Category: Government

Onward Christian soldiers


While browsing the news a couple of items caught my attention. Fellow blogger Xymphora has talked consistently about the war for the Jews being carried out in Iraq and which ultimately will take place in other areas of the Middle East. I see the connection in bits and spurts of news coming from that part of the world, and this latest news really underscores what Xymphora says. Many American soldiers are beginning to see the senselessness of the war in Iraq, the unholiness of murder, and since WMDs were not found in Iraq many understand fighting there is not self defense, as they were led to believe when they signed up and went there. Many have turned to suicide, others to drugs, others to religion and some as the story linked to above away from religion. What I found interesting about young Jeremy Hall’s conversion was his statement that the United States military has become a Christian organization and therefore he has found himself at the brunt end of it’s anger just as the Iraqi Muslims he was fighting. He’s been discharged and is now suing the Defense Department.

It was the Defense Department’s policy wonks, notably Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Dov Zakheim, Doug Feith, et.al who lied the United States into fighting the Iraqis and the American military on the ground saw first hand the reality that Iraq was NOT a threat to America. To some who served there, Iraq became an ‘atrocity producing situation’, something we’ve written about here at Miscellany101 and it stands to reason; people have figured out the lie and it’s frustrating trying to rationalize the irrational. The WOT, or the war for the Jews, however is being fought on many fronts and the other bit of news which caught my attention is Juan Cole’s piece in Salon which talks about the Justice Deptartment’s new policy that will profile Muslims just because of their religious beliefs. Yes, Muslims must take their place as the dispossessed on the American landscape, just like the Indians, women, Africans, Japanese and others before them but it’s still troubling that after so many examples in American history, government has yet to learn that it functions best when it’s an instrument which enhances human potential by removing barriers not by erecting them.

Iraqi prime minister rebuffed


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for a timetable for withdrawal of US forces from his country, which the Pentagon reacted to immediately in essence telling him they’ll do whatever they please, whenever  they please in Iraq.  Such rejections have been made continuously by all branches of government, from the executive to the legislative and the military,  throughout the US occupation of Iraq.  What I found interesting however, is the play on words response from the Pentagon reacting to Iraqi concerns about the the US-Iraqi security pact under negotiations.

Whitman (Pentagon spokesperson) said the United States had made clear “that we have no long term desires to have forces permanently stationed in Iraq.”

Here you can find a very nice description of how deceptive the above statement from the Pentagon spokesman is.  Among the points made were these:

Iraqi officials quickly figured out that the real significance of the draft’s wording on access to military bases was that it contained neither a time limit on access to Iraqi bases nor any restrictions on the U.S. to “conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security”.

Authorization for such operations was called “temporary”, but the absence of any time limit makes that seemingly reassuring term meaningless as well.

The Bush administration’s renunciation of “permanent bases” was a ploy to lull the key committees of the U.S. Congress on an issue which had aroused many Democratic critics of the war, who had repeatedly used that term in demanding a legal commitment on the issue.

The Iraqis don’t understand minutae, or nit-picking as we call it, so the subtleties of US wording might go completely over their heads.  They can however cause problems by denying the US an agreement before the end of 2008 when the UN mandate for US troops in Iraq ends, and that’s why the US is so desperate to conclude an agreement before that time.  Stay tuned!

A troubling development


I read this article and my jaw hit the floor!

The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.

*snip*

Among factors that could make someone subject of an investigation is travel to regions of the world known for terrorist activity, access to weapons or military training, along with the person’s race or ethnicity. Law enforcement officials say the policy would help them find terrorists before they strike.

“We don’t know what we don’t know. And the object is to cut down on that,” said one FBI official.

It might not be the same as making someone wear a yellow star of David, or bringing them to a congressional committee to answer questions about their supposed loyalty but it’s pretty close to that.  One only needs to be a Muslim American with a funny sounding name, who owns, legally, a firearm and be the target of an FBI probe.  Such a description applies to folks like me and several million others who have done nothing wrong.  This hearkens back to the sorry days of American history when people were persecuted because of the ideas they held, the color of their skin and now possibly their religious preference or ethnic origin.  As Yogi Berra once said, this is like deja vu all over again.