War of Wits

“To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death…”[1]

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes; that time itself is compressed. The first to go is your ability to communicate. As the march of death continues onward, your body’s organs and systems begin to shut down. The last thing to go is your hearing. Recent events have shown that indeed the bells are tolling - announcing the slow death of freedom itself. Our ability to communicate has ceased, the first step of the long march toward death.

It began with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for the Satanic Verses. Next came the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo VanGogh by an adherent of Islam. More recently were the Muslim riots over innocuous Danish cartoons that lasted for weeks.

The campaign of victimization continued with the Pope’s September 2006 comments. He cited an obscure dialogue between a Byzantine Emperor and a Persian in 1391 from a lecture by Theologian Adel Theodore Khoury, in an attempt to promote a peaceful discussion about Islam and Christianity. Many Muslims took the speech out of context. Hundreds rampaged, burned cars and buildings, protested and threatened Christians. Still angry because the Pope failed to offer up a sincere enough apology, an adherent of Islam shot a nun in the back. Rioters engaged in all manner of threats and property destruction at the mere suggestion that elements of the Islamic faith could be violent. How ironic.

As the Pope visits Turkey, he is facing threats and massive protests. Ponder this for a moment: Just paraphrasing a conversation over 600 years old that is even vaguely negative about Islam can now get you killed, or at the very least threatened with death.

Absurd is the notion that the leaders of Islam –the world’s largest religion– claim their beliefs are being prostituted by a small group of “radicals”. When the “radicals”cite the Koran as their justification in beheading people for acts of “blasphemy”, not a single Muslim “leader”anywhere on the planet will step forward to disavow the violence. Religions persecuted people in the name of God as a matter of course in the Middle Ages. We also thought that bloodletting exorcised demons, the Earth was flat and that it was the center of the Universe. When people like Galileo challenged these beliefs, they were threatened with death.

But Christianity came out of the darkness long ago, underwent much soul-searching and eventually did away with coercion and violence in spreading it’s message. Islam must now unequivocally denounce the beliefs of Bin Laden and militant Islam worldwide –without exception– in order to fully emerge from that darkness. The war we have been dragged into is not a Holy War. It is not World War III. It is not Jihad against the Great Satan. It is certainly not a war for oil or civilization. It is a schism within Islam. It is a battle between peaceful Muslims and those who lust for blood and conquest.

Victory over global terror rests not in what America does in Iraq, Afghanistan or even Palestine, but whether or not Muslims will ever engage in even a minimal degree of introspection about their own faith. They are constantly accusing the West of insulting and blaspheming their religion, yet just today Bin Laden portrayed the Pope’s visit to Turkey as a “Christian Crusader” campaign. There was not one peep from a Muslim anywhere on the planet, much less from Turkey, who invited the Pontiff. The entire Muslim world cannot even collectively agree that Israel has a right to exist. When will Muslims respect the religion of others?

We can poke them and prod them. We can use the carrot, we can use the stick. We can threaten them with invasion, sanctions, blockades and military strikes; but unless the issue of Islamic reform is debated openly - in an academic, religious, contemporary context without people’s throats being slit, we won’t get anywhere. When Denmark was facing protests over those cartoons, not one American official stood up for freedom of expression, a bedrock principle of our government. Piss Christ good… Mohammed caricatures bad… Political correctness run amok.

Americans have a responsibility to uphold freedom of expression around the world, even when offensive. If the United States no longer defends the principles of our own Constitution, how can we expect anyone else to believe that democracy is worth fighting for?

1. Controversy VII, 3 b-c: Khoury, pp. 144-145; Förstel vol. I, VII. Dialog 1.6, pp. 240-243.

The magnitude of the entire Bush Administration’s problem in Iraq continues to increase unabated.

After nearly four years and a higher body count than September 11th along with untold thousands of Iraqi deaths and immeasurable suffering, the military strategists couldn’t come up with any viable military options other than what the entire country already knew. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace is being given three possible military options by his generals for solving Iraq.

