6 ms·

If you liked this video you might also like: * Armadillo[1] a documentary about a group of Danish soldiers deployed to Helmland. Armadillo is right up there wi

by dfc 13y ago

If you liked this video you might also like: * Armadillo[1] a documentary about a group of Danish soldiers deployed to Helmland. Armadillo is right up there with Restrepo in my opinion. * The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan[2] if you are curious about the bacha bazi boys. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo_%28film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo_%28film%29 [2] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/

rdl 13y ago
Restrepo is also pretty amazing in its own right. My absolute favorite work about the whole war in Afghanistan is First In (http://www.amazon.com/First-Insiders-Account-Spearheaded-Afghanistan/dp/0345496612 http://www.amazon.com/First-Insiders-Account-Spearheaded-Afg...) which is how the entire war should have been fought: A CIA man, a couple ODAs (~20 US Army Special Forces soldiers), an old ex-Soviet helicopter, and $30mm in $100 bills, and victory in 2 months. I sent a copy to weev in prison, will be interesting to see what he thinks :)
- Helpful_Bunny 13y ago
  That's kind of you, but horribly naive. Being validated by prison staff as an associate of a prison gang or being in possession of questionable reading material can land an inmate in the SHU for an indefinite amount of time. The UN says more than 15 days in solitary confinement is considered torture. SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay spend an average of 7.5 years there. In 2005 (last released statistics) there were over 80,000 inmates held in solitary confinement in the US. This inhumane treatment is a clear violation of the 8th amendment and must be changed. http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2013/04/02/solitary-in-iran-nearly-broke-me-why-americas-prisons-are-worse/ http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2013/04/02/solitary... Wise up a little bit, the USG doesn't play nice, and weev has already been subject to "special attention" due to not grokking the simple fact that he is totally powerless in the system now. The More You Know.
  - dfc 13y ago
    How is this questionable reading material? The book got through the CIA's publication review board and there was no funny business like there was with Operation Dark Heart. Today is the only day of the year that I watch sports (Go Cuse!) so I'm going to try my hardest to ignore that giant leap from >15 days in solitary is torture to everyone in solitary is being treated inhumanely.
    - Helpful_Bunny 13y ago
      It is questionable reading material based on the evaluation of the Prison authorities in his prison, not any other authority. If you cannot fathom how a book on CIA + Afghanistan + Black OPs could be twisted into "reading up on terrorism" you're incredibly naive, or know nothing about the types of books that have lead to solitary confinement in the US prison system. The latter is obviously the case: I'd urge you to do a little research some time into how the rule is abused. Biographies of Malcom X getting you in solitary, that sort of thing... As for "giant leap", I'd suggest: Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement by Stuart Grassian (25 yrs Harvard Medical school) for a quick over-sight into the issues. Journal of Law & Policy PDF: http://law.wustl.edu/journal/22/p325grassian.pdf http://law.wustl.edu/journal/22/p325grassian.pdf Solitary confinement is one of the leading punishments that is currently used in the US Prison System. Weev has already made himself a "little unpopular" in his stay (less than 3 months: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/weev-soundcloud_n_3093315.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/weev-soundcloud_n_3...) and is on the fast track to learning the hard way. He has ~36 months remaining, less if he behaves and doesn't "troll them". Asking publicly about their financial data is not cute and not smart and will not go unnoticed. Enjoy your sports. Perhaps you should stick with the TeeVee, I was merely suggesting that people think before engaging with a totally foreign (to them) mindset, that of the authoritarian US penal system. Or, at the very least, do the barest minimum of Due Diligence. Do the research; you might get shock & awed out of your bubble. Lions, Tigers and Bears.
      - dfc 13y ago
