Osama Bin Laden and Pope John Paul II

This past weekend something really wonderful and something really sad happened.   First the happy thing, the late Pope John Paul II was beatified, meaning that he is well on his way to becoming a saint in the Catholic Church.  I have had the pleasure to talk to several people who actual met the pontiff, and much like folks who have met the Dalai Lama, they talk about the holiness of John Paul.  He, like the Dalai Lama, is someone people feel was a special being, someone who carried a compassion and holiness about him.  He was fluent in many languages, went behind the iron curtain and even after being shot in an assassination attempt, he met with and forgave the assassin, now that’s a saintly act if there ever was one.  I think it is wonderful that John Paul is being recognized for his life.

Also this weekend, Osama Bin Laden was killed, assassinated by my country an act that many if not all Americans will condone and one that I have mixed feelings about.  Was he an evil man?  Most certainly he was and deserved to be brought to justice and perhaps even executed for his crimes.  My mixed feelings come from the fact that my country assassinated someone in my name, killed for me and much like military action and capital punishment it leaves me a little queasy to think someone has killed in my name.  I know this is not the first time in my life that it was done and it is most times done under military action the price we pay to remain a free and democratic country and so, I have to be ok with that I like my country and my life.  It was Steve Earle, the musician, who at a concert first put that thought in my head, the state, killing on my behalf and I have to admit it has changed the way I think these type of things no matter how justified.

The sad thing that happened was the way my fellow Americans reacted to the news of the assassination.  Should we be glad justice was done?  Absolutely and as President Obama did in announcing the news, acknowledging the justice aspect in a respectful manor is how we should have reacted.  But I saw people celebrating at the gates of the Whitehouse, chanting USA, USA and basically having a giant party.  Hell I even heard fireworks in my neighborhood.  On September 11^th, Americans were furious that Arabs celebrated the death of Americans in the streets of their countries.  Are we any better than they are celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden in the streets of our nation?

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

The US government is reporting that American operatives in Pakistan have assassinated Osama Bin Laden and are in possession of the body, here are some links to the story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-dead-obama

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/source-al-qaida-head-bin-laden-dead-us-in-possession-of-body-obama-to-speak-sunday-night/2011/05/01/AF1D5hVF_story.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/01/2011-05-01_osama_bin_laden_dead_us_has_body_nearly_10_years_after_911_terrorist_attacks.html

Why the military-industrial complex commanded we abandon Libya

I am not prone to flights of conspiratorial fancy but sometimes the conspiracy theory nuts get close to the truth.  So in this post I want to lay out an idea about how significant our abandonment of democratically focused freedom fighters was always a foregone conclusion.

So what is the military-industrial complex?  In 1961 President Dwight D Eisenhower made a farewell speech to the nation.  In that speech he clearly related the coming marriage between the defense industry and our nation and how powerful that new relationship would become and the impact it would have.  The most significant passage from his talk is below:

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

The amount we spent on defense in America in 2010 was $663 billion, roughly one-sixth of the entire US budget (16%).  By comparison, we spent $46 billion to fund the Department of Education.

The top ten defense lobbyist spent $27 million in the last quarter of 2009 at a time when the US had decided to ramp up the military efforts in Afghanistan.  With this type of money being spent the defense industry becomes a significant player in our government with significant influence on the policies and actions of congress and the president.

In a nutshell what this means is that the defense industry has a vested interest, which they pay heavily for, in how we conduct ourselves in the world.  Corporate leaders look for opportunities to support conflict which drives their profits, likewise they need fear to hold continued support from the public, and have an interest in maintaining a healthy economy that allows for significant defense spending.  So the military-industrial complex needs a growing economy, an American public in fear and conflict to drive military spending.

So how does this relate to Libya?  Libya is an oil rich country, granted, not a significant importer to America but an oil rich Arab nation none-the-less and let’s not forget that the defense industry is a global, not an American, phenomenon.   So as Egyptian students revolted in the streets we could be supportive, Egypt does not provide us with oil and as such is not a threat to our growing economy.  Saudi Arabia however is and literally across a causeway bridge is a burgeoning revolt in the country of Bahrain.  If the United States stepped in and helped out the Libyan rebels with military assets, it would be difficult to justify not helping similar rebels in Bahrain and then potentially, rebels in Saudi Arabia, our third largest energy provider after Canada and nearly equal to Mexico.  But North American sources are easily protected, the Saudi’s our good friends are not. 

