Response To a General

So here be the rantings of a crazy General whose support for all things Bush are very amusing.  My rebuttal follows his letter, so ahve fun reading.

BY: JIM CASH, Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret.

I recently wrote about the war in Iraq and the larger war against radical Islam, eliciting a number of responses. Let me try and put this conflict in proper perspective.

Understand, the current battle we are engaged in is much bigger than just Iraq . What happens in the next year will affect this country and how our kids and grandkids live throughout their lifetime, and beyond. Radical Islam has been attacking the West since the seventh century. They have been defeated in the past and decimated t o the point of taking hundreds of years to recover. But they can never be totally defeated.
Their birth rates are so far beyond civilized world rates that in time they recover and attempt to dominate again.

There are eight terror-sponsoring countries that make up the grand threat to the West. Two, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, just need firm pressure from the West to make major reforms. They need to decide who they are really going to support and commit to that
support. That answer is simple. They both will support who they think will hang in there until the end, and win. We are not sending very good signals in that
direction right now, thanks to the Democrats.

The other six, Afghanistan, I raq, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Libya will require regime change or a major policy shift. Now, let’s look more closely.

Afghanistan and Iraq have both had regime changes, but are being fueled by outsiders from Syria and Iran. We have scared Qaddafi’s pants off, and he has given up his quest for nuclear we apons, so I don’t think Libya is now a threat.

North Korea (the non-Islamic threat) can be handled diplomatically by buying them off. They are starving. That leaves Syria and Iran. Syria is like a frightened puppy. Without the support of Iran they will join the stronger side. So where does that leave us? Sooner or later, we are going to be forced to confront Iran , and it better be before they gain nuclear capability.

In 1989 I served as a Command Director inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex located in Colorado Springs, Colorado for almost three years. My job there was to
observe (through classified means) every missile shot anywhere in the world and assess if it was a threat to the US or Canada . If any shot was threatening to
either nation I had only minutes to advise the President, as he had only minutes to respond.

I watched Iran and Iraq shoot missiles at each other every day, and all day, for months. They killed hundreds of thousands of their people. Know why? They were fighting for control of the Middle East and that enormous oil supply.

At that time, they were preoccupied with their internal problems and could care less about toppling the west. Oil prices were fairly stable and we could not see an immediate threat. Well, the worst part of what we have done as a nation in Iraq is to do away with the military capability of one of those nations. Now, Iran has a clear field to dominate the Middle East, since Iraq is no longer a threat to them. They have turned their attention to the only other threat to their dominance, they are convinced they will win, because the US is so divided, and the Democrats (who now control Congress and may control the Presidency in 200 have openly said we are pulling out.

Do you have any idea what will happen if the entire Middle East turns their support to Iran , which they will obviously do if we pull out? It is not the price of oil we will have to worry about. Oil WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE to this country at any price. I personally
would vote for any presidential candidate who did what JFK did with the space program; dec lare a goal to bring this country to total energy independence in a decade.

Yes, it is about oil. The economy in this country will totally die if that Middle East supply is cut off right now. It will not be a recession. It will be a depression that will make 1929 look like the “good-old-days”. The bottom line here is simple. If Iran is forced to fall in line, the fighting in Iraq will end over night, and the nightmare will be over.

One way or another, Iran must be forced to join modern times and the global community. It may mean a real war - if so, now is the time, before we face a nuclear Iran with the capacity to destroy Israel and begin a new ice age.

I urge you to read the book “END GAME” by two of our best Middle East experts, true American patriots and retired military generals, Paul Vallely and Tom McInerney. They are our finest, and totally honest in their assessment of why victory in the Middle East is so important, and how it can be won. Proceeds for the book go directly to memorial fund for our fallen soldiers who served the country during the war on terror. You can find that book by going to the internet through Stand-up America at www.ospreyradio.us or www.rightalk.com.

On the other hand, we have several very angry retired generals today, who evidently have not achieved their lofty goals, and insist on ranting and raving about the war. They are wrong, and doing the country great harm by giving a certain political party reason to use them as experts to back their anti-war claims.

