RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, made some comments that riled his fellow neo-conservatives regarding the war in Afghanistan. It riled them so much that many of them are playing the part of the Red Queen in Tim Burton’s, “Alice in Wonderland”. They are yelling, “Off with his head!”
William Kristol and Redstate.com’s, Erick Erickson are among those calling for Steele’s resignation. Here is what Steele said that drew their ire:
“Keep in mind again, for our federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing,” Steele said. “This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”
“It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan,” Steele said, referring to Obama’s insistence during the presidential campaign that the U.S. should be focused on Afghanistan instead of Iraq.
“Well, if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”
First of all, these remarks seem quite benign to me, especially since Steele clearly does not want to bring the troops home. He just disagrees with the method by which the war is being fought. However, it also seems to me that he’s going a bit Ron Paul here. He did pick up a copy of Paul’s “End the Fed” at CPAC earlier this year. Perhaps that is what his fellow neo-conservatives hear in his words. We all know how much they despise the truth, er… I mean, Ron Paul.
by Neeraj Chaudhary, Investment Consultant, Euro Pacific Capital
With the mainstream media focusing on the country’s leveling unemployment rate, improving retail sales, and nascent housing recovery, one might think that the US government has successfully navigated the economy through recession and growth has returned. But I will argue that a look under the proverbial hood reveals a very different picture. I believe the data shows that the US economy is badly damaged, and a modern-day depression has begun. In fact, just as World War I was originally called The Great War (and was retroactively renamed after World War II), Peter Schiff has said that one day the world will refer to the 1929-41 era as Great Depression I, and the current period as Great Depression II.
For starters, look at unemployment. During Great Depression I, unemployment broke 25%. If government statistics are taken at face value, the current unemployment rate is 9.9%, but a closer look reveals that the broadest measure of unemployment is currently at 20% – and rising. So, today’s numbers are in the same ballpark as the ’30s even though the federal government is using unprecedented measures to keep the economy afloat. Remember, in Great Depression I, FDR never ran a deficit nearly as large as President Obama’s. Moreover, the Federal Reserve of the 1930s still had a gold standard with which to contend, while today’s Fed has increased the monetary base with impunity. Yet even with all that intervention, unemployment figures still indicate that we have entered depression territory.
What is demoralizing to an unemployed person is not simply being let go, it is being unable to find a new job for an extended period of time. And this is where Great Depression II really rears its ugly head. According to the US federal government’s own data, the median duration of unemployment is now over five months – and rising. This is the highest it’s been since the BLS started compiling this statistic in 1965. As workers start to go this long without jobs, they eat into their savings. Eventually – and especially in a country with a savings rate as low as ours and debt as high as ours – they run out of cushion and hit the street. Formerly middle-class people have to make decisions never thought possible: do I eat in a shelter or go hungry in my home?
The state of South Carolina has been an independent republic and nation twice in history, first in March of 1776 and again in December of 1860. History here certainly shows how it is far easier to get into a political union than to get out again. In South Carolina, we have found that once in a voluntary union, the open door slams shut as political and monetary elites who benefit from this arrangement seldom give up their power to tax, inflate the currency, protect special interest monopoly rights and engage in mercantilism without fighting to retain their distant dictatorial controls.
The photos below aren’t of terror bombing of London, Berlin or Dresden but rather Columbia, SC (small photo) and Charleston (large photo). There were no land battles fought in either city but rather Columbia was burned at the end of the war by union forces and the civilian areas of Charleston were targeted by a union naval bombardment which lasted longer than the World War Two German siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Russia.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
You may recall my post discussing the recently released Wikileaks video that shows the American military might in all of it’s brash non-glory [Watch it]. Well, it appears there were at least two true heroes-in-waiting there that day.
Two former soldiers from the Army unit responsible for the Wikileaks “Collateral Murder” incident have written an open-letter of “Reconciliation and Responsibility” to those injured in the July 2007 attack, in which U.S. forces wounded two children and killed over a dozen people, including the father of those children and two Reuters employees.
Ethan Mccord and Josh Stieber deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16 in 2007. Ethan was on the ground at the scene of the shooting, and is seen on the video rushing one of the injured children to a U.S. Vehicle; “When I saw those kids, all I could picture was my kids back home”. Ethan applied for mental health support following this incident and was denied by his commanding officer.
Josh Stieber was not at the scene of the shooting but says similar incidents happened throughout his 14-month tour; “The acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war.” Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground. [Read the rest here]
Why is this not front page news in every media outlet in America?
This letter reminds me of a video I put together during Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign of 2008 called “Troops Are Human”. I utilized a song by CC Carter called “Letter from Iraq”. You can watch it below.
I think this snippet of Ron Paul’s SRLC speech yesterday truly sums up the proper foreign policy, no matter what Party holds your allegiance.
He reminds us yet again that the supposed “supreme law of the land” known as the Constitution still exists and that swearing to “defend” it is not just ceremony.
The recently released (via Wikileaks) disturbing video (included below) showing U.S. forces firing from an Apache helicopter killing several humans reveals more than the blatant horror found in warfare. It reveals something about America.
A camera was mistaken for an RPG and two Reuters reporters were mistakenly killed along with several others. I can understand how that could happen from a soldier trained to be hypersensitive to any kind of threat. It seems to me the “Law of the instrument” is in play here:
“It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” – Abraham Maslow
Applying it to this atrocity it could be rephrased:
“It is tempting, if the only tool a soldier has is the desire to kill, to treat, every camera as if it were an RPG.“
Late in the video after discovering that two children were severely injured in the operation, one of the soldier’s ho-humly states, “It’s their fault for bringing kids to a battle.” Other than the loose interpretation of the word “battle”, I suppose the irony in the statement is lost on many.
Hysteria led to an overreaction that resulted in a disaster, just like after 9-11.
Something similar happened during World War I. Our politicians loudly claimed neutrality, but they were not neutral. Instead . . .
They submitted to a blockade erected by the imperial powers of Britain, France, and Russia. This blockade placed Germany at a severe disadvantage. Their only counter was submarine warfare. But these submarine attacks eventually led to public hysteria in America, causing the U.S. to enter the war.
A strong case can be made that this decision resulted in the greatest calamity in human history.
What we now call World War I had been a stalemate for years. The countries involved were tired, and their troops were starting to mutiny. An armistice, without victory for either side, appeared to be close at hand, but U.S. entry into the war prevented this outcome. Instead . . .
The Cato Institute reported on a recent panel (titled ‘Escalate or Withdraw? Conservatives and the War in Afghanistan‘) in which the revelation was made that the vast majority of Republican Congressmen now think that invading Iraq was a big mistake:
News item after news item underscores the futility of the War on Drugs. Yet Congress and the President want to continue the same failed policies, no matter how many innocent people are caught in the crossfire.
Dennis Kucinich had his day on the House floor today. The debate on his doomed bill to demand that Obama remove our troops from Afghanistan was full of the usual suspects making their usual arguments. I can’t help but wonder, if George Bush were still president, would there have been more than 60 votes of support from Democrats?
Ron Paul took his five minutes to continue his lifelong demonstration called, “How to follow the Constitution”.
Liberty Maven
by Neeraj Chaudhary, Investment Consultant, Euro Pacific Capital
Loading ...
