Tag Archives: War

2012/11/02

About Benghazi – Tragedy, Misinformation, and Politics

Wars of all kind are ugly. What it takes to prevent fighting real wars is also ugly.

What happened in Benghazi, Libya on the evening of September 11th, 2012 is a tragedy.

It has also been a tragedy that this happened during a major election season. At any other time we would have publicly had some political disagreements and then moved on to a congressional investigation that took so long to report back that most people had forgotten that an incident occurred.

About Benghazi – the CIA gave its presentation of our response during the Benghazi attack yesterday (Thu Nov 1st). Its spokesman acknowledged the fact that yes we had a large number of folks there doing stuff, and its available resources were used to respond immediately. About the time delay – the CIA undoubtedly delayed giving an accounting of what happened on the ground so that it could fully withdraw all of its assets from the area. That includes locals and their families that we had worked with. // Accounts of the CIA briefing and the unfolding story: Story 1 / Story 2 / Story 3

There has been a lot of misinformation about Benghazi.

Every administration waffles when it is not in control of all the facts. Most of the misinformation has been by those that want President Obama gone.

Misinformation such as:

  • Obama watched it happening live.
  • Obama told the troops to stand down and not to assist.
  • We had an armed drone over the area that could have come to the area and shot up the attackers.
  • That we had troops just one hour away. Kinda, sorta true but mostly not. We had troops one hour away at jet fighter aircraft speed in Sicily, Italy.
  • That the ambassador should have had armed Marines with him. This changed back in 2006 under the prior administration to where our diplomats travelled in the field with primarily contracted security.

Yes, there have been misjudgements, although the bigger story of Benghazi is yet to emerge.

Ugliness happens. Each administration has its foibles.

In Iraq, we lost 4,486 dead, 31,925 wounded and 350,000 with diagnosed traumatic brain injuries from a preemptive war to take away another country’s weapons of mass destruction. We are still looking for weapons of mass destruction, almost 10 years later — even though our own Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued a report months before the start of the war that there were no confirmed WMDs in Iraq.

The real story in Benghazi is probably one that we as a government are not ready to deal with, regardless of who is in government at the moment: the CIA was running an operation out of Benghazi, trying to keep it low key by making it seem that we had just a small consulate occasionally visited by our ambassador.

In Benghazi the bad guys found out and decided to take us out. As in all such operations we try not to discuss our intelligence operations. For the CIA to discuss the attack itself and what we really did to respond — which the CIA finally did do on Nov 1st — forces into the public discussion the larger story of what had been a covert operation to begin with, and obviously to acknowledge our presence there now is to say now that we no longer have that presence.

Wars of all kind are ugly. What it takes to prevent fighting real wars is also ugly.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

2012/03/08

Speak up. Ester is calling. War & Peace. Peace & War. Persia again.

Being a curious creature, I recently adopted the (Congregation) Chevrat Or LaOlam to learn more about Judaism.

One thing that I am learning is that there is a diversity of views.

Presented both for your entertainment and for their value as a form of political art, I present to you Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

2011/11/11

Toy Soldiers – November 8th, 1965

I joined the Army at the end of the Viet Nam war in 1974.

Was still in high school when I joined in January 1974, and entered service on July 5th, 1974.

Viet Nam had been part of the news ever since I started school back in 1962.

Growing up as a child, the war lived on the news each night. We sometimes forget that it wasn’t so long ago that MANY soldiers died daily. I can remember news footage of fighting and always, ALWAYS, images of casualties being hurriedly carried away for aid or for protection.

In late 1964 or early 1965, I remember playing toy soldiers out by the back fence. The neighbor’s flower bed ran along the same fence and she  was out cleaning her garden. When she saw me playing with my plastic green and gray toys she said that her son was a soldier. As we talked she said that her son was also born in February. She promised tthat when he came home we would have a birthday party together.

At the time I was probably 8 or 9.

Her son never came home.  There was no party.

When I joined the Army I always kept him in my thoughts — even though I had never met him. Soldiers and airmen and sailors are us — our children will one day be them.

When Big & Rich came out with their 8th of November (1965) video it brought back many memories of childhood and watching the evening news as I grew up with more than 52,000 dead soldiers passing through my TV screen and into the tears of their families. Sometimes a few. Sometimes many.

Bill Golden 1964-1974

Bill Golden 1964-1974

Finally the time neared when I could make my own decision. Would I become a soldier, or Marine, or would I not.

I joined the Army National Guard in January 1974 and loved it so much (on most days) that I switched to the Army in October 1975 and retired from the Army in April 1996.

I would do it all again.

Postscript: I retired from the Army in 1996 while stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Since then I have gone on to start my own company — IntelligenceCareers.com — and have raised my family in Prince William County, Virginia. Life has been good. Life is good because of those willing to embrace “This we’ll defend”.