You may be one of those who believe nothing could ever be terrible enough to support our going to war. If that is the case I should stop here, as th at level of thinking approaches mental disability in this day and age. It is right up there with alien abductions and high altitude seeding through government aircraft contrails. I helped produced those contrails for almost 30 years, and I can assure you we were not
seeding the atmosphere. The human race is a war-like population, and if a country is not willing to protect itself, it deserves the consequences. Nuff-said!!!

Now, my last comments will get to the nerve. They will be on politics. I am not a Republican. And, George Bush has made enough mistakes as President to insure my feelings about that for the rest of my life. However, the Democratic Party has moved so far left, they have made me support those farther to the right. I am a conservative who totally supports the Constitution of this country. The only difference between the United States and the S outh American, third world, dictator infested and ever-changing South
American governments, is our US Constitution.

This Republic (note I did not say Democracy) is the longest standing the world has ever known, but it is vulnerable. It would take so little to change it through economic upheaval. There was a time when politicians could disagree, but still work together.
We are past that time, and that is the initial step toward the downfall of our form of government. I think that many view Bush-hating as payback time. The Republicans hated the Clinton ’s and now the Democrats hate Bush. So, both parties are putting their hate toward willingness to do anything for political dominance to include lying and always taking the opposite stand just for the sake of being opposed.

JUST HOW GOOD IS THAT FOR OUR COUNTRY?
In my lifetime, after serving in uniform for Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Ca rter, Reagan, and Bush I have a pretty good feel for which party supported our military, and what military life was like under each of their terms. And, let me assure you that times were best under the Republicans.

Service under Jimmy Carter was devastating for all branches of the military. And, Ronald Regan was truly a salvation. You can choose to listen to enriched newscasters, and foolish people like John Murtha (he is no war hero), Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda , Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and on-and-on to include the true fools in Hollywood if you like. If you do, your conclusions will be totall y wrong.

The reason that I write, appear on radio talk shows, and do everything I can to denounce those people is simple. THEY ARE PUTTING THEIR THIRST FOR POLITICAL POWER AND QUEST FOR VICTORY IN 2008 ABOVE WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS COUNTRY. I cannot abide that. Pelosi clearly defied the Logan Act by going to Syria , which should have lead to imprisonment of three years and a heavy fine.

Jane Fonda did more to prolong the Vietnam war longer than any other human being (as acknowledged by Ho Chi Minh in his writing before he died). She truly should
have been indicted for treason, along with her radical husband, Tom Hayden, and forced to pay the consequences.

This country has started to soften by not enforcing its laws, which is another indication of a Republic about to fall. All Democrats, al ong with the Hollywood elite, are sending us headlong into a total defeat in the Middle East, which will finally give Iran total dominance in the region. A lack of oil in the near future will be the final straw that dooms this Republic. However, if we refuse to let this happen and really get serious about an energy self-sufficiency program, this can be avoided. I am afraid, however, that we are going in the opposite direction.

If we elect Hillary Clinton and a Democrat-controlled congress, and they carry through with allowing Iran to take control of the Middle East, continue to refuse development of nuclear energy, refuse to allow drilling for new oil, and continue to do nothing but oppose everything Bush, it will be over in terms of what we view as the good life in the USA.

Now, do I think that all who do not support the war are un-American … of course not. They just do not understand the importance of total victory in that region.

Another failure of George Bush is his inability to explain to the American people why we are there, and why we MUST win. By the way, it is not a war. It is martial law that is under attack by Iranian and Syrian outside influences, and there is a difference.

So, what do I believe? What is the bottom line? I will simply say that the Democratic Party has fielded the foulest, power hungry, anti-country, self absorbed group of individuals that I have observed in my lifetime. Our educational system is partially to blame for allowing the mass of America to be taken in by this group.

To win wars, you must put boots on the ground. When you put boots on the ground, soldiers are going to die. A President must make the war decision wisely, and insure that the cause is right before using his last political option.

However, CONTROLLING IRAN AND DEMOCRATIZING THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE ONLY CHOICE IF WE ARE HELL- BENT ON DEPENDING ON THEM FOR OUR FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS.

-Rebuttal-

The fact that this Gen. now resides in Montana offers a clue to his being out of touch. However his criticism of the Democratic Party is largely misplaced. The dynamic that was existent within the Middle East was that Iraq was the check upon the natural hegemony that Iran is within the region. The area is called the “Persian” Gulf rather than the “Arabic” Gulf for a reason.

