'Staying the Course' Won't Do by Patrick J. Buchanan

[St.James]

"Freud once described neurotic behavior as persisting in doing the very thing that caused the problem in the first place – keeping on digging when you’re already in a hole…

"Now the Bush administration has announced that 12,000 more U.S. troops will be sent to Iraq, swelling the total to 150,000. This comes after all those boasts about how well the war was going; but that was before the election…

"This war is what Freud would call neurotic. It’s not solving the problem of terrorism; it’s aggravating it, while causing new problems. One thing we know Bush won’t do is step back and rethink the whole thing. Why did the 9/11 attacks occur in the first place? Because U.S. Government interventionism has made us hated around the world, particularly in the Muslim world. So what is Bush doing about that? Everything he can do to intensify that hatred.

'It would be tedious to list his other blunders, chiefly his strained attempt to connect Iraq to 9/11. We have hailed our victory over the Iraqi army, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the “transfer of sovereignty,” and we’re getting ready to hail the January elections. And what has really been achieved? Are we expecting any good to come of all this, or are we merely waiting for a chance to withdraw gracefully?

"Bush himself probably wouldn’t be foolish enough to do it all over again. Maybe in his private moments he wishes he could go back to 9/11 and handle it differently; maybe he would ignore the neoconservative fanatics who immediately tried to turn a terrorist attack into an excuse for the war they’d wanted – a war on Iraq. Following their advice nearly cost him reelection.

"Now the neocons want to expand the war to Iran; but Bush’s caution so far suggests that he has learned a lesson. Besides, American forces are already stretched too thinly for a similar war on Iran. We should notice what the president isn’t saying these days: He’s not talking about “preemptive” war on Iran, or suggesting that “regime change” there would protect our own freedom; he no longer speaks of an “axis of evil” of which Iran is a charter member.

"Bush is a stubborn man, but there are subtle signs that he’s also, in some respects, a changed man. These may not be the most important respects, but they may save us from a wider and much worse war: the neocons’ coveted “World War IV,” which was to transform the entire culture of the Middle East.

"Instead, Bush will have his hands full leaving Iraq with some plausible semblance of the American-style democracy he has promised. He still insists that the scheduled January 30 elections, even if they are boycotted by eligible and terrorized voters, will go on, and will change Iraq’s character; but at least he no longer has similar delusions about magically transmuting Iraq’s neighbors. It’s one thing to talk hopefully about change, progress, and democracy, the mashed potatoes of political rhetoric; implementing them among passionate people is another matter.

"Bush has had a lot of experience of democracy lately. What has he learned from it? He has witnessed the difficulties of fostering democracy in Israel and the occupied territories as well as Russia and Ukraine. What has he learned from these encounters?

“Probably nothing that can be easily put into words, except perhaps the difference between mashed potatoes and hot potatoes.”

By Joe Sobran

suppressednews.com/newsitems/national/EEpFulAykpxWNPxCis.html

 

[gilliam]

""Bush has had a lot of experience of democracy lately. What has he learned from it? He has witnessed the difficulties of fostering democracy in Israel and the occupied territories as well as Russia and Ukraine. What has he learned from these encounters?

Democracy or a good Republic takes time. Look how long it has taken the US. Israel and the Ukraine have some pretty good stories to tell as far as democracy is concerned. Remember, Israel started out playing around with Socialism, and the Ukraine just had a social revolt insisting on democracy.

Bush was told that Afgahnistan would never embrace democracy either. But then Truman was told Germany would never embrace it either.

Why won’t you give the Iraqis a chance at liberty? What do you have against the Iraqis?

 

[Chris_Jacobsen]

The United States has approximately two million troops on active duty. What is the justification for the United States to hire foreigners to work in its military bases? (The United States also hires foreigners to work in its embassies.)

If I was President of the United States, I would order this practice to end immediately.

The Federal Goverment is so ridiculous that it tells its citizens to remove their shoe at airports. And at the same time hires foreigners, who really are security threats, to work at its military bases and embassies.

 

[Nichevo]

Chris Jacobsen:

The United States has approximately two million troops on active duty. What is the justification for the United States to hire foreigners to work in its military bases? (The United States also hires foreigners to work in its embassies.)

If I was President of the United States, I would order this practice to end immediately.

The Federal Goverment is so ridiculous that it tells its citizens to remove their shoe at airports. And at the same time hires foreigners, who really are security threats, to work at its military bases and embassies.

A lot of this occurred in the 1990’s when both the Bush (41) and Clinton administrations looked for ways to cut costs in the military. The money saved was called the Peace Dividend. The idea was that the military could be made smaller (and cheaper) if we got rid of:

A: Some of the Armored Divisions that cost so much money. 2nd and 3rd AD went away as well as 50th AD (National Guard). Also some Light and Mechanized Infantry Divisions were seen as redundant. Goodbye 7th, 5th, and 9th ID.

B: Fewer divisions meant fewer bases. Goodbye Fort Ord, etc.

C: It was believed that it would be cheaper to support our troops with outside contractors rather than having all of those soldiers who had jobs as cooks, laundry types, etc. taking up government money. The state department also felt that it would look good if we hired people from the indigenous population to work for the various government agencies within the host nation. While this worked well in Germany, Japan, and South Korea, it did not work well in areas where we faced an insurgency such as Viet Nam. State decided to ignore this bit of history (it’s amazing how the bottom line can do that.)

So now we have bases where the majority of every day work is done by locals and independent contractors (such as Haliburton who, I might add, do a better job of vetting potential local employees than our esteemed pin stripers at State who just want to hug everybody.) While most in the military don’t agree with it, we also have to face the fact that bringing over our own support types destroys the tooth to tail ratio. (ratio of combat power to support needed to keep it moving.) It’s a sitaution that could be made better by more thorough vetting of potential ermployees but then we’d have to ask personal questions, conduct background investigations, and otherwise do things that the State Department doesn’t like seeing done to foreign nationals. These are the same things I might add, that are done here whenever an American citizen wants to work for the government.

As far as removing shoes at airports: Richard Reid.

 

[gilliam]

It is a lot cheaper to hire a cook that doesn’t have to always be ready to pick up a gun and fight in the front lines.

 

[holyroller]

Some people believe that the opposite of war is peace.

More often the opposite of war is slavery.

A strong nation alone can support peace.

If we don’t fight these crazy religious fanatics that strap bombs to themselves over their now, will be fighting them over here later. Thanks to people like myself, will be saving you and your many offspring.