Words of Mean Dithering (WMD)

Wanton Misuse of Data (WMD)

No greater ruse has been made of the situation that America and its cajoled allies believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons programme even though there is no proof that their nuclear energy programme is directed toward non-oil energy sufficiency.

Bluster and threats along with seemingly unjustifiable UN sanctions on a country whose enmity with America is more deep-seated than any would let on.

The way in which America has almost railroaded the world in a possible World War III with all sorts of ideas about America or Israel bombing Iranian nuclear installations and hoping to walk away scot free is nothing sort of despicable diplomacy if one is allowed to juxtapose those words.

War Mongering Deserters (WMD)

A new assessment report has completely taken the wind out of the sails of the hawks who monger for war completely oblivious of the trouble they still have to contain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An interview with Helmut Schmidt - one-time Chancellor of West Germany - on CNBC Europe (video) a few days ago ended with a very profound statement – it takes a man who knows nothing about the great tragedy and suffering of war to start a war. Sometimes it is good to listen to what the leaders of old have to say of the world today. Herr Schmidt also brought to bear his training in Economics on the global financial issues of the day, people had better pay some heed to those words too.

Whispers of Missed Documentation (WMD)

However, back to the matter of Iran being suspected of having a nuclear weapons programme and being sanctioned as if they have developed full capability coupled all the terrifying messages coming out of the White House and Israel with the support of the EU through the UK, France and Germany – a new US National Intelligence Estimate which is by all means the collation of all strands of intelligence from 16 agencies into some sort of conclusion debunks the angst and foreboding of the President by saying Iran might have aborted their nuclear weapons programme since 2003.

The question or fairness, probity, truthfulness and even moral rectitude comes to the fore because if the United States and its allies have exacted tough measures through the UN on Iran without the backing of facts and just cause; ones sympathies would almost definitely lie with Iran.

Imagine, we have the Mess-O-Potamia because of perceived Weapons of Mass Destruction that had long been in abeyance in Iraq – it was not just a case of false pretence it was doctored to achieve a particular end and when we gained untrammelled access to the country not one of the weapons or installations was found.

Working for Motherland Defence (WMD)

Now, Iran does operate secret programmes just like any other country and the intelligence community was caught unawares with the India/Pakistan nuclear dabbling whilst Iran still contends that it does not have a nuclear weapons programme.

The fact that the onus of proof is made to lie with Iran in this contention rather than the accusers who have postulated, imagined, assumed, supposed and opined about what they think Iran is up to is a difficult spot for Iran. The truth is that we do not know the whole truth about anything Iran. Israel or the United States are up to.

Worst Moral Debate (WMD)

What is more annoying about the response to the report is the way America and its allies have tried to burnish the report by saying more pressure should be applied on Iran to abandon nuclear enrichment which primarily is for energy purposes and then portending that if Iran gains full knowledge of the nuclear cycle they would pass it on to others – read terrorists – this just not fair. The mantra continues that ifIran stopped the programm, they could start it again - Come on, guys!

For instance, with the hysteria that accompanies the taking of fluids onto airplanes, there are instances where the right quantity of urine and toilet disinfectant can create noxious fumes – carrying the dual-purpose argument that is used to terrify us about Iran to a conclusion - should we now be barred from using the lavatories on an airplane because of those possibilities?

Win Moderation with Diplomacy (WMD)

Whilst, I am concerned about Iran acquiring the technology requisite for the weaponisation of nuclear products, I do not think this unfair, unjust, undiplomatic and untruthful hypocritical approach to a critical global issue would yield the desired result of slowing Iran down if they do indeed decide to veer towards nuclear weapons.

It is time for Mr. Bush and his friends to take the facts for what they are and depart from the delusions, the deceptions and predictions of a World War III; they should cut Iran some slack in recognition, respect, cordiality and cooperation – this them-and-us approach to conflict resolution continues to threaten global peace and makes right-thinking people reticent of any moves to review, contain, intercept or destroy probable threats, especially real ones.

Wrongdoings Made Disgraceful (WMD)

If one thing is taken from this report, it would be that the onus has now shifted to the accusers to prove their claims and provide incontrovertible evidence before they can garner the support to impose unjust sanctions on Iran.

Meanwhile, an apology might well be due to Iran, it does not mean America and Iran should kiss and makeup, but it might just restore some moral authority to the big-bully superpower for once.

The Fate of the Union Address - 2007

The gambler and his cards

If I confessed to once loving the music of Kenny Rogers, I cannot imagine where the yo-yo of my ‘street-cred’ would rest with readers – as if I do really care.

Now every gambler knows that the secret to surviving

Is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.

Cause very hands a winner and every hands a loser,

And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.[1]

As George W. Bush delivers the Fate of the Union Address, he might have at the back of his mind what he has thrown away of opportunity and goodwill as president and what he has kept in what would no doubt be his legacy and an enduring record of history.

We are told we are not to expect any new initiatives with regards to Iraq apart from the well worn mantras of freedom, democracy, liberty and choice. If anyone had worn those statements as shoes, that person would now have the extremities of their legs at the knee.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table.

There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealings done.[1]

The gambler and his debts

The gambling tendencies that George W. Bush has might eventually pay off, but on the eve of his Fate of the Union speech the 2-I-C of Al-Qaeda was back in the media taunting him – We are here, you are there and you can’t get us anywhere.

You can only begin to feel pity for the President and records are getting broken with the number of deaths in Iraq, Iran starts testing its fireworks, China has done some fireworks, Lebanon is on fire, the President of Israel is being charged for a peccadillo – these must be interesting times.

I am of the mind that what the President should get for giving his speech is a copy of The Gambler by Kenny Rogers, because, it seems he has broken every gambling rule; spent all his money and he is still sitting at the table about to gamble away everything and possibly dignity in the hope that he might win something back.

At which point, the best that everyone might hope for when it is all so dire is to die in one’s sleep.

