Post #25
The War on Terror is a race against time – we need to convince those who want to do us harm that there is a better way BEFORE they do us harm. We need to be smarter. Quoting Pat Buchanan from post #22, “If Bush does not want a war of civilizations, he will drop these propaganda terms [Islamic-fascists] that are designed to inflame passions rather than inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in.” And I said, “Of course, George W. Bush will NOT inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in. And that is a failure of leadership.”
We are not at war with Islam. We have adversaries, enemies, rivals around the world – including those who (mis)use Islam – requiring different approaches. I think it was right “to make no distinction between terrorists organizations and the governments that harbor them.” I supported going into Afghanistan on 9/12, and I think Pakistan ought to be next. I appreciate “the best defense is a good offense” – Bush has coached a bad offense. Afghanistan has not been won – poor execution. Iraq was a mistake and has not been won – poor execution of a bad idea. An air strike against Iran would be foolish. The only way to insure that Iran is nuclear-free is a full-scale invasion, an invasion that will be much more costly than an air strike. Bush is setting up for strike three.
I saw yesterday a book in the library: Why America Lost the War on Terror. Well, let me say the War on Terror is NOT lost – yes, our current administration has set us on the wrong course, but eventually we’ll get there. And “the wrong course” is spreading democracy at gunpoint. Speaking of Bush’s democracy project, when did peeps begin to support that? Was it before or after no WMD was found? If democracy were to bloom tomorrow in Iraq, how would that stop planes from flying into buildings? Winning rhetoric for a lost cause.
A group of 21 former generals and national security advisers sent President Bush a letter – see my post #14 – calling on the commander-in-chief to reverse his course on Iraq and on Iran. The letter states “the administration‘s hardline policies have undermined America‘s security and made the country less safe.” Yes, we are less safe – a child born in Iraq today, will he be more or less likely to fly a suicide plane into the White House in 20 years? I think “more likely” – if the War on Terror will last 40 years, we have squandered five years and Bush is determined to continue his failed policies until he leaves office. Victory in the War on Terror could have been ours in 2041 – now, we’ll have to wait until 2049. Thank you, George W.! [rolleyes] I hope the next President will set us on the road to victory.
On a personal note, I only blog once a week or so – just felt I had to do something. Obviously I do not know everything – probably very little – and have some nutty ideas myself. But Freedom of Speech and all that. Yes, the Weasels in Washington – including George Weasel Bush – get it good. Seriously, I try to avoid “slogan-eering” – “Bumper Sticker” politics, I call it. I do not always succeed. :p The slogan I’ve used elsewhere on the ‘net “Support our troops – bring em home” – well, on my blog, it’s obvious that it goes farther: “Support our troops – bring em home… from Iraq… and send em to Afghanistan.” I understand where peeps are coming from – I too may have supported the democracy project if we had finished in Afghanistan. I hope I made clear where I’m coming from. I’m often accused of not clearly and fully explaining myself. I hope, too, we can toast each other in 40 years….
Friday, September 29, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Post #24
Subject: NIE report declassified
This is important because members of George W. Bush’s administration – and not just nutty bloggers – are telling him he is wrong. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
From http://www.cnn.com/ticker:
The White House has declassified key portions of the National Intelligence Estimate "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States" dated April 2006.
Key quotes from the declassified document:
"We assess that the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives; perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere."
"The Iraq conflict has become the .cause celebre. for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight. "
[Yes, Iraq has made us less safe and will continue to make us less safe and less safe. Unless we win. So, yes, the invasion of Iraq was a mistake and will be an even bigger mistake. Unless we win. Unfortunately, Bush has no clue how to win. What about a withdrawal? Look, as I said in Post #1, let’s win… or leave. There is no middle ground – leaving is the same as staying the course… without the deaths. Of course, leaving now will put us over three years behind in a 40-year effort to win the War on Terror – that is better than squandering the extra time until Bush leaves office.
Good Lord, why is this so hard to see?]
From http://www.c-span.org:
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee held an oversight hearing on the planning and execution of the war in Iraq. Retired military leaders testified about decision making at the Department of Defense, prosecution of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the readiness status of U.S. forces. Several called for the resignation of Defense secretary Rumsfeld saying he had poorly planned for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, dismissed the prospect of an insurgency, and sent American troops into the fray with inadequate equipment. In his testimony Major General John R.S. Batiste charged that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration "did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq." He also told the committee, "If we had seriously laid out and considered the full range of requirements for the war in Iraq, we would likely have taken a different course of action that would have maintained a clear focus on our main effort in Afghanistan, not fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe, and not created more enemies than there were insurgents."
