Trump, Taxes, and military adventures

Mr. Trump has proudly acknowledged that he fights to pay as little tax as possible so that the federal government cannot waste his money.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/us/politics/democrats-see-opening-in-tax-overhaul-fight-trumps-own-deductions.html

So now he is busy wasting our money with military attacks that didn't do much lasting damage, with increased military spending in a military budget that dwarfs quite a few of the next largest military budgets combined.

Does "Make America Great Again" mean being able to engage in whatever military fiasco Trump wants?  Ah, but he doesn't read history: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria.

And he forgets the American Revolution: a ragtag bunch of locals beat a seasoned army of a superpower of the day.  Ah, they did get some help from an enemy of the superpower, but that superpower was acting under the direction of the American generals.  The American generals were not acting under the direction of the superpower.

War: When Will We Ever Learn

This entry was inspired by the work of The White Helmets written by Raed Saleh.  It is a heart-breaking story of carnage caused by those who only seek their own power, not that of the people.  See
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/opinion/we-have-tried-every-kind-of-death-possible.html

Where have all the flowers gone?  Gone by scorched earth warfare.

Where have all the young girls gone?  Bombed under rubble like the girl pictured in the article.

Where have all the young men gone?  Shot or bombed by somebody who doesn't like the side to which these young men have gone, often enticed by glory rather than defense of their homes.  Often killed by someone in the sky enticed by those who don't like the people that enticed the young men to war.  Someone who probably goes to a safe barracks with a good warm dinner.

Where have all the graves gone?  Buried under more rubble, certainly not to flowers.

When will we ever learn?

Not very soon:(

Be careful of the "domino assumption" of conquest

The domino "theory" touted so much as justification for the invasion of Vietnam has a fatal flaw .

It assumes dominos stood on end.  However the game of dominos is played with the pieces laying flat.  And when a player places a double there are three possible moves for the other player at that place.

Think Sarajevo 1914.  An assassination of two people brought about so many deaths completely unrelated to that event.

Now we have State Dept. analysts calling for more U.S. involvement in Syria.  I assume that Russia and Iran will react negatively.  I am certain that there will be more lone wolf attacks in the U.S. against the "war on Islam”.

Casting the first stone

Apropos "Quran and sex slaves", http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/06/quran-and-sex-slaves.html

Given that Muslims call Christians and Jews people of the Book. shouldn’t Muslims also heed the the words of Jesus?  Especially when it comes to punishing others: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” - John: 8:7

This would apply equally to ISIS punishing others for their beliefs and punishing ISIS for its adultery.

Too bad ISIS and its ilk won’t “go and sin no more”.

Quran and sex slaves

Isn’t it adultery when ISIS, Boko Haram, and others take sex slaves?  I think they must have cut passages dealing with adultery out of their Qurans.  But that is the way of "true believers" of any kind: their way is the only way, even if their texts say otherwise.

“The adulteress and the adulterer-whip each one of them a hundred lashes, and let no pity towards them overcome you regarding God's Law, if you believe in God and the Last Day. And let a group of believers witness their punishment.”  Quran: 24:2 (The Light: an-Nur)

Excerpt From: Talal Itani. “Quran In English. Modern English Translation. Clear and Easy to Understand.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/lvcp2.l

Also see "ISIS Committed Genocide Against Yazidis in Syria and Iraq, Panel Says"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/world/middleeast/isis-genocide-yazidi-un.html

Let’s you and him fight

The Middle East is in turmoil because there are fanatics who think their way is the only way and those who disagree should die.  Many seem to think the United States should take responsibility for this mess and clean it up.  But as we have seen from Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military cannot solve local and cultural political problems.

We are sending billions of dollars to Egypt, sell billions of armament to Saudi Arabia, and ostracize Iran.  All three plus Turkey have a greater interest in regional stability.  Why not encourage them to take leadership in attempting to solve the regional problems.

Consider also, that U.S. involvement in Middle East just encourages the recruitment of the susceptible for direct attacks on the United States.

Muslim opposition to ISIS is growing because ISIS is the anti-thesis of Islam.  See “Top Saudi Cleric: ISIS is Enemy No. 1 of Islam, ‘Destroying Human Civilization’”.

