Friday, December 11, 2009

Obama's War

After Vietnam, I measure a war's nobility of purpose by asking two simple questions: Would I give my life for it, or ask my daughter or son to give theirs? The answer concerning the war in Afghanistan on both counts is "no." I don't understand the logic of committing 30,000 more troops to a guerrilla war that can't be fought with a standing army. The British have already tried that, not only in Afghanistan, but in another tussle known as the American Revolution, with similar results. I don't believe that the President, as a student of history, will repeat the mistakes of Vietnam, yet here we are again, facing an enemy that could be a merchant by day and an insurgent by night, defending a corrupt government that lacks popular support, and an enthusiastic general requesting more troops to "complete the job," only his name is McChrystal instead of Westmoreland.

While the real enemy, Al Qaeda, has an estimated presence in Afghanistan small enough to be defeated by the Tennessee National Guard, their legions have purportedly crossed into Pakistan, as Sec. Clinton so bluntly pointed out to their prime minister. So, it's hard to know who the enemy is in Afghanistan. The Taliban are a nasty bunch, as attested by the news footage of them whipping women in the streets, or blowing up ancient Buddhist statues, long before we invaded. But the purpose for their removal was for harboring bin Laden and friends, not for being religious extremists. I realize that the U.S. must present force in the region to prevent the murderous conspirators who attacked us from regaining a foothold to plot new atrocities. But history and the Mossad have proven that terrorists are better fought with special forces trained for that purpose. If U.S. personnel cross borders to pursue the assassins, I don't necessarily want to know how the sausage is made.

It's not that I don't trust the president's judgement by listening to the military's eternal call of "more troops," or General McChrystal's veracity, although he was involved in the cover-up regarding the death of Pat Tillman; It's Sec. of Defense Robert Gates that I believe. This is a man deserving of one of those Medals of Freedom that Bush used to hand out like prizes from a box of Cracker Jacks. Gates is serving his third president during wartime, having been retrieved from academia to rectify the worldwide chaos wrought by Donald Rumsfeld. Having previously served as head of the CIA, he could have comfortably remained president of Texas A&M, but chose to serve the country again by re-directing the strategy in Iraq, and staying on as secretary under Obama to focus on the indecipherable dilemma that is Afghanistan. Through it all, Gates' primary concern has been for the troops, both in the field and after returning home. If this genuine patriot and public servant believes that more troops now will bring this war to a faster conclusion, then I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Several major differences exist between today's wars and Vietnam. For starters, today's soldiers are volunteers, while the Vietnam War was fed with draftees who were forced to go fight in an alien land or face jail. The war in Indochina was expanded by LBJ primarily over the issue of the size of his balls. He famously said, "I'm not gonna' be the first American president to lose a war." Nixon and Kissinger had the same missile-headed reflexes and cost millions of more lives. Afghanistan, however, was the staging ground for the attacks against us and deserving of retaliation. Now, Obama has the delicate task of extracting us from this morass. No one can accuse him of bait-and-switch on this issue. He campaigned on the promise to bring the focus of our national security back to the region that still endangers us. If the Gates-McCrystal strategy succeeds, I suggest we never again commit troops to any country with a "stan" in its name.

It's too bad the Obama haters won't be listening to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Oslo out of general, misguided principle. But they would only still despise him anyway. Had they listened, they would have heard a Chief of State describe the use of arms against an unprincipled enemy as "just," in defense of the citizens he is sworn to protect. He also reminded the "effete" Europeans that the conservatives are so eager to loathe, that their freedoms over the last century have been purchased with large doses of American blood. Obama stated something even Dubya could love; "There is evil in the world that must be confronted." This sober, thoughtful, and historic speech should forever put to rest the wing-nuts' insistence that Obama is somehow un-American, or acting on behalf of dubious forces beyond our borders; but it won't. They have become so engulfed by hatred and misguided outrage, orchestrated by right-wing, self-serving, on-air, borderline seditionists, that they can't see the man standing before them has become the legitimate Commander in Chief of the United States. And no one is blinder than he who won't see.