Go big: Increase the number of US troops in the country. The problem with this approach is that Iraq is a guerilla war. There are only 3 ways to win a guerilla war: Pounding the heck out of them from above - disrupting their supply lines and raining destruction upon them until they surrender, all-out invasion or classic counter-insurgency techniques. A return to airstrikes in populated areas is unlikely. The go-big and counterinsurgency approaches are mutually exclusive. More US troops won’t help. Add the lack of political will and the mounting costs and the go big scenario seems very unlikely.

Go long: This approach would allow for an immediate increase of perhaps twenty to thirty thousand troops in the short-term, to allow Iraqi units to accelerate their training so they can deploy quicker. It would then be followed by a significant, orderly decrease in the number of troops in Iraq. Those who remained would then dig in for the long haul until the country was under full Iraqi control. This seems to be the most likely approach. The problem is, this approach smells very much like “stay the course”. Americans have already registered their profound disapproval of that strategy. And unfortunately for politicians, judging by the number of state bans against same-sex marriage and burgeoning city bans on property rental to illegal immigrants, we also know when our voices are being ignored and we can yell very loudly when we disapprove of something. Ask O.J. Simpson.

Go home: Adopt the Democratic Party’s war fighting strategy and double-time back to Kuwait. At face value, this seems attractive to some. Stop the killing, bring our boys home… But this approach is  a slap in the face to the thousands of American men who gave their lives in this conflict as well as a wholesale desertion of the Iraqi voters, bakers, politicians, judges, police officers, military recruits, teachers, journalists and government contractors who have risked or given their lives in the hopes that they could help foster a democratic Iraq after thirty years of tyranny.

Those are the options. They are essentially the same options we started with. Not very much there to be optimistic about. This is not to say that the generals are at fault. To the contrary; They were put in this untenable position by the President and his advisors and are only carrying out his orders.

The War Of Wits Iraq strategy combines elements of all three available options. It’s called Go big, THEN go long, then go home. Here it is:

Go Big: Increase the number of coalition troops including tanks, APCs, armor, and attack helicopters to the correct level for the task at hand. Do not take into account Iraqi troops, trained or otherwise. They aren’t reliable, and may never be.

Go long: Finish the war. Disrupt the jihadi networks. Seal the borders. Confiscate the weapons. Crush the terrorists. Stay there as long as it takes, but FINISH THE JOB.

Go home. Honor this generation of soldiers by allowing them to accomplish their mission, instead of being sent on a snipe hunt, or withdrawn prematurely by Democrats.

Regardless of how it ends, this entire episode will go down in history as a textbook case of how NOT to fight a war. Rather than sticking to time-tested principles of military doctrine, Bush chose to adopt the “wing it”approach - depending on Iraqis to meet American standards of combat readiness. President Bush has left us with limited options and good men are dying every day as a consequence. Go big, go long, go home. Go figure.

On this Thanksgiving, let us all be thankful that we live in a place where you needn’t look very far for heroes. They’re all around us, from sea to shining sea. Emulate them. Honor them.

• 11/19/2006 USMC Lcpl. Jeremy S. Shock , 22 - Tiffin, OH (KIA)
  11/18/2006 US Army Spc. Bradley N. Shilling, 22 - Stanwood, MI (IED)
  11/16/2006 US Army Cpt. Rhett W. Schiller , 26 - ??, WI (KIA)
  11/15/2006 US Army Cpt. John R. Dennison , 24 - Ijamsville, MD (KIA)
  11/15/2006 US Army SFC Schuyler B. Haynes, 40- ??, New York (IED)
  11/15/2006 US Army Spc. Mitchel T. Mutz, 23 - Falls city, TX (IED)
  11/14/2006 US Army Spc. Eric G. Palacios Rivera, 21 - Atlantic City, NJ (KIA)
  11/14/2006 US Army Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr., - 45, Sandston, VA (IED)
  11/14/2005 US Army Spc. Justin R. Garcia , 26 - Elmhust, NY (IED)
  11/14/2006 US Army SFC Tung M. Nguyen , 38 - Tracy, CA (KIA)
  11/14/2006 USMC Lcpl. Mario D. Gonzalez, 21 - La Puente, CA (KIA)
  11/14/2006 USMC Lcpl Michael D. Scholl, 21 - Lincoln, NB (KIA)
  11/14/2006 USMC Lcpl. Timothy W. Brown, 21 - Sacramento, CA (KIA)
  11/13/2006 US Army PFC Daniel J. Allman II, 20 - Canon, GA (IED)
  11/13/2006 US Army PFC Jang H. Kim, 20 - Placentia, CA (IED)
  11/12/2006 US Army 1st. Lt. Michael A. Cerrone, 24 - Clarksville, TX (IED)
  11/12/2006 US Army PFC Harry A. Winkler III, 32 - Clarksville, TN (IED)
  11/11/2006 US Army Ssgt. William S. Jackson II, 29 - Saginaw, MI (IED)
  11/11/2006 US Army Ssgt.Misael Martinez, 24 - Chapel Hill, NC (IED)
  11/11/2006 US Army Sgt. Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez, 22 - Pacoima, CA (IED)
  11/9/2006 USMC Lcpl.Kristopher C. Warren, 19 - Resaca, GA (NCR)*
  11/9/2006 USMC Sgt. Bryan K. Burgess, 35 - Garden City, MI (KIA)
  11/9/2006 US Army Sgt. Courtland A. Kennard, 22 - Starkville, MS (IED)
  11/9/2006 US Army Ssgt. Gregory W. G. McCoy, 26 - Webberville, MI (IED)
  11/9/2006 US Army SFC Rudy A. Salcido, 31 - Ontario, CA (IED)
  11/7/2006 US Army Ssgt. Richwell A. Doria, 25 - San Diego, CA (KIA)

* NCR Non-Combat Related

It’s easy to look back at something and say you would do things differently. Looking at the Iraq war in hindsight, it’s clear that it was filled with gross miscalculations. Our Administration miscalculated how the majority of Iraqis would receive us, the strength of the so-called insurgency and how long we would need to defeat it; while the only missteps the terrorists have made is bombing a hotel in Jordan and having their leader feed his giant ego by appearing on camera, but Zarqawi paid for that miscalculation with his life.

The biggest problem we have is that our miscalculations may very well affect the outcome of the war, while terrorist miscalculations only result in more killings, deepening international anger and hardened resolve against what Muslims perceive as US aggression. Every misstep we make is turned into a propaganda victory and broadcast immediately throughout the entire Middle East.

After the invasion in 2003, President Bush felt that there was no room for Ba’athists in the new government, so he ordered that all government institutions –including the military– should be purged of Ba’athists and their sympathizers. This single decision, more than any other –right or wrong– stoked the anger than fueled the terrorist campaign, because we essentially shut many Sunni Muslims out of their own political process by force. Guilt by association.

As the war dragged on, the Coalition began reconstruction, but before security was established. American, South Korean, Bulgarian and Italian contractors were beheaded in one of the more horrific legacies of this war. These men were simply trying to feed their families and bring peace to Iraq. As a result, their heads were mercilessly hacked off. Guilt by association.

The violence continued. The terrorists adopted a strategy of kidnapping westerners, journalists or even Iraqis that worked for the coalition as translators or drivers. Some were beheaded, others shot, but all were treated horribly for cooperating with America. Guilt by association.

Now, nearly four years later, what our administration calls “sectarian violence” is really a religious civil war. Foreign jihadists continue to stream across the border. The American and Iraqi death tolls reached a gruesome crescendo this month. Iraq has now descended into anarchy while we are merely spectators. Sunnis and Shiites are attacking Americans as well as other Iraqis. Sunnis are targeting Shiites. Shiites are targeting Sunnis. They’re attacking each other’s places of worship. It’s tribe against tribe, brother against brother-in-law. Guilt by association.

It seems like things are deteriorating faster than you can document them. The death toll is climbing faster than can be tallied. Against the backdrop of this carnage, the President has no clue how to put the genie back in the bottle. He is flailing around, grasping for something, anything to help him out of this mess.

Between his administration, the military generals, the Iraq Study Group, and the Congress, no one seems to have a solution to the violence. As a result, Bush has now sought help from Iraq’s neighbors Syria, Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran and Syria hate us and will only represent their own interests. Saudi Arabia is too afraid of it’s own street to do anything concrete to help us. Jordan is the lone question mark.

In the end, there are only two realistic military solutions to Iraq. We can saturate the country with military force, wrest control from the terrorists and finish the job, or we can simply leave.  Both of these solutions stink, but we don’t have much of a choice. When we first joined the war on terror back in October of 2001, Bush said he would make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. Guilt by association.

We had high hopes that the moderate Muslim world would be a counterbalance to radical Islam. But instead, a large percentage of Muslims believe that it is OK to kill innocent Americans, liberals won’t escape retribution and the jihad will continue. Guilt by association.

IRIB2 - Tehran, Iran - November 14th, 2006 in English-

<ANCHOR>Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad says Iran favors dialogue with all governments across the world, based on mutual respect, except the Zionist regime of Israel, which is illegal. President Ahmedinejad made that remark Tuesday at a press conference, while he also criticized the bullying attitude of Washington as a stumbling block between possible talks between the two nations. (more…)

Al Alam TV - Tehran, Iran - November 15, 2006 -

ANCHOR:” The spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and scholarships confirmed that 70 captured employees have been freed, including the assistant general director of the scholarships’ administration. He added that most of those who were released, including Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians, had been beaten and humiliated. Meanwhile, the Minister of Higher Education, <name unintelligible>, has decided to suspend all work until the rest of the hostages are released. More than 100 employees and supervisors who were working in one of the Ministry’s institutions were kidnapped by armed men in the center of Baghdad.”

“The American Occupation forces announced that 6 of their soldiers were killed, including four who died from injuries sustained during a battle in the Anbar province in western Iraq. A statement by the occupation said that the four killed included one soldier and three Marines. Two other soldiers were killed by an explosive device in western Baghdad.”

“While US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says that there is no magic bullet in Iraq, the new Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid vowed to increase pressure to withdraw American troops from Iraq.”

REPORTER:” The widespread killing in Iraq continues. Explosions in various Iraqi cities killed and injured dozens of civilians. In the capitol of Baghdad, thirteen people were killed and dozens of others were injured. According to a detailed police report, a booby-trapped car exploded at the Kalani stop in the bab al Sharji area near the main entrance of the Ministry of Interior, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.”

“West of Baghdad, one Iraqi was killed, and three others were injured. In Mosul, in Northern Iraq, the media was once again targeted. Armed men killed Fadia Mohammed Ali, a journalist who works for the Masar newspaper, and her chauffer, as they were driving to work. In Latifiya, the police said that it (sic) had found ten unidentified bodies. In the city of Fallujah, the American occupation army acknowledged that a soldier from the 1st Armored Division and three Marines died from their injuries, sustained last night in the Anbar province in Western Baghdad. The increase in the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq has created division on the political scene in Washington.”

“This division is not limited to the defeat of Bush and his party in the midterm congresssional elections. For example, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has rejected recommendations about ways to bring stability to Iraq made by former US Secretary of State James Baker and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Also the new Senate Majority leader for the Democrats –Harry Reid– vowed to increase pressure to withdraw US troops form Iraq. He questioned what victory President Bush was talking about, when the number of US soldiers dying in the country is on the rise.”

When terrorists struck the United States, the eyes of America were finally opened to the threat we are facing. But while we are dealing with the prospect of rogue nations possessing nuclear weapons or IEDs killing American combat soldiers on a daily basis; while we’re focusing on short term goals in Iraq and Afghanistan; we’re ignoring an even grater threat not just to the Middle East, but to worldwide stability. To our peril, we’re ignoring or at the very least not paying enough attention to the other undeclared war; the propaganda war.

Joseph Goebbels used it to deadly effect for Nazi Germany; first to dehumanize, relocate, then incarcerate millions of Jews, opening the door to their eventual extermination if the Allies hadn’t stopped them. Now it is being used by Arab governments to influence their populations and incite hatred of the West. And we’re just standing here in silence, failing to heed the warnings of the past and allowing it to happen.

(more…)

Syria Satellite TV, Damascus, Syria - 11/14/2006 -

<ANCHOR:> Outgoing US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of where and when they were committed.

<REPORTER:>One who is not familiar with the hawk may try to roast it. Let me rephrase the saying. Anyone who is acting like a hawk will eventually be cooked. The aforementioned saying can easily be applied to one of the most harmful hawks of the US administration, Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld, who was an American hawk not long ago, was recently stripped of his title, and his claws were clipped. Some believe that Rumsfeld was a scapegoat, who was being sacrificed to exonerate his master’s sins at the White House. His day finally came. The hawk lost his wings, so he could no hurt any more victims, especially those locked up birds in the cages of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

After their victory in the midterm elections, regaining control of Congress, the Democrats started capitalizing on the political downfall of their Republican counterparts. Rumsfeld was one of the first big hawks to fall, and others may soon fall as well. Nevertheless, some still believe that Rumsfeld was made the scapegoat, so that others can go free.

Who are the others? Let me give you a hint. Some have played roles in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison scandals. If the walls of Abu Ghraib could talk, they would tell us a real tale from the crypt. The victims were subjected to an elaborate scheme of torture and humiliation in the name of Democracy. Who will heal the wounds and redeem the souls of those sexually assaulted in the name of a free world? History will judge the united States of America and it’s allies for their crimes against humanity in Iraq Afghanistan, and elsewhere. What is next? The killer hawk is still at large. He may not be flying anymore, but he is free. Who will bring him to justice?

Civil rights activists filed a lawsuit Tuesday, asking German prosecutors to open a war crimes investigation of Rumsfeld for his alleged role in allowing torture to take place at US prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay Cuba.”

“The US Administration has been known for deserting it’s fallen hawks, regardless of how big they were. Rumsfeld, or “Don” as Bush used to call him, was one of Bush’s favorite aides, and he was given more latitude than other White House staff. However, he has recently become the punching bag for Washington’s politicians. As he leaves the White House, he leaves unhappy memories behind.”

Watching the workings of the two-party system over the last dozen years is sort of like your one hundredth trip to the city zoo’s primate exhibit.

At first, it was sort of interesting watching the monkeys groom themselves, picking lice and other harmful parasites from each other’s skin. But now, after years of watching them groom, then pummel each other in some sort of symbiotic, yet oxymoronic existence, the current alpha male –We’ll call him “Dennis”– decided it would be amusing to toss a handful of scat at his zookeeper.  And because monkeys are animals with a social structure, a defined hierarchy; when the alpha male sees fit to toss a fistful of scat at his caretakers, the Alpha female –we’ll call her “Nancy”– soon follows suit.

Such is the case with the American people and the current Democratic sweep of Congress. Instead of Democrats charting a new course or a strategy for victory in Iraq, we have here a straightforward case of monkey see, monkey do.

In a harbinger of Democratic Party intent, Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin and Patty Murray, who once fawned over Bin Laden, were given plum leadership positions; while in the House, Nancy Pelosi chose to support John “Cold-Blooded” Murtha for Majority Leader. Instead of showing voters a measure of restraint for giving them control and electing responsible leadership, the alpha female supports the anti-war constituency.

During the 2006 midterm, voter dissatisfaction was at stratospheric highs. Voters tossed Republicans without much thought about what they would get with Pelosi in control. Just in case you were unclear on Pelosi’s record, here are some of her more notable votes during the 109th Congress.

Pelosi voted against The Military Commissions Act giving the President authority to detain and try terrorist suspects. Pelosi voted against The Secure Fence Act to build a border fence on our southern border with Mexico. Pelosi calls herself a Catholic, but unabashedly supports abortion. She still receives Communion over objections from many Catholics. She also voted against the Public Expression of Religion Act.  Pelosi voted against the Child Custody Protection Act , which would simply prohibit the skirting of state parental notification laws by taking a minor across state lines in order to perform an abortion. Apparently, Pelosi thinks that the right of a child to obtain an abortion trumps both the rights of their parents to supervise their upbringing, as well as the rights of states to regulate medical practices within their borders.

Pelosi voted against The Immigration Law Enforcement Act which would allow state and local authorities to actually punish immigration violations. Pelosi voted against the Pension Protection Act. Pelosi voted against the Pledge Protection Act. Pelosi voted against intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorist finances, even when conducted with sufficient Congressional oversight to prevent the unlawful disclosure and publication of classified information. Pelosi even voted against the preservation of the Mount Soledad Veteran’s Memorial in San Diego, California.

In conclusion:

Nancy Pelosi won’t protect us from terrorism.

She won’t protect the border.

She won’t protect your right to religion.

She doesn’t protect the Pledge of Allegiance.

She won’t protect your pension.

She won’t even protect monuments to the fallen.

The only thing she will protect is the ability of a child to abort her fetus, at all costs.

The Democratic Party’s only strategy for Iraq is this absurd notion of “phased redeployment”. Don’t be fooled by Democratic speaking in tongues. The only “redeployment” that will be taking place is a retreat of all US troops behind the lines to Kuwait, which as Pelosi could never understand, is a slap in the face to my 3,000 brothers-in-arms who gave their lives for freedom in Iraq.

The war in Iraq has taken some ominous turns this week.

Over one hundred handcuffed, bullet-riddled bodies have been found throughout Iraq just today.

Al Qaeda’s replacement for the Terrorist Fomerly Known As Zarqawi –Abu Ayyub al Masri– vowed on television to take the fight to the White House and is taunting President Bush. He also once gain confirmed the shortsightedness of the Democrats who flatly stated that Iraq is not part of the war on terror. Memo to al Masri: The White House belongs to the American people, not the President. We’re not going to allow it to be blown up that easy.

Sunnis and Shiites are now exchanging mortar barrages in what can only be described as a shift to conventional warfare, while we stand on the sidelines. This is in addition to the kidnappings and the weekly discovery of dozens of headless corpses and bodies found bound and shot execution style on both sides. Anyone who still doubts that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war would be wise to check the dictionary, because this war fits the definition.

President Bush, in the midst of the lowest poll numbers of his presidency at a thirty-one percent job approval rating, continues to show –in dramatic fashion– how far over his head he truly is in Iraq and how hopelessly myopic his vision. He stated after the midterm Republican drubbing, that he was seeking a new direction in Iraq; a new direction to win. The truth is, despite what he says, he isn’t setting a strategy for victory in Iraq. He isn’t seeking the best and brightest from the nation’s military academies. He isn’t discussing how to exploit our enemy’s weaknesses. He isn’t getting the best, veteran, battle-hardened generals to advise him how to crush the terrorists.

What he is doing is retreating further into his comfort zone with people from his father’s administration, such as SecDef nominee Robert Gates and retired Secretary of State James Baker, who heads the Iraq Study Group - a group of ten retired officials and their advisors; a smattering of PhDs, CEOs, intellectuals and Clinton throwbacks, who are supposedly going to assist Bush plot the course correction in Iraq. Not one, single active duty member of the military to speak of. No Generals; no officers; no tacticians. As I see it, this is a sure sign that President Bush is definitely NOT seeking a victory in Iraq, but rather some sort of face-saving retreat mislabeled as an “exit strategy”. You don’t need a bunch of retired politicians and diplomats to tell you that you should have stuck to centuries-old, established war fighting doctrine with clear, demonstrable, obtainable objectives.

Good men continue to die every day, along with scores of Iraqis in a ritualistic bloodbath that is spiraling further out of control, while President Bush –much like an intemperate teenager– looks to his father to bail him out. Despite what President Bush says, there is no change in course. There aren’t even any new options or opinions on how to proceed. In terms of coming up with a viable solution to the problem of Iraq which rests squarely on his shoulders, I guess you might say that Bush is constantly coming up a few shy of a “Baker’s dozen”.

Just in the last 2 weeks the war on terror has claimed 30 more American dead, including a fellow Washingtonian. As we reflect on the sacrifice of our nations veterans, these men as well as their families should be foremost in our thoughts.

11/7/2006 USMC Lcpl. Ryan T. McCaugn, 19 - Manchester, NH
11/6/2006 US Army Sgt. Lucas T. White, 28 - Moses Lake, WA (KIA)
11/6/2006 US Army CWO John R. Priestner, 42 - ??, Pennsylvania *
11/6/2006 US Army CWO Miles P. Henderson, 24 - Amarillo, TX *
11/6/2006 US Army SFC William R. Brown, 30 - Fort Worth, TX (IED) **
11/5/2006 US Army Spc. Douglas C. Desjardins, 24 - Mesa, AZ (IED)
11/5/2006 USMC Cpl. Jose A. Galvan, 22 - San Antonio, TX (KIA)
11/4/2006 USMC 2nd Lt. Mark C.Gelina, 33 - Moberly, Mo (KIA)
11/4/2006 USMC Cpl.Kyle W. Powell, 21 - Colorado Springs, CO (KIA)
11/4/2006 US Army Spc. James L. Bridges, 22 - Buhl, ID (KIA)
11/2/2006 USMC Lcpl. James E. Brown, 20 - Owensville, IN (KIA)
11/2/2006 USMC Ssgt. Jason D. Whitehouse, 27 - Phoenix, AZ (KIA)
11/2/2006 US Army Lt. Col. Paul J. Finken, 40 - Earling, IA (IED)
11/2/2006 US Army Lt. Col. Eric J. Kruger, 40 - Garland, TX (IED)
11/2/2006 US Army Ssgt. Joseph A. Gage, 28 - Modesto, CA (IED)
11/2/2006 USMC Lcpl. Luke B. Holler, 21 - Bulverde, TX (KIA)
11/2/2006 USMC Cpl. Michael H. Lasky, 22 - Sterling, AK (KIA)
11/2/2006 US Army Pvt. Michael P. Bridges, 23 - Placentia, CA ***
11/1/2006 US Army PFC Kevin J. Ellenburg, 20 - Middleburg, FL (IED)
11/1/2006 USMC Lcpl. Minhee Kim, 20 - Ann Arbor, MI (KIA)
11/1/2006 USMC Cpl. Gary A. Koehler, 21 - Ypsilanti, MI (KIA)
10/31/2006 US Army Maj. Douglas E. Sloan, 40 - Evans Mills, NY (IED) **
10/31/2006 US Army Sgt. Charles J.McClain, 26 - Fort Riley, KS (IED) **
10/31/2006 US Army PFC Alex Oceguera, 19 - San Bernardino, CA (IED) **
10/31/2006 US Army Sgt. Michael R. Weidemann, 23 - Newport, RI (IED)
10/31/2006 USMC PFC Jason Franco, 18 - Corona, CA***
10/30/2006 US Army Cpl. Isaiah Calloway, 23 - Jacksonville, FL (KIA)**
10/30/2006 US Army Sgt. Kenneth E. Bostic, 21 - Hawthorne, NV (KIA)
10/30/2006 US Army Sgt. Kraig D. Foyteck, 26 Skokie, IL - (KIA)
10/30/2006 US Army Sgt. Michael T. Seeley, 27 - Fredericton, New Brunswick, CN (IED)

*     Classified as a crash of their AH-64 Apache
**  Occurred in Afghanistan in Support of Operation Enduring Freedom
*** Non-combat related

The polls have closed and the votes have been tallied. In a decision that can only be described as sweeping, the House and Senate have both ceded control to the Democrats. Our eyes and ears have stopped bleeding from months of assault by gutter politics, false accusations and deceptive advertising. The country has finally spoken.

Every election since my conversion to political independence -the event that I refer to as “the quickening” - I am always interested in analyzing the single message the country sends to our leadership as a whole. What did we convey by the totality of the votes that we all cast? Was it a referendum on President Bush, on the House or on Iraq? Was it a vote of confidence in Democratic values and national security priorities?

Prior to the election, Bush was confident that America would choose to continue down the road to ruin. He said this election was about which party could keep America safer when it comes to the war on terror. Until today, he insisted that Donald Rumsfeld would remain at his post for the duration of Bush’s term. Bush publicly lauded coach Rumsfeld for the fine job he was doing directing the exercise of Iraqi democracy by his continual running in place on the Bush League field of dreams.

Now today comes the announcement of Rumsfeld’s resignation and the nomination of Robert Gates as the new Secretary of Defense, which is evidence of two things;

First, that Bush was –as I said before– playing politics with soldiers lives; seeing which way the wind blew. And when that wind stiffened and finally turned on him, Bush decided the time had finally come to find a new Secretary of Defense. And second, that Bush didn’t learn a thing. He nominated a career Intelligence official. A member of his father’s administration and a friend of the Bush family. This is in no way intended to impugn the character or career credentials of Mr. Gates, but the truth is, the fighting men of this country deserve to be led by one of their own; a fellow soldier; someone who understands the daily sacrifices made by our veterans; not someone who has spent the last 4 years in a cushy office at Texas A & M University. Despite Bush’s denials, the change of leadership was under discussion for weeks. The choice of Gates to lead the military is no different than hiring Michael Brown to head FEMA or Harriet Meyers to sit on the Supreme Court.

