Two letters in today's
Stars & Stripes underscore the frustration the military family is feeling with the lunatic Bush administration. Excerpts are below, along with hyperlinks to past letters, grouped into Parts I and II.
Now that Colin Powell has joined the ranks of retired generals in speaking out against Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, who have called anyone who disagrees with their policies "nazi sympathizers," to include Stripes letter writers complaining about the Bush administration, and now that Ted Turner has said that Bush's Iraq Folly is the world's worst decision ever, one senses that this cabal is finally unraveling. That's good news for the troops.
Our leaders are naked
I am sure everybody remembers the story of the emperor and his new clothes. It took a young child to tell the emperor he was naked because none of the adults had the backbone to do it.
I see a strong correlation in today's political situation and, although at half a century I am no youngster, I feel the need to play the role of the little boy in the fable. President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, et al., you are all naked!
The current administration took us to war in Iraq for spurious reasons, has continued to fight this war without resourcing it properly both in terms of money and manpower, and has continued to try to explain to the world why this is the right thing to do.
Poor planning in the trenches
Finally, a plan that makes some sense comes to the forefront in the war against "looters, insurgents, terrorism, civil war, al-Qaida" in Iraq. Since my time in Iraq, I have often wondered when Defense Department officials would reveal their master plan. Now, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the target of a congressional insurgency, the genius is unveiled. I believe that everyone knew the trenches were coming, but no one wanted to spoil the secret. It was the obvious next step in a grand design.
My fellow warriors and I often passed hours on guard duty trying to best determine what medieval strategy would win this war against terrorism. Meanwhile, within the United States, many columnists and political experts debated the impact of isolationism. Now, as Iraqi and American forces prepare to launch the greatest trench-building effort since World War I, it has become obvious that "cut and run" simply does not compare to "shovel and throw." Isolationism it is, but let us isolate Baghdad first and then Minneapolis and St. Louis ... I mean Anbar. Wait, does the inverse work? Can we dig a trench that will keep them on their own little island?
List #2: July '06 - present
List #1: Aug. 02 - June '06.