While he is correct in the assessment that the war on terror is larger than Iraq it was the neo-cons that decided that settling an old score against an old enemy was more important than the country’s self interest. The build-up to the war was filled with talk of how short the war would have been, and the memories of the immense success in Dessert Storm was very much fresh in the mind of the American people.

It was easier to strike at an enemy that we knew was located, rather than looking for a true threat. This was the political gamble the Bush Administration took, hoping to give Bush the second term his father never received. The proper respect and did not consider unintended consequences. This would include the actions that Iran’s government would take with the United States having a field army in both countries that border Iran.

That would of course be to use their influence within the Shia’ population in Iraq, in order to bog down the US army having to deal with insurgent attacks, which were what the Viet-Con used to great effect in the Vietnam War. This would also consist of the Israeli Military taking preventive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, leading to the current situation where civil war is boiling over once again in Lebanon. Not to mention the “alliance” between North Korea and the Syrian government taking the shape of a Nuclear Facility in Syria.

The war in Iraq has weakened our position because of the damage to both our credibility to the danger that Fundamental Islam does represent to the World. It has also given the Iranian government the benefit of getting rid of a rival that they have faced since the Islamic Republic was founded, and hopes that they may institute such a government in Iraq, and the Middle East.

This was a problem that both parties had a share of, the Republicans for pushing for such an arrogant and misinformed plan, and the Democrats who did nothing to oppose it.

As for “Democrats getting even” so far as hating Bush, it was the Republicans that likened Max Cleland, a man that lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam, to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, by a man that never served in the military.

The deficiency of the Republican Party, has been their desire to claim Lincoln, but not follow his words, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it”. Rather the Neo-Con ideology is that because we are the Super Power we are able to do as we wish.

The situation we face is because of the lack of diligence of the Bush Administration to craft a workable policy, and the weakness of the Republican Members of Congress, who cared more of preserving Republican Unity rather than the Balance of Power that was mandated by the Constitution they claim to wish to preserve.

The Democrats, as seen by Clinton having more legislation passed with a Republican Congress, are much less built for party unity as they are representative of the various diversity that is the United States. It was the Bush Administration’s duty to make not only the case for war, but to make sure the American People would be supportive despite casualties.

Iranian Nights

There are some people who just love attention, they don’t care if it is good or bad, they just feel that any lime light they can get is good, so it appears that Iran is the Britney Spears of the Middle East.

Upset with the fact that Pakistan has taken the leading role of Apocalypse bringing Muslim nation, Iran has decided to exert its potential for being the harbinger of spinning the world into chaos.

How did they do this, they took a page out of their protector China’s play book by letting reckless military officers taunt their US counterparts in order to force an incident.  This was the first and best sign of how the Bush Administration would boondackle foreign policy issues.  It was the Chinese who had “routine” flybys of their military aircraft buzz our spy plane that was in international airspace, when a pilot who had a history of flying too close, rammed into the spy plane and sent both crashing.

Not only did the friendly lead painting toys Chinese government blame us for the incident, they held the US crew in detainment, while they sifted and examined the US plane.  Bush pretty much let the crew hang high and dry until he was able to find China on a map, and had it explained to him the sevarity of the event, he was reading a children’s book at the time.

Now we have Iran attempting the same type of strategy with much more potential for a provoking action to be taken by our Military.  It is no secret with all the loony rhetoric that comes from Tehran, their intentions for the United States, “Death to America!” kinda sums it up.   So when naval vehicles, even small ones with the knowledge of what happened to the USS Coal, engage in hostile activities - they going to be seeing the bottom of the Persian Gulf right quick.

Why would this be such a global changing event?  Because of the mindset that exists in the Middle East toward outsiders, everything they do is tolerable, anything others do is a slight against God.  There was no condemnation of the Arabian world when Saddam let loose his biological and chemical weapons against the Kurds, mostly because everybody dislikes the distinct ethnic group.  Suicide bombers by the Palestinians in Israel are hailed as glorious fighters for Islam and Arabs in general.  Insurgents using Mosques as fortresses and desecrating the buildings by firing mortars, machine gun fire and building IED’s, they are to be protected, while the US military returning fire are seen as the villains in their eyes.

This is a distinct difference from the actions that took place in WWII where churches were to be left alone, unless they were being used as a hostile bases of operations, then they became legitimate military targets, because it was understood that those firing from the religious site were the ones desicrating its holiness, not those returning fire.

Muslims see such actions as confirmation of the West’s desire to Islam, which concerning all the problems that have come from the faith make such a goal appealing, what is truly desired to eradicate are those who would warp a religion and say that moral purity gives them permission to do any and all acts of depravity.

“An Attack Upon One Is An Attack Upon All” is the credo of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  It was this motto that our ally Turkey evoked after the attacks perpetrated by the evil men of Al Qaeda.  So it happens this same creed is felt by the Muslim world, which was what Bin Laden was hoping for, that Muslims would protect their own, rather than protect the integrity of their religion.  This is merely the beginning of the tales of the Iranian Nights

Going On Vacation

Well this is simply fantastic.  Two countries who are well known for either funding terrorist organizations, or having more oil than sense are putting down centuries of religious rivalries and getting together for the holy Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Of course I am talking about our loyal friends the Saudi’s inviting Iran’s very intelligent, and sane, President Ahmadijinejad to partake in the holy pilgrimage and visit the holy city of Mecca.  This would almost be like Mit Romney inviting Pat Robertson to go to Slat Lake City with him, without offering him everlasting salvation.  (I was going to make a remark of an inappropriate nature, so now you will just have to use your imagination.)

It may not be so bad if their wasn’t a war going on in between these countries, and that it was a goal of the founders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy such Sunni Countries bowing to the will f the United States, if they weren’t involved in their own proxy war in Iraq.

Everybody knows that the Iranians have been supplying the Shia of Iraq the necessary tools and training to operate IED’s and to make sure the suicide bomber is not alone before pulling the trigger to explode.  What is not highly touted is the role that Saudi’s have been taking in arming their Sunni brethren to fight back.

Granted they didn’t need much help as most of the dismissed Iraqi army kept their stuff and ran their own personal vendetta/insurgency but they did need resupplies.  Additionally with the domestic popularity waining of the man who started this whole mess, Saudi needed to make a “Dessert Shield” of its own.  (Wow that was clever, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but toot toot)

Now that these two have decided to be friends, in the name of Allah probably, we can only hope that this turns out to be better than the Palestinians and Israeli’s getting together, cause they have only hated each other for 60 years, so we have only a few more hundred to go.

Peace…its Going On Vacation

Iran…Can Stay

Well it certainly appears as if the trappings of being a lame duck Presidency are starting to reveal themselves.  Senior Officials jumping ship, check.  Tired rhetoric being used over and over losing its effectiveness, check.  Political opponents beginning to challenge legislation and show they have backbone, check?

What is surprising is that the people showing the most backbone to the President are the people we shouldn’t be too surprised about.   Intelligence and this President have been at odds for many years, so it is fitting the intelligence community is showing its ire at the president as well.

While this is a setback to the Administration’s seeming march to use force against Iran, the damage is much more long term. Once again we are the victims of an overreaching President, and an under-whelming Congress.  The seeming revolt of our nations intelligence agencies places us at a great disadvantage when dealing with Iran.

Had we had a competent President, this intel would have remained secret and the rhetoric used to curb Iranian nuclear technology could have been toned down, but held together reluctant allies.  Russia and China both have been more impeding of the US led sanctions, and now will more than likely bail altogether.

While it appears as though Iran is not currently seeking weapons grade nuclear material, we have to remember that they have been a country that has been funding Radical Islamic Terrorists.  Having these ties, along with nuclear material, and having every other day reserved for, “Death to America! Death to Israel!” parades.

What has hurt us in this scenario, is that the credibility of the government has been shot, due to obvious missteps, of this Administration.  Who know how much more forthcoming Iran would have been if the US military was not bogged down in their next door neighbor?

These are questions that sadly cannot be answered because of morally bankrupt people that make up the Bush Administration.  They seized on the fears of the American Public, after a catastrophic event that they did not defend against.

They sacrificed bringing those responsible to justice, in order to settle personal scores, and to extent their tentacles of power.  It is for those despicable actions that the Republican Party should be ashamed for not only allowing, but facilitating such actions.  They have sullied they very country they pretend to love so dearly.

So it appears, as though the ramifications of these actions will be only made clear with the passage of time.  When false patriots such as the Bush Administration will make another push for dictatorial power, until then Iran…Can Stay.

No Iran, You Can’t Have Any

 

Though it may not be apparent by the level of readers, nor by the comments, there has been a ground swell of people asking, nay pleading for me to explain United States Foreign Policy. “We are desperate to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear technology, and its not like they are three year olds.” *yawn* Well you would be surprised.

So here exclusively to this post will be the exact policy of the United States, as I see and understand it, concerning Iran. It is my hope that we will be able to smite, I mean convert, er form a coalition of mutual understanding on this issue. Nuclear technology is to be a right of passage that is achieved through scientific understanding, by a government that is either held accountable to its people, or through Party Leadership. It is expensive and research dependent and accidents can happen, example Chernobyl, don’t worry Ivan we can barely see the third ear and second nose. It is because of these inherent dangers that the National Interest decision must be made; Is it easier to deter a power from using nuclear technology once they have it? Or to keep new powers from obtaining the technology to start up their own nuclear program?.

Due to the possibility of “accidental” launches, nuclear accidents, and possibility of proliferation to other groups, the United States has decided to prevent new powers from eating the apple from the tree of Knowledge. (Reference to the Bible, for all you heathens)

To drive this concern even further, is the fact that nuclear weapons, after WWII have become more of a theoretical threat than actual ones. The devastation that the first generation of these weapons have only been expanded upon through the years, thus making them too destructive to be used by any reasonably sound government official. An example of this would be during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Soviet soldiers had medium ranged weapons pointing at the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and the very sobering death count which would have resulted, made Kruschev stand down. Mostly because if the U.S. was to get nuked he wanted it to be his decision, not by some illiterate peasant from Siberia. It is somehow refreshing to know that even communists have a disdain for the poor.

What we have with the “country” of Iran, an altogether different situation. The government is contradictory to its own constitution, and that being the least concern of its legitimacy, produces an apathetic voting public which allows a small religious conservative percentage of the population the power to elect a President like Ahmendinajad and hold him to little or no accountability. Not at all like our system of electoral governance. *wink*

This lack of accountability, as well as the vast amounts of rhetoric that Ahmendinajad spouts off about the holocaust and the need to destroy Israel, is not exactly comforting to see them obtain the means to follow through on these threats. The other principle is the United States looking to keep Iran from becoming a hegemonic power in the region. If anyone is going to tell the Middle East how to run their “countries” it will be us.

The difficulty has been that historically, Iran has been one of the dominate powers within the region. There is a reason it is termed the Persian Gulf, after-all rather than the Arabian Gulf. Other factors that make Iran an enigma is the lack of military advantages that are offered to an invading power. The first of these would be its terrain, which is very much able to sustain guerrilla style insurgent forces. The second of which is that it is much larger than Iraq, which would require a much larger pacification force. The third would be the population is much larger than that of Iraq as well.

We must then turn our attention to the personality of that population, for only then can we truly gauge the level of resistance that would exist both pre-and post invasion. While every nation believes it is the greatest, except Canada they are just interested in hockey cause I guess someone has to, the Persian/Iranians have one hell of an almost sound argument. The borders of Iran have loosely been the same since the Bible was written. So since like since the world was created for our friends in Kansas.

Iran has been the big boy on the block, hailed as the cutting edge of culture and technology and having people cater to their will.  It is from this that we see the root of the distrust and rocky relationship that exists between Iran and the United States. One had been the epitome of power and the other now is. The resentment at the loss of this position combined with a fierce desire to reclaim this status.

Having a virtual baby on the International scene telling them they cannot have nuclear weapons, won’t exactly endear them to us. With such bad blood existing between the two countries there is little communication besides the rhetoric expressed by the leadership. If by some very strange circumstances we were no longer to consider the government of Iran an enemy, or even to learn that they have no desire to use the nuclear missiles or to provide these weapons to terrorist groups that they have provided for in the past, perhaps this policy will change. Until then we still have nuclear technology, and no Iran you can’t have any.