4 Comments

Filed under Viet Nam

Tagged as , , , , , ,

2011/09/28

Dear President Eisenhower — Some of us miss you … or never really knew you but in hindsight wish you were among us today

I was born the year that Eisenhower was elected to his second term. I have no personal memories of him.

Yet we live in a time where there are those that want to take our country back … back to what I’m not exactly sure. Neither are they so sure, although they sound loud and furious about taking us back to America before the 1960s. That would be Eisenhower’s era.

Eisenhower today would undoubtedly be pilloried as a soft, mushy RINO today … probably declared to be both a socialist and a leftist. He may even be blamed for ruining Richard Nixon’s mind — it was Nixon, Eisenhower’s vice president, that proposed universal national health coverage for all.

Almost everyone has read or heard Eisenhower’s warning about the emerging military-industrial complex but here are some Eisenhower thoughts that you may not have heard:

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.”

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. … Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

“Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels—men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ”

“Un-American activity cannot be prevented or routed out by employing un-American methods; to preserve freedom we must use the tools that freedom provides.”

The quote in the photo is a shortened version of what he really said in a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. … Is there no other way the world may live?”

Why I miss Eisenhower, and why we should all miss Eisenhower, is his plain-spoken common sense. His lack of hate and anger and desire to demonize his fellow Americans is much needed today.

Thank you Mr. President for warning us. I guess that there was just no profit in heeding your warnings.

BTW — thank you also for running for president back in 1952. Most folks don’t know it but you didn’t want to be president. You had to be cajoled into it. The reason you gave for finally running is that the argument over communism was tearing our country apart. The McCarthyites were roaming the land in search of scapegoats. Thank you for stepping forward and bringing some sanity with you.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Civil Society, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

2011/09/09

Joe Scarborough: …How many more in this endless war must die?…

Morning Joe Scarborough of MSNBC has a 9/11 10th Anniversary song called “Reason to Believe”.

A decent song, especially if you like steel string banjo. I do. Typical country sentimentality. Appropriate. Patriotic.

However, there is a very curious line in the song:  ”… In an endless war tell me how many more must die before my boy comes home …”

Listen: Reason to Believe by Joe Scarborough

3 Comments

Filed under War

Tagged as , , , ,

2011/06/30

Truth in Spending: The Case for a War Tax

A Guest Blog by Aaron Alghawi

Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, is widely regarded as the father of capitalism, as well as a strong influence on the founding fathers of the United States. He believed in a war tax and once said that the willingness of citizens to be taxed is the greatest test of public support for war. I agree with such a philosophy. In a time of record deficits and debt, everything must be on the table in terms of cuts. But with a sluggish economy, we do need to raise revenues. Some 50% of Americans pay little or no income taxes. This must change. But could we have a more democratic tax system–for semantics I mean one based on political opinion at the individual level?

According to this USA today article,  the FY 2010 cost of our failed nationbuilding in Afghanistan was approximately $105 billion.According to a March 2011 ABC/Washington Post poll, which was quoted in this National Review post by Katrina Trinko:

“Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today. Sixty-four percent think the war hasn’t been worth it, with 49 percent agreeing strongly.” And only “Thirty-one percent remain convinced that the war was worth fighting.”

For simplicity’s sake, lets just assume 2/3 of Americans oppose the war. If we had a balanced budget amendment and were required to use such a tax to continue operations in Afghanistan the coffers would dry up pretty quick unless it was a significant tax. If the 1/3 or so of Americans that support the Afghan war each donated $1000 extra to the IRS this year, we’d still be a few billion short of the cost necessary to pay. Based on our current population it’d be about $102,915,179,333.33

So, lets up it to $1100 each. That way we’d have a few billion extra to help with making sure the troops were well protected, or to pay off various war debts we have.

I’m against our continued involvement, but if I was rich, I’d make the donation for fiscal sanity’s sake!

I’m guessing not all of these pro-war people are wealthy. Since its 1/3 of Americans, let’s assume a normal distribution meaning a per capita income of around $47,000. That $1100 tax would hit pretty hard at your pocketbook on such an income. My father makes more than that and he feels the difference in such a tax hike or cut.

The Dems want tax hikes, but only on the “rich”. I say instead hike taxes with a fee-for-service concept. If you support the war, you pay an extra $1100 regardless of income. If you don’t want the government to cut your entitlement programs, be prepared to pay more money! Somebody else can do the math on those and then get back to you!

I bet when faced with such tax hikes, that 1/3 of Americans would start to shift toward opposing the war and all those people saying “don’t touch my [insert imperial federal government program here]” would start to reconsider the benefits of those programs vs. the cost. Americans lately seem pretty opposed to the national debt and like to call for cuts, until it touches something that personally affects them. There should be no sacred cows!