By 2009, when the new president delivers the Condensate of the Union, what would be left for us to scrape of what has been plundered in the last 8 years?

References

[1] The Gambler – Kenny Rogers

The Gambler Returns

The US does not torture

New rules to misrule

I would not know, but I would leave this to the great legal minds and dons that visit my blog, suppose that is a branch of legal jurisprudence that is called military law.

This is because outlawed outpost of Guantanamo Bay has presented a Military Commissions manual to be used for trying detainees in Camp Delta, the contents of which appear to satisfy elements of civil law and in others indicate a departure from standard and accepted legal practices where the threshold of evidence is as low as hear-say.

The evidence is awash with classified monikers that the patchwork of evidence the defence would have to work with would leave enough holds to make every trial unacceptably loaded against the accused bringing to close to just better than a kangaroo court.

Now, I am no legal expert, the views might differ, no so much by the letter of the law but by political persuasion where the right would contend that these provisions are the best that can be offered with regards to the sensitivity of the issues at hand and the left would contend that premise of innocence until tried and proven guilty is lost.

Some military lawyers already have misgivings about this manual which in the circumstances might have its progeny with the military junta of Myanmar, OK! That was a bit given to histrionics, my point is, and justice should not only be done, it should verifiably be seen to be done properly.

US does not torture

The other part of the evidence that would be most interesting to every civil and human rights activist is the implication that.

+ Some evidence might have been obtained under torture

+ Some evidence was obtained by coercion and is admissible as long as it was obtained before December 2005

The question then is, have these prisoners been tortured? They most certainly have, the spectacle of Abu Ghraib was an excerpt of the “Practical Guide to Obtaining Information” introduced by the commandant of Guantanamo Bay.

As for coercion, we can presume dunking which is the deliberate deprivation of air by pushing the full face into a liquid was not torture till at least December 2005 – avoiding gruesome detail – an activity that gets a full thumbs-up from vice-President Cheney, sorry, the less aggressive word is “water-boarding”, you would be forgiven for thinking it was as hip as skate-boarding.

Yes, “water-boarding” is a variant of dunking where rather than push the face into a liquid, facing upward and the body inclined with the head at the lower point, the gardener simulates a torrent of rain over the face that the gag-reflex creates a drowning sensation as the person almost enters the delirium of death.

However, we must hear the President out, “We do not torture”, he protests, they only use vital tools of elevated persuasion – I will not be good for politics, not with my mastery of semantics.

It would appear my concept of torture is hardly coercion in the eyes of those at the forefront of the war on terror in America. Judge for yourself, as we have been told, the US does not torture.

These are no men of peace

What could have been

If it is true that in 2003, Iran offered the United States a deal that today might have helped quell the problems we see in Iraq and it was rejected outright, then we do live in unfortunate times.

It also means that all measures should be taken to bring maximum oversight and analysis to the proposed plan to escalate the battlefront or troop “surge” in Iraq as presented by President George W. Bush.

It is beyond belief that the two heads of the regime in America who in their youth, by every sleight of hand avoided serving their country in the thick of war are now the purveyors of the ignition to what might possibly be World War III.

There is no doubt that the consequence of rejection is the meat-grinder that Iraq has become, it is the graveyard of some who have unlike their leaders offered to serve their country in a war that no one wanted, at least, not I. On reflection, what America is asking Iran for now, is what Iran offered then, only this time, Iran does not have to care about responding.

Hating Iran with a passion

Surely, there must be something about the complete recalcitrance of these men that they just cannot deign to open diplomatic channels to either Iran or Syria, seeing Iraq, the country they have occupied since 2003 already has diplomatic relations with both countries.

It does not augur well for world peace that we cannot find men in leadership who can temper their belligerence with a modicum of restraint in view of the sacrifices they have demanded of others, that they themselves declined.

The question becomes, what has Syria or Iran done to George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney? Because every right-thinking person, would be left aghast at this new development.

Making up for the faults of youth

However, it may be that having been stung by the seeming “cowardice” reference most especially to Dick Cheney’s non-military record, or is it a record number of deferments from being drafted to Vietnam (for the record, none of the deferments were illegal), they now have to display a quality of bravado, braggadocio or worse still brigandage to make up for their follies of youth.

This chauvinism to military power and expedition leading to the plunder of life and peace in Iraq and its environs is of great concern, if indeed, this news is true, the personification of power corrupting absolutely has another two years in the White House.

Our war on terror would now be for the Congress to consider regime change.

Diplomacy is dead, long live diplomacy

Sometimes, they scare me

I had to read it again and again, just in case I read it wrong. Well, what she said is really what she said; in fact it simply confirms that leaked memo that her successor in the position of National Security Advisor wrote which left George Bush being snubbed in Jordan a few months ago.

Yesterday, the President laid out an elaborate plan of troops surge and needing the cooperation of the Iraqi government which none of his advisors, generals, ambassadors or the Iraq Study Group wanted – that is why they were all swept out in a purge surge for presumably grateful people who being called to the service of their nation would be hamstrung to challenge the president’s views.

Hardly 24 hours after we heard the President’s great idea, his Secretary of State tells the Senate says the linchpin of this grand plan, their partner in bringing peace to Mess-O-potamia, the Prime Minister of Iraq is living on borrowed time.

Diplomacy is dead, long live diplomacy.

How on earth did they assume power?

Maybe the Bush regime is not that aware that they have lost over 3,000 soldiers and they spend $2 billion daily on this debacle to fight terrorists in Iraq rather than on American soil – this is prodigal to the extreme and it is not helped by the tactlessness of everything this administration represents.

They might as well appoint an American as the Prime Minister of Iraq, John Negroponte for instance; at least the president has great confidence in him. Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki must be in a bind, he has borrowed time from the Americans and they are seeking pay back.

How did these people get into power? The world is definitely a dangerous place.

Is there a ‘Nam brewing in Mess-O-potamia?