        I have some experience with cases of excessive force and I am fully aware of the level of discretion that the court affords to the professional judgement of corrections officers (admittedly restricted to NYCRR). I certainly am not under the impression that the metal bars delineate the good people from the bad people. My "TeeVee" time is long over and I have done a little research into how how reading a book can land one in solitary. I have not been able to find anything concrete. Most of the things that I have found are consistent with my experience with the NYCRR and everything that I have found is consistent with the Furnace case[1] from California (the most notable and recent case). From everything that I have read I have not been able to find any instances of solitary confinement solely due to reading a book. And certainly no instances of solitary confinement for reading a mass market book that is currently #19 in its category on amazon that the prisoner received via mail and therefore screened (where assessment is based on the individual receiving the book). Could you point me to some source material? Side Note: Why so passive aggressive with me or the parent comment? [1] In re Furnace (2010) 185 Cal.App.4th 649
- dfc 13y ago
  Restrepo was already at the top of my lists with the book, photo book and movie, but after Hetherington died it has ascended to a special place all its own. I liked First In, but I also read Jawbreaker and I have trouble separating the two in my mind. I don't remember the order that I read them in but even as I was reading the second book I was often unsure if I was rereading the first book or reading the second. The experience was not that unlike reading any of the Robert's Ridge books. There is a report from the Army War College that I have been meaning to read but I have lost the citation. If you like reading about A-Teams the non fiction "Lions of Kandahar" was an exciting read. But my favorite book on the subject is a work of fiction: The Degüello. If you have not read it I highly recommend it. As far as winning the war goes we could not win the AfPak war by only winning in Afghanistan. No amount of effort is going to keep my lawn weed free as long as my neighbor's lawn is a forest of dandelions.
  - rdl 13y ago
    My biggest problem with how we fought in Afghanistan was not allowing Army SF to do their doctrinal mission. I believe in the traditional SF model (mentoring indigenous forces for FID) more than the JSOC model (direct action, technical intelligence, big dollars). Indeed, Jawbreaker and First In were pretty similar (and Jawbreaker essentially covered time before and after First In, too). I haven't read LoK yet, it's on my list. Also never even heard of The Deguello; added, thanks. The TF Dagger book sucks, though.
subsystem 13y ago
Restrepo nor Armadillo really stuck with me. I'll admit I've seen way too many of these kinds of documentaries, even to the point of not being able to tell them apart. The PBS ones are quite good. Two that stands out of the top of my head is Blood and Dust and Bulletproof Salesman, the later being mostly about Iraq. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/09/2011915105947578551.html http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/09/2... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186201/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186201/
- dfc 13y ago
  I think the nature of PBS's regulatory environment makes it tough for them to "tell a true war story," to borrow Wolf's words. This was even apparent in their re-airing of Armadillo, the version that was broadcast on the same channel as Sesame Street was different than the bluray/dvd version.
  - dfc 13y ago
    Err, someone emailed me about the "wolf reference." The reference was to The Things They Carried by Tim O'brien and not to a work by Tobias Wolff whose name I spelled incorrectly.
pstadler 13y ago
No End in Sight[1] is my favorite. A documentary about the Iraq occupation starting in 2003. It's a sad story - no room for heroes - as the iraqi people lost everything. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0912593/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0912593/
- dfc 13y ago
  This thread is about afghanistan.
  - lostlogin 13y ago
    There is a parallel however - the invaders leaving a disintegrating country as they give up on it. Iraq and Afghanistan are very different but do have things in common.
    - rdl 13y ago
      The thing most in common is how the US treated Afghanistan in 2009-2012 the way it treated Iraq in 2007-2009 (and got pwned as a result)