[Batiste had a well-thought-out plan for winning… even at this late date. I need to find that.]
Subject: NIE report declassified
This is important because members of George W. Bush’s administration – and not just nutty bloggers – are telling him he is wrong. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
From http://www.cnn.com/ticker:
The White House has declassified key portions of the National Intelligence Estimate "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States" dated April 2006.
Key quotes from the declassified document:
"We assess that the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives; perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere."
"The Iraq conflict has become the .cause celebre. for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight. "
[Yes, Iraq has made us less safe and will continue to make us less safe and less safe. Unless we win. So, yes, the invasion of Iraq was a mistake and will be an even bigger mistake. Unless we win. Unfortunately, Bush has no clue how to win. What about a withdrawal? Look, as I said in Post #1, let’s win… or leave. There is no middle ground – leaving is the same as staying the course… without the deaths. Of course, leaving now will put us over three years behind in a 40-year effort to win the War on Terror – that is better than squandering the extra time until Bush leaves office.
Good Lord, why is this so hard to see?]
From http://www.c-span.org:
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee held an oversight hearing on the planning and execution of the war in Iraq. Retired military leaders testified about decision making at the Department of Defense, prosecution of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the readiness status of U.S. forces. Several called for the resignation of Defense secretary Rumsfeld saying he had poorly planned for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, dismissed the prospect of an insurgency, and sent American troops into the fray with inadequate equipment. In his testimony Major General John R.S. Batiste charged that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration "did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq." He also told the committee, "If we had seriously laid out and considered the full range of requirements for the war in Iraq, we would likely have taken a different course of action that would have maintained a clear focus on our main effort in Afghanistan, not fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe, and not created more enemies than there were insurgents."
[Batiste had a well-thought-out plan for winning… even at this late date. I need to find that.]
Monday, September 25, 2006
Post #23
Subject: ... more dyin'
I was wrong in Post #1 – the troops are NOT coming home. Apparently, George W. Bush really means that our troops will continue to be slaughtered in Iraq until he leaves office.
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
U.S. Army extends 4,000 tours of duty in Iraq
Germany-based brigade operating in Ramadi area to stay on extra weeks
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE
WASHINGTON - In a new sign of mounting strain from the war in Iraq, the Army has extended the combat tours of about 4,000 soldiers who would otherwise be returning home, defense officials said Monday.
The 1st Brigade of 1st Armored Division, which is operating in the vicinity of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, will be kept in place for several weeks beyond its scheduled departure, the officials said. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced by the Pentagon.
Also, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters that “some units” are being sent to Iraq ahead of schedule, although he offered no details. Rumsfeld declined to discuss the case of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored, saying that as a general matter some units, “from time to time,” are extended in Iraq.
The brigade’s home base is in Germany. The soldiers’ families were notified on Monday that instead of going home in early January as scheduled, the brigade would be kept in Iraq until February — an extension of about six weeks, one of the officials said. Army officials also have notified members of Congress.
The brigade has about 4,000 soldiers in Iraq. They are not the first to be extended.
In late July the Army extended the Iraq tour of the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade. About 300 soldiers from that unit had already returned home and were required to go back to Iraq. The brigade is now operating in Baghdad.
The reasons for these extensions are different, but they both reflect the fact that the Army is hard pressed now to maintain rotations for Iraq and Afghanistan at the current pace. The 172nd was extended by four months in order to strengthen U.S. forces in Baghdad, where commanders are trying to avert a full-scale civil war.
The 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division was extended in order to allow its replacement unit, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, a minimum 12 months between overseas tours, the official said. The 3rd Infantry has already served two tours in Iraq, including the initial invasion of the country in March 2003.
Last week, the top American commander in the region said the U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed.
Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war.
The Army has a stated goal of giving active-duty soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours, but it is unable to achieve that “dwell time,” as the Army calls, because it does not have enough brigades to meet the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would not be a problem now if the situation in Iraq had improved enough to allow the Army to reduce its presence as originally planned.
Army Secretary Francis Harvey told The Associated Press last week that the amount of time between deployments has shrunk this year from 18 months to 14 months. In the case of the 3rd Infantry, it appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months because it is heading for Iraq to replace the extended brigade of the 1st Armored.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Subject: ... more dyin'
I was wrong in Post #1 – the troops are NOT coming home. Apparently, George W. Bush really means that our troops will continue to be slaughtered in Iraq until he leaves office.