Is there a ‘Nam brewing in Mess-O-potamia?

I just visited Technorati and found that someone for Vietnam had linked to a blog I posted about Bush taking the draft and finally reporting for duty in Vietnam.

Looking at the old post, I had a wry smile when I looked at my lame attempt of poetry that many might think I was not gazing in a crystal ball but doing crystal itself.

Like bean porridge, some like it hot, some like it cold and some like it in the pot nine days old – here is a rehashed blog, in the pot hardly two months old.

The unpalatable comparisons

My crystal ball does not like the cold, condensation on the inside of the glass means I may not be able to see things clearly.

However, a window into the future appears, I hit the streets in my haggard witch costume, wailing like a banshee.

Woe, woe, three times woes, I see in Mesopotamia, the shame of Saigon; as peace finds no respite in a land brought to destruction on the flight of a lie.

The many who were carried out having arrived on their feet, would not the maidens back home anymore countenance.

We shall leave soon and no sooner than the mess in Mesopotamia has overwhelmed us with more shame than the retreat from Saigon.

Hear, O Dubbiyew, your Saigon has come for the King of Terror has for his kingdom Iraq chosen.

Phew! That crystal does take you places, in the light of new developments for the troop surge, the death of President Gerald Ford who oversaw the withdrawal from Saigon and questioned the validity of the Iraqi war.

More so, in readiness for the speech that the President intends to give on Wednesday.

Can Bush be a great man?

Sorry is the hardest word

Let us pre-empt the President before he announces another idea that seems to promote more militarism rather than diplomacy.

A letter in the International Newsweek (January 8, 2007) suggests Mr. George W, Bush saying something along these lines.

“I’m sorry, we made a mistake. There were no weapons of mass destruction. But, hey, we freed you of your dictator, and now we’d give you a hand in rebuilding your country to live in peace!”

Matthias Weislmeier from Augsburg, Germany might be in the running for the Nobel Prize in the not too distant future, this a quote from his letter to the editor.

If Mr. Bush were to give voice to these words, mouthing them with clarity, purpose and conviction, this would cause tectonic shifts in the insurgency – chance would be a fine thing – we can however, hope.

As far back as 2004 before we crossed the bridge over which we can no more traverse because the burnt bridge represents the killing of Saddam Hussein – a member of a U.S. Special Operations unit after one of those Fallujah “wars” who remains anonymous said, “I feel we should let Saddam out of jail and say, ‘Sorry, we didn’t realize you were so brutal because you had to be’”.

Look and learn

If anything, it shows how America did not understand the complexities of the Iraqi society and how he held it together even though he was reviled by his people. It did not mean that their release through America’s invasion would yield a World War II type acclaim of the public filling the streets with ticker-tape parades of jubilation.

The disbanding of everything Baathist from the army to all other personnel in government establishments completely destabilised the country and fuelled the insurgency – contrast that with Nelson Mandela who did not visit the evil of Apartheid on the whites of South Africa by seizing their businesses or property, it prevented a white insurgency that would have completely destabilised the country and turned it into a penniless Zimbabwe.

The inability for the Bush administration to employ the tools of diplomacy to address the neighbours of Iraq who have more than a vested interest in ensuring Iraq is peaceful means the opportunity for resolution of the Iraqi problem has been lost, time and time again.

It is surprising that Condoleezza Rice still retains her post considering the failure she has been to speak softly rather than bluster like a lose Texan cannon with complete intransigence.

If we cannot learn to say sorry, we would be sorry when the sorry state of our affairs leaves no one about to say sorry to us and help us along.

Like having a Hard Rock thrown at you

A study in change

A whole week of silence and the dog ate my blog, well that sometimes happens to ones homework.

There were many things I wanted to write about, the face of George W. Bush when he received the Iraq Study Group Report – main point being, the only course is discourse with Iran and Syria – the time for moping is over, you just have to do some talking if Mess-O-potamia is going to see anything like peace.

Besides, the incoming Secretary of Defense had the Senators checking their hearing devices when he answered in a matter of fact way that the war in Iraq is not being won.

If George W. Bush had thought he could scupper the intent, tone and delivery of the Iraq Study Group report by poaching someone for a sensitive position from amongst their ranks, he has just been introduced to a new ball game and all hitters are hitting straight for the head – Ouch! I feel your pain Georgie.

Sit on the Hard Rock

Meanwhile, in the midst of all that kafuffle, Chief Yellow-Feather was busy smoking peace pipes on a Hard Rock – Indian reservations which have licenses to run gambling business very much like the effect the Opium Wars had on China are making serious money and making big deals.

The gambling houses do not seem to have created the wealth for drug and alcohol-abuse which sometimes plagues indigenous tribes and aborigines, somehow, these guys wised up and have made good.

Next time you visit a Hard Rock Café, sit in the wigwam, smoke a peace pipe, have a communal chant as we see the Indians begin to make a killing of the cowboys – history and restitution might live centuries apart but methinks the Indian is arriving with loads-a-money. Don’t forget you feather head dress – so you how much we have learnt from amusing generalizations.

Slow cook Polonium

The radiation fallout is still appearing in more places that I wonder if my impending trip to London is a wise idea – Alright! I would not panic, I would stick to mum’s cooking – Mum! - I shriek - "There is shine in my soup", "That is just oleum" she replies comforting her little boy.

The past is kicking the bucket

That said; Pinochet finally kicked the bucket, the end of an era that leaves memories of how America thwarted democracies that leant towards a socialist ideology for the tyranny of military dictatorships that prey on right-thinking people.

There are still many of that era that live without retribution for the pain and suffering they have caused people in South and Central America – Pinochet would be mourned by just a few, I do wish Kissinger well, but he should try visiting Europe.

This brings me to the dinosaurs that remain in power for eons – Ayoke once wrote of a sermon she heard which is quite enlightening.

