Lies II

Recession in Rural Areas, Jiho

Ah, well, it's no use prevaricating about the bush
--Wallace and Gromit,
The Wrong Trousers (1993)

Some lie in words and speeches
With every living breath
--Lies, Elton John

There is nothing more frightening
than active ignorance
-- Goethe

Truth is beautiful, without doubt;
but so are lies
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
_______________

The above graphic demonstrates what we've seen along the 81 corridor in Pennsylvania in Southern New York. A whole lot of dilapidated towns.

More lies from the national treasure chest (follow-on to "Doubting Thomas"):

• We won the Cold War, and its corollary, Communism is an implacable enemy.

Without doubt, the USSR disintegrated, so obviously we won one theatre of operation.

But if the Cold War was so important as be a multi-generational military project, shouldn't the same focus be aimed at the evil that is Chinese communism? Cuban communism is treated as a cancer, yet Chinese communists are awarded most-favored trading partner status.

Either communism is a threat, or it is not. Communists are either excellent trade partners, or communist nations are bad. This national inconsistency is an example of American schizophrenia. The same comments regarding China also apply to communist Vietnam.

If the communists in Vietnam were bad then, when and how did they morph into being "good" now? A bit of expeditious political legerdemain? If they are good, why did 58,000 men die fighting them?

• The U.S. is fighting a global war on radical Islamic terrorism.

In truth, the U.S. is aligned with radical Islam. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is proof of this, as is our relationship with Pakistan, whose intelligence agencies are allied with al-Qaeda.

We are not fighting radical Islam on a world scale, but splinter groups which are radicalized. By claiming for a Global War on Terror versus radical Islam, we elevate the minimal threat of the splinter groups to an unrealistic and overblown level.

All al-Qaeda members in Iraq Afghanistan and Pakistan are local, Level I threats which can not project their hostility to the U.S. Homeland ™. The only threat al-Qaeda poses to the U.S. comes from the educated, technologically-proficient, English-speaking, clean-shaven, lap-dancing aficionados. These westernized elements and their Western sympathizers and converts are the threat.

Al-Qaeda Taliban riflemen in Waziristan are simply that. Such a person can be no more than he is. He can not go James Bond with his basic Taliban infantry training. His effectiveness is geographically bound by his regional area of operations.

• Some day Iraq and Afghanistan will be good friends and allies to the U.S.

You have got to be drinking the special Kool Aid if you buy this one.

Allies are a plus in international relations, but neither of these countries can add anything positive to American foreign policy. Ditto the Caucasus region of Georgia. These are not future gas stations for the U.S., but merely money sumps, hastening the end of our empire.

To be continued. . .

Hood Winked

Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea (2004)

The purpose of the law is not to prevent a future offense,
but to punish the one actually committed
--Ayn Rand

There must be a happy medium somewhere between
being totally informed and blissfully unaware
--Doug Larsen
_________________

What amazing insensitivity, arrogance and ignorance to proffer Major General Hood, he of Gitmo prison command, to the top defense liaison post in Pakistan. While U.S. commanders scrapped the move Friday following protest, Hood is now being considered for a position in Centcom Headquarters.

It seems with every administration move they are determined to turn the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) into our next Salton Sea.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Friday his government had asked for the appointment to be withdrawn, and had the U.S. not rescinded the appointment Pakistan would block General Hood "and other people sharing his thinking from entering the country," according to Voice of America News.

Pakistan is a key ally, yet we insult them by sending a prison warden to act as our chief military officer?

"The New York Times reported General Hood is now being considered for a job in the headquarters of U.S. Central Command. Centcom oversees U.S. security interests in 25 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia - including Pakistan (Pakistan FM Criticises Proposed US Defense Appointment.)"

Can the U.S. leadership be this thick, or is it aggressive hubris? Gen. Petraeus writes his new COIN manual, which gives us the good old news that we must secure hearts and minds, but has anyone read it?

If the U.S. wants to win against the al-Qaeda threat, there should be an understanding that illegal prisons are not winning any friendlies, either in the West or the East. It seems the West Wing alone remains a sheltered holdout of belief in the correctness the past five years' actions.

The soul of America is evaporating, and like the Salton Sea it smells fishy, like an empire dissolving.