Iraq War III

Mr. Obama proclaimed the second Iraq War is over. He may be right about US military involvement, at least for now. But he and Mrs. Clinton better not get comfortable, because Iraq War III is about to start.

No sooner then the last American boot on the ground left Iraq, Mr. Nouri al – Maliki, Shia Prime Minister of Iraq, sprang into odious action and issued an arrest warrant for his Sunni Vice President, Mr. Tariq al – Hashimi. If there is any truth to Mr. Maliki’s accusations against Mr. Hashimi – it is essentially a case of ‘the pot calling the kettle black.’ Mr. Maliki’s manifest goal is to eliminate all opposition in Iraq to his rule, even if that means literally “eliminating” his opposition. Of course he waited until the American troops withdrew.

But more importantly, if you think Mr. Maliki took this action and thought this up on his own, you qualify to work for Mrs. Clinton’s State Department. It is Iran who is controlling this gambit. Mr. Maliki is simply the puppet. Iran is pulling the strings.

It should be understood, that Mr. George W. Bush and Ms. Rice allowed the Mullah’s grand plan to hatch, by insisting that Iraq is a sovereign nation. The naïveté of this foreign policy and its continuation under the Obama Administration deserves our opprobrium and contradicts ever reality. It is as if these “elites” have never read history. But they have. They went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. Hence, it is not for lack of intelligence, but rather the execution of knowledge and an arrogance, in which they believe they can orchestrate the lives of others deemed inferior.

For now, Mr. Hashimi rests with the Kurds, not with the fishes. Yet, all of this did not have to happen. I wrote the following essay in June 2007. I’m not prophetic, but I have read history, and I am not arrogant.

The best United States strategy for Iraq was the concentration of US forces on the part of Iraq where the US mission has succeeded - Kurdistan. Kurdistan is the right solution to this conflict. Here are the reasons why.

First, military bases in Kurdistan can be used to launch strikes (or conduct a campaign) in Iraq and if necessary throughout the Middle East. A powerful US presence would also serve as a deterrent to others in the region with expansionist intentions.

Second, it would support a new democratic republic in the Middle East. Democracy is not given to a people - the people win it. The Kurds seem to be the only group in Iraq who stand where they sit. A secure Kurdistan (Mosul Province) also would serve as a model for what success looks like.

Third, reducing our exposure and concentrating our troops in Kurdistan, will be less costly than our failed strategy of waiting for the “Iraqi Army” to bring peace and stability to a Nation in name only.

Fourth, the hell with what Turkey thinks - they have had every opportunity for partnership and constructive intervention in the region and have never failed to miss an opportunity. It’s long over due for Turkey to support its NATO partner(s). No matter what they wish to think - Kurds are not Turks and Mosul does not belong to Turkey.

And, in the last analysis, there is no compelling historic justification for modern day Iraq. The 1919 Paris Peace Conference and subsequently the San Remo Conference in April of 1920 laid the groundwork for an Iraqi nation. Before 1919 there was no Iraq. There was no Iraqi nationalism and no Iraqi identity. There was what the British called Mesopotamia - referring to the Ottoman Empire’s provinces of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. It was not until 1922 that the League of Nations confirmed statehood on Iraq that it became a Nation and legal entity. In 1932 Iraq joined the League of Nations. Hence, the partition of Iraq between the Kurds (Mosul), Sunni (Baghdad), and Shia (Basra), is not only a pragmatic solution to help end the Iraqi conflict, it is a historical imperative to correct past indiscretions and the myth of a greater Arabia. To believe that Kurds, Sunni, and Shia can live peacefully together contradicts every realty.

Just as Bosnia became a failed state when Muslims, Serbs, and Croatians, where provided the excuse and means to choose the conditions under which they wished to live - similarly the Kurds, Sunni, and Shia, are doing so in Iraq today.

Hence, a solution to the Iraqi conflict is to let the “Iraqi people” construct a new compact to determine their own destiny based on historic and current realities.

Russia’s Response to Super Committee’s Failure

Mr. Obama and his Democratic cohorts sabotaged and killed another attempt to bring some fiscal sanity to our national debt crisis. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's failure to reach an agreement trigged an automatic $1.2 trillion spending cuts, in which one-half will come from the nation’s defense budget. Just politics. Think again.

It took just one day for a response. On Wednesday, November 23rd, Dmitry Medvedev*, in a nationally televised appearance by the Russian president, let the world know what Russia now thinks of the United States' military capacity. In response to what Russia perceives is an active incursion and a potential act of eventual aggression on behalf of NATO countries in Eastern Europe (and hence the US), he said the following:

"First, I am instructing the Defense Ministry to immediately put the missile attack early warning radar station in Kaliningrad on combat alert. Second, protective cover of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, will be reinforced as a priority measure under the program to develop out air and space defenses. Third, the new strategic ballistic missiles commissioned by the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy will be equipped with advanced missile defense penetration systems and new highly effective warheads. Fourth, I have instructed the Armed Forces to draw up measures for disabling missile defense system data and guidance systems if need be... Fifth, if the above measures prove insufficient, the Russian Federation will deploy modern offensive weapon systems in the west and south of the country, ensuring our ability to take out any part of the US missile defense system, in Europe. One step in this process will be to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad Region."