The future restrained

30 years ago, General Obasanjo who was then the Head of State of Nigeria visited a school and told the students that they were the future of Nigeria – 30 years on, Chief Obasanjo is President of Nigeria and is impeding the opportunities he suggested those students had 30 years before.

The leaders of old, old ways, old ideologies, old methods, old corrupt activities are still gathering to rule Nigeria – we forget that 36 years before, Colonel Obasanjo took the surrender for the Biafran War, what are they still doing running the country into the ground?

When shall the new consume the old like an unquenchable fire yielding the ashes of our past such that we are no more shackled but free?

By which time I realized that on December the 8^th, I had been blogging for three years, why quit when you are having fun?

Left with the bread crumbs of Middle East diplomacy

I’m not doing dinner

It probably was an expression of glee that came across my face when last night we learnt that the Prime Minister of Iraq had decided not to join George W. Bush and the King of Jordan for dinner.

I should know the feeling, I should have been having dinner with my agent when for some “personal” reason she pulled out of the arrangement and then invited me for one of those dastardly Christmas parties where, I end up being the only sober one at 1:00AM listening to the drivel of inebriated colleagues – No thanks!

Every which way it was spun; it was a clear snub to the leader of the Free World who had squandered every opportunity to make a positive difference to world as his non-Midas touch begins to turn golden opportunities into cack-handed diplomacy.

We can, without America

There seems to be an “in spite of America” development in the Middle East; the Palestinians have negotiated a ceasefire with Israel which seems to be holding. Iraq has renewed diplomatic ties with Syria, and whilst Dubya was busy sulking about being blown out, the President of Iraq was being feted in Iran.

America should have been speaking to these countries for the peace and stability of Iraq, but their myopic sense of hubris has personalized what can only be realized through deliberation and consensus.

In the end, the country that used to be the mediator of grand Middle-Eastern handshakes was left trying to gather the crumbs of diplomacy falling from the table of self-determinant negotiations between neighbouring countries that recognize their need for each other.

So, Condoleezza Rice is on a scurry between Israel and Palestine, giving assurances and offering lame support, those are circumstances that America has with adept created for themselves.

It all comes out – sooner or later

Beyond that, 35 years before, as the India-Pakistan war came to be, some rather unpalatable things (bitch) were said of one of the principals in conversation, that recorded conversation made the light of day in 2005, tensions rose, with anger expressed, profuse apologies after from Henry Kissinger to the heirs of Indira Gandhi and the Indian people.

It did not stop the President of that time – a Richard Nixon from referring to her as an old witch – historians would be at pains not to consider the views of the President and his Secretary of State as policy or the standard with which they had dealings with India despite protestations to the contrary.

Leaks and no plumbers about

As we humans are the poorest students of history as a means of learning to do things better, Mr Nouri al Maliki’s snub came just when a leaked document from the National Security Adviser questioned the ability for the Iraqi leader to handle the mess that America created in the first place.

Obviously, there was the little issue of supporters at home in Iraq not keen on this Iraqi-American summit.

Mr. Stephen Hadley must have thought his advice would be covered by some official secrets diktat such that the dramatis personae would only have learnt of this poor vote of confidence 30 years on.

At the risk of sounding cynical, one can only wonder what they also think of their man in Afghanistan and beneath of the public veneer of great freedom and democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lesser known reality is the bluster is really an attempt to stage a suitable “cut and run”.

For now, it is too late to send any of these American diplomats for a course in Diplomacy 101 – What you never want discovered must never be thought, let alone spoken, if published, you are damned.

Now, taking applications for “How to be nice 001”.

Bush finally takes the draft - Vietnam

Cuba ja!

90 miles from a southern cape of the United States of America lies a country that through the adversity of isolation by atrocious embargos has learnt self-sufficiency even though has a government not to the liking of administrations in the US since the 60s.

Then America had a swagger with a 20-gallon hat as they tried to overthrow the government of that island, hoping people would come out on the streets to support a foreign insurrection and eventually lead to ridding Cuba of the “scourge” of Communism – sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It would appear that many have not learnt of wallowing in the mess of the Bay of Pigs and now, Mess-O-potamia is still a rotten mess and Communism still lives.

A dodge, fudge or a smart?

Then America went to war to rid a faraway land of Communism, somehow, the people who rule today from the comfort of Pennsylvania Avenue never got to do what their pals did, go out there to die for their country.

The gunman of dunking received five deferments; whilst he might have adhered to the letter of the law in getting the deferments, he did not imbibe the spirit of the same law. He was being a student in university thrice, getting married and having kids.

Reminds me of John Kerry again, even then, if you were in university you did not get stuck in a war, you were smart enough to get deferments.

The Commander-in-Chief then joined the rich men’s kids airplane club (Texas Air National Guard) and it appears he never got to take off, probably because he was not there, allegedly.

Now in Commune with faraway Communists

As it transpired, the Americans ended up pulling out of Vietnam having not been able to defeat Communism – only yesterday, the president was hopeful of getting a trade deal approved by Congress, but that did not happen.

Anyway, the President is now reporting for duty in Hanoi, Vietnam for the summit of Asian Leaders.

President & Laura Bush arrive in Hanoi - MSNBC / Vincent Thian / AP

He would also be paying a courtesy call on the Secretary General of the Communist Party, I can only imagine how different things would have been if America had had the magnanimity to pay courtesy calls to the government in Havana.

Cuba is at the forefront of affordable quality medicine – America’s is broken; they are also very organized at disaster management – Katrina was the shaming of America and it is debatable if Cuba has anything that has a patch on Guantanamo Bay.

The unpalatable comparisons

My crystal ball does not like the cold, condensation on the inside of the glass means I may not be able to see things clearly.

However, a window into the future appears, I hit the streets in my haggard witch costume, wailing like a banshee.

Woe, woe, three times woes, I see in Mesopotamia, the shame of Saigon; as peace finds no respite in a land brought to destruction on the flight of a lie.

The many who were carried out having arrived on their feet would not the maidens back home anymore countenance.

