Dogs of War: Contractors doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past
Mar 7, 2009 Commentary, David Isenberg, Dogs of War, Frequent Contributors
By DAVID ISENBERG
WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) — An army may travel on its stomach, but it lives to fight another day by studying its history. For the U.S. military, the study of history is not an academic pursuit but a deadly serious business. That is why there are offices like the Air Force Historical Research Agency, the Army Center for Military History, the Naval Historical Center, and the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, to name a few.
Military professionals understand that the unpredictability and chaos of war make the study of the past mandatory in an effort to try to avoid repeating its disasters. Keeping and preserving detailed records is not just a bureaucratic chore but a vital mission. Militaries have always understood, long before Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously said it, that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
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Somali pirates are sign of far worse dangers coming
Mar 7, 2009 Commentary, Piracy, Somalia
By WILLIAM S. LIND
WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) — On the surface, the antics of Somali pirates and the comic opera response of the maritime powers is worthy of a revisit by Gilbert and Sullivan. Despite the presence off Somalia of the largest concentration of international warships since World War II, Somali pirates go on their merry way, taking ships and holding them for ransom.
While they seldom make their captives walk the plank and most prefer the green flag of Islam to the Jolly Roger, they are pirates in the full sense of the word, owing allegiance to no state. Pirates might be justified in claiming they were the original Fourth Generation warriors.
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