by dfc 13y ago

rdl 13y ago

Restrepo is also pretty amazing in its own right. My absolute favorite work about the whole war in Afghanistan is First In (http://www.amazon.com/First-Insiders-Account-Spearheaded-Afghanistan/dp/0345496612 http://www.amazon.com/First-Insiders-Account-Spearheaded-Afg...) which is how the entire war should have been fought: A CIA man, a couple ODAs (~20 US Army Special Forces soldiers), an old ex-Soviet helicopter, and $30mm in $100 bills, and victory in 2 months. I sent a copy to weev in prison, will be interesting to see what he thinks :)

Helpful_Bunny 13y ago
That's kind of you, but horribly naive. Being validated by prison staff as an associate of a prison gang or being in possession of questionable reading material can land an inmate in the SHU for an indefinite amount of time. The UN says more than 15 days in solitary confinement is considered torture. SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay spend an average of 7.5 years there. In 2005 (last released statistics) there were over 80,000 inmates held in solitary confinement in the US. This inhumane treatment is a clear violation of the 8th amendment and must be changed. http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2013/04/02/solitary-in-iran-nearly-broke-me-why-americas-prisons-are-worse/ http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2013/04/02/solitary... Wise up a little bit, the USG doesn't play nice, and weev has already been subject to "special attention" due to not grokking the simple fact that he is totally powerless in the system now. The More You Know.
- dfc 13y ago
  How is this questionable reading material? The book got through the CIA's publication review board and there was no funny business like there was with Operation Dark Heart. Today is the only day of the year that I watch sports (Go Cuse!) so I'm going to try my hardest to ignore that giant leap from >15 days in solitary is torture to everyone in solitary is being treated inhumanely.
  - Helpful_Bunny 13y ago
    It is questionable reading material based on the evaluation of the Prison authorities in his prison, not any other authority. If you cannot fathom how a book on CIA + Afghanistan + Black OPs could be twisted into "reading up on terrorism" you're incredibly naive, or know nothing about the types of books that have lead to solitary confinement in the US prison system. The latter is obviously the case: I'd urge you to do a little research some time into how the rule is abused. Biographies of Malcom X getting you in solitary, that sort of thing... As for "giant leap", I'd suggest: Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement by Stuart Grassian (25 yrs Harvard Medical school) for a quick over-sight into the issues. Journal of Law & Policy PDF: http://law.wustl.edu/journal/22/p325grassian.pdf http://law.wustl.edu/journal/22/p325grassian.pdf Solitary confinement is one of the leading punishments that is currently used in the US Prison System. Weev has already made himself a "little unpopular" in his stay (less than 3 months: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/weev-soundcloud_n_3093315.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/weev-soundcloud_n_3...) and is on the fast track to learning the hard way. He has ~36 months remaining, less if he behaves and doesn't "troll them". Asking publicly about their financial data is not cute and not smart and will not go unnoticed. Enjoy your sports. Perhaps you should stick with the TeeVee, I was merely suggesting that people think before engaging with a totally foreign (to them) mindset, that of the authoritarian US penal system. Or, at the very least, do the barest minimum of Due Diligence. Do the research; you might get shock & awed out of your bubble. Lions, Tigers and Bears.
    - dfc 13y ago
      I have some experience with cases of excessive force and I am fully aware of the level of discretion that the court affords to the professional judgement of corrections officers (admittedly restricted to NYCRR). I certainly am not under the impression that the metal bars delineate the good people from the bad people. My "TeeVee" time is long over and I have done a little research into how how reading a book can land one in solitary. I have not been able to find anything concrete. Most of the things that I have found are consistent with my experience with the NYCRR and everything that I have found is consistent with the Furnace case[1] from California (the most notable and recent case). From everything that I have read I have not been able to find any instances of solitary confinement solely due to reading a book. And certainly no instances of solitary confinement for reading a mass market book that is currently #19 in its category on amazon that the prisoner received via mail and therefore screened (where assessment is based on the individual receiving the book). Could you point me to some source material? Side Note: Why so passive aggressive with me or the parent comment? [1] In re Furnace (2010) 185 Cal.App.4th 649
dfc 13y ago
Restrepo was already at the top of my lists with the book, photo book and movie, but after Hetherington died it has ascended to a special place all its own. I liked First In, but I also read Jawbreaker and I have trouble separating the two in my mind. I don't remember the order that I read them in but even as I was reading the second book I was often unsure if I was rereading the first book or reading the second. The experience was not that unlike reading any of the Robert's Ridge books. There is a report from the Army War College that I have been meaning to read but I have lost the citation. If you like reading about A-Teams the non fiction "Lions of Kandahar" was an exciting read. But my favorite book on the subject is a work of fiction: The Degüello. If you have not read it I highly recommend it. As far as winning the war goes we could not win the AfPak war by only winning in Afghanistan. No amount of effort is going to keep my lawn weed free as long as my neighbor's lawn is a forest of dandelions.
- rdl 13y ago
  My biggest problem with how we fought in Afghanistan was not allowing Army SF to do their doctrinal mission. I believe in the traditional SF model (mentoring indigenous forces for FID) more than the JSOC model (direct action, technical intelligence, big dollars). Indeed, Jawbreaker and First In were pretty similar (and Jawbreaker essentially covered time before and after First In, too). I haven't read LoK yet, it's on my list. Also never even heard of The Deguello; added, thanks. The TF Dagger book sucks, though.

subsystem 13y ago

Restrepo nor Armadillo really stuck with me. I'll admit I've seen way too many of these kinds of documentaries, even to the point of not being able to tell them apart. The PBS ones are quite good. Two that stands out of the top of my head is Blood and Dust and Bulletproof Salesman, the later being mostly about Iraq. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/09/2011915105947578551.html http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/09/2... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186201/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186201/

dfc 13y ago
I think the nature of PBS's regulatory environment makes it tough for them to "tell a true war story," to borrow Wolf's words. This was even apparent in their re-airing of Armadillo, the version that was broadcast on the same channel as Sesame Street was different than the bluray/dvd version.
- dfc 13y ago
  Err, someone emailed me about the "wolf reference." The reference was to The Things They Carried by Tim O'brien and not to a work by Tobias Wolff whose name I spelled incorrectly.

pstadler 13y ago

No End in Sight[1] is my favorite. A documentary about the Iraq occupation starting in 2003. It's a sad story - no room for heroes - as the iraqi people lost everything. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0912593/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0912593/

dfc 13y ago
This thread is about afghanistan.
- lostlogin 13y ago
  There is a parallel however - the invaders leaving a disintegrating country as they give up on it. Iraq and Afghanistan are very different but do have things in common.
  - rdl 13y ago
    The thing most in common is how the US treated Afghanistan in 2009-2012 the way it treated Iraq in 2007-2009 (and got pwned as a result)