Author: L. Reichard White

So, you’re with the program? O.K. Here are the immediate details to get “Our Children’s Children’s War” off to a rousing start – – – –

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Hoo Rah!

“It is not civilizations that promote clashes. They occur when old-fashioned leaders look for old-fashioned ways to solve problems by rousing their people to armed confrontation.” –Kenichi Ohmae, The End Of The Nation State, (New York: The Free Press 1995), p. 11.

Why of course the people don’t want war. … That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. —Hermann Goering, Adolph Hitler’s heir-apparent

There is more propaganda in a democracy than in a dictatorship. … The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control -‘indoctrination,’ we might say – exercised through the mass media. –Seminal linguist Noam Chomsky
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Iran is up next.

This is the program the War Party has planned for you, your children and your grandchildren.

Are you with the program?

Republicans: “If you Democrats are serious, vote to de-fund the ‘war’.”

Democrats: “You just want us to vote to de-fund the war. Well, we’ll
fix your butts – – – we’re not GOING to de-fund the war. In fact, we’re
not even going to propose a RESOLUTION to de-fund the war. Take that!”

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So, how often do the folks at the top — for whatever reason — get it wrong?

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So, when WILL they ever learn?

Based on a series of secret 1999 government war simulations called The Desert Crossing games, 70 experts suggested that an occupation of Iraq would require at least 400,000 troops and even that might not be enough. And “Desert Crossing” assumptions didn’t include insurgency or civil war.

For calibration purposes, at the height of the Vietnam “War” (Congress didn’t declare war, so “War” has to go in quotes because, according to the U.S. Constitution, it isn’t a war unless congress declares it — ditto the Korean “War” — “Desert Storm” (Iraq “War” I) and the so-called present Iraq “War”), the U.S. had nearly 550,000 troops “in country.”

So, Bush needs at least 400,000.

Right now, the U.S. has approximately 130,000 troops in Iraq.

Let’s do the math: 130,000 plus 22,000 = 152,000. 400,000 minus 152,000 = 248,000.

So, according to the most optimistic figures, Bush will be “only” 248,000 troops short. That means he’ll have way fewer than half as many as needed. And that’s the rosy scenario.

There simply aren’t enough troops available any time soon — even with a draft.

Thank goodness.

And 22,000 more troops are, to be kind, irrelevant.

Why is he doing it then?

We know someone in his Administration can add and subtract at least as well as we can. Heck Dubya himself is a graduate of both Yale and Harvard. Maybe they gave him a “pass” because he was a cheerleader?

Naaaww.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to explain Bush’s reasoning. Should you be caught or captured, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge – – –

P.S. How about this – – –
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According to yesterday’s The Sunday Times, Israel plans a nuclear strike on Iran. The article suggests that “the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.”

Will “America” be cajoled?

It seems “we” already have been — quite awhile ago:

Former UNSCOM Chief Weapons Inspector SCOTT RITTER: Look, we’re already overflying Iran with unmanned aerial vehicles, pilotless drones. On the ground, the CIA is recruiting Mojahedin-e-Khalq, recruiting Kurds, recruiting Azeris, who are operating inside Iran on behalf of the United States of America. And there is reason to believe that we’ve actually put uniformed members of the United States Armed Forces and American citizens operating as CIA paramilitaries inside Iranian territory to gather intelligence.

Now, when you violate the borders and the airspace of a sovereign nation with paramilitary and military forces, that’s an act of war. …So, when Americans say, “Ah, there’s not going to be a war in Iran,” there’s already a war in Iran. We’re at war with Iran. We’re just not in the declared conventional stage of the war. —Democracy Now! interview, Oct. 16, 2006

SCOTT RITTER: The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it’s only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask [Senator] Dick Lugar what information he’s getting from big business, who are saying, “We can’t afford to go to war with Iran.”

SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it?

SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we’re going to do it. —“Ethical Culture Society,” Oct. 2006

So, will “WE” use nukes?