kid safe version of "F*ck the Police"?

I hear George Lucas is remastering the music video to replace all of the guns with walkie-talkies.

Let's put a little SS-20 over here. Isn't that wonderful?

I scored 'advanced' in both the written and oral components of my Japanese language exam at GWU, so I will be graduating this May. Strangely enough, this is actually an improvement on the practice exam I took back in the fall of 2005.

I plan on throwing down a few posts over the next few days, but in the meantime, please enjoy my latest Photoshop creation. The thought of Bob Ross's soft voice saying "Just so our happy little trees have some company, we'll a T-84 right over here..." randomly crossed my mind while I was at the Gelman Library today. Once I found a large enough picture of Mr. Ross, everything else fell into place.

Update: I animated the image. Check it out.

Bullets hitting stuff in slow motion

As promised, here is something cool for all of my faithful readers who suffered through my recent analysis of Chris Hill's visit to Brookings (here's a vid of the speech btw).

It is a great video of bullets hitting different objects in slow motion. My favorite has to be the canister of blue spraypaint (it's about 1 minute, 20 seconds in). Enjoy.

More Land Warrior fun

Special thanks to Anonymous, who sent me a link to this gem of a PR package for the Land Warrior. At 125 pounds and under $300 million a piece, the only ones to lose are the terrorists!