BARF-GHANISTAN

I read an article in the Austin American Statesman this Sunday on Monica Velez, a 30 y.o. from Lubbock who recently moved to Austin and planned to run at the Washington D. C. Marathon in honor of her two brothers, both who died in the Middle East http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/10/25/1025sister.html . One brother died in Iraq. The other committed suicide while serving in Afghanistan, distraught over his brother’s death. It’s a sad story that got me thinking about how inept Washington politicians are when it comes to U.S. ideology regarding foreign policy matters. Before I get started, let me get this out of the way: I served 10 years in the military and I served during Desert Storm. That doesn’t make me an expert on all military matters, but it doesn’t make me a communist either, because I’m about to say something that some military people will find offensive:

We need to quit being the World’s policemen.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the budget for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq this year is listed at $864 billion http://ftp.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf , yes, that‘s billion with a “B” and for what, to continue the never ending “War on terrorism”? Somewhere around the turn of the 20 century, the U.S. government decided it needed to stick its Democratic nose in other people’s business which is fine, until Americans pay for it with their lives because that’s when I have a problem with it. The following are the only real good reasons to declare war or take military action:

1. Another country invades our country or territories (WWII,)
2. One country invades another country with no legitimate provocation (WWI, Kuwait 1991)
3. Anytime a communist country invades another country or sets up a puppet regime, which is akin to invading another country (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan 1980)
4. Anytime another country insults your mother (just kidding)

That’s it. There are no there are no other reasons to risk the lives of your sons, daughters, wives or husbands who are bravely serving in our military. I believe in a strong military that should be available and ready for legitimate needs, not for politicians who think they are ever going to find Osama Bin Liden. Forget about him. That guy has entered into the mythical category of legends like the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot. I’m sure one day we’ll see a grainy You Tube video of him walking through the California Redwood Forest or something like that.

Think of the billions of dollars we could be using elsewhere. Socialist President Obama could use some of those dollars to prop up his bogus health care reform program. I’d even rather see some of that money allocated to help fund social service programs, rather than fund a military action that is never going to end. In the history of the Middle East, please show me a time where the U.S. has come in or successfully propped up a democratic government? Not Iran pre-1978. Not Afghanistan 2001. In the meantime, I’ll continue to pray for the Marines and soldiers over there and also that our Washington leaders find their common sense soon.

Blog 4 Assignment

I reviewed a blog from a Mathew Yglesias who has a blog site named http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/. I read a blog he posted 10/13/09 at 2:31pm titled “Does Security do any good?” I skimmed through several of the author’s other blogs on this site and I could not get a fix on who is intended audience is. According to this course syllabus, his blog is listed as a liberal weblog, however, one of his articles clearly gives favorable marks to the Republican party on how it runs internal discipline amongst its congressional members (see blog: Republicans run their party the right way). Is the author credible? After clicking on the authors’ bio, the answer is clear: No. He has a degree in Philosophy and wrote one book, which means more than likely he’s a barista working at Starbucks who has nothing but spare time on his hands to work on his blog. My opinion is that he doesn’t like the hassle of going through security checkpoints. Too bad he failed to back up his argument up with any reasonable points.

According to Yglesias, American security agencies like TSA are worthless. He compares a recent trip to Europe and observed that not only is airport security more relaxed in Danish countries, they don’t make you take off your shoes when passing through the x-ray machine. His logic for the lack of any recent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil: Since many people in this country have access to some type of weapon capable of inflicting mass casualties to “soft’ targets at places where large numbers of people gather, there’s nothing really stopping someone from doing it regardless of any security that is present. So why have it in the first place since its costing the country billions of dollars yearly? Great point. While we’re at it, Why not disband all of the country’s police and fire departments because as we all know, any person could commit a crime or light a fire at any time and probably wouldn’t get caught. Oh I forgot, doing something like that would tear society’s fabric apart and have it spinning towards anarchy. Silly me.

Seriously, airport security programs are complex and complicated organizations that serve a vital purpose. They contain intricate intelligence gathering units and more than likely are not run by philosophy majors. Had the current airport security and intelligence systems been in place on 9/10/01, the twin towers would still be standing. While most people could cause a major terrorist event anywhere in the U.S. at any time and they don’t, it’s because the majority of society is not sociopathic, mentally ill, or into religious zealotry. Those are the folks the TSA people are looking for, not me or you. So Matthew, on your next blog, please attempt to use critical thinking instead of Platonic realism. Oh and next time, not so much mocha in my Venti triple-skinny-mocha-latte. It affects my writing by making my biting criticism seem sarcastic.