Myth: A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the worldview of a people.
Myths are as old as humanity. Some provide useful insights. Some provide comforting notions. Some are merely entertaining. Some are downright dangerous -- especially if you confuse them for historical facts. Rulers have relied on the power of myths to lead and mislead people since time immemorial.
Misleading myths (AKA "Mything the Point") can be hazardous to the health of a society. Misleading myths, like all lies, beget more lies. That is why we need to weed them out on a routine basis. If we let them go unchallenged, they will run riot and eventually choke us in our sleep.
Which brings me to a myth that needs to be uprooted:
"The best defense is a good offense."
THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE
People credit that bit of folk wisdom to Vince Lombardi, America's greatest football coach. I bet he read it before he said it. He was probably paraphrasing Ovid who asked, "Isn't the best defense always a good attack?" That's certainly possible, the man was well read...and he applied what he knew. That's why people still look to him for inspiration thirty-five years after he lost his battle with cancer.
Actually, that's not true. Coach Lombardi did not "lose" his battle with cancer. He just ran out of time. No shame in that. It wasn't a fair fight. Cancer cells are immortal.
Speaking of fair, if Andrew Jackson had been fair he would have accepted John Marshall's opinion and used the US Cavalry to protect the Cherokee from predatory land grabs. Of course that would have meant leaving the Cherokee Nation in control of their land. Oh, and another thing -- the gold located on their land. No way an old Indian fighter like Jackson was going to let that happen. I guess it was unreasonable to expect him to use the cavalry to protect Indians when gold-diggers were happy to protect themselves by hiring private militias. Screw fairness. It's money, money, money, money, makes the world go around. Besides, Jackson had transformational plans for the US Army. Sound familiar?
Say what you want about Jackson, I don't think you can call him an imperialist. He was an entrepreneurialist. That might not even be a word, but it doesn't matter. People who create their own reality make their own rules. People like Donald Rumsfeld, our Secretary of Defense. Now there's a guy who knows a thing or two about stealing resources, going on the offensive and privatization.
Here's why I bring all this to your attention: The Pentagon is seeking new "fast track" authority to channel money, materiel and manpower to foreign countries that are helping us in the "war on terrorism." The authority, included in Section 1206 of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, has been a top priority for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The counterterrorism initiatives this would fund fall under a unique new congressional authorization, passed in December, that allows the Pentagon to move far more quickly to aid foreign militaries in combating terrorist threats. The new authority is controversial because it breaks with the traditional practice of channeling military assistance through the State Department.
At issue is about 100 Million dollars Rummy wants to spend as he sees fit. In a 400 Billion dollar budget, that's pencil shavings. However, skimming the 2006 NDAA shows there are plenty of other areas for the Pentagon to spend money as it sees fit. I'll give you one example. Under Section 1202, the Pentagon gets 500 million dollars to spend in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a "Commanders Emergency Response Program" that originally was established under the Coalition Provisional Authority. Let's ignore the irony of American taxpayers spending money on contractors in a foreign country using a program set up by an occupation government that no longer exists. Here's the wild part:
Section 1202 (d): Waiver Authority- For purposes of exercising the authority provided by this section or any other provision of law making funding available for the Commanders' Emergency Response Program or any similar program to assist the people of Afghanistan, the Secretary of Defense may waive any provision of law not contained in this section that would (but for the waiver) prohibit, restrict, limit, or otherwise constrain the exercise of that authority.
Can you say "slush fund"? Sure you can. You might think this is nit picking, but a hundred million here, a hundred million there and soon you're talking real money. Who do you think will be the beneficiaries of this largesse? Here's a clue... the same people benefiting from no-bid contracts right now. Which brings me to another myth:
WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE'RE WORKING FOR.
I don't know about you, but every time I hear Lockheed-Martin's slogan I can't help but wonder, "Who are they working for?" I'm just not feeling the love. Of course, I'm not the Pentagon and Lockheed-Martin is not my #1 supplier. I'm not saying there is anything inherently wrong with that. I'm just stunned we even know the Pentagon's #1 supplier. Why? Because it's impossible to audit the Pentagon's budget. You probably think I'm making that up. Did you know the Pentagon can't account for 25% of the money they spend? It's a fact. Look it up.
I'm sure you figure an accounting problem bigger than Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing combined would have gotten some press, right? Don't worry, it has. On September 10, 2001 Donald Rumsfeld dropped this bombshell on the American public: "[The Pentagon] cannot track 2.3 trillion dollars in transactions."
That's right.... 2.3 TRILLION dollars. Let me put that in perspective for you. Our entire galaxy has about 100 billion stars in it. That means that if every unaccounted dollar was a star, you would have enough stars to make TWENTY Milky Way galaxies with plenty left over for a galaxy of your own and a few for your friends.
You are probably wondering why this problem doesn't get mentioned every time people talk about the deficit. I can think of one reason. The events of September 11, 2001 knocked Rummy's announcement of September 10, 2001 off the front page faster than you could say "the new normal." Since then the defense budget for major U.S. weapons has doubled to nearly $1.4 trillion. That's FOURTEEN Milky Ways right there.
At this point you probably won't be surprised to learn one program highlighted as contributing to those cost increases was the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, under development by --.Lockheed-Martin. If you think I'm unfairly singling out this program to beat up on Lockheed-Martin, let me put your mind at ease. I mention that program because it will be the Pentagon's costliest purchase ever.
So there you have it. While we are dumping money we don't have into pockets we can't identify to protect us from a threat no one can clearly define, the people assigned to defend us from terrorists are getting ready to build a new generation of supersonic attack jets. Color me cynical, but all I can say is anyone who wants to defend this offense to common sense is Mything the Point.
"If they [DOD] were a business, they wouldn't be in business."
- David Walker, Comptroller General, GAO
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