We shall leave soon and no sooner than the mess in Mesopotamia has overwhelmed us with more shame than the retreat from Saigon.

Hear, O Dubbiyew, your Saigon has come for the King of Terror has for his kingdom Iraq chosen.

Phew! That crystal does take you places.

Kerry not plenty smart on the truth about cannon fodder

The truth lost out

It is a shame that when John Kerry botched that dig at the President which became a cannon fodder joke, the truth of the whole matter got consumed in the outrage that forced him to first apologise and then adopt a seriously low profile.

When you look at what he said again, and juxtapose that with the military recruitment manual - the stealth, tactics, techniques and overwhelming political power they can wield over hostile schools, someone does have to speak up coherently.

This is what he said again, “You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Now, looking at the School Recruitment Program Handbook, I came across a number of interesting points.

They will have your children any which way

The forces assert the right to gain access to all schools with the same accommodation given to other organisations that can visit schools to recruit students be it for work or further education.

The forces assert the right to have access to not just the complete roll of eligible students but their records, assessment, backgrounds and any sort of information that might help in “profiling” prospective recruits. Parents are however, given the right to request that their children be excluded from that list, students and exercise that right too, but imagine the bullying that might ensue.

Any school that denies access to the forces finds itself embroiled in a political whirlpool of increasing pressure that escalates from the council, through Congress to the Secretary of State who can overrule any local objections to granting access. It is like they really want to eat your children and there is nothing that can be done to stop them from getting at them except if the parents disagree, a blanket disagreement cannot be instituted by the school itself.

The forces plant a liaison officer in the school and the official is supposed to become the fix-it man for everything, the official is supposed to make themselves so indispensable that students, teachers, parents are almost all beholding to the official.

Sleight of hand

Then we go to the tactics of getting people into the forces.

They are to target college-capable students and get them to defer their college till they have served in the army.

Knowing that college fees are quite exorbitant, they can cajole students into the army with the promise that the army would handle all that in due course, however, you might get stuck in Iraq long before you get that fillip.

They target students in the first or second year of university who are likely to drop-out for lacking finances to finish their education – somehow, they do not go for those well into their studies because somehow, those might have smartened up about education and might have found less risky ways to sponsor and finish their education.

Snippets that make you think

Chapter 7.2.a To encourage college-capable individuals to defer their college until they have served in the Army. – How smart is this?

Chapter 6.6.b (1) To build the image with students, parents, and educators that the Army is high tech and career oriented. – Fairy tales not stark realities.

Chapter 10.1 This market is an excellent source of potential Army enlistments due to the high percentage of students who drop out of college, particularly during the first 2 years. – It is a meat market ready for Army exploitation.

Chapter 10.4.b (1) Students and/or parents are paying tuition to attend college. Personal debts can accrue and student loan repayment plans can be very appealing to these students. – Very appealing indeed, we’ll share the bill but you’ll feel the pain.

Chapter 10.7.c Focus on the freshman class because they will have the highest dropout rate. They often lack both the direction and funds to fully pursue their education. – Bottom feeder gives focus to rudderless kids and they end up where?

No Child Left Behind

When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law in January 2002, though the goals were to raise the standards of education for children, somewhere deep in the Act - In section 9528 (Chapter 11.3) - was the provision gave military recruiters the same access to facilities as a public secondary school provides to higher education institution recruiters, but this along with contact information can be requested, additional information can be accessed through the liaison officer embedded in the school.

As this resonates with the “Leave No Man Behind” tenet that meant that the forces never left their wounded, incapacitated or dead behind, one can only say that President George W. Bush is plenty smart and plenty brave to grant access to your children and then boldly cart them off to get stuck in Iraq.

“The members of the United States military are plenty smart, and plenty brave, and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology” – The President.

In the end, politicians should stop trying to be comedians, they can mess up their delivery, big time, and whilst that is plenty brave, it is usually is not plenty smart.

References

How to Pitch the Military When a War Drags On?

Commentary: Video Game Luring New Recruits

Six Questions for Eli Flyer on Military Recruiting and Abuses in Iraq

Saddam's death - No open and shut case

One verdict before elections

And so they herald the sentencing of Saddam Hussein to death for the atrocities committed in Dujail, this as it appears would be by hanging when the military man would have preferred death by firing squad.

Though, cynically, this sentencing is quite aptly delivered just 2 days before the mid-term elections in the US, but it is unlikely to deliver the Republicans from the fate they would suffer in 48 hours, a possible loss of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Death before justice

As the rules of the court dictate, this sentence might be carried out in 30 days though allowing for appeals, it is unlikely that the sentence would be overturned.

The travesty of this whole matter would be that Saddam Hussein might be turning to dust long before all other atrocities are examined in the presence of the perpetrator.

Cynically, again, the people who helped draft the modus operandi of the court and its sentencing have primed this to just get rid of Saddam rather that get at the whole truth and help lead to the reconciliation of the Iraqis.

International crime in a national circus

This whole tripe about this being the ascendancy of the rule of law and the triumph of the Iraqi people cuts not muster, as one commentator said, the crimes Saddam committed were international crimes which can have been tried anywhere in the world, especially the Hague.

The charade and circus that the court had become could easily have been reminiscent of a kangaroo court, the quality of management in the court was for all intents and purposes below par, and it is arguable that any deliberation in a court where the country is in complete turmoil is tantamount to a miscarriage of justice.

All chaos after Saddam

The tyrant has been out of power for over 3 and half years, but that has not changed the life of Iraqis in terms of security, safety, infrastructure, stability or terror.

All George W. Bush has done is find another place where American blood can be shed by terrorists but not on American soil – this place is Iraq.

And I tell you this much, the death of Saddam Hussein would not quell things, before things get better, it might be that the gate of hell would be swung wider open and we all know Pandora’s box is not an open-and-shut case.

