Mr. Gloom & Doonesbury

I was going to put a few words together about how the political in-fighting within the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has reached a head in recent days and the Old Guard loyalists to the Swedish and Malaysian exiles are now on a collision course with the Young Guard, the guys who didn’t run but stuck it out here through decades of bloodshed and repression.
Sounds vaguely familiar: I’m no expert bit I don’t know a post-conflict situation where similar schisms haven’t emerged.
I was going to write about how there has been a marked increase in shakedowns, truck-jackings and robberies and how guys with handles like Rambo and Deadheart are unwrapping their oiled and cached weapons – by some estimates as many as 1,200 were not decommissioned post-peace deal – and running amok with the tacit support of their commanders while the European Union organ AMM works diligently to whitewash the whole situation in the interests of personal and professional expediency.
I was going to write about how on the eve of the elections (that among other things will set the two GAM factions against one another for the governor’s job much to the glee of the existing power structures) all the prerequisites are in place for the emergence of the perfect storm: the hot winds of a fragmented, armed independence movement colliding with the cooled expectations of homeless, unemployable, landless and poorly represented populations (who may or may not be who they claim-plenty fraud out there) two years after the tsunami.
But I’ll leave further explorations of that gloomy prospect for another night. For now, I’ll direct you to The Sandbox, (http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox) a creation of Doonesbury illustrator Gary Trudeau, a forum not unlike a blog, where ordinary US servicemen and women can post their thoughts and experiences.
Today’s postings include one soldier’s description of being mortared while on guard duty in Iraq; an American soldier in Afghanistan writes about his admiration for his civilian translators and an officer stateside contrasts Cheney’s visit to his base with his job at the time, packing the worldly possessions of a dead 23-year-old female soldier into boxes to be sent to her family.
Gripping stuff.