Never mind that the Bear's plaint is groundless. Never mind that Russia knows it has nothing to fear from old Europe. Since 1945 Western Europe (except for Great Britain) has not commit monies to its national defense -- the European sovereign debt crisis will make this matter even worse. And, never mind that Russia speaks loudly, but carries a small stick. For example, in 1914 war against Serbia meant war against Russia as well. Yet, after Afghanistan and the break up of the Soviet Union, Russia was humiliated, and could do nothing to support its fellow Slavs in Serbia during the 1999 Kosovo War and particularly its aftermath.

Still, what is important here is Russia is immediately jumping on what they perceive to be America’s weakness and failure to commit resources to its National Defense. Concomitantly, they view Mr. Obama as a weakling. Russia understands that with Mr. Obama, politics trumps everything – including National Defense and the security of the American people.

* When Mr. Medvedev speaks, it is Mr. Putin speaking. This is the way it has always been. If anyone still believes that Mr. Medvedev’s views are his own, they are foolish. After all, Mr. Medvedev, it should not go unnoticed, bears a striking physical resemblance to a hand puppet.

His Is the Path of Destruction!

Why did Barack Obama appoint Tim Geithner Treasury Secretary? That is an important question that deserves an answer.

Here’s what Jim Cramer had to say before Mr. Geithner’s appointment in 2008 (thanks to ZeroHedge). "If Tim Geithner, the much praised and ballyhooed NY Fed Chairman gets to be Obama's Treasury secretary, and he looks like a shoo in for the job, let me just tell you something, we are done, we are kaput, we are finished, we are completely and royally hosed as a nation... Geithner should be facing a senate investigation, not a senate confirmation...I am predicting he will be a total disaster as he has been as a New York Fed Chairman. Please I am begging you: don't hire Tim Geithner, he is an academic and all he has going for him is that he is a Democrat."

Yet, Mr. Geithner was appointed by Mr. Obama and confirmed by the super majority Democratic Senate. After his sycophantic bailouts of Goldman and Morgan, et al, Mr. Obama handed him the keys to the American taxpayer’s wealth, which he along with Mr. Bernanke has destroyed.

Again, the question is why? Given Mr. Geithner’s record at the New York Fed, his total lack of experience in the private sector, and his incompetence as Treasury Secretary, why would Mr. Obama look to him to solve our financial crisis?

There is only one rational and reasonable answer. Mr. Obama does not want to solve our financial crisis. His is the path of destruction!

Finally, A Rational US Foreign Policy, Again

Caroline B. Glick’s important and insightful article, “The Jacksonian foreign policy option,” posits that both Isolationism and Neo-conservatism have failed America. Instead, a Rational, i.e., Jacksonian foreign policy is exactly what the United States and the world needs.

Ms. Glick argues, “The dominant foreign policy model in the Republican Party, and to a degree, in American society as a whole, is neither Neo-conservatism nor Isolationism.” Ms. Glick has adopted historian Walter Russell Mead’s definition of a Jacksonian foreign policy. The basic tenets are the following:

The US is different from the rest of the world, and therefore the US should not try to remake the world in its own image;

The US must ensure its honor abroad by abiding by its commitments and maintaining its standing with its allies;

The US must take action to defend its interests;

The US must fight to win or not fight at all;

And, the US should only respect those foes that fight by the same rules as the US does.
A Jacksonian model is an astute one. The basic rule of Common Sense foreign policy making is to be good to your friends and bad to your enemies; then people will want to be your friends and not your enemies. It basically accuses the Isolationists as contemporary Know Nothings, and Neo-conservatives as unbridled Interventionists.

In my view, America has had enough. We have had it with Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton's pathetic, not to mention apologetic, naïve, and schizophrenic, foreign policy. And, we had it with Mr. Bush and Condi's foolish and naive foreign policy, and mismanaged military campaigns restricted by absurd rules of engagement. Moreover, trying to build a nation while conducting a war is a fool's errand, and we should have no truck with it.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear Mr. President,

You asked the American people last night to contact their Congressional Representatives, to tell what they think about our Debit Limit crisis. Since my Representative Gwen Moore or Senator Herb Kohl, do not represent me, I am writing to you.

Well sir, I hold you responsible. You have been an obstacle to honest negotiations. You have intentionally prolonged the crisis, not once offering a written plan.

In short sir, your demagogic mendacious grandstanding has not been helpful. Today, America has a spending problem that manifests as a debt crisis. Tomorrow it will be more odious. You sir are responsible and accountable to fix it, by finding solutions with Congress.