So by not stepping in to help the Libyan rebels we do two things.  First, we stay on Gaddafi’s good side and also keep the oil fields pumping and oil profits from Libya flowing.  Secondly, we set up a situation where it would be hypocritical to go into Bahrain.  And so today, our good friends the Saudi’s moved in to help Bahrain quell their street protests with a military presence.  I’m sure this was done to send a clear message to people in Saudi Arabia that if they would use their military against protestors in Bahrain, they would certainly do the same at home.  Staying out of Libya guaranteed the Saudi’s could act with impunity.

We have one of the elements the military-industry complex needs, oil is flowing and that allows for economic growth in the world.  Now all we need is to keep the American public afraid and find a military option to make up for monies no longer being spent in Iraq.  Well my friends, both of those things can be taken care of in Yemen.  First there is a revolt going on in Yemen as well, and secondly they specter of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is alive and well.  Those two things give the United States all of the justification we need to perform airstrikes and missile attacks and eventually move forces into Yemen.  The purpose will be to quell the protests against the Yemeni president we support and of course to remove the bogey man of the 21^st century, the Al Qaeda terrorist threat.

The Next Big Terror Threat, Part 2

 We talked awhile back about what I think will be the next terrorist boogeyman as painted by the US Government and media, Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).   The process of building the next boogeyman is a subtle and patient process, it starts with introducing us to the monster.  Then consistently and quietly at first they work the monster and the country in which he resides into the news cycle.  Then after we all know who and where the monster is, we look for a trigger event that can be used to raise the blood pressure of the American people.  So we know who the monster is AQAP and its leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, and we know where they are, Yemen.  So friends it’s time you get to know Yemen, here is the link to the CIA Factbook entry for Yemen:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ym.html

Also we are starting to see the government increasing attention on Yemen, in the news today we see that Secretary of State Clinton made a surprise visit to Yemen:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0111/Why-Hillary-Clinton-made-a-surprise-stop-in-Yemen

Something to keep your eye on, within the next two years Yemen will be our next Afghanistan or Iraq.

BS Moment of Silence Part 2: Arizona Legislature off the rails and the most hateful Christians in America

 I want to start this post by introducing you to the equivalent of radical Islam living right here in the United States.  The world appropriately looks down on Al Qaeda and radical clerics because they take a beautiful peaceful religion and turn it into a brutal, hateful mechanism of pain.  I have heard people who denigrate Muslims paint the entire religion of Islam with a broad brush due to the actions of this minority.  I wonder if those same folks paint Christianity the same way when they hear about the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.  These are the people who proclaim in the name of the lord to hate homosexuals and to show their hate, they picket the funerals of homosexuals or any funeral or event they can somehow link to homosexuality.   Here is a link to the Wikipedia site about the group:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

This group is nuts but also in my opinion wholly insincere, what this group is really about is getting attention for this group.  They regularly picket that bastion of homosexual lifestyle, Kansas City Chiefs home games, the NFL is a lot of things positive and negative but a big gay pride festival it is not.  This group claims to have an annual travel budget of $200,000 and that money must come from donations and I say shame on anyone contributing to this hate group.

So the Westboro Baptist Church has announced it will protest at the funeral of the nine-year old girl who was shot in Tucson earlier this week that targeted Congresswoman Giffords.  In watching CNN today the network appropriately reached out to the church to get a statement from them, it is fair to hear both sides of the story.  In full character the church responded with a hateful rant including accusations about everyone including the little girl.  I think the Westboro Baptist Church is a collection of the most hateful Christians in America and if there is a Christian God, I’m quite sure he has a one-way ticket to Hell punched for these cretins. 

As someone with a Libertarian bent, and a strong believer in the freedom the constitution guarantees, I will wait and see what the Supreme Court says this spring about whether or not this type of speech can be banned.  It worries me on some level to ban any speech that does not cause direct physical injury, the cliché screaming fire in a crowded theater.  The infliction of emotional harm is a much stickier issue and the one that the Supreme Court is facing and it will be interesting to see what they say.  Regardless, you are scum if you picket the funeral of a nine-year old girl for any reason!

