Send in the Troops! Why?
Mike Sanders over at ‘
Keep Trying’ asked anti-war bloggers to write and share their reasons for not backing military action. He asked,
“Is there any point at which anti-war bloggers would agree that American military action is called for? What if 50,000 Americans were killed by terrorists? How about 1,000,000 dead Americans?” Well… I’ve never considered myself an anti-war blogger but the label is probably apt. Here’s my feeling on the whole ‘war on terror’.
We can’t win. Unless we’re willing to commit wholesale mass slaughter and wipe out an entire race of people because of what some may or may not believe there is no way –short of genocide- to win a war against terrorism.
Offensively, at best we can only slow it down.
Terrorism is not a state (though it may be state sponsored). There is no physical enemy to point our troops at and shout ‘kill’. There are no objectively defined goals that can be reached in order to secure victory. As VietNam taught us toppling a government does not topple a people. Occupying territory does not change ideology.
Have our sanctions against Iraq been effective in affecting the political ideologies of Saddam Hussein? No. They have only managed to impoverish a nation. Terrorism hasn’t been hurt. Children and starving families have. And when those families look for someone to blame. An outlet for their anger is it their government that they will look to as the cause? Or us? Our policies breed hatred and anger. Hatred breeds terrorism.
I can hear the voices saying that they should blame their own government. And you are right. But that denies the reality of the lives of the people in those countries. They do not have a free press. There is no voice offering a dissenting opinion. Everything they see points the finger of blame at the United States and Israel.
The only way you can win a war against an ideology is with ideology. Changing the perception of the target of terror amongst the offending people. Hatred moved to tolerance. And you don’t succeed in that with troops unless, as I said, you’re willing to kill everyone who holds a differing opinion. You succeed through actions of peace and sponsoring opposition among the people through intelligence efforts.
As more and more evidence comes forward suggesting that the events of 9/11 could have been stopped if our intelligence gathering agencies had been doing their jobs, it seems to me that the solution is a more rigid dedication from those communities toward the safety of the citizens. They don’t need grander, broader powers. They need to use what they have more effectively. Failure shouldn’t be rewarded.
So to work my way back around to the original question: how many Americans have to die before I think it would be appropriate to send in troops. My answer is: show me that the use of troops would be effective in any way toward stopping terrorism. And in the absence of that proof, I think we need to work out a different strategy. How long have we been fighting a ‘war on drugs’? And what dent have we put into the supply coming into the country?
We have been bombing, hunting Al Qaeda, blowing up caves and rooting out terrorists for months in Afghanistan but it hasn't put a dent in the number of terror alerts that we experience on a weekly basis in this country.
We need a better way to fight ‘terror’ than ‘troops’.
Congress recently passed a resolution awarding the creation of the telephone to Italian inventor Antonio Meucci, a native of Florence, Italy who moved to the U.S. in the 1830s. According to the resolution history books should be changed to reflect that the telephone was in fact an American invention. Supporters of Meucci's claim assert that Bell was either a thief, a fraud or "extraordinarily lucky" and paint a picture of a conspiracy of fraud surrounding Bell and Western Union to defraud Meucci of his rightful place in history.
It's like theres a little switch in Rachel and occasionally something will toggle it and she'll have learnt something new. About three days ago she began clapping her hands. She couldn't do it before but there she was clapping away and laughing and looking amazingly proud of herself. She keeps trying to stand up by herself and collapsing spectacularly. She waves to people and gets the biggest kick when they wave back. This picture is a rare picture of her actually wearing a hat. She hates hats. Won't keep them on her head. If you persist she will shriek like you are attaching a live eel to the back of her skull. Short of stapling it there, there is little that we can do.
This picture was taken two seconds after the first and shows her throwing off the offending garment and fleeing as fast as her little legs will carry her which is always a little faster than we actually expected.
"I think it's obvious the president is always kept the most secure person in the White House," Fleischer said. "... And again, there was never a threat to the President." Just the building he was in... which is a completely different thing. He then pointed to the back of the room, shouted "Osama Bin Laden!" and was gone when everyone turned back around.
Nothing short of permenantly bonding them to the entertainment centre would keep her from tearing them up and banging them on the floor like Captain Caveman wielding his club. And so we relented. Off they came. Trying to keep them there was just drawing her to the very place that we were trying to protect her from. For awhile she chewed contentedly on them or whacked them into things to see what sort of noise it would make. And now they have mostly been forgotten. No longer amongst the favourite things that she plays with.
It has taken me awhile to try and sort out my feelings around Father's Day. I don't know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't what I got. It was a lot more traumatic than I thought it would be. Mix together a birthday party, mono for a general malaise and a little mid-life crisis to add some spice and that's how I felt. I wandered through the day feeling disconnected and old. My wife wanted to make the day special for me but she had an uphill battle all the way. I didn't really want the day to feel special... I wanted it over. It just felt wrong. And I still have no idea why. I remember how much joy I got out of sharing Mother's Day with CJ and there I was feeling like a complete selfish cad not letting her return the favour. We went out for lunch. I got some nice presents... and eavesdropped on conversations going on around us at the restaurant.
Jackson seen here proudly showing off his most recent Ebay purchase.
"What? This isn't Dick?" A confused George Bush then proceeded to apologize to the Australian Prime Minister for slapping him on the back and regaling him with stories about sucking up to Big Oil. Later the two of them would sit down and talk about the problems facing the Middle East until John Howard politely explained that Australia wasn't actually part of the Middle East. "I knew that," said a flustered Bush. "You're the country that Hitler was from."
Well there's help for you... hunt and catch your own goth and save money on costly dark clothing and industrial music. Follow 
The message of the conference seemed lost on one Bishop who stopped mid-speech to stare dreamily at the water boy. A moment later he cleared his throat and continued on about the taint of homosexuality...
"Now I know how Robin felt," said a beaten Mike Tyson sporting a puffy face and cuts over both his eyes. "I guess I'll have to go back to doing what I do best... hitting women and parking attendants."
While a puzzled Jon Dahl Tomasson kicks away the ball in frustration, a saluting French player waits to be taken into custody behind.
After 27 years, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel has been found guilty of the brutal bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley. Sentencing is to be held July 19th. Skakel is facing either 10-25year or 25 years to life sentence depending on the mitigating circumstances. The Judge is waiting to receive a pre-sentencing report before rendering judgement.