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
U.S. Army extends 4,000 tours of duty in Iraq
Germany-based brigade operating in Ramadi area to stay on extra weeks
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE
WASHINGTON - In a new sign of mounting strain from the war in Iraq, the Army has extended the combat tours of about 4,000 soldiers who would otherwise be returning home, defense officials said Monday.
The 1st Brigade of 1st Armored Division, which is operating in the vicinity of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, will be kept in place for several weeks beyond its scheduled departure, the officials said. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced by the Pentagon.
Also, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters that “some units” are being sent to Iraq ahead of schedule, although he offered no details. Rumsfeld declined to discuss the case of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored, saying that as a general matter some units, “from time to time,” are extended in Iraq.
The brigade’s home base is in Germany. The soldiers’ families were notified on Monday that instead of going home in early January as scheduled, the brigade would be kept in Iraq until February — an extension of about six weeks, one of the officials said. Army officials also have notified members of Congress.
The brigade has about 4,000 soldiers in Iraq. They are not the first to be extended.
In late July the Army extended the Iraq tour of the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade. About 300 soldiers from that unit had already returned home and were required to go back to Iraq. The brigade is now operating in Baghdad.
The reasons for these extensions are different, but they both reflect the fact that the Army is hard pressed now to maintain rotations for Iraq and Afghanistan at the current pace. The 172nd was extended by four months in order to strengthen U.S. forces in Baghdad, where commanders are trying to avert a full-scale civil war.
The 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division was extended in order to allow its replacement unit, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, a minimum 12 months between overseas tours, the official said. The 3rd Infantry has already served two tours in Iraq, including the initial invasion of the country in March 2003.
Last week, the top American commander in the region said the U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed.
Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war.
The Army has a stated goal of giving active-duty soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours, but it is unable to achieve that “dwell time,” as the Army calls, because it does not have enough brigades to meet the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would not be a problem now if the situation in Iraq had improved enough to allow the Army to reduce its presence as originally planned.
Army Secretary Francis Harvey told The Associated Press last week that the amount of time between deployments has shrunk this year from 18 months to 14 months. In the case of the 3rd Infantry, it appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months because it is heading for Iraq to replace the extended brigade of the 1st Armored.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Friday, September 22, 2006
Post #22
Osama Bin Hitler? Pt III
Who are you? I really want to know. We cannot defeat our enemy if we do not know who the enemy is. I quote from the column “Islamo-fascism?” by Pat Buchanan, http://www.theamericancause.org/ , from September 1, 2006. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
“… President Bush’s assertion that we are ‘at war with Islamic fascism’ and ‘Islamo-fascism.’
“After the transatlantic bomb plot was smashed, Bush said the plotters ‘try to spread their jihadist message… Islamic radicalism, “Islamic fascism” they try to spread it… by taking the attack to those of us who love freedom.’
“Unsurprisingly, it is neoconservatives… who are promoting use of the term. Their goal is to have Bush stuff al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran into the same ‘Islamo-fascist’ kill box, then let Strategic Air Command do the rest.
“But the term represents the same lazy, shallow thinking that got us into Iraq, where Americans were persuaded that by dumping over Saddam, we were avenging 9/11.”
[“Lazy,” in Bush’s Washington? The crowd who was asleep on 9/11 – their own threat-assessment after taking office had “international terrorism” as #7, the crowd who has not finished in Afghanistan or Iraq, the crowd who will not enforce immigration laws, the crowd who stood by while American citizens starved to death in New Orleans. “Lazy?” Surely, you jest, Pat.]
“If Bush does not want a war of civilizations, he will drop these propaganda terms that are designed to inflame passions rather than inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in.”
[Of course, George W. Bush will NOT inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in. And that is a failure of leadership.]
“America faces a variety of adversaries, enemies and evils. But the Bombs-Away Caucus, as Iraq and Lebanon reveal, does not always have the right formula. Al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all present separate challenges calling forth different responses.
“Al-Qaida appears to exist for one purpose: Plot and perpetrate mass murder to terrorize Americans and Europeans into getting out of the Islamic world. Contrary to what Bush believes, the 9/11 killers and London and Madrid bombers were not out to repeal the Bill of Rights, if any ever read it. They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first.
[Please listen: “Al-Qaida appears to exist for one purpose: Plot and perpetrate mass murder to terrorize Americans and Europeans into getting out of the Islamic world. Contrary to what Bush believes, the 9/11 killers and London and Madrid bombers were not out to repeal the Bill of Rights, if any ever read it. They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first.” Bombing Iran, democracy blooming in Iraq or invading Syria will NOT stop planes from flying into buildings. Our enemy is in Afghanistan – the enemy who should be the focus of our military.]
