Freedom Dogs

Crazy week last—barely enough time to walk the dog, but right about Friday The Elder put a bug in my ear about taking the Time magazine Regan lone tear cover and putting a Churchillian spin on it for the recent Iranian depantsing of the UK Navy.

Great Idea I thought, then came Easter, family, and you know, the next thing it was Monday. Well, I finally got around to it. And I did this parody complete with Mark Steyn references. It comes with dark humor and sadness as I really do love the Brits. Having my family history from there and our long-shared heritage between our two countries, I seriously do not want to see them go the way of France, et al.

Mark Steyn from the Corner today.

 
The enemy were becoming deliberately aggressive, the rotters   [Mark Steyn]

Derb, I agree that this incident was a pitiful humiliation for the Royal Navy and also for Britain. It also seems clear that this mission was poorly conceived from the start: If you can't outgun a couple of Iranian speed boats, you shouldn't be policing the shallows of the Shatt al-Arab in the first place.

However, the language you deplore - "Some of the Iranian sailors were becoming deliberately aggressive and unstable", "Throughout our ordeal we faced constant psychological pressure" - seems less a reflection on these men than yet more evidence of how therapeutic psychobabble has become the default mode of our culture - even unto the military. Indeed, insofar as you can use martial talk, it's only for the bloodless pseudo-battles of politics - Clinton's "War Room", etc. A year ago, I reviewed a book on this very topic :

    From the bloody battles of history, strategies for winning the subtle social game of everyday life.

 So Alexander the Great and the Duke of Wellington can teach you strategies for beating Darlene in Accounts to the big promotion, but our fighting men talk like they're guesting on Oprah.