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Black Hawk Down. And Down and Down And Down (February 5, 2007)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Iraq, Military on February 5, 2007 by e-ssay.org

A fourth American helicopter was shot down or crashed under fire in the last two weeks.  The Iraqis are now emboldened and have figured out how to evade the evasive measures undertaken by the American helicopters.  [See the concern raised in the e-ssay dated September 25, 2006.]

The decision by the Chinese to blast the satellite a few weeks ago is another ominous threat particularly because the officials most likely to oversee such an action indicated that they were not aware of the decision to launch.  Things may be out of control over there also.

The recent declassified version of the “National Intelligence Estimate” offers another bleak analysis of the quagmire in Iraq.  The situation is deteriorating and requiring more graves.

A soldier killed in a roadside bombing was the 100th British death attributed to hostile action since the invasion in 2003, according to the Ministry of Defense.  American deaths are one or two away from 3100.

One reader noted that more horses than soldiers were killed and wounded in the Charge of the Light Brigade.  The horses are the unnamed Iraqis whose deaths are unacknowledged if not disregarded.  The Barbaros of the battlefield.

Congress is debating a resolution that may express its resolve, yet Bush will not detour from his collision course.  It is time to take a stand.  Young kids are dying while old men (and women) debate and dawdle.

Congressman John Conyers (D-NY), the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that he will soon hold hearings on President Bush’s use of presidential signing statements.  [See the concern raised in the e-ssay dated May 22, 2006 and the article entitled “Who's Afraid of Presidential Signing Orders” by Stanley Fish in the February 4, 2007 edition of “The New York Times”]. 

A recent executive order requires each agency to establish a “regulatory policy office run by a political appointee” that “strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts.”  The agencies are becoming outposts of the White House.  Someone should monitor the organization charts for later repair.

The trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is intriguing and filled with intrigue.  Truth may emerge.  Some justice may be done.  A Bush pardon?  Stay tuned.

“Man is impacting the environment.”–The science jocks.  Now the economists, moral philosophers and the public must join the debate.
 
Bumper sticker of the week:

War is not working

[Molly Ivins died on January 31.  Her last column "Stand Up Against The Surge" is available at

www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/stand-up-against-the-surge.html.  She concludes in part:  "We are the people who run this country.  We are the deciders.  And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.  Raise hell.  Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.  Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there.  Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge.  If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27.  We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"]

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Spiraling Into The Dirt (October 2, 2006)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Torture on October 2, 2006 by e-ssay.org

Congress approved Bush’s efforts to encourage terrorists to torture Americans.  [See the e-ssay dated January 31, 2005 "Bush:  Torture our kids, s'il vous plait"].  America has now effectively repudiated key provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaties, treaties that served America well in the past.

Bob Woodward chronicles the tortuous haranguing in the House of Hubris in his book, State of Denial:  Bush at War, Part III.  Parts I and II missed the material finally coalesced and analyzed in Part III.  Bush always intended to invade Iraq.  His invasion on March 19, 2003 triggered World War III.  That war continues to expand in ways that are not fully comprehended.  There are two overriding concerns in the White House:  1) do not draw any comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, and 2) do not use the phrase “civil war” under any circumstances.  [See the e-ssay dated March 6, 2006 entitled "Support Our Troops . . . Return" and the e-ssay dated March 20, 2006 entitled "The (Unreal) March Madness."]

Forbes Magazine’s 400 richest Americans is constituted only of those worth a billion ($1,000,000,000.00).  No one is worth a billion dollars.  A single family home can now be had for $100,000,000.00 ($100 million).  Even if one can obtain a no-interest loan to purchase one of these abodes, the monthly payment exceeds the recommended 30 percent limit of monthly income that a prudent person should commit to housing.  Almost everyone is already spending too much for housing every month.  And yet median household earnings are flat.

The stock market is going through the roof.  There are not as many new roofs going up nationwide.  The declining housing market will reduce the “wealth effect” that individuals feel when the value of their home rises which will reduce consumer spending which will depress the stock market in the near future.

