Syria – Feel Good War Efforts Are a Waste of Life and Wealth

It is not just President Obama that is facing a dilemma about what actions to take in Syria. Almost every leading congressman and senator has mixed feelings over what actions to take.

The reason is that a win by the Assad regime or the rebels result in equally troubling consequences.

As a benevolent dictator Assad has kept a lid on sectarian hatred that has enabled Syrian minorities to live in relative peace. Assad has not been continuously at war with Israel but at the same time has provided the sanctuary to the leader of Hamas. He has permitted the transfer of weapons across his country from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. In an Arab war or war with the United States, he would be allied with Iran.

The rebels are dominated by Muslim extremists (Muslim Brotherhood supported by Iran and al-Qaeda that are supported by contributions from around the world). They appear to be in agreement that Israel must be obliterated and continuing attacks on Western Europe and America by any means.

Today’s Los Angeles Times has a front page article, More harm than good in strikes?, about the success of air attacks on nations that have defied American will or wishes. The resulting consequences of those attacks have been mediocre at best. The article’s words are “The type of campaign expected in Syria has a poor track record.” Sited are the two major bomb and cruise missile episodes against Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government and the 1986 bombing of Muammar Gaddafi’s Lybia. While all the attack weapons hit their targets, those events had achieved little. Even the invasion and removal of Saddam Hussein from Iraq is in dispute (there are almost daily reports of bombings in that country).

Barack Obama’s mistake was drawing a “red line.” Americans are tired of war. We do not have the man power or the persuasive skills to change the behavior of any society. Just yesterday I read of Buddhists setting fire to the homes of Muslims in Myanmar (Burma). Should America march into that country? Of course our military-industrial complex will say, Yes.

As sad as the gassing of innocent people is to most of us, there is little we can do to stop the carnage unless we send troops into Syria. Then a few years later we will withdraw and the carnage will resume.

Objections to Keystone XL Pipeline

11-18-2014: The number one issue in America is a growing economy. That means more good jobs. The president is WRONG on this issue. Perhaps today’s vote in the Senate will change his opinion.

A quick review. This is the proposed oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas and Port Arthur, Texas.

It now appears that the U.S. State Department sees no objection to approving the project. However, the U.S. Interior Department warns of possible harm to wildlife. Activists are primarily concerned with the possibility of oil spills.

Interestingly there is already a pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma. While the reports of oil spills from that pipeline are rare there has been little in the news that confirms that fact.

Furthermore the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, 800 miles long, had its largest oil spill involving the main pipeline on February 15, 1978, when an unknown individual blew a 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) hole in it at Steele Creek, just east of Fairbanks. Approximately 16,000 barrels of oil leaked out of the hole before the pipeline was shut down. Criminal mischief has been the primary cause of leaks. There are no reports of impact on wildlife.

The oil companies injected billions of dollars into the Alaska economy during the construction effort and the years afterward.

Of course environmentalists don’t want to hear the facts.

Mexico – Becoming the Failed State

Pancho Villa was responsible for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, which was the first attack on U.S. soil since 1812. The U.S. sent several thousand soldiers across the border to hunt for Pancho Villa. Though they spent over a year searching, they never caught him. Villa retired from revolutionary life in 1920 but had only a short retirement for he was gunned down in his car on July 20, 1923.

The story of Villa was not well reported in the United States. Once again our news media has failed to provide adequate reporting about happenings in our neighbouring country.

Infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero walked free Friday after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Caro Quintero helped establish a powerful cartel based in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa that later split into some of Mexico’s largest cartels, including the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.

Defense attorneys believe freedom is imminent for a second member of the trio of Mexican drug kingpins, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, responsible for the murder.

So here we have a nation next door to the United States where corruption is rampant and drug cartels have the money to bribe and the power to threaten, releasing drug king pins from prison on technicalities that were obviously concocted.

This was reported in the Texarkana Gazette, Los Angeles Daily News and the Herald Times of Bloomington, Indiana. Anything in the Los Angeles Times? No. In the Washington Post? Yes, but not on the front page. In the New York Times? Nope.

Little or nothing from the White House because they do not want to alienate Mexico. They are concerned about the Hispanic vote.

The media? Where are they?

The Syrian Dilemma

June 14, 2013

This article was originally posted on April 28, 2013. Nothing has really changed since then except the White House now confirms that Assad has used chemical weapons. Jeffrey Goldberg posted his opinion today (June 14, 2013) on bloomberg.com that simply reinforces my views. “Five Depressing Thoughts About Arming Syria’s Rebels” is worth reading.