I read John Rawls, on my own initiative in 1985, as a doctoral student in public policy at Vanderbilt University. In my view, Professor Rawls' political philosophy of redistribution of wealth is incompatible with American culture and capitalism. I bring up Rawls because I believe it is fundamental to the direction you have taken this country. It is your duty to tell the American people that that is your intention. Then the 2012 Election will tell all of us what direction the American people wish to go.

Until then, you and your Democratic cohorts own this economy and you are responsible to make it work.

McConnell’s Debt Ceiling Fiasco

‘What the hell is going on out there?’

Perhaps, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has channeled Florence’s illustrious political philosopher and strategist Niccolo Machiavelli, to concoct his latest strategy to get Mr. Obama and his Democratic cohorts to help solve America’s debt crisis.

Nevertheless, Mr. McConnell’s proposal to allow Mr. Obama to raise the debt ceiling three times between now and December 2012, unless two-thirds of Congress votes to block it, is inexplicable political strategy.

Only yesterday in a speech before the Senate, Senator McConnell spoke truth to power when he said: “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this President (Mr. Obama) is in the Oval Office, a real solution (America’s debt crisis) is unattainable.”

Negotiations with Mr. Obama are completely pointless. Mr. Obama’s agenda isn’t to rebuild American “exceptionalism” and economic strength; it is to transform America into a debtor’s nation, and transfer the American taxpayers' wealth in accord with his Marxist-Rawlsian political philosophy.

Mr. Obama and the Democrats are not honest agents. It contradicts every realty to believe you can have a civil and constructive engagement with them. To believe that Mr. Obama truly wants to find a solution to America’s debt crisis, lower unemployment, and grow our economy, can only be validated by resolutely ignoring actual facts. It is Mr. Obama and his Democratic cohorts who own this economy. Mr. Bush has not walked through that Oval Office door in two and one-half years -- it's Mr. Obama's economy.

If Mr. Obama wants to stop making payments to our Military, Senior Citizens (Social Security and Medicare), Veterans, interest on America’s debt, and essential government programs, as he has shamelessly threaten to do, that is his choice. This demagogic grandstanding can be called to account by the House of Representatives by simply passing legislation to prioritize payments for essential groups and services, with the result that no necessary Federal government functions will be impaired. If the Democratic controlled Senate and Mr. Obama want to oppose this legislation then it is they who are responsible for the consequences.

In a search for solutions, Americans should expect no constructive role from the Mainstream Media (MSM). In American society today, the MSM speaks only for the liberal left, academic elitists, generational parasites, and special interests such as public sector unions, autoworkers' union, and Wall Street bankers. The MSM does not give voice to the majority of American citizens. Consequently, this should be fully understood: Americans don’t care what they say, and Americans don’t listen to what they report. The MSM has made themselves irrelevant.

Americans want debt relief. Americans want less government spending. Americans believe that we pay enough taxes. Americans want tax reform. And, as Florida Senator Marco Rubio insightfully stated: “America needs not higher taxes, but more taxpayers.”

Americans elected conservative Republicans in 2010 because they understand that Mr. Obama and his Democratic cohorts are destroying the country they love. If Republicans want to win in 2012 – they better show the American taxpayer they mean business today!

The Reason Why: Dominique Strauss-Kahn Affair

It all just seemed so straight forward – yet, it wasn’t. The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr., we are now told got it wrong in the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), the former Managing Director, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a top contender to be France’s next President. Of course Jr. wouldn't admit to that.

It turns out that the "compelling and unwavering" maid's story was bullshit (that’s French for baloney). In fact, this "hard working immigrant" had lied about everything on her asylum petition, and the circumstances of the alleged rape. So devastated after the brutal rape -- she went to clean another hotel room and went back to DSK's room to tidy up there as well. Now we are told that she contacted a friend, a day later, who is serving time in an Arizona prison for drug trafficking and money laundering. This fellow and others have made cash deposits to a bank account in her name of $100,000.00, in the past two years. There's more, but you get the point.

The real question is why Jr. brought these charges to begin with, and treated DSK as the lowest human being on the criminal food chain. Can you handle the truth?

Well, it all begins and ends with the President of the United States, Mr. Obama. Obama and the Obama Administration were enraged at DSK for statements he made on America's fiscal crisis. DSK said that America's excessive spending has not worked and is only making matters worse. First to get his pound of flesh was Timothy Geithner, US Secretary of Treasury, who came out immediately after DSK's arrest to call for him to resign from the IMF. Then the Mainstream Media (MSM) took their shots.

Junior's incompetent rush to judgment worked out quite well for Mr. Obama: humiliate DSK; get him removed from the IMF where he casts too large a shadow; and score some points with Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, who was down in the polls to DSK and France's Socialist Party in the upcoming French Election.

Well, that's how I see it. The French were right to defend DSK, but not for all the right reasons. His behavior was despicable. Yet, he was set up -- for the truth he told about Obama's failed and demagogic fiscal policies.

C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?