Lots of tirades in my little mind today. It’s just that today was a good day today and I hate to wreck the mood by jumping headfirst into some of the mindless events that are going on in the world today. Plus, truth be told, I need to finish my taxes. So tonight, if you are looking for ideas of substance….move along my children nothing here……
However if you choose to stay, there are a few tidbits to chew on.
Played golf with the S.O. for the first time this year. Yes that is correct. Between my travel, she or me being sick, and the wretched weather we have had in Japan this winter, I’ve only played about 4 times between 1 January and now. Same for her. However the weather was nice today, albeit a little windy:
Wish we had remembered this!
As for our scores, don’t ask.
Today though, was a good day for savoring the little things. For example I woke up at 6:30 am. Don’t ask me why, just felt like getting up. Made coffee, worked on my resume, surfed porn blogs, paid bills online. The peace and quiet of both the S.O. and the cat still sleeping was wonderful. I understand now why my grandfather got as early as he did. It was a chance for him to be master of his own domain. After all when the S.O. does wake up, she will immediately set up on the laundry and its all down hill from there.
One of the blogs I went to this morning was Vodkapundit. Written by Stephen Green and is quite conservative and is often quite wrong. One post in particular sent me looking for the trusty Louisville Slugger:
Come here Mr Green, you need one of these to the forehead!
Quite unintentionally, the way we “ended” the Gulf War demonstrated to the world that the status quo in the Middle East, no matter how illiberal, was just dandy with us. Insane dictator? Not our problem. Oil-soaked sheiks lost their homes? We’ll co-sign the mortgage with blood. All
this in a region full of lopsided applecarts, all waiting for a good push.To be fair, seeking UN approval probably wasn’t such a bad thing. But out choice of allies was akin to George Washington getting a lapdance from Mao Tse-Tung. I mean, really Ã?– was it wise to demonstrate solidarity with Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia? Was “we’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with your oppressors!” the right message to send to the people of the Middle East? Liberals and conservatives alike marveled at GHW Bush’s Rolodex, and his ability to call in favors from despots near and far. Fifteen years later, we’re still paying for his long distance bill.
Having left Saddam in power, we were also forced to leave troops behind in Saudi Arabia. For that reason, Osama bin Laden declared war on us for Despoiling the Holy Places, or Loitering on the Sacred Loam, or something. That one sure came back to bite us on the ass. In all
fairness though, Osama is a clever fellow and undoubtedly would have eventually found some reason to smite us. That new Gillette Fusion, for example, is allowing millions of dhimmi to keep their faces infidel-smooth, and in record time. Nevertheless, our decisions back then handed Osama a loaded gun. In retrospect, it’s no surprise he fired it at us.It’s said that our military’s history-making victory cured us of Vietnam Syndrome Ã?– the idea that any American use-of-force was doomed to failure abroad and division at home. First off, that’s just plain wrong. After President Bush presented his ultimatum to the Taliban in October, 2001, Senator Harry Reid asked what “our exit strategy” would be. I dunno, Harry Ã?– retreat from Manhattan? Vietnam Syndrome isn’t gone; it’s infecting probably 20% of our population and at least a third of Congress. In addition, Gulf War I seems to have left us with a new disease, which I’ve creatively named “Gulf War Syndrome.”
Excuse me while I sneeze Steve—“Horseshit!”
GWB’s dad understood several things very clearly. First that as President, he was responsible to look out for American interests first and foremost, not somehow remake the whole Middle East in to some sort of utopia. Second, he understood a primo American axiom of war, “rock em, sock em, but don’t loose your shirt.” Know your objectives, accomplish them, leave. We liberated Kuwait, and George Bush looked at what a morass we would enter in Iraq and said to hell with that. In hindsight its clear he made the right decision. Any thing else is just right wing neo-con fantasy. We’ve seen how well his son put that to work in the last 3 years, have we not?
Let me repeat this again. An American president is charged to look out for Americans-first and foremost- not the hopes and dreams of Arabs. Of course you want to influence those, but Bush the Elder understood you had to do it by example from afar, not by forced midwifery.
Furthermore, George the Elder probably believed that the people of Iraq would revolt soon, just as surely as his son believed Saddam had WMD’s. Both had the same idea…..do what made sense at the time.
Dear Mr Green, please check here to review the Powell Doctrine…….it seems to missing from your education. Your neo-con heros could use a review too.
Had to get this out. I’ve been stewing over it since I read your post Mr. Green. Now I can get back to the normal mayhem. Come back here in a few days, sir, I’ll set you straight on Gulf War II.
More later, got to jump into Turbo Tax thank you very much.
Ja ne!
