I flew in from a business trip from Europe a few days ago, and I had the
most interesting conversation with a man who was smart, militaristic, articulate, reasonable, educated, and slightly right wing.
He gave me a lot to chew on, and opened my eyes a bit about what's going in the world around us, as well as what a reasoned opponent on the other side of aisle should be like.
More on the flip
So I flying in, when I noticed a passenger a few seats up reading a book about martial arts weight training. As I've
mentioned previously, I teach martial arts, so I started a conversation with the guy. He was interesting enough[ ex marine, ex ranger, current police officer], but he's only ancillary to this story.
As I was getting of the plan, waiting @ customs, another guy[ clean cut, soft spoken, in good-but understated-shape- mentioned that he had heard us talking and that he practiced aikido for about six years.
Now, I know that most Kossacks, if they're into martial arts at all, have a positive opinion on Aikido. I'm not one of those: I think it's a dangerous fallacy of a martial art, and inclined to get the practioner hurt if they ever believe that they can fight[ please: no flames. That's just my opinion, and it's based on actual fight experience].
So I made polite noises and such, and tried to steer the conversation away to an area where I could express some sincere interest. As it turns out, he told me he was a Colonel, and that he'd been in the military for some 23 years.
I quibbed that he outranked Oliver North: he looked down at his shoes and said yes, he did.
Well, at that, I had to talk to him.
One, he probably has an educated opinion on the stake of the world and could probably teach me a thing of two.
Two, he's a goddamn Colonel, and he defends America, and it was an honor to buy him a beer.
As it turned out, it was pleasure to talk to him: I wish we could have spent more time at it. He'd read both Paul Bremmer's book, and Fiasco. He was Arab specialist. He was unflinchingly patriotic, and well educated. He was what you want every conservative to be. Strong, honest, educated, and reasonable.
So, without further ado, here's what I picked up from the conversation.
The mishandling of the peace Iraq:
"Well, you either have to assume they're complete fools, of that they know something that we don't know. So the question is, what could they possibly know that we don't know? I'm not sure: but it's reasonable, given the assumption that did know something that we don't know, that invading Iraq was good idea. Again, that presumes a lot, but it's important to consider"
On Paul Bremmer:
"Yes, he was an incompetent. He it's important to read his book, because we need to understand why he thought the things he did"
On the prisoners @ Guantanamo:
"The fact of the matter is, these people are not POWs, and, as such, are not covered by the Geneva Convention." [this point wasn't particular convincing: after all, if they're not POWs, then they're civilians. There is no third-law. But we'll let that go]
On the State of the new [crazy, it's ok-to-torture-Americans] laws:
"The American people are not going to man-handled with the recent passage of the new anti-habeos Corpus laws: our national character wouldn't permit it"
[Again, I disagree. Our national character is based on, and reflected, in our laws. As those change, so do we]
On the Afghanistan Invasion:
"We needed to show the Terrorists that there was no place so remote that we would not go there to get them"
On the Iraqi Invasion:
"We needed to show the Terrorists that there was no place so strong that we would not go there to get them"
On winning the peace in Iraq
"It a disaster. We could have done such amazing good there. It's just a shame what's going on."
On President Clinton: Part 1:
"Clinton's people hated the military. 3 and 4 start generals were told not to wear their dress uniforms into Oval Office. You have no idea how insulting that is to military personal"[Note: I'm not sure this is correct: it seems like needlessly provocative behavior for someone as smart as Clinton. However, I'm convinced that the Colonel sincerely believed it]
On President Clinton: part 2:
"Did Bill Clinton undermine the military? No, not at all. A lot of the people saying so are captains and lieutenants, and you just need to know how those guys think and talk. But no, I don't think he did undermine them".
All in all, I found myself wishing this man, and others like him, were in charge of the situation. I know I probably didn't change his mind on a single issue, and I know I probably couldn't. But I also know that he was reasonable, seemed very competent, loved his country sincerely, and was open to reasoned discussion.
We need more conservatives like him. Where the hell are they?