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Entry: Bungle in the Jungle Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/bungle_in_the_jungle#13262 Post contents: Now what? Every time one of these bureaucratic contortions churns its way through the Pentagon, we slam headfirst into another unmitigated disaster. Almost five years downwind from the start of the Iraq War, we know the Office of Special Plans was an OSP at our breast. And now… this crap. What are they planning for the Dark Continent? We can pretty much be sure the neocons are still in the drivers’ seats – at both Democratic and Republican headquarters. Gone are the days of the gasbag, self-aggrandizing drivel, or the David-Frum-style excommunications from all elements “conservative.” But they still hold the trump cards, they still have their ingrown, nepotistic media lap-doggies and they still control the top lobbies. But why Africa? Why now? Africa is a chronic – if resource-rich – basket case. Perennially, it is a continent of nations collectively unable to rise above subsistence-level social provision. It’s all the fault of… colonialism, post-colonialism. Economic… colonialism. Racism. Dammit – honkies. We’re to blame. The disastrous reality of Africa is always the fault of outsiders. At least… that’s what we’re told, and told, and told. Many is the time I’ve thought: Shoot, we’re getting blamed for the sorry state of affairs, anyway - why not at least benefit from the situation. There are the Africans, trapped in a state of eternal Neolithic backwardness. Why not bump them off? Take their countries? There’s oil. There’s gold. There is a virtual treasure trove of non-ferrous metal and mineral wealth. Dammit – there’re DIAMONDS! Is that it? Is that what they’re thinking inside the Beltway? Will we pay for our Mideastern adventures by looting other parts of the world as kind of an American Raj? If that’s the plan - and, admittedly, this is the worst of worse-case scenearios – is there anything that will turn us from this grand-scale geographic piracy? We know we can’t rely on our consciences. We’ve already rolled on waterboarding and shredding the Constitution. What’s left? Our best intentions? Sent at: 2008 11 23