References

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death

Saddam verdict date 'rigged' for Bush

Many U-turns Required - II

The comment below was made anonymously in response to my article on Many U-turns Required; I try to address the issues raised with interspersed comments as follows.

[Comment] So the U.S should talk to every perceived enemy in the world-and that solves it and makes GW Bush a good world leader - Condi should jet out on and talk to them all.

[Response] I think there is no point trying to stress that the US and the kind of policies that GW Bush has espoused over the last 6 years are predicated on the fact that a country like the US in the absence of a Cold War does need an enemy to serve as a foil to project power and influence around the world.

North Korea, Syria, Iran, Sudan and Venezuela all offer opportunities to project fear on the American people about dangers at home as much as their getting stuck into the quagmires that are Iraq and Afghanistan.

If they had ever even tried to talk to them, there would have been a point, they have not.

[Comment] I think this position oversimplifies things. We must appreciate that the rhetoric of "no discussion with evil men/dictators etc" often belies the backroom discussions that go on all the time.

[Response] If there are backroom discussions why does the front room rhetoric resound with increasing animosity and frosty relations?

The fact is America is selective about the so-called evil men/dictators that it deals with; there is no balance in their projection of foreign influence that it now makes them literally ineffective in many places.

Be it Israel, Lebanon, Sudan and Zimbabwe, them not condemning the military coup in Venezuela, aligning with the military dictatorship in Pakistan, ignoring the democratic mandate of the Hamas, fostering Nuclear proliferation in India and condemning it in Iran with is under threat from two sides of its territory.

The oversimplification as it appears is primarily a commonsense diplomatic stance that the Bush administration find too simple to adopt.

[Comment] The lack of overt high level contact in the full glare of the cameras does not necessarily mean the absence of all contact. Anyway a lot of people, for example, criticised the US for not talking to Syria and conveniently forgot the existence of a US embassy in Damascus.

[Response] Yes, and they also have an Embassy building in Iran, what is the point of having the building without a full-fledged ambassador? Having office administrators handle serious diplomatic issues is hardly the way to deal with countries that could seriously impact your safety in proximity countries and allies.

[Comment] You forget that the deal Madeline Albright negotiated with the North Koreans was badly defaulted on by the North Korean government.

[Response] Indeed, it was flawed but North Korea did not get nuclear during the Clinton era and if Bush had tried to correct the flaws and not unfortunately hurt the sensibilities of the “dwarfish” leader, we probably would not be where we are at now.

At least we had inspectors in North Korea and were able to monitor and report what they were doing, we no more have that advantage apart from satellite pictures and measuring seismic activity after the event.

[Comment] You forget that Rwanda happened under Clintons watch

[Response] Agreed, it did, but should the lessons of “never again” not now apply to Darfur? Should the Bush regime now try to outdo the Clinton administration in being ineffective in the face of great human injustice considering they are the only ones who have called Darfur - a genocide.

[Comment] You forget that Somalia happened under Clinton’s watch

[Response] And now, it is happening again, with the Islamic “overthrow” of a UN supported government which is getting compared with the Taleban.

[Comment] You forget that the first attack on the WTC was under Clinton’s watch

[Response] And the blind sheik implicated as the instigator of that activity is in prison, they are even not prosecuting his lawyer for treason-type offences.

The people responsible for WTC II or 9/11 still send us home videos five years after and we have lost more lives in Iraq and Afghanistan – only yesterday, we were receiving messages from Mullah Omar.

[Comment] You forget that Al Qaeda was formed under Clinton’s watch

[Response] This is disingenuous, yes; it was formed under Clinton’s watch but instigated in the aftermath of Gulf War I [an earlier Bush era, I would think] when America was seen to occupy the Islamic Holy Lands and propping up Middle East regimes that do not attend to the clamour of their peoples.

[Comment] You forget that the planning for 911 started under Clinton’s watch

[Response] And what did Condi do with the dossier she was handed about the Al Qaeda threat – I think the 911 Commission drew a good few conclusions about the new regime’s inactivity.

You forget that the attacks on the USS Cole, the US Kenyan and Tanzanian embassies were under Clinton’s watch. You forget that Afghanistan fell to the Taliban under Clinton’s watch. You forget that Clinton never formally made the existence of a Palestinian State US Policy.

[Response] Considering the way the Republicans highlight that there has been no other attack on US soil since 911, I could commend the Clinton administration for keeping their guard up after WTC I that Al Qaeda had to find soft targets elsewhere – hence, the USS Cole and the African embassy disasters.

Afghanistan became a vacuum of power once the Russians were driven out, I would suppose the Taleban represented a form of peace after 20 years of war and as they grew more unacceptable they would have remained in power if they had handed over Osama bin Laden – but that was a difficult decision for them that they offered to send him to a neutral country.

They had just fought along side their Muslim brother to liberate their country from the Russians; they probably had a blood oath with Osama never to deliver him to anyone which is why they risked their demise than garner opprobrium.

Now that the Bush administration have created a terrorist haven in Iraq, Americans are still getting killed almost everyday only that they are being killed in Iraq. That seems to be great comfort to your public.

I see two handshakes in the Middle-East moving towards peace which was progressing and could have been improved upon rather than being left dormant till the Bush administration was embarrassed into saying something radical and where is the progress still?

Yasser Arafat shaking the hand of Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn and Jordan through King Hussein recognising Israel, all happening under Clinton’s watch – they created the forum to talk, that other Arab states at least now recognise the right for Israel to exist.

However, the attitude to the democratically elected Hamas who won election on a platform of not recognising Israel such that sanctions are about to make that government collapse helps feed the rhetoric that questions the legitimacy of Israel from Iran.

We have never had a more strident Iran and this is one of the countries that the US would have to talk to directly and respectfully, as well as Syria if they are going to extricate themselves from Iraq – Mr Bush is waking up to this reality.

[Comment] The list goes on - I cite these examples not to detract from Clintons legacy but to make the point that its no use idealising the Clinton era and that the context and circumstances of the two presidencies are significantly different.