Osama Bin Hitler? Pt III
Who are you? I really want to know. We cannot defeat our enemy if we do not know who the enemy is. I quote from the column “Islamo-fascism?” by Pat Buchanan, http://www.theamericancause.org/ , from September 1, 2006. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
“… President Bush’s assertion that we are ‘at war with Islamic fascism’ and ‘Islamo-fascism.’
“After the transatlantic bomb plot was smashed, Bush said the plotters ‘try to spread their jihadist message… Islamic radicalism, “Islamic fascism” they try to spread it… by taking the attack to those of us who love freedom.’
“Unsurprisingly, it is neoconservatives… who are promoting use of the term. Their goal is to have Bush stuff al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran into the same ‘Islamo-fascist’ kill box, then let Strategic Air Command do the rest.
“But the term represents the same lazy, shallow thinking that got us into Iraq, where Americans were persuaded that by dumping over Saddam, we were avenging 9/11.”
[“Lazy,” in Bush’s Washington? The crowd who was asleep on 9/11 – their own threat-assessment after taking office had “international terrorism” as #7, the crowd who has not finished in Afghanistan or Iraq, the crowd who will not enforce immigration laws, the crowd who stood by while American citizens starved to death in New Orleans. “Lazy?” Surely, you jest, Pat.]
“If Bush does not want a war of civilizations, he will drop these propaganda terms that are designed to inflame passions rather than inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in.”
[Of course, George W. Bush will NOT inform the public of the nature of the war we are in, and the war we are not in. And that is a failure of leadership.]
“America faces a variety of adversaries, enemies and evils. But the Bombs-Away Caucus, as Iraq and Lebanon reveal, does not always have the right formula. Al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all present separate challenges calling forth different responses.
“Al-Qaida appears to exist for one purpose: Plot and perpetrate mass murder to terrorize Americans and Europeans into getting out of the Islamic world. Contrary to what Bush believes, the 9/11 killers and London and Madrid bombers were not out to repeal the Bill of Rights, if any ever read it. They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first.
[Please listen: “Al-Qaida appears to exist for one purpose: Plot and perpetrate mass murder to terrorize Americans and Europeans into getting out of the Islamic world. Contrary to what Bush believes, the 9/11 killers and London and Madrid bombers were not out to repeal the Bill of Rights, if any ever read it. They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first.” Bombing Iran, democracy blooming in Iraq or invading Syria will NOT stop planes from flying into buildings. Our enemy is in Afghanistan – the enemy who should be the focus of our military.]
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Post #21
Subject: Here we go again....
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
… from MSNBC.com….
IAEA: 'Outrageous' inaccuracies in Iran report
House letter 'dishonest' in case against Tehran, official says
VIENNA, Austria - A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran’s nuclear capability is “outrageous and dishonest” in trying to make a case that Tehran’s program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.
The letter, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press outside a 35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the report is false in saying Iran is making weapons-grade uranium at an experimental enrichment site, when it has in fact produced material only in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in nuclear arms.
The letter, which was first reported on by The Washington Post, also says the report erroneously says that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei removed a senior nuclear inspector from the team investigating Iran’s nuclear program “for concluding that the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is to construct weapons.”
In fact, the inspector was sidelined on Tehran’s request, and the Islamic republic had a right to ask for a replacement under agreements that govern all states relationships with the agency, said the letter, calling the report’s version “incorrect and misleading.”
“In addition,” says the letter, “the report contains an outrageous and dishonest suggestion that such removal might have been for ‘not having adhered to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth about the Iranian nuclear program.”
Dated Aug. 12, the letter was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director of the Vienna-based agency.
An IAEA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the letter, said it was written “to set the record straight.”
The dispute was reminiscent of the clashes between the IAEA and Washington over whether Saddam Hussein was trying to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. American arguments that Saddam had such covert arms programs were given as the chief reason for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam.
ElBaradei’s criticism of the U.S. standpoint on Iraq and subsequent perceptions that he was soft on Iran in his staff’s investigation of suspicions Tehran’s nuclear activities may be a cover for a weapons program led to a failed attempt last year by Washington to prevent his re-election.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Good Lord. This is not hard. We have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over – we can and should get what we want.