Nobel Prize recipients are announced this week.  They are worth a million.  There are still individuals out there contributing to the public good.

Is the GOP now the Gay Old Party or the Grand Old Pedophiles?  Too many contemporary Republicans seek to get into one’s bedroom.  Too many Republicans cannot be left alone with children of either gender.  We do not need to take a page from the Republicans; we need to take all the pages from the Republicans.  Congressman Foley (R) is not an exception.  Slow the terrorism against kids.

Bumper sticker of the week:

January 21, 2009

End of an Error

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Staying the Collision Course In Iraq and The Mid-East (September 25, 2006)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Middle East on September 25, 2006 by e-ssay.org

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has increased, not decreased, the terror threat, according to the “National Intelligence Estimate” on “Trends in global Terrorism” released in the New York Times yesterday.  The U.S. has taken the fight to them; they have taken the fight to us.

American forces are becoming fragmented in various deployments within Iraq.  At some later date, they may be able to hide in the fortresses being built throughout Iraq.  Halliburton/KBR are building Fort Dick, Fort Condi, Fort Rummy, and Fort Wolfie.  Until they can hide, the Americans may be overrun in some outposts and left without supplies or reinforcements.  America can mount a Berlin Airlift to provide some support for some time, but not forever.

Black Hawk Down writ large may develop.  America may be forced to flee Iraq whether the civilian military leadership decides to cut and run or is forced to cut and run.  Squads and platoons may not make the departing flights.  Recall Saigon in April, 1975.  The prospect of a humiliating defeat and hasty departure grows every day.  America must declare victory and redeploy with purposeful dignity to friendlier soil or the United States.  The collective military must go on r & r to have any chance of projecting a military and a diplomatic presence in the region and in the world in the near future.

There is no end to the unexpected twists and unintended consequences in the Mideast.  Baghdad could become Hussein City in the next ten years.  Tourists may have their picture taken in front of the plinth that supported the Saddam statue.  The son or daughter of an Iraqi refuge may be the valedictorian at West Point.  Or more likely Iraq will be divided with regions incorporated into the Shiite Caliphate and into the Sunni Caliphate and into an expanded Kurdistan region.  The United States should not try to dictate the future in Iraq because it can not dictate the future in Iraq.  The world will watch Americas defeat on CNN and tape it on TiVo.  It is time to think clearly.  It is time to get out.

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Still Off Course (September 18, 2006)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy on September 18, 2006 by e-ssay.org

Osama bin Laden is a creative genius.  He should be in prison or off the stage by now rather than gallivanting around freely as a free-lance film maker regularly mocking America and the West.  However, there seems to be no way to dispatch him without also vesting him with martyrdom.  When he is dispatched or disappears, another Osama will arise.  Our collective effort to provide security does not present any easy or rational choices.  The United States must avoid making bad choices. 

Someone observed that invading Iraq after 9/11 was akin to invading Belize after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  In the movie “Animal House,” John Belushi rallied his troops by asking rhetorically whether the Americans gave up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.  The Americans just will not give up bombing.  A brave military is mired down because of the incompetent civilian policy makers.  Very few Americans could tell the difference between McNamara and McRummy even if their 8 by 10 glossies were placed side-by-side on the tv screen.  Rummy and his gang are making analogies to World War II rather than more apt references to Vietnam.  The sages suggest that when you are in a hole, quit digging.  However, the chicken hawks keep digging.  The troops are digging in and becoming easy targets.  Black Hawk Down writ large is on the radar.      

More of the world hates America now than it did five years ago.  Many of those who hate America will act on their hatred.  We as a country are so much more vulnerable and far less prepared than we were five years ago.

Sign in the window of a bungalow in middle America:

Our troops are sitting ducks!

Do not listen to a lame duck!!

Bring our troops home!!! 

[Consider reading the essay "An Alternate 9/11 History" by Jonathan Alter in the September 18 issue of "Newsweek" for a discussion of what could have been.] 