You can find Aaron on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheOnlyAaronAlghawi

Bill4DogCatcher welcomes guest blogs on items of interest to the dogs in our community. Your blog item should be thoughtful and facts should have a basis. Appearance on Bill4DogCatcher.com does not represent an endorsement of either the idea or the content — but obviously I find your thought or thesis interesting or it wouldn’t be appearing. DUE TO COPYRIGHT issues: I really need your permission to publish a specific item on Bill4DogCatcher. If you are interested in sharing your thoughts please send an email to Bill@Bill4DogCatcher.com and send your item or tell me that I have permission to include a specific article from your blog, etc.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Defense Budget, Economics, National Debt

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

2010/01/03

2010 Dog Catcher Predictions – The Wars & Terrorism

==========
The War On Terror
==========

Al Qaeda has been reborn. The Muslim world will become more radicalized than ever. This is not an indictment of Islam. But if just 1-in-10,000 Muslims become radicalized then Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups can expect to have passive or active support worldwide by 10-15,000 motivated supporters.

The force multiplier for jihadists will be a continued demonstrated willingness to bring violence upon fellow believers that do not cooperate or appropriately support their operations.

Bottomline: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now a distraction. We can’t walk away but ‘winning’ is not a definable concept. Stopping Al Qaeda internationally will be as difficult as it was for pre-Soviet Russia in its multigenerational war against the Anarchists.

==========
The Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan
==========

Iraq

It will be a relatively quiet year in Iraq. Economic power has been transferred to a diverse set of Iraqi beneficiaries. It is in their economic interests to put downward pressure on jihadists. Late economic developments in 2009 shows the emergence of a national economic development strategy. An unexpressed part of that strategy is to encourage the U.S. to leave and to give it no reason to stay.

U.S. fortunes in Iraq are best illustrated by the fact that of 24 countries investing in Iraq, the U.S. investment level is barely 1% of total investments. China, France, Russia, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey have heavily directly invested in Iraqi economic development.

The U.S. relationship with Iraq exists almost exclusively within military terms, and Iraq sees the U.S. in the same way. See http://www.dfcinternational.com/files/DuniaPrivateForeignInvestmentinIraq2009UPDATE.pdf — Iraq is not Afghanistan, it is more like Lebanon: with moderation of the most negative internal influences then the nation thrives. Foreign assistance is needed only when those internal divisions get out of control.

Afghanistan

Al Qaeda will focus on demonstrating that it still exists and that it has diversified its operational base — the message being that large armed forces are of limited value in fighting it.

Despite the surge in Afghanistan the Taliban will thrive. It does not need to win military battles to control Afghanistan.

The Taliban share a common trait with Hezbollah: it seeks to win the trust and respect of the ‘core’ of local citizens through through the provision of stability, legal predictability, and essential social services.

Afghanistan’s current national and regional government have neither time nor trend on their side.

The alternative to the surge is a policy of long-term military presence. The Afghani cannot become a nation within a single generation, possibly not in 2-3 generations. An equilibrium of development across tribal areas may bring cooperation of locales, and opposition to the Taliban but there must be trust that we will be there for years to come. Won’t happen. We can’t afford it. The Taliban will wait us out; they will wait out the 2010 elections and the next major phase in their retaking of Afghanistan will be in 2011.

Two scenarios for 2010 are the most likely:

– Scenario #1: U.S. surge forces arrive, conduct fly-the-flag operations with minimal effort to confront Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. There will be some pushback but mostly Taliban and Al Qaeda will stay under the radar. Instead of direct confrontation, the Taliban will focus on small personal strikes against Afghan government targets to undermine confidence in it, and against NATO C4ISR facilities. The goal of both us and them will be to make it through 2010 with minimal confrontation.

– Scenario #2: U.S. surge forces seek out and seek to disrupt Taliban operational capabilities. The objective would be similar to Iraq where surge forces wanted it understood that they were omnipresent and would respond accordingly. In Afghanistan, this will be like throwing rocks at a hornets nest, where the hornets are able to cajole others into joining the fight. The Taliban will respond violently.

One Army estimate (Jan 4, 2010 Army Times) is that this scenario would cost the U.S. casualty rate to rise to possibly 500+ per month beginning in spring and running through next September. The Taliban will respond violently because it wants it understood that this is an all or nothing longterm battle. If it cannot be eradicated then Afghani should be on notice that it will outlast both the presence of NATO forces and the existence of the Karzai govenment. In the minds of the Taliban this is a win-win situation. Perverse but it is a strategy that could work.

The real war on terrorism and against Al Qaeda and friends will be outside of Iraq and Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda Inc. will seem to be everywhere. Al Qaeda wants to be viewed as active and operational across the face of the planet: the message being that they cannot be stopped.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Afghanistan, International, Iraq

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,