[Response] You are not doubt right, we can all do convenient lists depending on what part of the political spectrum we are on, but rather than build on the Clinton legacy to forward the fledgling deals or plans that were in place, they were all discarded for a neo-conservative doctrine that put Bush at variance with the world before 911 and then Bush squandered the post-911 goodwill on the Iraqi escapade just as Americans are governed through fear into what is no less a police state.

[Comment] In fact, there is a growing consensus amongst Historians that the Clinton presidency was an inconsequential one as far as global events go.

[Response] I think we need a need a bit more time to see where history would place Clinton and Bush, there is no doubt that Bush has his place in history, how he would be judged would be revealing to all concerned before revisionists have a field day.

Besides, my blog has broached many of the issues I have covered in here concerning American foreign policy and its ineffectiveness – Bush may be able to do a better job, if he has the will to do better is debatable.

References

Iraqi Tags Iran Tags Bush Tags Israeli Tags

Many U-turns required

Can you pull back?

It would appear the Bush Cabinet is in the process of trying to negotiate the U-turn of an Australian wagon train in a cul-de-sac on Iraqi strategy, we can only wait and see what becomes of the surrounding buildings and lawns as people are left askance at the stupidity of getting into the cul-de-sac first place.

As the debate goes on about what to do about Iraq ranging from sating the course to pulling out, one fundamental we seem to be forgetting is that the US and Britain opened this Pandora’s Box and there is no easy way to shut it back up tight.

The fact is, Iraq was like a grenade with the pin ready for pulling out, Saddam Hussein for all his evils kept that powder keg from exploding – very much like how Josip Tito kept the Yugoslavia bottled up till he died and the whole place became a conflagration of ethnic conflicts.

Much as many would like America to cut and run, the fact is there is a lurking ethical complex that requires that the mess after Saddam be becalmed to some pre-invasion quality of peace, something that I would think impossible in the foreseeable future.

Squandering the Clinton legacy

Then for all that can be said about the Clinton administration, I must highlight a few seminal points, they at least got the Israelis and Palestinians talking, the highpoint which was that handshake between Rabin and Arafat on the White House lawn.

With North Korea, Madeleine Albright did do to Pyongyang and there was a possibility that Clinton could have visited – however, more striking is that North Korea did not become nuclear on Clinton’s watch.

In fact, with Carter and Clinton, the Democrats did much more with the symbolism of getting the Arabs and Israelis to talk to each other than the Republicans have in 30 years.

Bad diplomacy

In the six years of Mr. Bush’s tenure, what we have gained is a consuming obstreperousness to refuse to talk in a bilateral relationship with Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah or Hamas as well as Iraq before the war.

This really cannot go on; it does not help the cause for diplomacy if there is no dialogue and hiding behind the Europe initiative with Iran or the 6-party talks about North Korea does not cut the muster.

In the end, it leaves US with second-hand information that lets Condoleezza Rice say that she does not believe the promises given to China by North Korea are as iron-cast as they are supposed to be.

Well, at least China sent someone to Pyongyang to hear from them; Europe and Russia have send people to Teheran, the UN Secretary General has been to Damascus and Teheran too, America has just been skirting the issue rather than getting stuck into really seeking world peace.

I am not hot on Rice at all

At this juncture, I have come to the conclusion that Condoleezza Rice, though a highly accomplished scholar in the dynamics that exemplified the cold war is a lightweight in the New World Order – she is no Henry Kissinger (that would be to besmirch him, though in these present times he could be indicted for a good number of civil rights and human rights misdemeanours), nor is she a James Baker III who is now co-heading a group to rethinking the American Iraqi strategy – probably because the administration has run out of ideas and she is no Madeleine Albright, at least she got the President to do something – Yugoslavia for example, though she denies influencing the situation.

Where America could have been the impartial arbiter with the respect due to a superpower they have taken sides and lost the ability to leverage resources and power that they have become bit-players in areas where they should be prime-movers.

No hope for resolution

With this approach to global issues, not only will North Korea conduct a few more tests, they would manufacture nuclear warheads, Iran definitely would develop a nuclear weapon just to show they can, the nuclear race would hot up with other countries in the Far East and the Middle East considering their options.

So, somehow, this leads to a new Republican National Convention political advertisement which plays on the fears of Americans with the premise that they might suffer a nuclear attack brought on by terrorists.

Well, the fear factor did work in 2004, I would hope it would be a damp squib in this year’s mid-term elections, because, the whole Bush administration attitude to terrorism with their untrammeled control of the Congress has lead to a more unsafe world – change is required and checks are needed – the Congress in the hands of the Democrats is the only alternative between the partisan evils we have to contend with.

As Clinton once surmised, we have the choice to choose between someone exciting our fears or lifting our hopes, this terrorist message is now old hat.

References

The Fear Factor video

All warfare is based on deception

That fateful day

Let us really break this war on terror down into its fundamentals and understand what really happened to us after the ninth day of September 2001.

A number of foreigners mostly of Saudi origin had over months before the attack been learning how to fly planes in flying schools in America, a rather expensive hobby to have but generally inconspicuous as part of a terror plan.

The important thing was that they had already gained access to America and when they regrouped, they boarded planes that were flying inter-state in America; none were intercontinental because they wanted to wreak havoc on American soil.

On that fateful morning, they hijacked four planes, two flew into the twin towers, one into the Pentagon, the fourth which probably was on its way to the Capitol or the White House crash-landed in Pennsylvania with the convenience of the talk of heroism from passengers and crew of the plane than the possible shooting down of the same on authority of the American government.

The words leading to war

This tragedy of that day left 2,973 dead and 24 declared missing a majority of who were Americans. The President first made a broadcast to the nation that day to comfort the American People, prioritise the issues of rescue, help and succour, then stressed the need to return to normalcy in families, in the federal agencies and financial markets – This was the beginning of the making of the Bush presidency.

