Breaking Bad II

 

 So we beat on, boats against the current, 
borne back ceaselessly into the past   
--The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald 
______________________

{continuation of Breaking Bad}:
How and why does the fiction that the U.S. is fighting Terrorism continue? This "New American Century" does not demand a "New American Studies" or a "New American Society". What we face is nothing new. Our citizens were wearying of these senseless wars, but they have rallied following the recent Islamic State beheadings of Westerners, led by the pied pipers of the press to imagine they are viewing some new sort of maleficence.

Citizens of our country may think that relations between our religious sects are more pacific, but all that is gone is that The Crusades (and subsequent edicts) bled off their fervor. Islam, however, suffers from no such restrictions. It may be demode to state the fact that the U.S. finds itself in the middle of a millennial fight between religious groups, but there it is.

Let these Islamic nations drown in a sea of blood and sand, and let the U.S. cease its support of any nation not supporting liberal ideals. The U.S. cannot fight a war when it has no sure friends in the region to whom it may turn. 

Our efforts at war are hopelessly hamstrung. We went to "go get 'em", but we fight conventionally and they do not. We have not learned to fight guerrilla war, and perhaps never will, and we lack the stomach or legitimacy for a broader elimination of the threat. What is left if to staunch our national bleeding. 

The reality is, more terror attacks may occur, but by putting our full efforts into a protective posture we can hopefully stave them off. Every attack in the U.S. gave off signals: the Boston Marathon bombing and the base shootings by Nidal Hassan in Texas are examples. The Washington Navy Yard shooting, though not terrorist, was another example. The intelligence indicators are there, and there is where we should put our resources.

Using all government agencies to focus on the Homeland imparts legitimacy and more importantly, interior lines of defense. Our defense would become concentric and relevant to the reality of the threat. Intel would coordinate with State and Defense, and would become the outer defense. Homeland Security, FBI and Justice, along with local police and intel functions would be the inner defensive ring.

The goals now should be not having our servicemen serving as bullet magnets in some far-flung danger zone. The United States is the zone we should be protecting with all of our might.

Breaking Bad

 

 We may be witnesses to a Biblical prophecy
come true --
And there shall be destruction and darkness
come upon creation, 
and the beasts shall reign over the earth. 
THEM! (1954) 

 Comes a time when the blind man takes your hand 
Says, "Don't you see? 
--Comes a Time, Grateful Dead

 When is someone going to get 18th century
on Islam's mediaeval ass? 
--Boris Johnson, Conservative (UK)
 ____________________

It is time for an inversion of U.S. policy, namely of the clarion call to the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©), "We must fight them there rather than here!" 

"Over there" is a platitude that ignores the reality that the spectacular terror attacks carried out on 11 Sept 01 showed that they were already here, so the cry makes no sense. Doing one will not obviate the need of the other. 

Let the U.S. prepare in an honest and realistic fashion for the world in which it lives, and in which it has lived for many decades, albeit blithely and blindly. The time for hubris is over. Terrorists have struck London, Madrid, Tokyo, etc., so why not New York City or D.C.?

Fact: we should have fought them here (which is where they were), and we will need to continue to fight them here bringing all of the tools of our civil arsenal to bear -- that is, if "they" muster the ability for another attack on the Homeland.

It makes more sense to fight (=address) the low level threat of terrorism here at home rather than fighting the far threat "over there" as over there has proven to be a dismal ball of confusion, conflicting goals and unattainable policies. Success has been elusive, because it is not possible. 

After ten years, the Iraqi Shia government cannot be said to be preferable to any other leadership. Let the Iraqi state fall in defeat. The current government's homicidal policies towards its Sunni minority brands it a failure. Why would the U.S. support either them or the Kurds? Neither action is in the national interest of the U.S.

[Next: Breaking Bad, II]