The Clinton War On Terror

The recent killings of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki coupled with the tenth anniversary of the September 11^th terrorist attacks created a flood of political and media focus on the presidency of George W. Bush. There was a common thread attached to the discourse; President Bush had somehow been derelict in assessing the potential impact al-Queda could have upon the American homeland.

The now popular myth is that the war on terror began on George W. Bush’s’ watch and that he was ineffective in its prosecution.

This is not a defense of his administration or its policies, but the now accepted mythology must be addressed.

The first acknowledgement is that his decisions brought us to the point that, a decade later, allows us to be in a position to evaluate our recent history. In the aftermath of 9/11 our future was uncertain; the potential unknown of further attacks and greater devastation was a very real possibility. His leadership in this area must be commended.

This week will mark the eleventh anniversary of the commencement of the war on terror and as such is an appropriate time to clarify the record and correct the accepted perception on how we arrived at this point in history.

The war on terror began on October 12^th, 2000 with a direct assault on our military.

A 35-foot boat laden with the explosives RDX and TNT with two bombers on board rammed the USS Cole port amidships while it was refueling in the Aden, Yemen harbor, ripping a 32-foot by 36-foot hole in the hull and causing extensive internal damage.

It cannot be argued with any degree of seriousness that a direct attack on a nation’s active-duty military is not an act of war. The Clinton administration and President William Jefferson Clinton specifically, however, attempted to make that very argument. Their stance was that the perpetrators of this attack would be brought to justice under the principle that this was a legal issue that needed to be resolved within the court system of the United States.

There was no reciprocal military retribution taken by the Clinton administration, and no legal prosecution evolved.

Declining action after active duty personnel were murdered can best be described as giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The legal construct of that argument is the definition of treason. The political reality of that path is best described as nothing less than cowardice.

The question now is that after a specific, unanswered  attack on an United States naval vessel, what must have been the mind set of al-Queda; that America would not fight back. At that point, the 9/11 attacks were inevitable.

President George Bush did not let the terror attacks go unanswered.

We were not attacked again during his administration.

The historians will make the decision on the Bush administration policies and decisions, but we must not allow the fog of history to cloud the reality of history.

We must never forget.

To that end, herein are the names of the first seventeen heroes lost in the war on terror:

Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, a hull maintenance technician from Mechanicsville, Va.;

* Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, 35, an electronics technician from Morrisville, Pa.;

*Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, a mess management specialist from Woodleaf, N.C.;

* Seaman Timothy Lee Gauna, 21, an information systems technician from Rice, Texas;

* Seaman Cherone Louis Gunn, 22, a signalman from Rex, Ga.;

* Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19, of Norfolk, Va.;

* Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc Ian Nieto, 24, an engineman from Fond du Lac, Wis.;

* Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronald Scott Owens, 24, an electronics warfare technician from Vero Beach, Fla.;

* Seaman Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22, of San Diego, Calif.;

* Seaman Joshua Langdon Parlett, 19, an engine room fireman from Churchville, Md.;

* Seaman Patrick Howard Roy, 19, a fireman from Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.;

* Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin Shawn Rux, 30, an electronic warfare technician from Portland, N.D.;

* Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22, a mess management specialist from Kingsville, Texas.;

* Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32, an operations specialist from Ringgold, Va.;

* Seaman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., 26, a fireman from Rockport, Texas;

* Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss.; and

* Seaman Craig Bryan Wibberley, 19, of Williamsport, Md.

Their deaths must be answered for, lest we lose our sense of national self.

A Constitutional Threat

The fundamental recipe for tyranny begins with equal measures of apathy and ambivalence by the electorate at large and ignorance by the elected officials entrusted with the responsibility of governance. In recent days, there have been two examples of a flagrant arrogance by Americans who should know better and the American electorate must not stand idly by and consider these incidents as nothing more than mere trivialities; these are serious issues that must be properly addressed.

These two events, while seemingly individual in nature, do indeed speak to a growing apathy and ambivalence by the electorate and thus are tied together as emblematic of a serious threat to what Thomas Jefferson referred to as the ‘great experiment’ – American self rule.

In the first instance, a Texas school suspended a 14-year-old boy for two days for telling a classmate he thought homosexuality was wrong. The student was in a German class at the high school when the conversation shifted to religion and homosexuality. At some point during the conversation, he turned to a friend and said that he was a Christian and “being a homosexual is wrong.”

The issue here is not the question of sexuality, or even pursuing why the topic shifted during a German language class. Both questions can and should be debated, but such discussions occur only within a healthy body politic. The fact that a school district would suspend a student for expressing a thought is terrifying; the government should not act upon thought, for once it does, under the guise of doing the ‘right thing’, there is no limit to what can be considered the right thing. The United States Constitution is not a document that restricts the citizenry; it is in effect to limit the power of the federal government.

To quote from that august document:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (emphasis ours)

There does not seem to be any ambiguity in the first amendment. There are of course limits to free speech – the popular understanding that you may not yell ‘fire”, absent one, in a crowded theater is a valid restriction.

It is incomprehensible how what this particular student said would be acted upon by suspending him. We are close to crossing the Rubicon on political correctness at the cost of liberty. This is not hyperbolic rhetoric; a student was suspended for expressing an opinion. This should cause a hue and cry from the American citizenry, yet the muted outcry is sadly deafening.

The second event is equally troubling, but in a different manner. North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue this past week proposed suspending congressional elections for a cycle so legislators could focus on fixing the economy.

"I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,"

 "I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. You want people who don't worry about the next election."

To again quote the United States Constitution:

Article 1, Section 2

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. (emphasis ours)

The fact that Governor Perdue is her states highest ranking elected official and she is suggesting dismissing the Constitution due to its being, apparently, an inconvenience should alarm the American people. The question needs to be asked: what is her understanding of the Constitution, the governing document of the United States, that she could so glibly suggest abandoning it?

Her office subsequently attempted to claim that the governor was speaking in jest, but the audiotape of her speech shows no level of jocularity, and the audience was silent, suggesting they were on some level in agreement with her suggestion.

The Constitution must be defended if we are to remain a free people. Regulating thought, expressed as speech, and glibly discussing insurrection should be a warning to the American people.

They risk the loss of their liberty if they do not heed the alarm.

Jefferson and Hamilton

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

There is a well known and often commented upon phrase that seems to sadly sum up much of the partisan nonsense that is currently afflicting our elected representatives and their media flacks: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

It appears that given the dearth of intelligent discourse on the pressing matters of state and the imbecilic rancor that exists within the body politic, it is apparent that the aforementioned phrase is more than apropos.

The American people should not accept that status and must demand more.

The spectrum of political ideologies now mandates that the only solution to the nation’s current woes is to ‘reclaim’ America, and ‘return’ it back to the American people. The methodology that is offered as the vehicle for that transition to invoke the framers and the founders and announce loudly across all outlets and electronic soapboxes that their particular political persuasion has some level of birthright to the principles and ideals of our founding fathers, and that were those men of two hundred plus years ago here today they would absolutely endorse the aforementioned political philosophies and governmental solutions.

Rubbish.

The fact that should concern the electorate is that despite the sincerity with which our elected officials make these claims, the fact is that all it does is amplify their ignorance of American history and the glorious manner in which those founding fathers were able to launch the audacious experiment that is American self rule democracy.

To wit:

There could scarcely be more polar political opposites than Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.  Jefferson believed in a strong central federal government for issues of national protection and foreign policy, but that a more agrarian based society with powers granted more to the local governments was the American ideal. Hamilton was a staunch believer that commerce and trade was the true route to a more prosperous America.

In today’s political ideology, Thomas Jefferson would fall more into the classification of moderate Democrat while Hamilton would undoubtedly be the poster child for the conservative movement currently in resurgence.

Yet these two giants of American independence, their views diametrically opposite, understood the promise of America and the need for those entrusted with her success would need to forge compromise.

Thomas Jefferson was appointed by President George Washington to be the fledgling nation’s first Secretary of State. Alexander Hamilton was also requested by President Washington to serve in his first cabinet as Treasury Secretary.

Perhaps those currently holding elective office should take note of Washington’s’ wisdom in choosing the best people for the necessary duties, knowing that in such instances those people will put aside their political squabbles and serve the American people with the best fruits of their industry.

If that wisdom is ignored, as it currently appears, we will no longer prosper and flourish as a nation. We will surely drown in political platitudes.

We owe our posterity the same political courage that was truly best exemplified by our founding fathers, in all their political opposition glory.

James Craig Anderson

(This Weeks Blog is A Personal Commentary)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

James Craig Anderson was murdered on June 26^th, 2011.

His crime was exactly the same as that of James Byrd of Jaspar, Texas back in 1998 and the method of execution was the same – a truck was used to assassinate them both; James Craig Anderson was intentionally driven over by one, James Byrd was intentionally  dragged behind one, tethered to it by a chain.

Their executioners imposed these sentences of death arbitrarily and without a foundation of any legal precept. The names of the killers will not reprinted here, for to give these individuals any further acknowledgement would serve only to embolden those who may come after them.

We as a nation have a responsibility and culpability in these two killings and the far too many similar others that occur throughout this nation.

