While we should pull out of Iraq, that doesn't mean that the United States should develop ostrich diplomacy and stay out of most conflicts while those in other countries suffer. We had a reason for being in Iraq, just as we have a reason for being in Afghanistan, and that reason is the Taliban. We don't want them coming here, though it also seems that most people don't want them anywhere.
We were wrong to go into Iraq but not for the reasons that most people think. Our gravest mistake in going was that our generals and leaders didn't know the enemy's culture and mindset. It's like something my mother used to say, "When you sit down at the table, know who you are sitting down with." We didn't bother to think about who we were sitting down with and it cost us. Seven years later, 5,000 deaths and trillions of dollars later, it cost us.
We shouldn't use our popularity index and fear that we have overstepped our bounds as a reason for avoiding a fight. The idea of the ugly American has been around for decades and isn't going to change whether we were in Iraq of anywhere else. Besides, the reasons behind most anti-American sentiment may not be our foreign policy, but that we are privileged on the whole and one of the richest nations on earth.
However, the next time we go to war, our leaders should also ask themselves whether they'd be willing to send their children or their children's children to die, not some stranger's children but their own. If they would, then this would be the true litmus test of whether we should engage in battle.
With school starting, it's that time of year again. Time for my shameless plugs series. This one is for a housepainter with heart.
Most people have had experiences with the contractor from hell who has a meltdown in the middle of a job and walks off leaving exposed wires and holes in the walls. But Robert of Robert's Quality Painting isn't of that ilk.
Somehow a DSL repairman fixed a neighbor's DSL line but turned off his electricity in his fuse box and leaving this poor man in the dark. It was a matter of locating the fuse box inside the unit and flicking a switch, which was beyond both of us.
Although he was busy helping his girlfriend a few doors down, Robert, owner of Robert's Quality Painting dropped what he was doing to help out. As a contractor he said that he has to know a little of everything. Using my flashlight, we went into the unit, he found the fuse box and flicked the switch and nothing. Knowing that it was a matter of finding the main circuit breaker in the garage and flicking the switch, we went to look for it.
As luck would have it, it was inside a locked room and the one who had the key wasn't home. I began talking about an extension cord, so he went volunteered to loan me one of his. This from someone I had only waved to in passing. I promised to return it, he have me his card and drove off.
Once in his girlfriend's unit, I began to survey his work. The walls looked like something out of a magazine with not an uneven line anywhere.
Finding an honest and caring contractor is like finding a winning lottery ticket. Once you do, you want to be careful and keep it.
He can be reached via his email at rqpn1@yahoo.com
President Obama deserves the cheers of the nation for ending the US combat role in Iraq. The seven year ground war stirred national regional hatred of the US, and reaffirmed the US image as the bully boy of the world. The war was a colossal domestic and international disaster. The mountainous lies and deception used to get and keep the US in Iraq will be a permanent mark of historical disgrace and shame on the legacy of George W. Bush.
Now there's Afghanistan, a war that Obama must tread carefully on to avoid making all the same mistakes that Bush made in Iraq. Obama in the White House pledged that he'd redeploy troops as fast as he could from Iraq to Afghanistan. Though he tossed out the figure of two brigades as the number of troops he planned to send, he hinted this was not fixed, and the number of troops might go much higher. That's still very much a possibility.
Obama has never cited Pentagon pressure as his reason for upping the military ante in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has certainly hammered hard for troop escalation. But the massive troop increase is clearly his call, just as the Iraq war was clearly Bush's call..
Obama, of course, learned from the perils of that call by Bush. He recognized that the Iraq war was an ugly and shameful page in US history. And that millions of Americans were furious and frustrated by it, and that the presidential candidate who would do something to change that would be cheered by Americans. Obama deserves the cheers for that. But Obama's Iraq withdrawal is a great deal.
The only hope for the current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is the nearly complete absence of hope. With such low expectations the old clichés are totally missing. "The peace process is inevitable. They are too far along to turn back. Failure is not an option." Failure is a virtual certainty.
