If Jolly Rummy has a seasonal message to his amputee elves this year, it's "put up and shut up". "You go to war with the army you have, not the one you want". That was the flustered and Defens(ive) Secretary's admonition to the mostly National Guard and Reserve soldiers he recently addressed in Kuwait after being asked by one disloyal grunt why the soldiers themselves had to resort to dumpster diving for scrap parts in order to safeguard their own ill-equipped vehicles. It should be pointed out that approximately half the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq might have had their lives spared if their humvees had been adequately armored against the relatively low-tech explosive devices planted along Iraq's 'liberated' highways. If current casualty trends continue, soldiers' family members will likely receive their 'present' in a body bag this year.
Curiously, the same advice ("put up and shut up") is now the basis of a bestselling dating guide which applies to single women similarly ill-equipped to deal with the social landmines planted beneath their strappy, Manolo Blahnik stilettos. 'He's Just Not That Into You' make the compelling argument that disinterested men, (like the alluringly aloof Defense Secretary himself) just don't have your best interests at heart, so wouldn't it be better if you just planted your ugly-ass carcass in front of someone who at least cares?
Whether you're a backdoor-drafted bullet stopper in the latest Imperial crusade, or simply cruising the singles scene, the message to the disposable grunts on the ground is implicitly clear: You're just not worth the salvaged pieces of scrap metal on your humvee, or even the scraps of 'advice' contained within this literary humdinger......
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec2004/Matsui1220.htmhttp://www.commondreams.org/views04/1220-21.htm