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| The Military And a Free Pass
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(AFP/Ali Yussef)
| I think much of where we are today in Iraq has to be laid at the feet of the military. By in large, they have had a free pass. We support the troops because they are just doing their jobs.
But, what about the higher-ups, mainly those at the top. Without a doubt, the troops have been pawns of the powers that be.
Maintaining personal integrity for a commander is incredibly tricky, especially for general officers at the top because they are political animals themselves. Does anyone think they rose up through the ranks by bucking the system? I don't think so! And, it is natural for military people to salute and drive on. To our discredit often, it is, "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full." KT
(January 27, 2007)
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(AFP/File/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
| Recently, I met a young Lieutenant and we discussed Iraq. He was a bachelor and had already served one deployment. It was a frank and honest dialogue and I was impressed with his knowledge, commitment, and openness. After our conversation, I reflected on it.
I went overboard(during our conversation) to show that I supported him and all the troops. Most Americans are the same way. We can't take a chance on denigrating the troops. Vietnam taught us that.
I think the country has a collective guilt; we treated soldiers so badly after Vietnam, that "supporting the troops" (at least on the surface) is a mantra . Soldiers are simply doing their jobs. When I asked the young Lieutenant, "Do you and your soldiers worry that the vast majority of Americans don't support the war?" He said, "To be honest, we don't talk about it and just do our jobs." kt
(January 27, 2007)
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The other night I saw this program on TV about the deaths of young soldiers in Iraq who were stationed at Fort Irwin, California. The messages were delivered by a Lieutenant Colonel who has the hardest job in the Army. I know, "I've been there." It featured one 26 year old wife and her small child. A photograph (before the husband died) was flashed on the screen of a happier time. I was sad beyond all means.
Do these families ever get over the death of their loved ones? How do they move on? They don't!
Once when I was a church pastor, I was talking casually with one of our older members. Suddenly, she teared up. When I inquired as to why, she related how as a young bride her husband went off to WW II and never returned. Since then, she had gone on to marry and raise a family; but, she said, "Almost everyday, I have a thought about my young life and the husband who never returned from war."
WERE WE DESTINED FOR A CLASH OF CULTURES?:
Recently, I had an interesting conversation with an attorney about Iraq. His comments quite surprised me as I thought he was either uninformed or was a maxed out liberal who could only see a narrow view of the war totally infused with politics. As often happens, I was wrong.
His view of Iraq was that maybe 9-11 was inevitable. While quickly saying he surely didn't agree with much of the President's agenda; still, he had to wonder in light of history, if the clash of cultures was not inevitable. If Osama's goal was to extinguish the lives of infidels, it was much more simple than we tried to make it. It was a clash of cultures which we simply at some time or another had to fight. Interesting view.
BURIED HEADS IN THE SAND:
On the satirical, but more likely than not "right on," The Daily show, Jon Stewart, the host, had Larry Diamond,the author of Squandered Victory on his program.
Diamond went to Iraq at the request of Condi Rice to give an objective assessment of the war. He then sent a report. He received no feedback from Rice. No sweat because you can rest assured that the taxpayer forked over beaucoup bucks for his assessment.
Diamond said on Stewart's program: "If we had had a carefully worked out plan to screw up the aftermath of the war in Iraq, we could not have done a better job." Stewart made this cogent comment, something like: "What amazes me is that I've had people like Colin Powell on the show, those I admired, and trusted. But, when asked the hard questions, it is like their brains go into some sort of 'brain freeze.' No realism on the war."
Exactly how I feel. What is it with these people? We are all reading the same stuff and hearing all the newscasts and now we have a book like Squandered Victory. JHL
(A look back, originally written June 18, 2005.)
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(AFP/File/Jim Watson)
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GW's approval ratings were the lowest for any President the day before a state of the union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.
He defended the buildup of troops in Iraq and the need to succeed in his speech(text of state of union), but spent a lot of his time on domestic issues like energy, health care, education, and immigation.
Why? Probably to change the subject, because according to opinion
polls, most Americans and many in Congress disagree with the way things are being handled in Iraq and the troop buildup.
I can't help but feel somewhat sorry for the guy even though I think the war and the increase in troops is a mistake. The delivery of his speech last night was somber; the tone definitely reflected the situation he faces. If this new strategy doesn't work in Iraq, his legacy is down the toilet.
The Prez has taken a lot of bad advice and made a lot of bad strategic decisions. Over three thousand(3066 according to AP) of our soldiers are dead.
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus(who is taking over for George Casey) said "The situation in Iraq is dire. The stakes are high. There are no easy choices. The way ahead will be very hard. ... But hard is not hopeless."
Iraq is a mess and reminds me more and more of Vietnam.
(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)
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How in the world did we get to this point? The decisions of stupidity are legion(nothing you haven't already heard). Occupying a country with only 140,000 troops and disbanding the Iraqi army are just two of the many mistakes.
The strategy of "whack a mole" has been abysmal. Last week I heard a young Captain in Iraq say, "Our strategy is to send a few soldiers out in a humvee to get shot at or blown up." Now that's a strategy.
We continue to present rosy reports. Casey, the retiring general in Iraq, echoed it again. "By the summer of 08', troops might be leaving." What is going on with this? Maybe he has hope that there is at least some change in strategy. Finally, yesterday Lt. Gen. David Petraeus admitted "The situation in Iraq is dire." Kudos to Petraeus.
(REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ))
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THE DECISIONS AREN'T OURS
What amazes me is that we continue to act like we can arbitrarily make decisions. HELLO!
Does anybody remember that Iraq has a duly elected government?
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, is being called upon to get tough. Oh yeah, this will work; get tough with, Muqtada al-Sadr, the very guy who basically put him in office.
The Prime Minister(after finding out the Shiite militia of Al Sadr was infiltrated with death squads) has finally dropped protection for Al-Sadr's militia aka Mahdi Army. Will it last? I doubt it, but we will see.
Get this, there are no less than twenty-three militias in Iraq and the Prime Minister is going to disband them? Again, I have my doubts.
OUR LEADER HAS SPOKEN
The President has said we have three options: (1)do what we are doing, (2) cut a chogie
(to move out quickly. Term brought to Vietnam by soldiers who had served in Korea) out of Iraq, or (3)the surge. No, we have four and here is the plan that will work.
SPECIAL FORCES
Plan to stay in Iraq as long as it takes or somewhere close. Send fifty to seventy thousand Special Forces soldiers who can fight the militias or keep the different sects or tribes from killing each other. They can also train those who honestly want to fight for a united Iraq. Simple. Will we do it? Probably not.
What people in Congress or even the military don't want to admit is that the Special Forces are trained for this sort of mission. Special Forces are trained for a guerrilla war and they love it.
What we learned from Vietnam has totally escaped us and the military "brass." Leave guerrilla fighting to the Special Forces. The mainstream Army should concentrate on big wars like WW II- wars fought for survival.
We Vietnam veterans know the scenario. Vietnam began its eventual decline when conventional soldiers were deployed in country. We were young soldiers who were just bodies, trained as best we could, but reluctant at best. We did a good job, carried the fight to the enemy; but, at the end of the day, we couldn't win it.
In Iraq, conventional soldiers, as good as they are, are not going to win it either.
FANATICISM
We cannot beat fanatics, those who kill themselves, their families, their countrymen. We cannot beat young Arab men who have joined the fight because they have no future and no prospects.
These guys are imbued with a religious fanaticism that reasonable people simply cannot fathom, i. e., a fantasy of 72 virgins waiting for them in paradise. Fantasy in a normal male is a powerful thing and in sexually repressed males like the kids who belong to the militias, the fantasy of 72 virgins and its significance is magnified a thousand times.
A TIMETABLE
So, how long will it take to get us to the point we can do this? Within six months to a year, conventional soldiers could be out of Iraq and the Special Forces in place.
What has happened to us in Iraq and Baghdad, in particular, is that we have given over the streets to the thugs, meaning the militias. They are unimpressed with our bravado, great equipment, and firepower. They know they have us by the gonads. They are tribalists and we are trying to win their hearts and minds. Forget it! We can win the hearts and minds of a few civilians, but for those taking the fight to us, we cannot.
We have got to get over ourselves. The militias/insurgents/terrorists are savages. When I read the accounts of the killing of innocent Iraqis, I am amazed at what they will do to the poor civilians. They have no qualms when it comes to killing students, children, babies, mothers, or elderly men and women. They are brutal to the max.
We slow this down by a highly trained force of Special Forces soldiers who understand counterinsurgency and can take the fight to the enemy while keeping a low profile in training the Iraqis and winning some confidence of the people. This is a strategy and will work. I propose we give this strategy at least two years and then assess our progress. kt
(January 24, 2007)
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 With insight sharpened by experience, and compassion kindled in the horror of battle, Chaplain Autry details the challenges, anguish and even the joys of a wartime pastorate.
Gun-Totin Chaplain, is the author's gripping chronicle of his year of duty in Vietnam. From the draft notice he received on his wedding day through airborne jump school and his subsequent time in Vietnam, the reader follows a man of peace as he ministers to men at war.
Excerpt from Gun-Totin' Chaplain
(January 21, 2007)
The link above requires adobe acrobat reader. If you don't already have it, you can download at Adobe.com. If you have adobe reader, click first on the link above. It should open; but, if not, then open adobe reader and then click on the link above.
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| Do Older Geezers Want Younger Women?
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I tried to talk to the "girlfriends"(male friends of mine) recently about some articles I read about growing older and sex, etc. They gave me the "nobody is home look", but I persisted.
The writer of one article was laying out Gail Sheehy who wrote the book Sex and The Seasoned Woman.
The idea is that those like Sheehy are supposedly watching trends and have a tendency to put everyone in the same box-the concept of the eternal optimist as opposed to reality which most people aren't willing to face.
Some things are just what they are, plain and simple: we age, we have wrinkles, achy muscles...
The writer wrote this, "here (Gail Sheehy's) particular skill, in keeping with the desires of a culture frantically dedicated to the pursuit of silver linings--ever on the lookout for evidence that life is not hard, death is not final, and it is never too late to make another better choice.
I will have to say that most of the girlfriends are doing pretty well in terms of facing life.The only thing I'd add is that all of this is a bit like so many things we read: writers, shrinks, or whoever attempting to put everyone in the same bag.
With my "girlfriends" I can tell you that with all BS aside, these guys, single guys, have girlfriends close to their own age. They go against the trend that I read about baby boomer men and women wanting younger partners. At least with the "girlfriends", this doesn't seem to be the case. Oh well...KT
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Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil
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