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The Terror In The Skies (August 14, 2006)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy on August 14, 2006 by e-ssay.org

Bush has spent much of his time in office flying around the world in Air Force One above and beyond the cares of the world.  Those who must fly must deal with the consequences and fallout of the worst foreign policy blunders in American history.    

The Arab world is united in their hatred of Bush; the non-Arab world is disunited except in their hatred of Bush.  All the hatred and anger is coming home to fester.  The lack of terrorist activities over the last five years is surprising.  However, the enemy is patient in planning its attacks against an impatient people.  A gin and tonic is today’s Molotov cocktail.  Practice safe flying, we are now directed, don’t use condiments on board.  Ketchup in a plastic container is the new weapon of mess destruction.  It’s not just for putting under car tires anymore.  Passengers cannot carry contact lens solution because Bush cannot see clearly.  The enemy has enough chutzpah to keep attacking the one transportation sector–aviation–that has attracted the most security screening resources.  The next likely move is against the ports.    

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The Housing Anti-Terrorist Act 0f 2006 (HAT Act) (May 8, 2006)

Posted in Foreign Policy, Housing on May 8, 2006 by e-ssay.org

The housing stock for the next half century is under construction today.  Americans are building Taj Mahals they will not be able to own or heat or cool.  Today’s McMansions are typically constructed with 2 inch by 4 inch wood studs rather than 2 inch by 6 inch wood studs.  A 2 by 4 house is insulated with R-11 insulation whereas a 2 by 6 house is insulated with much warmer R-19 insulation.  The higher the R value, the greater the insulation value.  In addition, a 2 by 6 house with a generous nailing pattern is more likely to resist earthquakes which are predicted to surface in unexpected places in the near future.

The country is acquiring much of its energy from unfriendly regimes.  We as a country must reduce the funding of our enemies.  Proper house construction practices should be part of the war on terrorism.  The market should be the starting point of every economic debate.  The market is failing.  Government involvement, the ending point of every economic debate, is necessary.  In the past, housing construction companies were local enterprises.  National companies such as Pulte Homes and Tull Brothers are among the larger builders.  They should be enlisted in this campaign.  One builder may be reluctant to take the lead because there is an added cost with benefits that may not be immediately apparent to the consumer.  All of the builders may be willing to follow one set practice.  This single simple practice would produce tremendous positive long term consequences for the country.       

[Next consideration - Converting cargo containers into cottages] 

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The “Bush Doctrine” in Foreign Policy (March 27, 2006)

Posted in Bush, Foreign Policy on March 27, 2006 by e-ssay.org

Bush’s recent “National Security Report” discusses the “pre-emptive war strategy” which allows him to engage in wars of “self-offense.”  Parsed out, there are two precepts to the “Bush Doctrine” in foreign policy:

1)      I will invade a country based on my whims, demons, anxieties, and insecurities if someone looks at me wrong whether military action promotes the security and well-being of America or not.  I will invade based on lies and distortions that I will repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat.  I will spill any blood and spend any bullion in the name of my invasion without regard to the consequences.

2)      I will not invade a country that possesses nuclear weapons.

The Bush doctrine is counter-productive and ultimately suicidal.  His avowed war aims compel other countries to commit all of their resources to the development of nuclear weapons.  North Korea is not a target because it has some nascent and is developing more nuclear weapons.  Iran is a target because it does not yet have nuclear weapons.  (Iran is not helping its case with the aggressive rhetoric.)  Bush’s repudiation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty removes some legal limits on nuclear proliferation.  The Bush Doctrine is a Nuclear Proliferation Act. 

Reagan understood the insanity of a nuclear war.  Bush is committed to starting one. 