8 comments:

dfrom tennessee said...

again, you are right on the money.

Anonymous said...

I agree wih your thoughts on using special forces to fight the terrorists. We also should use more drones, surgical airstrikes, etc. Anything that will preserve American lives. As far as the defense of this country is concerned, we could start by stemming the flood of unknowns who pour across our borders daily, many of whom are terrorists who have been setting up terrorist cells throughout the country. We could also mount a campaign to eliminate the dangerous political correctness that hamstrings our efforts to protect ourselves. Our military has been infected with this dementia and that is deadly for all Americans. We probably won't get serious till an American city is nuked and tens of thousands are killed. However, even that would not deter the hard-core leftists. After such an event they would be dancing in the streets (you do know that the far-left and the jihadists are in cahoots, don't you?). As an interesting aside, George W. Bush was complicit in the ongoing plans to create a North American Union. Many conservatives were fooled by Bush, but he was in bed with the globalists, as was his father. In fact, the Republicans whom you despise are actually a foil. They are just Democrat-lite. When administrations change, the march to globalism continues unabated. Politics is a shell game and theater run by the super-capitalists. For example, Wall St. financed the Bolsheviks. This is an open secret. We are all pawns in a grand scheme that won't be completely brought to light till the New World Order is firmly entrenched. Then, the globaiists will finally have made a hell of Earth. Like someone has said, we will be living on prison planet. Who can oppose a one-world government once it is firmly instituted? I know that this sounds crazy, but we are not far away from the realization of this. You will kick and scream at this contention, but Obama and the far left work for the globalists and not the American people. So did the Bushs, Clinton, Nixon, all the way back to Wilson and maybe even back to Teddy Roosevelt. Some were just more subtle than others. They all are/were masters of deceit saying the things that people wanted to hear and then implementing policies that drive us toward globalism. Like a famous communist said, America will wake up one day in a fully Marxist America (actually a Marxist world) and will not know how we got there. Cass Sunstein would say that we were 'nudged' (incrementalism) there and he would be right. He is a master of that ploy and wrote a book called by the same name. I hate the fact that you and so many others are blind and deceived to what is and has been going on all around us. Actually,it is an ancient scheme that is rapidly coming to fruition. It is the mystery of evil spoken of in the Bible, but few have put two and two together in this regard. My vindication for all that I have said is just around the corner. We shouldn't have to wait long, and I will try my best when the day arrives not to say I told you so, because we will all suffer at the same hands. Wait and see.

Anonymous said...

After Obama and the far left highjack health care and energy, they will go after the media. They will take over the internet, radio, etc. through some sort of resurrected 'Fairness Doctrine' scam so that they can negate all attempts to expose the truth. After that the battle for freedom will be completely lost. Actually, the battle has already been lost, but some freedom fighters have not realized this...too little, too late.

Cousin Cliff said...

Randy, your statement about “those Medals of Honor that Bush used to hand out like prizes from a box of Cracker Jacks,” is off base. The Medal of Honor is our country’s highest decoration for bravery and heroism on the battlefield. There have been some 3400 Medals of Honor awarded since 1862. Only 2 have been awarded for Afghanistan: Army Sgt. Jared Monti and Navy Seal Lieutenant Michael Murphy. Only 4 have been awarded for Iraq: Marine Corporal Jason Dunham, Army Private Ross McGinnis, Navy Seal Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael Monsoor, and Army Sergeant Paul Smith. All were posthumous.

In Michael Murphy’s case, his 4 person Seal team was tasked with killing or capturing a high ranking Taliban leader. While hiding on a mountain, they were discovered by 3 goat-herders, who were likely Taliban or Taliban sympathizers. They faced a choice: kill them and continue their mission, or let them go and run like hell. They voted among themselves, and elected not to kill them. They were attacked an hour later by over a hundred Taliban fighters. Lieutenant Murphy and two others on the team died that day, as did another 16 Special Operations forces trying to rescue them whose helicopter was shot down. One man lived, Marcus Lutrell, whose recent book Lone Survivor recounts these events. President Obama’s decision to send additional forces doesn’t meet your nobility purpose. Sending in Special Operations forces seems to, as long as you are spared “seeing the sausage made.” Sorry to spoil that for you.