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President Obama made public his opinion that the use or movement of chemical weapons would be a “red line for the United States.” He said that in 2012. Now there is evidence that those kinds of weapons were used in small quantities.

That puts the president in a box if he really does not want to become involved in the Syrian Civil War. No action by the United States indicates to the world that our words mean nothing. That will frighten our friends around the world.

Republican congressmen and senators are using this situation to paint the president in the worst possible light. Mike Rogers (R-MI) appeared on Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV on Saturday April 27 where he demanded leadership by the president on this subject. He proposed a variety of vague actions the president should take. However, when asked what specific actions the president should take he became even more vague and said we should not “put boots on the ground” in Syria.

There is the problem. Republicans and Democrats alike want the United States to take action but stop short of putting American troops in Syria. No wonder. The outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan has been dismal. Iraq appears to be on the verge of a civil war. Afghanistan will probably be overrun by the Taliban in most of that country, with the exception of Kabul, once American troops have mostly withdrawn.

The Syrian test is obvious. How much gas can Bashar Assad use and still avoid entry of the United States into their war? Is it the number of people killed? Ten is OK but 100 aren’t? To me the question ought to be, when Assad falls what will happen to those chemicals? He won’t fall?

Reports appearing yesterday in the Los Angeles Times are that the number of business men and industrialists leaving Damascus for cities outside Syria is on the rise. They can see the hand writing on the wall.

Articles like this, Lawmakers: Syria chemical weapons could menace US are meant to prepare Americans for another war. This reminds me of the scare tactics used by the George W. Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq. The difference might be that Barack Obama wants to avoid war. Then again may be not. After all his directions have been even more aggressive than Bush’s. Obama did catch and kill Osama bin Laden. Drones are now utilized far more than those days of the Bush administration. The Strait of Hormuz is regularly patrolled by the U.S. Navy.

U.S. Federal Government Honesty

Kim Jong-Un, leader of North Korea, has threatened to shoot a missile at the United States. If he can’t manage that could he be responsible for the bombing in Boston? If the United States wanted to avoid a war with North Korea, would our government hide the fact that North Korea was the source of the bombing from the American people? I am just asking.

North Korea

A Congressional Research Service report dated April 12, 2012 offered this startling summary of food aid to North Korea. “Between 1995 and 2008, the United States provided North Korea with over $1.3 billion in assistance: just over 50% for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. Since early 2009, the United States has provided virtually no aid to North Korea. On February 29, 2012, after bilateral talks with the United States, North Korea announced a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities (including uranium enrichment) at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities. It also said it would allow international nuclear inspectors to return to North Korea. The United States announced it would provide North Korea with 240,000 metric tons (MT) of food aid. However, the so-called “Leap Day deal” unraveled after North Korea on April 13, 2012, launched, in defiance of United Nations resolutions, a rocket to place an “earth observation satellite” into orbit. U.S. officials say that during bilateral negotiations they warned their counterparts that any rocket launch using ballistic missile technology would jeopardize the agreement.”

If North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s threats to start a nuclear war are an attempt to get the world’s attention, he’s succeeded. Will the United States offer more food aid and other assistance to bring his threats to a halt? It is time we said “No” to his threats. The consequences of the use of a nuclear weapon are horrifying but when do we stand up to a bully? The time has come.

The wisest thing we can do right now is not be goaded by the bully.

Obama the Naive

President Barack Obama “delivered an impassioned appeal Thursday for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary” to achieve lasting security and reverse international isolation. This was reported in an AP article.

A short review of history tells us that Israel cannot provide any more compromises than have already been given.

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters gathered in Gaza City near a large replica of an M-75, a Hamas rocket, that bore the words “Made in Gaza.”

Hamas is the group that functions as the Gaza government. Hamas does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. Without that recognition there can be no legitimate negotiations. Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas gave a defiant speech this past December vowing to build a Palestinian state on the land of Israel. In that speech he vowed to remove every inch of Israel and that that there is “no legitimacy for Israel.”

Israel did withdraw from the Gaza strip leaving behind many buildings. They were all destroyed by the Palestinians. Hamas now uses Gaza as a base to shoot rockets into Israel and in fact was shooting rockets as President Obama spoke to Israelis today.

Precisely what compromise would Mr. Obama propose?

David Bancroft

Is America Finally Understanding the World?

The answer to the question is “maybe not.”

Almost 4,500 American solders lost their lives in Iraq. Thousands more were seriously injured. Was it worth the harm? I do not see sufficient benefits to justify the investment.