Happily, the people of Arizona are fighting back against the nut jobs like people have done on many other occasions.  People have conducted anti-protests against the Westboro church ever since the Matthew Shepard funeral in Wyoming in 1998.  The way they do this is to wear giant angel wings and use these to block the view of the protestors by the mourners.  The image below comes from the Portland Independent Media Center at:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/10/326599.shtml

Counter-protest Angels

Finally today I have a huge problem with what the nuts of the Arizona legislature are doing now.  They are rushing to pass a bill today to keep the protestors at some set distance away from any funeral.  They are waiving rules and are setting records in getting this law done and signed in one day.  Let’s be clear, their intent is to be commended, as I’ve said picketing a little girl’s funeral is despicable.  However, this church has been picketing military funerals for years and so once again today I ask the question why is congress so special?  Does the Arizona legislature only care about the mourning of families if they get killed standing nearby a congresswoman but not if they were killed in the line of duty in the military?  Or is it that they only care about their citizens when the media is watching?  I think the government of Arizona has shown in the last two years that it is completely off the rails.

The next big terror threat

So after 10 years we have effectively dispersed the original core of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, after drawing them to Iraq with a little war there.  But the problem with fighting terrorism, unlike fighting a country, is that there is no set army or location to destroy.  With cells that can develop, align themselves and then act independently of the center, it can be a never-ending project.  So unfortunately what this has set up is a permanent state of “war” for the United States a perpetual reason for the government to deploy our forces and spend money on the industrial war complex instead of those luxuries like healthcare, social security, education or the environment in America.

The next “BIG” threat is beginning to be painted in the media.  As the Iraq and Afghanistan wars start to wind down, the military industrial complex will need to create a new boogeyman for the US to focus and spend money on destroying.  So the next group that we will be told hates our freedom is Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  These are not nice people for sure, they are aligned with Osama Bin Laden and have made similar calls for the overthrow of the Saudi Government and to destroy the west;

http://www.globaljihad.net/view_news.asp?id=1604

The leader of this organization is a man named Anwar Al-Awlaki, born in the United States of Yemeni descent who possesses both US and Yemeni citizenship.  You can read more about Anwar Al-Awlaki at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki

Although I won’t post the links here, Al-Awlaki has a Facebook page, he has YouTube videos and has used the internet in a way no other terrorist has before, a Bin Laden for a new generation of jihadists you might say.  Is Al-Awlaki and his organization a true threat?  Well they were reported to be behind:

A recruiting office shooting in Little Rock in June, 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Little_Rock_recruiting_office_shooting

the failed 2009 Christmas airline bomber:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab

and the failed October 2010, cargo plane bomb plot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_cargo_plane_bomb_plot

When you look at this activity and how frequently AQAP is being mentioned on the news, I think we know who the next boogeyman is, or put another way, the next thing that is supposed to scare the hell out of us to give the government more control over our lives and distract us from the fact that Osama Bin Laden still runs free after 10 years.

The Pakistan Flood, The US Economy and Terrorism

As part of my morning hating ritual and news addiction I often get out of bed in the morning and lay on the couch and watch CNN, more often than not nodding off and half hearing things.  I was struck while half asleep the other morning by a story on CNN recounting that the aid levels for the Pakistan flood were drastically low.  That US contributions to this disaster were significantly lower than those for Haiti.  This got me thinking, even in the early morning hours.  Below is a link to the raw numbers of donations for the disaster:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/aug/09/pakistan-flood-aid

For any of you not aware of the disaster below is a link to general story about the floods that have decimated Pakistan:

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/18/2965692/pakistan-flood-aid-falls-woefully.html

This made me wonder why this was going, as you can see from the aid link the United States is not giving at the pace it normally does.  I think initially this has to do with two things, first, consumer confidence in the economy is down;

http://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerdata.cfm

Secondly, I think Americans might just be disastered out at this point.  We have our own economic woes, we’ve recently dealt with a massive earthquake in Haiti as well as the BP oil spill.  I’m just not sure at this point Americans have the emotional and/or financial reserves to help out one more time, we need a break.  That may sound crass but may also just be the truth.  The issue that comes out of this however, is that Pakistan has/is playing a pivotal role in our foreign policy in the Afghan region particularly as we attempt to deal with both the Taliban and Al Qaeda.  A report on the impact of the flood on American foreign policy is contained below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/asia/19diplo.html

This is another little nudge on how important a role the natural environment and mother nature play in our human interactions, it’s not just about pollution and saving species, nature can very seriously impact our political and social lives.  A decimated Pakistan, particularly in the areas of little government control become the perfect breeding ground for groups like Al Qaeda to gain local support and cooperation.  Looks like mother nature just pushed back the US’s war on terror a step or two.