Streets Without Joy -- Pt. II

Part I of Streets is what Ranger would explore if giving an introduction to an Army audience. Pt. II is what can never be said concerning State-Sponsored Terrorism.

The military/government courses on terrorism try to keep it simple, and only explore the Bad Guys. Let's throw caution to the wind and discuss the Good Guys.

Of course failed states can breed terror -- but so what? That threat is manageable. Established rogue nations such as Syria, Iran, North Korea present the greater threat.

Russia and China area exactly what they are. Unlike America, they do not purport to base their policies on democratic principles. Their policies reflect ancient, deep-rooted national security concerns, and are based upon these historical facts.

How does the democratic beacon, America, comport itself in this global arena? Presently we have invasion armies occupying two nations. The president and Vice President, with the concurrence of Congress, have given secret instructions to the CIA on the torture of prisoners captured and detained in this Phony War on Terror (PWOT©).

Further, the CIA runs secret prisons worthy of the KGB. Renditions, detainees, indefinite imprisonment, suspension of habeus corpus, warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps ad nauseum are the order of the day. This adds up incontrovertibly to a rogue state. That would be us.

To add insult to injury, in the run-up to the upcoming presidential elections, hawk-alternatives Clinton and Obama are talking tough about using nuclear bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is sobering dialog. Clinton said the nuclear option should always be on the table for the U.S. president. What a psychedelic moment for flower-child Hillary and her military-loathing partners.

But she is no more to be censured than than her opportunistic opponents on the Republican side. They are all scooping out rhetoric from the same slop bucket.

The question remains: How can the U.S. oppose the use and development of WMD without being absolutely hypocritical when the option is always a presidential playing card? It's o.k. for us, but not for them, because. . . We have leaders of such Solomon-like wisdom -- say, GWB -- who know how to employ them wisely? Wise nuclear deployment? GWB, Solomon?

What is the yardstick by which one measures an "evil empire"?