Things did not get off to a promising start--and I'm not talking about the slaughter of the four Israelis or the attempted terror attack today. Yes, Netanyahu said the right things. He called Mahmoud Abbas his partner in peace. He called for courage. Educated in the United States and knowing how to play to us, he was pitch perfect in his pitch.
Abbas, on the other hand, was nearly tone deaf. In listening to him in Arabic, I caught the following sentence: "We want a peace that will correct the historical injustice caused by the creation of Israel of 1948, and one that brings security to our people and the Israeli people." Unfortunately, but intentionally, the word that was generously translated as "the creation of Israel," was the single Arabic word, Nakba.
This word is an insult, a pejorative and a virtual call to arms in Arabic. It means the "catastrophe." It is heavy with connotations and meaning. It is a national holiday among Palestinians. Well, holiday is the wrong word; it is a day of mourning. Every Palestinian understands that the "historical injustice" that needs correcting is the creation of Israel, and the only remedy is the destruction of the Jewish state. The word captures a backward looking attitude that cannot be central in this century. Neither the Nakba nor the Shoah belong in a good faith search for peace.
I am surprised that his use of the word did not cause Netanyahu to rise and leave the room. Netanyahu must be serious. But I have to wonder if Abbas is ready to get serious.
©2010 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
These truths I hold to be evident: That all men and women are (sort of) created equal, depending on how they behave, and that there is a larger gathering of nuts around here now more than ever.
Let's look at that top nut in Iran, Ahmadinejad who always has an eye on a.) either taking over the world, or b.) blowing someone or something up. All in all, he isn't someone I'd bring to a dinner party. But if we are to progress as a nation and I as a person, we must look at some of the root causes of his behavior.
Bunions: Many people have them along with unseemly toenails and fallen arches. I qualify in the fallen arches category, and they have made me grouchy. When I was a waitress in a family-styled Greek restaurant before they burned theirs down to collect on the insurance money, I once got mad at a cook for not handing me a special iced tea spoon in a timely manner and left the premises. I now believe that my later diagnosed fallen arches and the need for arch supports had something to do with it.
The Napleon Complex: Let's face it the only way this man could get into a tall person's club would be to climb in through a transom. This may partially be why he is pushy and aggressive like Naploeon Bonaparte, who the complex was named for.
His Relationship with his Mother: There are mothers and then there are mothers, and anyone who behaves like this probably had one that was a cross between Frankenstein and his bride. How can I tell, you might ask? How do I know? Because the only things he can bond with are his ego and a bomb. And that is never a good sign.
The question, of course, is what to do with him. We can't go and kill him because it wouldn't be very friendly, and he seems to have the constitution of a water buffalo and would recover faster than a stubbed toe. We can't oust him because he'd either bounce right back or a more lethal version would surface. And don't count on him keeling over any time soon because he is the kind to live a long life just to spite people if nothing else.
The best way to handle him is to get him to commit the old harry carry. I propose filtering Israeli music into the Dictatorial pad twenty-four/ seven. Show Israeli TV and serve Israeli and other Jewish foods like gefilte fish. And for the final piece de la resistance, flash pictures of Jews who have made it in spite of men and women like him.
That ought to do it right then and there.
A car carrying four Israelis was just ambushed by a group of Palestinian thugs. They shot the two couples from far away, and then went up to the car and shot them at point blank range to make sure they were dead. One of the women was pregnant.
It happened on the eve of the renewed peace talks. Some may view it as a random act of violence by a couple of thugs, but it really is part of the bigger picture and what goes on in the Palestinian society. Because the Arab world accepts these attacks by silent acquiescence, then this is part of the Arabic culture on the whole. Though when one brave woman, Egypt's Nonie Darwish, spoke out against her brethren, she had to have security systems installed in her home and have protection because of the death threats.
The larger world may point to Israelis supposed treatment of the Palestinians, but their standard of living actually improved before the infitada. I only know that if I had a neighbor who lobbed rockets and bullets at me, my friends or my family, I would be hard pressed to act any other way. And expecting anything less than violence in return is unreasonable especially after nothing else has worked.