The stick, the BIG stick: We need to make clear, if a nuclear bomb goes off in Tel Aviv, we will fry Iran – Iran needs to pressure its terrorist puppets around the world to play nice. If a nuclear bomb goes off in a Tokyo, North Korea will be gone. Any country upwind from the fallout – can ya say China? – will face pressure to pressure those countries that live on the edge.
A carrot: If Iran or North Korea want peaceful nuclear energy, then good ol’ American nuclear technology they shall have! Butter em up, play nice, invite em over for a nation-wide tour – like Khrushchev during the ‘50s, debate em on TV.
What will NOT work is an air strike. I saw today a newspaper column by that darlin’ neo-con, Charles Krauthammer, that laid out the costs of an air strike. That was fine – as far as it went. The only way to insure that Iran is nuclear-free is a full-scale invasion, an invasion that will be much more costly than an air strike – Duh! The only nuts who believe an air strike against Iran is the way to go are the same nuts who thought democracy would bloom in Iraq and across the Middle East if only Saddam was dethroned.
Help! The inmates are running the asylum!!
Subject: Here we go again....
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
… from MSNBC.com….
IAEA: 'Outrageous' inaccuracies in Iran report
House letter 'dishonest' in case against Tehran, official says
VIENNA, Austria - A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran’s nuclear capability is “outrageous and dishonest” in trying to make a case that Tehran’s program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.
The letter, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press outside a 35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the report is false in saying Iran is making weapons-grade uranium at an experimental enrichment site, when it has in fact produced material only in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in nuclear arms.
The letter, which was first reported on by The Washington Post, also says the report erroneously says that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei removed a senior nuclear inspector from the team investigating Iran’s nuclear program “for concluding that the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is to construct weapons.”
In fact, the inspector was sidelined on Tehran’s request, and the Islamic republic had a right to ask for a replacement under agreements that govern all states relationships with the agency, said the letter, calling the report’s version “incorrect and misleading.”
“In addition,” says the letter, “the report contains an outrageous and dishonest suggestion that such removal might have been for ‘not having adhered to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth about the Iranian nuclear program.”
Dated Aug. 12, the letter was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director of the Vienna-based agency.
An IAEA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the letter, said it was written “to set the record straight.”
The dispute was reminiscent of the clashes between the IAEA and Washington over whether Saddam Hussein was trying to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. American arguments that Saddam had such covert arms programs were given as the chief reason for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam.
ElBaradei’s criticism of the U.S. standpoint on Iraq and subsequent perceptions that he was soft on Iran in his staff’s investigation of suspicions Tehran’s nuclear activities may be a cover for a weapons program led to a failed attempt last year by Washington to prevent his re-election.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Good Lord. This is not hard. We have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over – we can and should get what we want.
The stick, the BIG stick: We need to make clear, if a nuclear bomb goes off in Tel Aviv, we will fry Iran – Iran needs to pressure its terrorist puppets around the world to play nice. If a nuclear bomb goes off in a Tokyo, North Korea will be gone. Any country upwind from the fallout – can ya say China? – will face pressure to pressure those countries that live on the edge.
A carrot: If Iran or North Korea want peaceful nuclear energy, then good ol’ American nuclear technology they shall have! Butter em up, play nice, invite em over for a nation-wide tour – like Khrushchev during the ‘50s, debate em on TV.
What will NOT work is an air strike. I saw today a newspaper column by that darlin’ neo-con, Charles Krauthammer, that laid out the costs of an air strike. That was fine – as far as it went. The only way to insure that Iran is nuclear-free is a full-scale invasion, an invasion that will be much more costly than an air strike – Duh! The only nuts who believe an air strike against Iran is the way to go are the same nuts who thought democracy would bloom in Iraq and across the Middle East if only Saddam was dethroned.
Help! The inmates are running the asylum!!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Post #20
Where are we? I’m including Keith Olbermann’s essay from his MSNBC show that he gave on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 – and will be repeated tonight, by the way. Now, some of the rhetoric is over-the-top, but this is a personal note written by somebody who was personally affected by 9/11. Ann Coulter would not understand why I’m posting this. Keith’s basic point is right – George W. Bush squandered an historic opportunity to provide leadership. Instead, he fooled people into supporting a nutty political theory. Thank you, George W.! [rolleyes]
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
Subject: 9/11
Sept. 11, 2006
This hole in the ground
Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.
All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.
And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.
I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.
Five years later this space is still empty.
Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country's wound is still open.
Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.
Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial -- barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field -- Mr. Lincoln said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground." So we won't.
Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they're doing instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President -- and those around him -- did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced -- possibly financed by -- the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?