Randy Haspel said...

Cousin Cliff,
You were right and I was wrong. I meant to say the Presidential Medal of Freedom, rather than the Medal of Honor, that Bush passed out like cracker jack prizes. Still defending Bush over semantics?
Love,
Cousin Randy

Cousin Cliff said...

Hey, Cuz. Not defending President Bush this time. My comment was solely with respect to the heroes I named. I haven't paid much attention to the Medal of Freedom, but Wikipedia and similar sources say President Bush handed out 81 (including Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Donna Shalala) and President Clinton handed out 88. President Obama is off to a pretty good start with 16 this year.

I can't make it to Memphis the week after next, but I do hope to get up there soon. Haven't seen you in a while.

With Love back at ya,

Cousin Cliff

Anonymous said...

Many people believe that George W. Bush was a hero of conservatism, constitutional government, and the American way. The truth of the matter is that he was a very deceptive subversive. He worked with the Mexican president and the prime minister of Canada to lay the groundwork for the coming North American Union. This is the real reason that he wouldn't do anything to protect our borders. Also, a big reason for the war against Iraq was to intensify the spirit of jihad against America and the free world. Then he proceeded to exacerbate America's economic problems throughout the tenure of his administration. It is true that the current dire economic situation was precipitated by Bush. Conservatives couldn't figure out why the Bush administraton was so wreckless in their spending. Now they should know. Bush and Obama constitute a one-two punch against America. The over-all plan is to eventually create a crisis condition in the country through fear of domestic terrorism (fomented by the Middle Eastern wars and the concomitant porous American borders), and ultimately through economic implosion engineered by our completely irresponsible governmental leadership over (at least) the past nine years. Here is what is coming down the pike. There will be a complete economic implosion in America. The recent act of raising the debt ceiling of the country to 14 trillion will help this cause. If that doesn't do the trick, they will raise the debt ceiling and keep up their destructive spending until the bottom does drop out. On the other side of this economic collapse, America will be conned into joining with Mexico and Canada to form the North American Union (the plans for which are now well under way). This ruse will be posited as the only way to recover economically. After America's fall, there will be nothing in the way for the completion of the globalists plan for world conquest. There eventually will be a South American Union, an Asian Union, and an African Union to go along with the European and N. American Unions. This situation will form the basis for the coming consolidation of these regional governments to form the New World Order. The naive believe that this will be the basis for a Marxist utopia, but it will simply be a resurgence of either communism or Nazism on steroids. The citizens of the world will be subjected to the most soul crushing governmental control imaginable. The only question is the timing of the unfolding of these events. There will utimately be world Nazism (or communism) and a plan for draconian de-population. The Earth Charter and Agenda 21 will be the blueprint. A World Constitution already exists for organizing the new global government. It is said that billions will go to their deaths and that they may start with the Christians and Jews. They will complete what Hitler started. Ultimately, all who refuse to go along with the program, and the economically useless will be eliminated. We will live to see the first phase of all of this after the planned economic destruction of America which will soon occur. Obama and the far left Democrats are the chosen instuments of the globalists to finish America off and it is being done (continued) through their reckless economic policies. At some point during the ensuing chaos, Obama will declare martial law. The necessary unconstitutional executive orders are in place to establish a temporary dictatorship while America is being re-organized. It won't be long for this scenario to be played out...most likely before 2012. Fasten you chin straps because things are about to get really weird here in America, and soon after throughout the world. It will be the consummation of an ancient plan. Jesus referred to 'the mystery of evil which is now in the world'. This mystery of evil is about to be introduced to us in full force. I know that you will scream bullshit...you are crazy!! But, I am saying that this or something close to it is right around the corner. Soon the argument will be settled. Wait and see...

Jimbob said...

waitandsee, waitandsee, polly want a cracker?