President George W. Bush really believed that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan was the right thing to do.

You could argue that the information about WMD was faulty and that should have been enough to deter the invasion of Iraq. We really do not know what was in Mr. Bush’s mind nor what he was really told.

The invasion of Afghanistan was easier to justify. The Taliban refused to extradite al-Qaeda leaders to the United States. al-Qaeda was the group that carried out the World Trade Center attack.

Mr. Bush argued that part of our mission was to spread democracy to Islamic nations that had lived under tyranny for hundreds of years. The idea of spreading democracy is a wonderful theory that looks good on paper. The problem is that most of the people in those countries do not understand the ideas of Western Democracy. Those that do, do not accept the basic premises of western freedom and democracy. It’s those words in the American Declaration of Independence that best express the idea of our system of society and government. Let’s be honest, it took America 89 years to actually implement our own ideals. That’s the time from the American Declaration of Independence to the end of the American Civil War.

So how can we expect Iraq, Afghanistan, or other Middle Eastern Islamic nations to become Western democracies in just a year or two? We Can’t!

Thus the United States needs to be concerned with its own survival in a world where many of the players have alternate ideas of how government and society should function. I believe that President Obama has not yet fully understood this reality. Why? 1) Our lack of preparation for an attack at Benghazi. 2) The mild response to North Korea’s stated intention to shoot a nuclear weaponized rocket at the United States. 3) The lack of progress in talks with Iran.

North Korea and Iran have stated repeatedly that they consider the United States their enemy. They have stated their hatred on numerous occasions. North Korea has stated it is preparing a nuclear armed missile that will target the U.S.A. Iran had states that their first target is Israel followed by the United States.

We should be concerned and we should be prepared. Neither North Korea nor Iran has participated in real talks to end the ongoing diplomatic conflicts. There is nothing that has been reported that indicates that there will be a reduction in the disagreements we have with these two countries.

Unless a new approach to the two America haters is developed I predict there will be a war with both of them. I hope President Obama has made adequate preparations.

American Preparation for a Nuclear Attack

America does not appear to be prepared for a nuclear attack!

Associated Press report, “The Pentagon announced Friday it will spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to an Alaska-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles.”

“We will strengthen our homeland defense, maintain our commitments to our allies and partners, and make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression,” Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense, told a Pentagon news conference.

I take issue with this plan. Are we waiting for North Korea to shoot missiles at the United States before we would attack them? If we saw North Korea preparing to attack, why wouldn’t we take a pre-emptive strike against a facility that is being prepped to shoot a rocket at the United States? News reports say that America’s anti-missile system is flawed and may not work at all. I wonder why we are not using Israel’s Iron Dome system.

Furthermore, where have our leaders been all of these past years when we knew that their objective has been to obtain nuclear missiles for war?

Today we are trying to dissuade Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. When will we determine that they cannot be persuaded to stop the development efforts? What are the signals that tell the United States that we must take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear development?

I am disappointed with our government’s lack of plans.

Perhaps moving to Mexico or Canada now might be something to consider.

The Playbook

“keep secret its legal justification for killing without a trial”

Barack Obama is the enhanced George W. Bush!

Newsweek’s latest edition (February 1, 2013) on iPad, Android, and PC only, offers an article that describes the protocol for the targeted killings conducted by drones. According to this article the U.S. administration has been developing “explicit rules and procedures for when lethal force is justified.” Justification includes the legal right to conduct such killings of bad guys even if they are American citizens. This set of rules is referred to as “the playbook.” Newsweek reports that the playbook has evolved from the targeted killings that have been conducted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. Playbook killings could be conducted, according to Newsweek, wherever the United States detected terrorists that are a threat to the American homeland. The playbook goes into detail about who the targeted individuals might be and does exclude drivers, cooks and others who are part of a support staff within a terrorist group. Thus Somalia, Mali, or any other place on Earth could be part of the playbook’s rules and procedures.

Not addressed in the Newsweek article is the legal justification for killing Americans who appear to be traitors, such as Anwar al-Awlaki, without a trial. The administration, I believe is skating on thin ice. The Huffington Post reported January 2, 2013 “The Obama administration will be able to keep secret its legal justification for killing without a trial an American suspected of joining al Qaeda after a federal judge on Wednesday dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times. Both the ACLU and The New York Times plan to appeal the decision.”

Wow! If the government can keep the justification secret then what else can the government do to its own citizens? al-Awlaki was clearly a traitor to the United States but killing him without due process is a stretch.

Is it any wonder that there are people in the United States who want to have all weapons at their disposal?