Just as the terrorists have succeeded -- are still succeeding -- as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero.
So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney's continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things.
And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car -- and only his car -- starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man's lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot -- but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help. The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves."
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."
When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American...When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Where are we? I’m including Keith Olbermann’s essay from his MSNBC show that he gave on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 – and will be repeated tonight, by the way. Now, some of the rhetoric is over-the-top, but this is a personal note written by somebody who was personally affected by 9/11. Ann Coulter would not understand why I’m posting this. Keith’s basic point is right – George W. Bush squandered an historic opportunity to provide leadership. Instead, he fooled people into supporting a nutty political theory. Thank you, George W.! [rolleyes]
----- Start Forwarded Message -----
Subject: 9/11
Sept. 11, 2006
This hole in the ground
Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.
All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.
And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.
I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.
Five years later this space is still empty.
Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country's wound is still open.
Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.
Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial -- barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field -- Mr. Lincoln said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground." So we won't.
Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they're doing instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President -- and those around him -- did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced -- possibly financed by -- the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?
Just as the terrorists have succeeded -- are still succeeding -- as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero.
So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney's continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things.
And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car -- and only his car -- starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man's lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot -- but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help. The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves."
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."
When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American...When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
----- End Forwarded Message -----
Friday, September 08, 2006
Post #19
Osama Bin Hitler? Pt. II
Continued, the “Nazi” speech, the address at the 88th annual American Legion National Convention delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
* * *
We need to consider the following questions, I would submit:
With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased? Can folks really continue to think that free countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists?
[Uh, Pakistan?]
Can we afford the luxury of pretending that the threats today are simply law enforcement problems, like robbing a bank or stealing a car; rather than threats of a fundamentally different nature requiring fundamentally different approaches?
[“fundamentally different” – not Nazis? Look, we need a comprehensive approach: Diplomacy, intelligence, law enforcement and, yes, the military rooting out Al-Qaeda camps and toppling governments that harbor them – NOT spreading democracy.]
And can we really afford to return to the destructive view that America, not the enemy, but America, is the source of the world's troubles?
[NOT America – George W. Bush! Well, OK, Bush is not the source, but he’s no help either. And, most importantly, his actions have NOT made us safer – we are less safe today, five years after 9/11.]
These are central questions of our time, and we must face them and face them honestly.
[“honestly” – there’s a strange word in Bush’s Washington! :p]
We hear every day of new plans, new efforts to murder Americans and other free people. Indeed, the plot that was discovered in London that would have killed hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of innocent men, women and children on aircraft flying from London to the United States should remind us that this enemy is serious, lethal, and relentless.
But this is still not well recognized or fully understood. It seems that in some quarters there's more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats.
[I understand. I also know who is dividing – “with us or against us.”]
The struggle we are in -- the consequences are too severe -- the struggle too important to have the luxury of returning to that old mentality of "Blame America First."
[Yep, “Blame Bush!”]
And that is important in any long struggle or long war, where any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong, can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere.
[NO confusion here – you are wrong, Mr. Rumsfeld. And, ultimately, your boss. The insistence on forcing liberty’s march at gunpoint has made us less safe by setting up a breeding ground for those who want to do us harm.]
Iraq, a country that was brutalized by a cruel and dangerous dictatorship, is now traveling the slow, difficult, bumpy, uncertain path to a secure new future under a representative government that will be at peace with its neighbors, rather than a threat to their own people, to their neighbors, or to the world.
[But how is this making us more safe? If democracy bloomed tomorrow in Iraq, tell me how that’ll stop planes flying into buildings?]
Osama Bin Hitler? Pt. II
Continued, the “Nazi” speech, the address at the 88th annual American Legion National Convention delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
* * *
We need to consider the following questions, I would submit:
With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased? Can folks really continue to think that free countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists?
[Uh, Pakistan?]
Can we afford the luxury of pretending that the threats today are simply law enforcement problems, like robbing a bank or stealing a car; rather than threats of a fundamentally different nature requiring fundamentally different approaches?
[“fundamentally different” – not Nazis? Look, we need a comprehensive approach: Diplomacy, intelligence, law enforcement and, yes, the military rooting out Al-Qaeda camps and toppling governments that harbor them – NOT spreading democracy.]
And can we really afford to return to the destructive view that America, not the enemy, but America, is the source of the world's troubles?
[NOT America – George W. Bush! Well, OK, Bush is not the source, but he’s no help either. And, most importantly, his actions have NOT made us safer – we are less safe today, five years after 9/11.]