On the other side of the aisle, Nancy Pelosi believes this election was a clear choice between stay the course and cut and run. And she thinks we chose that latter. She believes that just because America spoke pretty vociferously that we are unhappy with the current state of affairs in Iraq that we want immediate retreat. So once again, the two-party system staked out positions that were at both extremes.

The 2006 mid-term election was not a statement about the job that either party has done representing the will of the people. It wasn’t about who will keep us safer or which party’s strategy is the key to solving the problem of Iraq. It wasn’t an expression of hope and it wasn’t the order to retreat. It was an exercise in futility by the American electorate and a clear indication that they ended up –once again– choosing a candidate based on the belief that they couldn’t possibly do any worse than the incumbent.

When I was young, I was a voracious reader. Early on, I found that the written word was one of the most powerful things ever conceived. I learned that words could be used to mend fences or heal hearts. Words could be used to deliver barbs or to incite violence. Words could be used to pay tribute to the most solemn or auspicious occasions.

“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“That’s one small step for man…”
“I have a dream…”

But that was then…

The US is currently engaged in an unconventional war, but it is not the war on terror. It is a war of attrition, claiming millions of victims. Mass casualties are inflicted on American citizens regularly, yet no shots have ever been fired. It is the war of words.

The election of President Clinton is when words finally became weapons. Illegal aliens became “migrants” or “undocumented workers”. “Be all you can be.”, “The few. The Proud. The Marines.” and “Navy. It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.” were replaced with “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Is” didn’t really mean is, and may have even meant “was”, depending on who you “were”. “Oral sex” wasn’t really sex.  Supporters of abortion referred to themselves as “pro-choice”, while referring to their opponents as “anti-abortion”. A holiday was named for Martin Luther King - and deservedly so, but at the expense of both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays, which were replaced by a watered-down President’s day.

In the ’90s, there came a new definition of sacrilege. Elephant dung smeared on a portrait of the Virgin Mary and a photo of a crucifix submerged in urine were referred to as “art”; the latter referred to as the “Piss Christ” and paid for by your tax dollars through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Even a changing of the guard did nothing to end the assault on our culture and traditions. Under Bush, the war of words continues. Status quo in Iraq is the key to “victory”. The President calls patriotic Americans who uphold the law and try to stop the assault on our border –because the government ignores the law– “vigilantes”. It’s suddenly far too stigmatizing for children to be “it”, so the game of tag is disappearing. Dick Durbin likened valiant US soldiers to Nazis; John Murtha called Marines “cold-blooded” murderers. After the nation’s veterans began registering their displeasure at John Kerry’s sense of humor, he first backtracked and said he was taking a swipe at Bush’s intelligence, not our soldiers. He blamed his predicament on Republicans. He not only insulted every military veteran living or dead, but then called us all crazy.

He said we would have to be crazy if we believe that he would utter those words in reference to US soldiers, as opposed to the President.

Maybe; maybe not. What is clear however, is that Kerry is an attorney and a US Senator who speaks for a living. At best, he called the President stupid. At worst, US troops. Yet, even when he apologized, he still couldn’t resist taking a swipe at Republicans for a mess of his own making.

The war of words has also resulted in the dilution of terms that were readily understood until recently. Terms that can have dire consequences on how we approach our future enemies if simply glossed over. Muslims who firebomb French buses with people inside are now referred to as “youths” or “teenagers”. Muslim terrorists in Iraq are “insurgents”. I’m sure it’s easy to guess where this is headed.

The war of words will never be won, unless we refuse to accept these outrageous assaults on our sensibilities and demand a return to the plainspoken truth. If we don’t this country will spiral into more and more confusion.

If we can’t even agree that “undocumented” means illegal, or that one who boards a bus full of civilians and blows it to smithereens is a terrorist and not a “martyr” or “resistance fighter”; if we can’t reach a common understanding of the terms of the debate, how can we ever have an honest debate?