Hello All - such a busy day that it is hard to know where to start...but as my day started with thinking about that wonderful movie, "The American President", I figure that's as good a place as any.
Why, you ask, would I be thinking about that movie, on today of all days - well, for the uninitiated, in the movie the President, played by Michael Douglas, has to direct a retaliatory strike against a foreign country. As he is stepping through the options, one of his National Security Team advises that the cruise missile strike is appropriate and proportional. You'd have to see the movie, or recall it, to understand the entire scenario. The point I was dwelling on this morning was that even though it would kill or maim people who had no responsibility for the action that warranted the response, the President after careful deliberation, directed the missile strike.
I'm not trying to draw any similarities with that point, it's just how my day started. (So, yes, I do think of this stuff way too much). When I turned the news on this morning I heard the breaking news story that Russia had come to the rescue of it's ally, Syria. Great, let's get their chemical weapons under international control and move on with the process of running our own country and let the Syrian's continue to pursue their Civil War.
In the midst of all this action, I engaged a schoolmate of years back (grade school) in a discussion of American Rights. I won't go into the entire discussion, but it appears that we American's - still living here, don't realize how many rights we have forfeited. The schoolmate now lives overseas, and can better visualize this loss than we can. I'm not convinced that that is the best perspective, however, I'm not questioning anyone's' decision to leave their home country. I say it is up to each person to pick their battlefield - mine just happens to be in Wise, VA, USA.
We've now all heard from the President, well, some of us have heard from the President and others will only listen to what their particular news channel will report. I tend to agree with that perspective also....I mean, why get the words from the horse's mouth when you can wait and hear the edited content later on. You know, that drives me off into a sidebar concerning a discussion a few weeks ago in one of my classes. We were talking about the U.S and peoples views of how the country is actually run (Social-Elite theory etc..) I made the observation that many people seem to feel that their vote doesn't count, and then listen to only one news source to get all their news prior to voting. So,, correct...your vote doesn't count because you voted along a predetermined line. People don't realize how much the media influences elections. If your still worried about the Military-Industrial Complex, as well we all should be....don't forget about the Media-Political Complex and the Health Care-Industrial Complex....it's why we pay $1 Billion for a plane, $500 for a bag of saline solution, and vote the way we are TOLD to vote.
Anyhow...back on storyline....oh yea, heard from the President...delayed vote for military action....absolute requirement to teach Assad that yadda, yadda, yadda. Forgot where I was...proportional response....retaliatory strike.......janitor on the night shift......CNN reporting from Damascus about the issues surrounding the International Community assuming control of the chemical weapons and precursors (we are going for the precursors also, right?). One of the main issues seems to be that the Assad government does not control vast areas of Syria, which means we can't get our people in safely to assume control...which means Assad's government may not have control of their chemical weapons......WAIT...I'm confused...I mean really confused now....where is the intelligence tying Assad to the chemical weapons usage ? again, it appears that no valid intelligence has been gathered or released to the American Public. Thank you CNN for bringing up this tiny, little issue with the Russian plan.
So folks...if you've followed this far, I at least owe you a position: I am not for entering the Syrian Civil War; I'm not for a retaliatory strike, now or in the future, against Syria's peoples without ensuring that the target of that strike is also the same person that gave the order authorizing the usage of chemical weapons. I liken that to kicking the dog cause you had a bad day at work; the dog had nothing to do with your workday and couldn't care less how your day went, he's just glad that you are home now.
I'm glad I'm home, and I'm looking forward to many of my brothers and sisters returning in 2014 from another war....that was supposed to be about finding OBL, but ended up with us fighting the Taliban, who were the enemy of Al Qaeda until we caused them to work together.
In the immortal words of Delmar O'Donnell: "C'mon in boys, the water is fine"
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