Nine days on, on the 20^th of September 2001, the President addressed a Joint Session of Congress and the American People outlining a number of points, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security to be run by the governor of the state where the fourth plane crash landed – Tom Ridge, he also demanded that the Taliban hand over all terrorists of the Al Qaeda clique and give Americans access to all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan to ensure they was not one terrorist left in Afghanistan. This is a thinly veiled sovereignty issue on analysis.

Picking at a the speech

The speech was a rallying call and the sounding of defiance in the light of this atrocious attack and a number of quotes stand out in the speech.

“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen”. They are still ongoing and the cost now exceeds the number of lives lost on American soil, but that does not matter, they have been lost in foreign lands fighting terror.

“What is expected of us? I ask you to live your lives, and hug your children”. However, we would change your lives with the doctrine of fear and threat to emasculate your freedoms and liberties – thinking aloud.

“I ask you to uphold the values of America, and remember why so many have come here. We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them”. Does this cover Guantanamo Bay, Extraordinary Rendition and CIA Secret Prisons or Unwarranted Surveillance? – Thinking aloud, again.

“But this country will define our times, not be defined by them. As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror”. Speak volumes without need for additional commentary.

A date in Kabul

It was obvious when the Taliban at first did not respond to the President’s demands on religious grounds and then vacillated about giving up Osama bin Laden and even offered to extradite him to some neutral state, they sincerity was suspect and there was no further recourse than to go to war to capture the leaders of Al Qaeda and punish the Taliban.

In general, global opinion was on the side of America to seek the annihilation of Al Qaeda and consummate regime change where the Taliban had become a totalitarian theocracy without any of the trappings of 20^th Century civilisation and a handbook of rules that would have made the Spanish Inquisition look like a kindergarten finger-painting class.

That war ended without the capture of Osama bin Laden of Al Qaeda or Mullah Mohammed Omar of the Taliban, they are still at large 5 years on, they are definitely America’s most wanted fugitives, and we have more problems in the world than to confer on them the epithet of the World’s most wanted fugitives.

Now that we’ve done Afghanistan

The main success of the war in Afghanistan is the uprooting of the Taliban regime who recently have been in insurgency leading to a call from NATO for more troops and equipment.

A fragile democracy exists in Afghanistan but that regime hardly has full control of its territorial limits and in many areas warlords run autonomous and tyrannical leadership over their local citizenry – it can hardly be called a roaring success.

Besides, the war dispersed both Taliban and Al Qaeda personnel who could have crossed into the tribal lands of Waziristan in Pakistan.

The prime objective of the Bush administration from the onset was to prevent another attack on American soil at all costs and this is how that was executed.

The American People would have required that the Taliban be defeated in Afghanistan that was accomplished, however, to be able to fight terrorists overseas rather than in America, a staging ground is required to concentrate terrorist manpower and resources.

Seeking a new terrorist haven

Afghanistan could no more be engaged as a host to that scenario, Pakistan had aligned with America in their war on terror so they were exempt, Iran had a kind of reformist regime and engaging them would have been inflammatory. However, there was unfinished business in Iraq, as it transpired the decision to attack Iraq was probably made within 2 days of 9/11.

In principle, if America were to attack Iraq on the basis of the pre-emptive war doctrine, or under the supporters of terrorism collective blanket and the weapons of mass destruction pretext, they would have carte blanche to run over the country, however, one unforeseen consequence is that it has now become a cauldron of terrorism with Americans engaged to dealing with an Iraqi insurgency and a thriving Al Qaeda murder machine.

It should then not be surprising that American soil has not been attacked since 9/11, there is no need to; the terrorists are still killing Americans as well as innocent Iraqis in Iraq. Iraqis have paid a larger price moving from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein to a pseudo-civil war where probably over 40,000 lives have been lost.

The supposed sham of a democracy that they have would require the strong arm of coalition support for years to come, the jury is out on if this experiment of democratising the Middle East would work, at least Vladimir Putin pointed said in the presence of Mr Bush in July, Russia does not want that kind of democracy. No country should aspire to that kind of democracy either.

What lies did for Iraq

Three and a half years into the war in Iraq the death toll continues to rise and this situation did not temper the resolve of America and Britain to restrain Israel from another loss of 1,000 Lebanese and 150 Israeli people due to American policies over the 5 years.

We now learn like we all knew before that Saddam Hussein had no links with Al Qaeda, no Al Qaeda operative met with any Iraqi official, there were no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was not building a nuclear bomb and neither had they ordered yellow cake from Niger.

Mr Bush contends that Saddam Hussein was aiding suiciders (sic), let us review that issue again, suicide bombers having committed their atrocities in Israeli towns were identified, then Israel instituted a collective punishment policy of destroying the homes of property of the suicide bomber’s survivors.

In some cases, these suicide bombers owned nothing, but this punishment as a result of their act brought loss, anguish and destitution on their family and relations. There probably is a case for considering this act a deterrent, but conversely it can also be an effective recruitment tool for a new terrorist.

What Saddam Hussein did was to compensate those who had suffered loss for the actions of others and probably they were not in anyway culpable and were entirely innocent, whilst some might twist that into sponsoring terrorism, it could be argued that this was preventing the suffering of innocent people and the creation of a vengeance syndrome.

The premise of war

As Sun Tzu, the Chinese mathematician says in The Art of War on military strategy – “All warfare is based on deception” – Iraq is no less an example of how we have been lied to, cajoled, hoodwinked, robbed and disposed by evidence that turns out to be false at best and fabricated at worst.

Mr Bush and Mr Blair already have their places in history; it is unlikely they would be treated kindly when we look at the big picture of the New World Order in the 21st Century.

References

CNN.com - Senators: CIA dismissed Saddam-al Qaeda ties before war

Saddam 'had no link to al-Qaeda'

Senate: Saddam saw al-Qaida as threat

A dossier of lies to pursue the Iraqi war