2009/05/10 New York
2024
Low levels
“General Odierno acknowledged that combat troops could leave a city on one day but then be asked by Iraqis to return the next.
He said that he was concerned about the recent suicide attacks but that overall violence was at or near its lowest levels since the summer of 2003. He said it was difficult these days to distinguish between violence driven by the insurgency and criminals working for money. He said he expected low levels of violence in the country up until 2024, and would never say, as former Vice President Dick Cheney once did, that the insurgency was in its last throes,” writes Elisabeth Bumiller in yesterday’s Times.
One wonders what is going to happen in 2024. What does general Odierno know about 2024 that we don’t know?
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12 comments 
Maybe most soldiers will then be flipping out in India?
See the nice documentary ‘Flipping Out’ by Yoav Shamir http://tiny.cc/iLxaf
See the nice documentary ‘Flipping Out’ by Yoav Shamir http://tiny.cc/iLxaf
and there's yet another thing to look forward to.
2024
It's not the general , but the journalist who produced this absurdly specific claim about the future .Do the math, it's 15 years from now. Indeed , the next paragraph quotes the general talking about "the next 5, 10, 15 years". Not quite the same as making a prediction about 2024. Strange that a newspaper like NYT would let this slip through the editorial process.Michel
Plausible.I'm glad Michel is still here.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you tonight.
Lovely article today in 'De Morgen' about major Roelen. Tell him , I'm certainly going to read his book.
Lovely article today in 'De Morgen' about major Roelen. Tell him , I'm certainly going to read his book.
Font size
Sander, would you be willing to increase the font size or spacing for the text in the comment box? I find it impossible to see where my punctuation marks and spaces are located, as evidenced by the multitude of typos in my comment above. Not sure how the rest of the commentariat feels about this, but my hunch is that a larger font would dramatically reduce the number of typos on this site.@ Michel
Are you talking about the text in the form? I am perfectly willing to consider that. Anyone agrees?Sander
Yes, the text in the form, the field named "comment".Not sure if other commenters are still reading this thread, but if so, please indicate your preference.
@Michel V
I agree. (To avoid that font size problem I always use ms word and then copy the text)
I agree. (To avoid that font size problem I always use ms word and then copy the text)
The reason the site is still using the flash comment form is that is has proved as a nice way to prevent comment spam. Except for a single event, no spam has ever entered the system. (Not counting boring comments as spam, that is.)
I've increased the font-size a bit. It is better now, but I agree the best option would be a HTML form which would also check the spelling. In the meantime, Bernard F's tip about using external text editors is a nice one.
I've increased the font-size a bit. It is better now, but I agree the best option would be a HTML form which would also check the spelling. In the meantime, Bernard F's tip about using external text editors is a nice one.
Testing, testing, 1 2 3. Oh yes, much better. Thanks, Sander.
By the way, I understand that the form serves to ward off nastiness and wholehartedly support that function.
By the way, I understand that the form serves to ward off nastiness and wholehartedly support that function.
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