God Damn You, America, You Stupid, Sickening Nation

The absolutely astounding idiocies of L'Affaire Petraeus continue to cause my jaw to descend approximately two feet in utter amazement at distressingly regular intervals. Seriously, this is some unbelievable shit.

Irresistibly but very reluctantly drawn to further details of this increasingly grisly business, we read this story, and we come across these passages:

One result is that Petraeus could possibly face military prosecution for adultery if officials turn up any evidence to counter his apparent claims that the affair began after he left the military

But Boylan says the affair between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, both of whom are married, began several months after his retirement from the Army in August 2011 and ended four months ago. ...

The timeline of the relationship, according to Petraeus, would mean that he was carrying on the affair for the majority of his tenure at the CIA, where he began as director Sept. 6, 2011. If he carried on the affair while serving in the Army, however, Petraeus could face charges, according to Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which reprimands conduct "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."

Whether the military would pursue such action, whatever evidence it accumulates, is unclear.

Note: prosecution for adultery. In this case, on the basis of the information made public thus far, the adultery appears to be between freely consenting adults. (I do not for a moment discount the possibility that coercion in some form, particularly on the part of Petraeus, might have been involved. That would be a serious matter, possibly deserving of punishment in some form. At the moment, such questions seem not to be involved. In what follows, I therefore set questions in that area to one side, while not forgetting them and acknowledging they may become relevant later.)

Why is the Army so desperately and so righteously concerned about adultery? Because it is conduct "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."

I am trying very, very hard to contain my astonishment, which is of a nature so extreme that it threatens to explode my brain, my apartment and the surrounding neighborhood for an area of five square miles.

All right. Deep breaths. In the first instance, we're talking about sexual conduct involving individuals in the military. The military claims to be concerned about conduct that would "bring discredit" to its sterling reputation for integrity, honor and the always humane and deeply respectful treatment of its members. The military wishes to present itself as the embodiment of genuinely civilized and just values, both to itself and to the world.

Well, god damn you, you profoundly, unforgivably loathsome military:

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has announced new initiatives to curtail what he calls "the epidemic" of rape and sexual assaults in our armed forces. In 2010, an estimated 19,000 service members were raped or sexually assaulted by other service members. Clearly, more resources devoted to counseling for victims and training for prosecutors and judges will help.

But the incidence of unpunished rapes will continue and so will the damaging effects these illegal acts have on troop morale and preparedness. This epidemic requires an overhaul of the military justice system.

The military's chain of command structure keeps most cases of rape and sexual assault from reaching the prosecution level. According to a Defense Department study, only 8% of sexual assailants are referred to military court, compared with 40% of similar offenders prosecuted in the civilian court system. The case of Army Spc. Andrea Neutzling of Ohio is a sad testimony to a justice system gone wrong.

According to Neutzling, in 2002, while serving in South Korea, she was sexually assaulted by an intoxicated soldier she knew. She reported the assault to her commander, who gave the assailant a slap on the wrist punishment of five days of base restriction. Three years later in New Jersey, preparing for deployment to Iraq with a military police unit, she was again assaulted by a fellow soldier. Fearing nothing would happen if she reported the attack, Neutzling instead kept the incident to herself.

A month later in Iraq, she said she was raped by two soldiers who threatened to beat her if she struggled. Although she suffered serious bodily injuries from the rape, she chose not to report it; instead she slept on a cot with her rifle pointed toward the door for the first few days after the attack.

Soon, the chaplain was told about the attack by a woman in Neutzling's unit who reported that the perpetrators were showing a video of the rape to others. But her chaplain didn't believe her, later telling Neutzling, "You don't act like a rape victim."

Have you thrown up yet? You will.

This is the very next paragraph of the story:

The commander said it was a "they said, she said" situation, and because she was married at the time of the incident, he threatened to charge her with adultery. The men who raped Neutzling were never charged, investigated or penalized.

So much for the mlitary's noble concern with adultery, and with conduct that might "bring discredit upon the armed forces."

This is one story I found in ten seconds of searching. I'm not kidding: ten seconds. There are thousands of stories like this one.

Beyond this, and here we must be exceedingly brief, for the list of other crimes committed by the U.S. military would fill many volumes, the military in recent years has done the following:

1. Unleashed a genocide in Iraq, which ranks among the greatest crimes of the modern era.

2. Conducted countless "minor" operations, including the murder of innocent human beings, the destruction of numerous villages and towns throughout the Middle East and in other areas of the world, and devastation of countless kinds around the entire globe.

3. Destroyed and forever deformed the lives of huge numbers of people -- people who have never harmed the United States in any matter whatsoever and who, with extraordinarily rare exceptions, never even wished to harm the United States or any of its citizens -- leaving many thousands of human beings to live out the remainder of their days in excruciating pain, both physical and psychological, with wounds that will never heal, with agony as their constant companion.

The U.S. military is not used to "defend" the United States, if the word "defend" is given any reasonable, justifiable meaning, no matter how tenuous. The U.S. military is used in a series of aggressive, criminal operations, the purpose of which is to ensure American global hegemony. The U.S. military is used to make certain that other nations, and other peoples, will do as the U.S. ruling class demands, and nothing else at all.

I have said the following before. I now repeat it, and I want to make certain that readers know I mean it:

At present and for the foreseeable future, there is no legitimate, healthy reason for any individual to join the United States military.

None.

The United States military is a criminal organization, dedicated to murder, mayhem, and destruction. That is its purpose and its reason for being. There is no reason on earth, and certainly no reason in heaven, for any decent human being to want to have anything at all to do with it.

And the United State military is going to give us lectures on morality, and instruct us on the sin of adultery? Fuck you, you nauseating, sickening bastards.

To return to the lunacy of the Petraeus business for a moment, please note that the story first excerpted above also contains this:

Investigators uncovered no compromising of classified information or criminal activity, sources familiar with the probe said, adding that all that was found was a lot of "human drama."

"No compromising of classified information" -- thus, no indication that our precious "national security" is implicated in any manner. No evidence of criminal activity -- no crime, not a single one.

At the moment, all that is left is adultery, and the claim that adultery might "bring discredit" -- on a criminal organization engaged in nonstop murder and destruction.

I submit that this is obscene. I have made the case -- here and here -- that Petraeus's affair could not conceivably be the actual reason for his resignation. The utter ludicrousness of the idea -- especially in the context of the nature of the U.S. military as set forth above, even in very brief form -- renders it impossible of serious consideration. And the ongoing discussion of adultery and how adultery is a grave and serious matter demanding our urgent attention, while entirely and with deliberate intention avoiding any mention whatsoever of the other matters I have described, is loathsome.

This culture is so sick, so hypocritical, and so enmeshed in the worst and most outlandish of lies, that it all but renders itself immune to criticism, let alone correction. This culture, this country approaches a state of psychosis, a state so profoundly disconnected from reality at any and every point, that it is almost entirely futile to attempt to address its numerous, ungraspably awful failings. (It occurs to me that I should add, in what I consider the all but impossible event that this should be the case, that if the affair is the actual reason for Petraeus's resignation, then the administration, the military, and by extension the country, are irrevocably and genuinely insane. In which case, I would advise you to get the hell out as quickly as you can.)

All we can do now is protect ourselves in every way possible, and walk away to the extent we can. Just walk away. Disconnect. Go underground. Live your lives apart from the primary arteries of this culture, for all they carry is disease and death.

God damn them. God damn them.

(I regret to say that the ABC News article and a few others I have seen today compel me to address several additional aspects of this wretched Petraeus business. I will do that in a day or two. I can't bear to think about this any further at the moment.)