These are central questions of our time, and we must face them and face them honestly.
[“honestly” – there’s a strange word in Bush’s Washington! :p]
We hear every day of new plans, new efforts to murder Americans and other free people. Indeed, the plot that was discovered in London that would have killed hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of innocent men, women and children on aircraft flying from London to the United States should remind us that this enemy is serious, lethal, and relentless.
But this is still not well recognized or fully understood. It seems that in some quarters there's more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats.
[I understand. I also know who is dividing – “with us or against us.”]
The struggle we are in -- the consequences are too severe -- the struggle too important to have the luxury of returning to that old mentality of "Blame America First."
[Yep, “Blame Bush!”]
And that is important in any long struggle or long war, where any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong, can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere.
[NO confusion here – you are wrong, Mr. Rumsfeld. And, ultimately, your boss. The insistence on forcing liberty’s march at gunpoint has made us less safe by setting up a breeding ground for those who want to do us harm.]
Iraq, a country that was brutalized by a cruel and dangerous dictatorship, is now traveling the slow, difficult, bumpy, uncertain path to a secure new future under a representative government that will be at peace with its neighbors, rather than a threat to their own people, to their neighbors, or to the world.
[But how is this making us more safe? If democracy bloomed tomorrow in Iraq, tell me how that’ll stop planes flying into buildings?]
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Post #18
Osama Bin Hitler?
I’m sure that anybody who is reading this blog has heard of the “Nazi” speech, the address at the 88th annual American Legion National Convention delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Salt Lake City, Utah, Tuesday, August 29, 2006. I want to give my impressions.
First, it is well-written.
- There are bullets – strategic pauses, l-o-n-g involved phrases followed by short phrases and other rhetorical devices that make this speech an easy listen and an easy read.
- There are personal notes. On a personal note, I’ve read Gerry Spence’s How to Argue and Win Every Time – or something like that :p – and understand the powerful effect of personal notes.
Second, some of the thinking is just,… well,… wrong. The concerns about the actual Nazi link are overblown. I’ve eliminated the “red meat” – those parts designed to get applause; surprisingly, most of the speech is “red meat” – and gotten to the points. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
* * *
It's a privilege to work with a president who is determined to protect our flag. … We are fortunate to have a leader of strong resolve at a time of war.
[Uh, when did Congress declare war? Ya know, George W. Bush, the Constitution, that document you’re supposed to protect and defend – when did Congress follow that document? When did ya ask? I thought, after 9/11, ya said that, if we change the way we live, the terrorists win. Now, we are at war. What happened?]
Through all the challenges, he remains the same man who stood atop the rubble in Manhattan with a bullhorn vowing to fight back. The leader who told a grieving nation that we will never forget what was lost. And the President who has worked every day to fulfill his vow to protect the American people and to bring the enemy to justice or to bring justice to the enemy.
[Good Lord. Pay attention to this blog sometime, Don Rumsfeld, and see your “Great Leader” in action.]
That year -- 1919 -- turned out to be one of the pivotal junctures in modern history with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the creation of the League of Nations, a treaty and an organization intended to make future wars unnecessary and obsolete. Indeed, 1919 was the beginning of a period where, over time, a very different set of views would come to dominate public discourse and thinking in the West.
Over the next decades, a sentiment took root that contended that if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and Asia could be accommodated, then the carnage and the destruction of then-recent memory of World War I could be avoided.
It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among Western democracies. When those who warned about a coming crisis, the rise of fascism and nazism, they were ridiculed or ignored. Indeed, in the decades before World War II, a great many argued that the fascist threat was exaggerated or that it was someone else's problem. Some nations tried to negotiate a separate peace, even as the enemy made its deadly ambitions crystal clear. It was, as Winston Churchill observed, a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last.
There was a strange innocence about the world. Someone recently recalled one U.S. senator's reaction in September of 1939 upon hearing that Hitler had invaded Poland to start World War II. He exclaimed:
“Lord, if only I had talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided!"
I recount that history because once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism. Today -- another enemy, a different kind of enemy -- has made clear its intentions with attacks in places like New York and Washington, D.C., Bali, London, Madrid, Moscow and so many other places. But some seem not to have learned history's lessons.
[Aaahhh – I’ve included that section to show the folly of reading too much into history’s lessons. It was not a “strange innocence” – it was a reading of history: The Great War, WWI, occurred because of NOT talking.
More later….]
Osama Bin Hitler?
