Kneejerk War Is Weakness, Not Strength

Filed in International by on June 19, 2014

The drumbeat for a renewed Iraq intervention from the neo-cons and neo-liberals within and outside the administration is pissing me off.  The media learned nothing from Vietnam, Iraq II and Afghanistan; they are fielding all the totally discredited talking heads to tell us President Obama needs to show strength.

Those cretins and debunked experts are back in full force and the David Gregory types in the lamestream media are back with a vengeance spewing their nonsense.  This includes retired military who fucked up Iraq before and in behalf of their defense industry sponsors, want us to do this again.

What we’re hearing is kick their ass, send in the bombs, show passion for killing as an instrument of foreign policy.  Act mad.  Lash out aggressively.  We are hearing that our President is weak because he is too passive in this situation, too inclined to avoid pulling out the hammer and pounding the militants.  Too detached.  In other words, not exhibiting testosterone laden aggressive rhetoric and action.

We’ll, I’m here to tell them they are full of shit.  Showing restraint, thoughtful analysis and pushing our worst aggressive instincts back takes amazing strength and discipline.  This is exactly what our strong President is doing as we speak.  Even in the face of very aggressive advocacy for ass kicking from within his administration and among so called political bedfellows.  Shut the fuck up.  Engage your brains and join this faint chorus praising our President for amazing strength.

I’m no pacifist, I’m sad to admit, but I was reminded this week of the strength shown by, for example, the Freedom Riders  who rode into the face of hate, threats and outright brutality for our cause of justice.  Or the non-violent revolutionaries in South Africa who faced terrible hatred.

Yes, in my view, their are times military force is needed to protect our people.   This is not one of those times.  Yes, we need to be vigilant and safeguard against these crazies in the middle east who indeed may have designs on punishing Americans for our perceived misdeeds in their region.

Good intelligence, counterintelligence and homeland security measures and some diplomacy with this crowd seems to be working post 9-11.  Preemptive slaughter of those with animosity about us and our allies goes nowhere but fueling the raging fire.  The fire needs dousing with strategic vision and creative relationship building, not hormonal infused counter rage.

And the recognition that there are some problems we just can’t fix, at least not now.  Like our own revolution, theirs needs to play out to the extent that we can down the road recognize its shape and form before we can deal with it.

On a practical level, on the battlefield, how in the hell are we going to target jihadists, baathists, foreign intruders, al qaeda and Sunni-revolutionaries from one another to hit the right targets ? The wrong targets will inflame the region even more.  The answer is, we can’t.  We do need to protect our people there and get them out if such protection looks inadequate.

But, Mr. President, you are exhibiting strength, resolve and thoughtful problem solving, where solutions exist.  Don’t listen to the prevaricators, bullies and ragers.  Some of them would just as soon see you damage U.S. interests so they can accuse you of failure.  They own their own failure with Iraq but are too weak to admit it.  Be strong.  We have your back.

 

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  1. Jason330 says:

    “What we’re hearing is kick their ass, send in the bombs, show passion for killing as an instrument of foreign policy. Act mad. Lash out aggressively.”

    It is true. Cheney isn’t saying, and has never really said that we should be the world’s police. Policing denotes law enforcement. Cheney, Wolfie and maniacs like Bolton say that we should be the world’s bully. Just fucking punching and kicking the shit out of countries because we can.

    They are some fucked up mother fuckers.

  2. McCain is our best living example of the horrific damage war can do to people. Look at him. Angry as shit. Listen to him. He is the poster child of damaged, twisted people who cannot get enough of it. Astoundingly, it appears many listen to him and think of patriots, not monsters.

  3. Liberal Elite says:

    The more Cheney talks, the easier it will be for Obama.

  4. kavips says:

    “Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research — these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel….”

    “But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs — balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage — balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.”

  5. stan merriman says:

    And now, another insult. Those jerks at Center For American Progress are pushing for “limited” bombing of ISIS in Iraq. I’ve long called for removal of their camouflage as successors to the DLC, but this outs them. And Podesta is seen all the time with President Obama. My reaction to this, WTF.

  6. Geezer says:

    They will greet us as liberators.

  7. Aint's Taking it Any More says:

    More likely they will greet us because we aren’t Sunnis.

  8. Geezer says:

    Liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk.

  9. Tom McKenney says:

    McCain never was a ground troop; he has a distorted view of what war is really like. When McCain went to view a market place in Iraq, it was surrounded by armored vehicles, had snipers on the roofs, had Blackhawks flying overhead, had the locals screened, and had McCain wearing full body armor. He said everything was normal. He is a complete idiot or an absolute liar. In either case, we should ignore him. By the way, like our ex-president, he never would have gone to flight school without family connections.

  10. Geezer says:

    Everything John McCain knows from his first-hand war experience involves looking up at a deployed parachute.