http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2009/10/10/vietnam-again-ask-galbraith/ Journalism and other writing Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:23:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2009/10/10/vietnam-again-ask-galbraith/comment-page-1/#comment-292 Colin Samundsett Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:08:31 +0000 http://www.crispinhull.com.au/?p=9442#comment-292 Afghanistan - hard to know what legacy the U.S. could leave there. In Nicaragua (many years ago) the result of occupation seemed to be a keen local appetite for baseball – if only, overall, it could be better (or no worse) than that. But, in fostering the Taliban and their supporters during Russian occupation, Uncle Sam is like the fabled woman who “swallowed a spider to catch a fly--” and is now half way to the “—swallowed a horse--” stage. US money has not been well spent in that land of Kubla Khan (and so many others) – where the sacred dollar ran, through caverns measureless to man, down to a sunless sea (as mister Coleridge might have put it). And the mirage of gas/oil barrels have also disappeared into them. Al Qaeda have been more astute with their Saudi funds, setting up breeding grounds of support for themselves via schools (Madrasas) of their own persuasion. They have taken opportunity to fill gaps in the existing education facilities, especially across that amorphous border with Pakistan which also is the focus of US military spending. How effective they are is hard to quantify, but even an Australian travelled there to, he said, find a school which he considered would provide an appropriate education for his young son. Senator J. William Fulbright of Fulbright Scholarship fame, author of The Arrogance of Power (1966), might have favoured ways of spending the US dollar other than militarily. But “defence”-related expenditure - be it in the guise of industry, science, retail and other service sectors – generates a major part of the US economy, and carries a bigger stick than ever before in US history. Afghanistan – hard to know what legacy the U.S. could leave there. In Nicaragua (many years ago) the result of occupation seemed to be a keen local appetite for baseball – if only, overall, it could be better (or no worse) than that. But, in fostering the Taliban and their supporters during Russian occupation, Uncle Sam is like the fabled woman who “swallowed a spider to catch a fly–” and is now half way to the “—swallowed a horse–” stage.
US money has not been well spent in that land of Kubla Khan (and so many others) – where the sacred dollar ran, through caverns measureless to man, down to a sunless sea (as mister Coleridge might have put it). And the mirage of gas/oil barrels have also disappeared into them. Al Qaeda have been more astute with their Saudi funds, setting up breeding grounds of support for themselves via schools (Madrasas) of their own persuasion. They have taken opportunity to fill gaps in the existing education facilities, especially across that amorphous border with Pakistan which also is the focus of US military spending. How effective they are is hard to quantify, but even an Australian travelled there to, he said, find a school which he considered would provide an appropriate education for his young son.
Senator J. William Fulbright of Fulbright Scholarship fame, author of The Arrogance of Power (1966), might have favoured ways of spending the US dollar other than militarily. But “defence”-related expenditure – be it in the guise of industry, science, retail and other service sectors – generates a major part of the US economy, and carries a bigger stick than ever before in US history.

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