Hopefully, Mrs. Darwish's prediction will one day come true, that Israel better build a high wall around herself to block out all the Palestinian in fighting because not only can they not peacefully coexist with their neighbor. They can't even peacefully coexist among themselves.
Twenty-one American soldiers died in the past 48 hours in Afghanistan. For what? For Karzai and his band of crooks, warlords and narcos?
The central tenet of Gen. Petraeus' COIN (Counter Insurgency strategy) is based on the premise of defending and protecting a decent governmental entity. Clearly this is not the case. So, what are we doing?
The answer is two-fold. One, we hate losing and losing face. We believe it diminishes our credibility in the world. While this is true, it does not diminish our credibility more than dragging out the killing of civilians and our own prolonged and agonal losing. Looking weak does not become looking strong if you just keep sticking to it for years and decades, rather than recognizing reality and leaving.
The second part of why we're still there is that we are trying to contain Pakistan and keep the Taliban from taking over a nation with from 85-110 nuclear weapons. This is certainly an understandable and important ambition. But are we giving ourselves a real chance here or only empowering the Taliban and enrolling more soldiers in their cause?
As we announce, once again, that all major combat operations have ceased in Iraq--so now our soldiers are killed in minor combat operations as advisors and battle coaches--we should examine our record at containment. For containment has really been the centerpiece of American military policy for over 50 years.
We contained the old Soviet Union fairly successfully after they grabbed half of Europe following WWII. We fought them all over the world both with our own forces and with proxies. We fought in Korea to contain China--not for Korean democracy (which has only recently emerged). We fought in Vietnam to contain China. We lost, and China does not own Vietnam. Though arguably China owns us. Meanwhile, Vietnam is a trading partner and tourist destination.
We fight in Iraq, not for democracy but against Iranian hegemonic desires. We removed the number one adversary of Iran, Saddam, and thus empowered the Iranians. We are fighting now in Afghanistan for results in Pakistan.
I have no issues with our ambitions. We were not wrong to worry about the USSR, Red China, Iran or Pakistan. But we do have to question our, well, no other word for it--with ironies understood--"execution" of lofty ideals.
We are not winning or even breaking even. "Oh, they say, "the surge in Iraq worked?" No it didn't. Buying the frightened Sunnis who had been thrown out by Bremer and Garner and paying them to form the Sons of Iraq worked. It worked until we turned over the money to the Iraqi government, mostly Shiite, and they stopped paying, while we stopped protecting them. This is why we have a resurgent insurgency and increasing violence during our drawdown.
We are not winning in Afghanistan either, and left and right agree that our current policy of promising both to leave and to protect our local allies forever is logically and morally incoherent.
So, where is the outrage at these blunders and all the wasted blood and treasure? Why aren't our streets filled with protestors and our universities seething with fierce unrest? Why do the talking heads on cable only talk about the politics and effect of our policies on our elections and never about right, wrong or truth?
Perhaps the greatest irony in these series of ironic tragedies is that if we had a draft, these wars would be over. If middleclass and upper middleclass kids were at risk, if the populations of our universities had war to look forward to at graduation, we would be done with this. Their parents would not put up with the waste and the universities would be up in arms for us to put down our arms. Ironies indeed.
©2010 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
We are now over 60 days past having our constitutionally mandated budget in California. Every day without a budget means tens of millions of dollars in lost income, unfunded grants, smaller revenues from sales taxes, increased costs in borrowing and general pain to the system and, more importantly, to the people.
Either our government or I don't understand the meaning of being in violation of our state constitution. Our representatives, who have sworn to protect and defend the constitution, are not only in violation of their mandate but express a willful disregard for the law--not to mention the people.
