The Military-Evangelical Complex

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

Noted at Juan Cole’s Informed Comment, as item 4 in a list of Top 10 Counterterrorism Scandals 2010:

George W. Bush claimed that he had misspoken when he called his ‘war on terror’ a ‘crusade.’ But it turns out that the Michigan company that makes rifle sights for the US military inscribes them with Bible verses. The capture of the US Air Force Academy by Christian fundamentalists is worrisome enough, but a Military-Evangelical Complex is truly frightening.

What to say? One more in a litany – pardon the term – of similar cases. I want to write something about prepubescent states that pretend to maturity and adulthood…

Stewart on Lawrence

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

I’m watching Rory Stewart’s narration of the life of Lawrence (yes, that Lawrence). On difficult terrain: can’t patrol it with small units, because those units can then be ambushed; can’t garrison it, because units there couldn’t be resupplied. So much of it remains empty, most of the time, “and an empty space on the map is a dangerous thing.”

Omnivore 13/01/2010

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

I’m going to be heads down for the next few weeks, preparing lectures and writing chapters. Any posting I do will be necessarily brief; I’ll be back in full swing after the hump.

    Omnivore 11/01/2009

    ~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment