Perspective: The Iraq Quandary

We find Iraq in the news again with this question being asked of presidential candidates:

 

If you knew then what you know now about WMD, would you still have invaded Iraq?” The answer today would be an unequivocal NO”

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The problem our leaders had IN 2003 was that they were operating in the atmosphere of our having already being attacked on US soil by radical Islamists with the loss of 3000 American lives. Everyone believed that Saddam had WMD because of these facts:  In 1981 Israel bombed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear research facility, in 1988 Saddam used Chemical and biological weapons against his own country men, and then he went out of his way to pretend that he still had stocks of these devices by tricking the UN inspectors. Is it any wonder that the world’s intelligence community believed without doubt in 2003 that Saddam Hussein had WMD and that he might use them against Americans or their Allies or transfer them to radical Islamic terrorists?

 

Actually, after we captured Saddam, he admitted to our FBI agent, George Piro, that he had WMD and got rid of them, but he nevertheless pretended he have them to fool the UN inspectors and Iran. He also admitted to Piro that he did not believe President Bush would invade and also that he planned to rebuild his WMD stock, including nuclear weapons, as soon as the furor blew over.

 

A more appropriate and pertinent question related to the current Iraq problem is this:

 

“If you  invaded Iraq and spent 4400 military lives and a trillion dollars to convert it to a viable democracy, and by 2009, six years after the invasion, Iraq was well on the way to achieving that goal, would you have left Iraq prematurely in 2011 knowing that the Iraq Army was not ready to defend against an outside invader?

 

That the Iraq Army dropped their weapons and ran when ISIS invaded should not have come as any surprise. The Gulf War in 1991 lasted only 100 hours, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the face of a massive sand storm, lasted only 3 months as the Iraq Army dropped their weapons and ran in both wars.

 

Sadly, most Americans then and today wouldn’t support George W Bush’s challenge to build a democracy in Iraq because that goal was “nation building”, and that was certainly not possible with Arabs. However, a little history would have reminded them that the United States did exactly that successfully twice.

 

Consider this! During WWII, we invaded Germany and Japan, captured the dictators Hitler and Hirohito and ripped the governments apart, just like we did to Iraq in 2003. However, the US leaders of WWII knew that after the invasion they had to leave behind democracies that were strong and stable that would survive after the occupying troops left. So, we set about creating democratic governments in Germany and Japan.

 

Building a democracy in Germany was relatively easy because it was a viable democracy before the Nazi destroyed that form of government. General Dwight Eisenhower commanded the occupational forces in Germany, and the US instituted the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall to bolster the plan. These giant leaders helped rebuild Germany and restore its economic viability. The US and its Allies occupied Germany from 1945 to 1955. Today, Germany is a democracy and one of our greatest allies.

 

By contrast, Japan was headed by an Emperor who was considered a divine godlike figure. Japan had no political parties, had no free elections and women had no rights. The government flowed downward from the Emperor which was a hereditary dictatorship and the people existed to serve it. Few if any believed that Japan could become a viable democracy, but the United States and its Allies achieved that goal!

 

General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to oversee the occupation of Japan. He decided not to establish a US military government, but rather to create a constitution based government. Initially he tried to have the Japanese people write the constitution, but when that did not produce a satisfactory result; he had his staff write it. However, the greatest question was what to do about Emperor Hirohito.  MacArthur persuaded the US Administration and the Allies that Emperor Hirohito should not be executed as a war criminal because that would needlessly anger the Japanese by destroying their sacred symbol.   MacArthur then convinced Hirohito to renounce his divine or godlike position, and on January 1, 1946 Emperor Hirhito publicly announced that he was not a divine or godlike figure and that the Japanese people were not superior to other races and fated to rule the world as the Japanese citizenry all believed. The US occupied Japan from 1945 to 1955, and today Japan is a viable democracy and one of our staunchest allies.

 

Perhaps history isn’t taught anymore. But that shouldn’t even matter! Think about this! In 2011 when we pulled our troops out of Iraq, over 100 million US citizens had the world’s largest encyclopedia glued to the palms of their hands (the I-Phone). One touch of the I-phone or even a spoken word and in seconds anyone could have learned what MacArthur did in Japan, how he did it, how long it took and most importantly, that it worked.

 

In summary, in 2015 Japan and Germany are strong democracies; their people are vibrant, safe and our greatest allies. By contrast President Obama, using the powers of Commander in Chief, in one year in 2011, unilaterally and without approval of Congress, of anyone else, not only pulled our troops from Iraq before Iraq could become a full fledged democracy capable of defending itself, but he “lead from behind” to kill Gaddafi of Libya, got Mubarak out of Egypt and “drew a line in the sand” in an attempt to oust Assad of Syria.  Now he negotiates with the Shiite Iranians, the stark enemies of our Sunni Allies about an atomic bomb which the agreement permits the Iranians to build in ten years, a mere speck of time when you think that this land goes back to Mesopotamia.

 

Meanwhile there is no strategy or plan to restore order in those leaderless countries.  Thus Iraq, Syria and Libya are in shambles, and their citizens are at the mercy of the heinous ravishes of ISIS. Egypt would be in the same state were it not for President Sisi who restored stability to that country. Meanwhile, the US has no realistic plan to help the Iraqis let alone the Libyans and Syrians. Moreover, there is no democratic government in Iraq for the rest of the Middle East countries to model. But the biggest problem is yet to come.

 

What happens to the Middle East and, yes the world, when Iraq acquires the atom bomb in a mere ten years? You know the answer!!

 

Maybe this historic blunder by the United States has occurred because we have no leaders like Eisenhower, Marshall, or MacArthur anymore. Certainly we have no Secretaries of Defense or Generals willing to resign in protest. Sadly, also we have no Congressional leaders to use their Constitutional Authority to rein in or remove the President. Then in 2012 when ‘We the People” had the power to remove him with the vote, we followed Sandra Fluck, a mid-thirties single woman who was in desperate need of gratis contraceptives, and they voted to stop  the Republican War against women.  We deserve the government that we get! Unfortunately the Middle East world that depends upon us does not deserve what we have wrought. We should be ashamed!!

 

 

 

Perspective: Obama's Real Strategy

 

Everyone is confused about why President Obama performs as
he does. Three Secretaries of Defense have resigned questioning his ability as
Commander in Chief. The Media, most Politicians and the Public at large cannot
decide whether his poor performance is due to his not being competent enough
for the job, or whether he is just the no-drama Obama, or whether he is above the
 day-to-day business of governing or
whether it is  something more sinister.  

Here is another theory. Obama’s behavior is based on his ever
stated belief that the number one problem of the world is “Climate Change”
caused by Man’s use of fossil fuels. Therefore, his principal thrust is to make
it as difficult and as expensive as possible to get and use fossil fuels so that
alternative energy sources can replace them. Consider his actions that support
this theory. His reckless Middle East policies are
clearly putting in jeopardy the world’s largest oil reserves and the oceanic
routes to deliver them to world users. Then he vetoed the Keystone Pipeline
thus making it more expensive for Canada’s
oil to reach world markets. He also blocks drilling on US government lands.
After the Gulf oil spill, he authorized new regulations making off shore oil
drilling more expensive. Overriding the US Congress, he authorized the EPA to
label CO2 a
toxic gas thus permitting him to “kill” coal, one of his avowed goals. And
finally he blocks liquefied natural gas from being exported. In short, he knows
exactly what he is doing!  

When you realize that President Obama single handedly and
without Constitutional authority made these actions happen, you start to get
the picture.  We can expect him to spend
his final two years continuing to do everything he can to weaken fossil fuel
supplies. This is the legacy that he wants, and no one seems willing to
challenge him.  

Impossible as it may seem to rational persons, he will
doubtless be rewarded with a second Nobel Peace Prize!  Meanwhile, “We the People” will pay the
price!

 

 

 

Perspective: What Middle East Policy?

If the United States has a Middle East Policy one would not know it unless the policy is to destroy the Middle East. Take a look at this brief history of how the area was structured over the past century or so, and then see what our President has done in the past four years to upset it.

After World War I the territory known as the Ottoman Empire was divided into separate countries by the European Allies. These countries include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Persian Gulf States. France controlled Syria and Lebanon, and the United Kingdom controlled Iraq, Palestine and Jordan. They are mostly Sunni Muslim, and they were governed by kings or dictators, and they remained more or less stable right up to the present century. Even Persia, now called Iran, whose Muslim religion is Shiite, has been stable. Consequently, when oil was discovered in the early 1900’s it could be successfully developed by the Western Nations, principally the United States.

Then beginning in 2011, aided and abetted by the President of the United States, key Sunni dictatorships were removed leaving governmental vacuums. Consider these events that occurred that year:
•January, President Obama supported the removal of President Mubarak of Egypt
•October, President Obama helped kill Mudmmar Gaddafi of Libya
•December, President Obama, against all military and diplomatic advice, pulled all US troops out of Iraq, before Iraq was able to defend itself.

The US President subsequently encouraged Islamic radicals in their attempt to remove Bashar al-Assad from Syria. Of the several radical groups the strongest Islamic radical group is named ISIS, which is an outgrowth of al Queda. ISIS took over vast areas of Syria from which they then invaded Iraq. Within days they promptly overran the Iraq army capturing all the major cities to within miles of Baghdad. ISIS calls this land a Caliphate, and is now adding Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and other Middle Eastern lands to this Caliphate .

As though this were not bad enough, on November 2013, President entered into the first negotiations with Iran in 36 years to stop them from building an atomic bomb. Iran has been the avowed enemy of the Sunni nations, Israel and the United States and the major supporter of terrorists Hamas and Hezbollah. Of course, everyone expects Iran to renege on whatever deal is made, so Iran will get the bomb! This will cause the Sunni nations to want to and they will be able to buy the bomb. There is no telling what Israel will do. Therefore, it is not difficult to predict that the Middle East could be aflame in a decade or two thus jeopardizing its huge oil reserves and oil production facilities.

While the Middle East is in a complete state of anxiety and fear of the Islamic terrorists, the United States has done nothing of consequence to aid such vulnerable allies as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the other Gulf States who are pleading for US leadership. Worse we snubbed newly elected President Sisi of Egypt, who saved Egypt from radical Islamists and who just gave a talk totally supporting the US position against Islamic Jihadism. At the very time that anti-Semitism is sweeping Europe and Jews are planning to move to Israel to escape to safety, we are treating our ally Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, as though it were our enemy.

Further, the President’s unwillingness to lead is costing us the support of the very Muslims we need most as allies against Islamic Extremism. Muslims in the Middle East, indeed in the world, have been terrorized into inaction by the brutal Islamic Jihadists who live among them. Imagine yourself in their place when you see Christians and Jews being beheaded for their being infidels, and you know that if you, a Muslim, were to disagree with the Islamic Extremists, you too would be called an infidel and treated the same way! What would you do?

What is so sad is that our Middle East allies will have to endure two more years without America’s leadership. This will virtually assure that more Christians, Jews and good Muslims will be brutally slaughtered by ISIS, and it will attract radicalized Muslims from over the world to go to the new Caliphate making the Middle East even more unstable.

Despite the fact that three of our Secretaries of Defense have resigned over this, and two have written books expressing their fear of the rise of ISIS, our politicians nevertheless still lack the political will to challenge this President’s reckless lack of leadership.

Perspective: Seeing Through a Glass Darkly

Susan Rice with the same straight face as Neville Chamberlain’s in 1938 tells us that there is no existential threat from ISSI! No existential threat means no existing threat. Have we forgotten that Bin Laden declared war on the United States in 1993 and what followed was a series of attacks on US facilities that began in the 1990’s that lasted until the 21st century when they destroyed the Twin Towers and part of the Pentagon? Have we forgotton how many American lives were lost in these attacks on US soil?

In 2003 we decided to fight back by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. We won those wars. But Obama decided to get out of Iraq in December 2011. Two years later, on December 2013, ISIS, an outgrowth of al Qaeda, began to invade Iraq from Syria forming a Caliphate that now claims territory in parts of Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Armenia, South and South East Asia, Saudia Arabia and Yemen. Meantime, we have had to abandon our embassies in Syria, Libya, and now Yemen who only yesterday was considered our ally. This is not only a lot of square miles of territory, but equally important is that this region contains 70% of the world’s known oil reserves. If these reserves are taken over by ISIS, which seems almost certain, the world including Europe, China, India and ourselves will be severely harmed.

In 1938 Chamberlain did not believe that the Nazis would attack the United Kingdom, but they did. And if it were not for the United States, the Nazis would have invaded England just as they did France, and Russia. The issue was existential then, and it is existential now. Wake up Susan Rice!!!

Obama’s continuing refusal to define the terrorists as radical Islamists is unbelievable to our military specialists who state openly that you cannot defeat an enemy that you cannot or won’t define. The plan to bomb Syrian and Iraq targets and take over the territories with Arab ground troops is laughable.Counting on Arab leadership in military operations flies in the face of the world’s experience. We have decades of history of Arab military failures. But perhaps the worst example is how the Iraq army that we trained and equipped dropped their weapons and ran within days of the first ISIS attack. If this were not enough to tell us that Obama is on the wrong track, how about the three Secretaries of Defense who have resigned over this issue and the myriad of retired military generals and officers who now publicly tell us our President is taking us in the wrong direction.

Equally important, the Administration must convince the Muslim religious leaders and leaders of states that are not radical, to help in the fight to destroy the radical Islamic terrorists that are forcing the Muslim religion in the wrong direction. Obama squandered the opportunity to do this at the National Prayer breakfast when he said that the radical terrorists, who are killing any one in sight, are no worse than Christians who performed equally horrific acts centuries ago. He should have said that historically Christianity once had an evil element, but that good Christians got rid or it. We believe that the good Muslims can get rid of their evil element. The President could then have called for a world-wide meeting of Muslim religious leaders along with Muslim Country leaders who are in agreement with this goal.

So what can be done? We have two breaks that we can capitalize upon. First, the military in Egypt, led by its current President, Abdel Fattah el Sisi, has removed the radical jihadists and is speaking positively about the need to remove ISIS. Secondly, the King of Jordan stepped up air attacks on ISIS locations in Syria and Iraq and is amassing Jordanian troops on its border with Iraq. Thus, we have two key Arab states beginning to form the Alliance, and it may not be too late to save Iraq. What the US must do is provide the leadership to support and lead this insipient Arab alliance.

The World abhors a vacuum. It will be filled by the radicals or by the good. As in WWII, only the US was able to lead the good. It remains to be seen whether President Obama is up to the essential task of leading the good Muslims to eradicate this scourge as well as protecting the world’s supply of oil. Otherwise we will have to wait two years for the next President. By then it may be too late!

Perspective: The Significance of the March in Paris

This is a Letter to the Editor the Bradford ERA published Friday January 16, 2015.

If you haven’t seen the photo of the forty-some world leaders, including several from Muslim countries, marching arm in arm in Paris on Sunday January 11th on behalf of Charlie Hebdo, you will want to get a copy. This is not just historic, it is iconic. It is historic because we have never had such a number of world leaders in agreement and focused like a laser to make a point and iconic because it is democracy defending its primary pillar, namely, freedom of speech. It is amazing because the marchers included not just the Western democracies, but Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, as well as representatives from Jordan and several other Muslim nations. These leaders know that freedom is based on democracy and that democracy in turn is universally tethered to a free and unfettered freedom of the press. They also know that “freedom is not free”, and that democracy must be defended or it is lost. That is why these fearless leaders had the courage to march, in the very city and only days after Islamic terrorists killed Charlie Hebdo journalists. How appropriate that this march occurred in Paris, France, one of the modern birthplaces of democracy, and where the French had their freedom taken away by the monstrous Nazis. This could be a turning point in the struggle with the radical Islamic jihadists. If the key Muslim Imams in the world will continue to link arm in arm with an expanding ring of world leaders, this radical movement can be thwarted. So sad then, that the world’s greatest democracy didn’t care enough to send an appropriate representative. Perhaps sadder were the lame and pathetic excuses. So, get yourself a copy this iconic and historic photo and hang it on your wall next to the Declaration of Independence. It is that big a deal!! Oh, and mention that to Obama, if you run into him!!