With each day growing more critical, with California out of money, with education and social services shutting down, with state workers being furloughed, what do our elected leaders do? Ah, not buckle down and get it done. Not work through the night dedicated to fulfilling their oaths. Not take our pain seriously. On the contrary. What they are doing is going on vacation! Yes, the legislature is adjourning and Der Gubernator is going to Asia.
I wouldn't mind this gross violation of the needs of the people and their own oaths of office if only they promised to stay away. Frankly, they should either be locked in an un-air-conditioned room in Sacramento till they settle this, or they should be locked out when they finally return. What they should not be able to do is to abandon us at will and expect to come home like some wastrel spouse. Enough!
©2010 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
Iranian nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to Israel. Given the trash talking by the leadership in Iran that is constantly calling for destruction of Israel and threatening to erase it from the map, the question of pre-empting Iran has to be considered.
Strangely, no group wants Israel to attack more than the Sunni Arab nations. They'd be happy for Israel to be their surrogates in the great Persian v. Arab struggle. While Iran raises a serious question, no serious person could doubt that if Al Qaeda had nukes they would use them.
This distinction between Al Qaeda and Iran is important. Al Qaeda is stateless and can act without fear of losing much. Iran, however, is a state with history, culture, great cities, universities, museums and an educated--and often anti-government--middle class.
In the last thirty years, Iranian policy has been brutal, even evil. They've enabled various bad actors to kill Americans, Israelis and Sunni Arabs throughout the Middle East. They've sent arms to their co-religionist Shiites in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They've armed Sunni radicals in Gaza and on the West Bank. They've shipped rockets to Israel's enemies. There's no reason to believe that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
But there's also no reason to believe them suicidal or mad. They know that a nuclear attack on Israel would mean their destruction.
Iran, under Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, talks like Al Qaeda but acts with more caution--knowing they've much to lose. There's nothing in their history to indicate self-destructive fanaticism. Iran's government will likely fall of its own weight if Israel and the US don't push them together with a unifying attack.
©2010 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
I haven't seen a televised beauty pageant in a while, not because I've turned politically correct, perish the thought. It's because my television broke and I haven't gotten around to buying another one.
I also never considered entering one, so I haven't had the opportunity to play the "Star Spangled Banner" on the harpsichord or enter the swimsuit competition, though that is one place where I'd draw the line. No one has the right to see me in one of those things and pass judgment especially after all the time I spent dieting and exercising. Even if I passed that round, I'd probably get thrown off after answering a question in a politically incorrect way.
Still, it would be un-American to call all those pageants off, even though they should be tweaked a bit here and there.
Maybe I'm clinging to some childhood image like a shipwreck survivor clinging to a buoy, but there is something so American and comforting about them. It's like hot apple pie a la mode or waving the American flag on the Fourth of July. For me, it's those times Martha Jacobson's father hitched the wooden wagon in their barn to his station wagon and pulled the neighborhood kids down the street on the Fourth of July. It's having my father walk barefoot onto the driveway to get the morning paper in the days when the papers used to run off the presses. It's Americana, for crying out loud.
The past years though, some pageants have been riddled with scandal. Who would have known in the fifties when it was first created that the queens would one day pole dance or pose in compromising photos? Those things were relegated to strippers and women dancing in bars, not ingénues who wanted to save the world and Biafra through charitable deeds?
Still, they need to set some rules before going on. So any contestant who has engaged in one of the following actions after being old enough to sign a contract should be disqualified: any activity related to being a stripper: pole dancing, photos fit for Playboy, who belches, snorts drinks out of her nose or has tattoos, even an artful one. That ought to narrow it down considerably.
Keep the swimsuit and the talent competitions. Even if a contestant wants to tap dance to "America Beautiful," let her and keep the question and answer session because it is entertaining. So if someone thinks that birth control is a controlled substance, chalk that up to probably not having majored in any of the sciences. And if someone wants to answer in the politically incorrect way that she is against gay marriage or supports Arizona's immigration law, then don't give her the boot and kill off all that hard work, those health club memberships and exercise regimens at the same time.
After all, this it is only a beauty pageant we're talking about here and not the selection committee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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