I’m sure that anybody who is reading this blog has heard of the “Nazi” speech, the address at the 88th annual American Legion National Convention delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Salt Lake City, Utah, Tuesday, August 29, 2006. I want to give my impressions.
First, it is well-written.
- There are bullets – strategic pauses, l-o-n-g involved phrases followed by short phrases and other rhetorical devices that make this speech an easy listen and an easy read.
- There are personal notes. On a personal note, I’ve read Gerry Spence’s How to Argue and Win Every Time – or something like that :p – and understand the powerful effect of personal notes.
Second, some of the thinking is just,… well,… wrong. The concerns about the actual Nazi link are overblown. I’ve eliminated the “red meat” – those parts designed to get applause; surprisingly, most of the speech is “red meat” – and gotten to the points. My responses and additions – in [brackets]….
* * *
It's a privilege to work with a president who is determined to protect our flag. … We are fortunate to have a leader of strong resolve at a time of war.
[Uh, when did Congress declare war? Ya know, George W. Bush, the Constitution, that document you’re supposed to protect and defend – when did Congress follow that document? When did ya ask? I thought, after 9/11, ya said that, if we change the way we live, the terrorists win. Now, we are at war. What happened?]
Through all the challenges, he remains the same man who stood atop the rubble in Manhattan with a bullhorn vowing to fight back. The leader who told a grieving nation that we will never forget what was lost. And the President who has worked every day to fulfill his vow to protect the American people and to bring the enemy to justice or to bring justice to the enemy.
[Good Lord. Pay attention to this blog sometime, Don Rumsfeld, and see your “Great Leader” in action.]
That year -- 1919 -- turned out to be one of the pivotal junctures in modern history with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the creation of the League of Nations, a treaty and an organization intended to make future wars unnecessary and obsolete. Indeed, 1919 was the beginning of a period where, over time, a very different set of views would come to dominate public discourse and thinking in the West.
Over the next decades, a sentiment took root that contended that if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and Asia could be accommodated, then the carnage and the destruction of then-recent memory of World War I could be avoided.
It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among Western democracies. When those who warned about a coming crisis, the rise of fascism and nazism, they were ridiculed or ignored. Indeed, in the decades before World War II, a great many argued that the fascist threat was exaggerated or that it was someone else's problem. Some nations tried to negotiate a separate peace, even as the enemy made its deadly ambitions crystal clear. It was, as Winston Churchill observed, a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last.
There was a strange innocence about the world. Someone recently recalled one U.S. senator's reaction in September of 1939 upon hearing that Hitler had invaded Poland to start World War II. He exclaimed:
“Lord, if only I had talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided!"
I recount that history because once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism. Today -- another enemy, a different kind of enemy -- has made clear its intentions with attacks in places like New York and Washington, D.C., Bali, London, Madrid, Moscow and so many other places. But some seem not to have learned history's lessons.
[Aaahhh – I’ve included that section to show the folly of reading too much into history’s lessons. It was not a “strange innocence” – it was a reading of history: The Great War, WWI, occurred because of NOT talking.
More later….]
Friday, September 01, 2006
Post #17
Subject: The Soldier and the Nun
A soldier came to a fork in the road and saw a nun standing there. Out of breath he asked, "Please Sister, may I hide under your skirts for a few minutes. I'll explain WHY later."
The nun agreed.
Just a moment later, two Military Police came running along and asked, "Sister, have you seen a soldier running by here??"
The nun replied, "He went that way."
After the MP's disappeared, the soldier crawled out from under her skirt and said, "I can't thank you enough Sister, but you see I don't want to go to Iraq."
The nun said, "I think I can fully understand your fear."
The soldier added, "I hope you don't think me rude or impertinent, but you have a great pair of legs!"
The nun replied, "If you had looked a little higher, you would have seen a great pair of balls....I don't want to go to Iraq either."
Subject: The Soldier and the Nun
A soldier came to a fork in the road and saw a nun standing there. Out of breath he asked, "Please Sister, may I hide under your skirts for a few minutes. I'll explain WHY later."
The nun agreed.
Just a moment later, two Military Police came running along and asked, "Sister, have you seen a soldier running by here??"
The nun replied, "He went that way."
After the MP's disappeared, the soldier crawled out from under her skirt and said, "I can't thank you enough Sister, but you see I don't want to go to Iraq."
The nun said, "I think I can fully understand your fear."
The soldier added, "I hope you don't think me rude or impertinent, but you have a great pair of legs!"
The nun replied, "If you had looked a little higher, you would have seen a great pair of balls....I don't want to go to Iraq either."
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