Wayne Pearson
Smethport

Perspective: Is Obama Psychologically Fit to be President?

By any measure the Obama presidency is an abject failure, and everyone knows it, including our allies. The poor performance includes destructive policy selection, failure to lead, to govern and deliberate over reach of power. The way the citizens voted in 2014 indicates that they made a mistake by voting to keep this President in 2012, so are there other ways to remove this President before more harm is done?

Writers such as Bob Woodward, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, and now Chuck Todd have tried to understand Obama and have published their thoughts. However, each of these authors seems stumped to explain Obama’s behavior. They all believe that he is incredibly smart and a voracious reader; yet, something is missing.

What if what is missing is that Obama has some malady that renders him incapable of discharging his duties? Are there psychological factors that might explain this uncharacteristic behavior of our President? Let’s consider some that may affect his ability to perform his Constitutional duties.

Atychiphobi
Obama has all of the signs of atychiphobi which means abnormal, persistent and unwarranted fear. In Obama’s case it is fear of failure which is a psychological disorder that impedes one’s ability to act. Clues of this phenomenon include his failure to lead, failure to negotiate with Congress, avoiding the building of interpersonal relationships required for successful negotiating, deferring decision making while being the “cool no drama Obama”, and blaming others for the failure of his or his organization.

Paraphrasing another President, Obama seems to believe that the “only thing to fear is anything fearful”. There is hardly any responsibility of the presidency that does not require one to be able to manage fear. His failure to take responsibility for his or his administration’s failures means that to paraphrase another President, with Obama, “the buck stops elsewhere”.

Pathological Untruth Telling
This characteristic may be tied into each of the physiological factors being discussed. Prevarication helps to disguise Obama’s true motives. Does the phrase “you can keep your doctor”, ring a bell?

Dementia:
Another question is his inability to recall critical events. This raises the question whether he is experiencing incipient dementia. For a person who is only in his fifties, chronic memory loss seems strange, but there are numerous examples of this. For example, he admits freely that he only learns from the news media about the numerous and serious crises occurring in his administration. Yet, he is briefed daily about these critical events by his staff.

The most recent and clearest example of dementia occurred when Jon Gruber was taped numerous times claiming that Obamacare only became law by duping the public who were too stupid to figure it out. Obama while in Australia was shocked to learn that Jon Gruber, an economics PhD from MIT, helped create Obamacare. However, Obama has been caught on tape touting the skills and strengths of Gruber before the work on Obamacare began and doubtless recommended him for the job. This is the same Jon Gruber who claims that he is one of the architects of Obamacare and was paid $400k to work on the bill. Moreover, this is the same Gruber who visited the Whitehouse numerous times to discuss the bill, often when Obama was present.

If we were to conclude that Obama has underlying psychological issues such as fear of failing, pathological lying and dementia that impede his performing his Constitutional duty, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution may provide a remedy.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution states in essence that:

In the Case of the President’s Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Congress may by Law provide the Case of Removal and the Vice-President shall act as President until the President has recovered or until another President is elected.

Consequently, Congress could deem Obama “Inable” to perform his presidential duties in the manner that the Constitution describes. Therefore, he could be removed from office until he is ‘cured’ of his malady or until another President is elected.

Can you just imagine members of Congress having the courage to apply this remedy? Of course not!! Therefore, all we have left is prayer!! But wait! Maybe not even that! The atheists will probably have prayer banned in public places. Then all we would have are the saloons and bars. But wait, again! The drinks will probably be taxed beyond our reach to support Obamacare.

Bettie Davis said it best! “Fasten your seat belts, its going to be a bumpy ride!”