The specifics of the alleged crimes of James Craig Anderson and James Byrd may vary slightly in nature to others perpetrated around the nation, but in these instances, herein were their alleged societal transgressions.

They were both black.

Their murderers were white, and they felt that gave them sufficient cause to terminate the lives of two fellow citizens, two fellow Americans, a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal.

This is not a ranting diatribe about race; such dissertations are more often than not vapid and pointless requests for universal love and peace; desirable goals to be sure, but rather unobtainable within the current course of human endeavors.

At this point in history, anybody inherently stupid enough to automatically choose hatred for somebody based solely upon differentiations of pigmentation are most probably lost to society and should be outright shunned by society as a whole once their views are given voice. Unless they are acted upon, however, government at any level should not intercede; official intervention within the scope of mere thought is too terrible to contemplate. We must be wary on acting against those whose IDEAS we disagree with; it will shortly be OUR ideas that are under assault.

The real issue here, that our politicians fail to give voice to and which the electorate at large have chosen to ignore, is the fact that ignorance needs only passive avoidance to flourish. Ignorance is the real enemy that must be confronted; an educated mind is not a mind of hatred. Ignorance will breed fear, and fear is the emotion that gets acted upon; be afraid of the unknown and you will invariably attack it. The ability to ask questions about the unknown will automatically disarm it; shed the light of intelligence on ignorance and it will whither and die.

The need for education in all its incarnations must be fostered at the workplace, in our schools, in our communities at large, at our dinner tables. The freest people history has ever known most make freedom the verb it needs to be; not as a dismissive catchphrase word used to simulate patriotism. If we do not keep the body politic healthy by continually educating its mind, we shall perish from the earth.

No American citizen should ever be murderd again out of fear borne by the ignorance of hate.

It must stop.

Today.

The decision is quite literally yours.

May we all make the right one.

9/11

May we together pray that never will we need such service again, but may we also pray that we never lose their spirit of real and true heroism, or surely we as a nation and a people will be lost.

For the 343.

http://youtu.be/dHayXNAuD8A

http://youtu.be/lT6tCQioI9E

Hurricanes & Lessons Learned?

The aftermath of any natural disaster, in this specific case Hurricane Irene, should never be heralded in any positive manner, save the individual heroics of safety and survival, but in this instance this most recent natural disaster can be used as a springboard, a starting point for a necessary discussion on the role of government as perceived and debated between the major political factions within our national government.

The political extremes are pedaling the myths that one side wants the abolition of government; that the other will stop at nothing short of a cradle to grave nanny state with government controlling every minutiae of daily life. This is the current state of the body politic. The American people should be better served and should demand better, accept no less.

It is obvious that both positions are ridiculous and should not be taken seriously, but the issue remains of determining what the role and nature of a centralized federal government should be.

In an instance of natural disaster such as Hurricane Irene there are no other entities that are equipped to handle the relief efforts necessary for the help and protection of people and property. The logistical coordination necessary is grand in scope but methodical in its implementation.  This is an instance where government is both necessary and essential. A well funded and resourced government is the only intelligent manner to cope with these issues. The government should not however be the device wherein people are made whole; personal responsibility, i.e. homeowner insurance, basic safeguards to self and property, is a basic tenet of a free people; acts of God however, can never be planned for in scope. Resulting public interest eventualities though can be properly addressed by government. The fact that this simple formula escapes both of the political extremes is simultaneously sad and comedic.

A corollary to this discussion is that it also shows the idiocy of a balanced budget amendment.

To wit:

Presume that the budget allocation for addressing national disasters is one dollar per year. This year alone, before Hurricane Irene cut her swath of destruction, the excessive snows, subsequent flooding from the thaw, and the earthquake in Virginia that ran the line of the east coast, required that  the federal government spent $1.10. A balanced budget amendment would mandate that something be cut in order to pay for this relief effort. Should we cut back on education, airline safety – once the budget was passed, there would be budgetary necessities to be in balance.

This is not a case for unbridled spending, but rather accepting the fact that Americans have historically been the first with their wallets out to help their fellow citizens in time of hardship. There should be no restraints in place to limit the response to tragedy; it simply is not the American way.

The upcoming elections will determine the direction and scope of our centralized federal government. The American electorate has a simple choice: to choose an effective government that can competently step in to address emergencies brought on by acts of God, or a government that will attempt to provide a claimed panacea, which  in truth is actually more placebo,  for all of life’s hardships.

Both choices come with a cost. One choice is a matter of dollars; the other is the cost of an individuals unimpeded freedom.

Hurricane Irene caused the omission of this weeks post. We will return this coming Monday as usual.