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Dubai Ports World: The Ship Storm (March 13, 2006)

Posted in Economics, Foreign Policy, Market Solutions on March 13, 2006 by e-ssay.org

America and its allies must encourage other countries, particularly Arab countries, to embrace capitalism and participate in the world economy.  The most competitive economic player, Dubai Ports World, was set to take over terminal operations at some of America’s busiest ports.  Bush could have done a more nuanced job anticipating the reaction and introducing the development to the American people.  The reaction of many Americans to the sale was unfortunate but not surprising.  Leaders, however, should lead, not pander.  The one time in recent memory when the Democrats and Republicans in Congress stood up to Bush was the one time when they should have stood tall with him.  Two of the 9/11 terrorists appear to have had connections to Dubai.  There is less chance of an attack on an American port by someone from Dubai if someone from Dubai is assisting in operating it.  Free trade and economic interdependence promote peace.  America made an egregious mistake and forfeited a promising opportunity to build an economic link to the Arab world.  America committed a self-inflicted terrorist act by burning a bridge it should have built.

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Mutual Assured Incompetence – The Missile Defense Hoax (March 7, 2005)

Posted in Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Military, North Korea on March 7, 2005 by e-ssay.org

The star wars missile defense system is designed to fight a war that we actually won.  Beat CCCP; we did.  Former President Carter’s grain embargo and decades of internal decline doomed the former Soviet Union.  In 1989 when the [Berlin] wall came tumbling down and exposed the border and then in 1991 when the center of the “evil empire” imploded, defense policy needed to change.  The missile defense system assumes there is a threat from a source that is capable of reaching the United States with a projectile.  Any missile launched from overseas likely would land in the ocean, if it got off the ground.  Any missile sent by the U.S. in response likely would land square in the center of an American town square, if it got off the ground.  Mutual Assured Incompetence.  The savior of humanity.

The real threat is from individuals and small groups able to access a wealth of readily available material and hand deliver a weapon in a suitcase or box to the target while operating under the national security radar.  Those in power make little effort to secure that dangerous material or combat the obvious and effective delivery methods.

On February 23, our enlightened friends to the north opted out of the insanity.  Canada rejected the growing “weaponization of space.”  Rational individuals agree that Iran and North Korea should not have access to Fourth of July fireworks or water balloons.  However, these countries have been forced in part to pursue a nuclear option because the “Bush Doctrine” only respects a foreign country’s sovereignty if it is a nuclear power.  Placing complete faith in an expensive boondoggle missile defense system designed to confront an unlikely threat while completely disregarding the present and real danger is self-defeating and self-destructive.  McCain, front and center.  Duty calls.

[When the country is forced to establish a Crisis Budget (CB), this program will be abandoned.]

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Bush: “Torture our kids, s’il vous plait” (January 31, 2005)

Posted in Foreign Policy, Torture on January 31, 2005 by e-ssay.org

For many years, concerned men and women on the planet have sought to impose some limits on the conduct of war and the treatment of prisoners of war.  A combatant is to be rendered hors de combat and removed from the battlefield, not wantonly slaughtered or ritualistically dismembered.  The golden rule – do onto others as you would like them to do onto your kids – was exalted.  The hope has been that a scared, bewildered and blindfolded American kid would find that someone in the cell knows at least one Western word – “Geneva” – and perhaps entertains some vague anxiety that following the directions of his superiors will not be a defense if the other side wins.  America’s compliance with international law on a good day is incidental because of the settled practice that only O3s (captains) and lesser ranking members of the U.S. military are ever held accountable for atrocities under any circumstances.  Even though the senior officers (O4s and up) of the U.S. military are exempt from prosecution, some of them are uneasy that the restraints have been removed.  The enlightened of the world have hoped that a few individuals would back off on a few occasions and not reach for the blowtorch and the battery cables.

The Bush regime decided to shift from the “civil/criminal law” paradigm to a “war” paradigm in response to every local, state, national and/or international challenge.  The “war” paradigm, however, still has rules that are in our interest.  By repudiating the rules, Bush has provided carte blanche to individuals who were admittedly not eager to embrace “Western rules.”  When the next 18 year old who only wanted to score some coin for the nursing degree is splayed out on the table, the captors will remember at least one Western word – “George.”  He says that anything goes.  In this craven new world created by Bush and his boys, it is a defense to say that the Americans propounded the rules for the treatment of the American prisoners.  America loses.  The final outcome now depends on who wins the struggle.

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