Now if the Muslim states in the area would take more action than words in curbing ISIS.

Fools rush in where linguists fear to tread

From a very old undated note on my desk:

What is the percentage of those who speak Spanish advising more military aid to El Salvador and of those advising against military aid?

This still holds in so much of what goes on in the world in 2014.  Fools rush in where linguists fear to tread.

Let's you and him fight!

“There are people who would love to see America fight their war for them,” Kerry said. “But that is not their choice.”

– "U.S. coming under fire from Mideast allies, who see retrenchment", Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, 2014-01-24.

Finally, the U.S. is recognizing that it is not the world's policeman and it cannot stop every "bad guy" from harming the "good guys".  Generally when we fight the "bad guys", many of the "good guys" resent the U.S. coming in and disrupting their country.

I often wonder why the U.S. has to "train" a government's soldiers and police in counter-insurgency or whatever.  It seems the ragtag bad guys do quite well with AK-47s and IEDs than the government does with it more powerful weapons.  Could it be that the soldiers and police are in it only because it is a job, they can extort people, and they really don't have much faith in the government?

I often wonder why we don't say to corrupt or ineffective leaders "Shape up or we ship out!"

Appropriate punishment for Islamic and other terrorists

Many terrorists of any ilk act in the name of an ideology, whether it be religious or political.  They think they are doing their cause a favor by killing as many people as possible who don't believe in their cause or just happen to be in the way as they kill their targets.

Many think these terrorists should be executed if caught, with or without a trial, fair or otherwise.  But this is just what some of them want – to be martyrs to their cause.  An example is former Major Nidal Hassan who has been sentenced to death for shooting and killing thirteen people at Fort Hood.  This probably won't happen and really shouldn't happen.

He probably won't be executed because the military hasn't executed any active military personnel for some time and the appeal process can take decades.  He shouldn't be executed because this is just what he claimed to want – to be a martyr to his cause.

I don't think terrorists should be subjected to forced watching of similar crimes like that in Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange".  I do think they should be subjected to repeated recitations of the non-violent portions of their beliefs.  For example,

“O People of the Book! [Jews, Christians, Muslims] Come to what is common between us and you: That we worship none but God, that we associate no partners with Him, that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords other than Allah. If then they turn back, say: 'Bear witness that we are bowing to Allah’s will.'" From "The Qur'an and Tolerance of Christianity and Judaism", Islam Online.

The same kind of tolerance can be found in the Talmud and the Bible.

Narrow interpretations or even misinterpretations are found over and over again down through the centuries.  Catholics killed Protestants and Jews.  Protestants killed Catholics and Jews.  Jews killed the worshippers of Ba'al.  Christians killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades.  Muslims killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades.  Muslims seem to be killing more Muslims in these times than they are killing Christians.  All this despite the fact that the text they hold in common states unequivocally "Thou shalt not kill"!  It does not state "That shalt not kill any who believe as you do but thou mayest kill those who believe even slightly differently."

So, if terrorists are jailed and subjected to similar recitations, videos of their listening to these should be made widely available.  If the terrorists wish to make any statements recanting their previous beliefs, then these statements should be widely circulated.

I know this is wishful thinking and probably won't happen.  But those of us who believe that these three faiths (and others) have many tenets of generosity can avoid general statements of hate and counter those who do spew hate.

Syria: Let's you and him fight

Why is it that Arab states that don't like Syria and some of its actions want others to resolve the problem?  See "Arab League Endorses International Action", David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 2013-09-01?

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are far stronger militarily than Syria.  Could it be that they don't want to be seen as Arab against Arab?  Turkey is also stronger militarily than Syria.  Could it be that Turkey doesn't want to be seen as Muslim against Muslim?  Or would they rather have a Western power deal with Syria so that if things go wrong then they can blame the outsider?

The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military sales or aid to several military powers in the Middle East, including "the latest air-to-air missiles and precision-guided air-to-ground missiles" - "U.S. Militarization of the Middle East", Seema Luthra, Fellowship of Reconcilation.  If Saudi Arabia is so concerned about Syria, couldn't it take out whatever targets in Syria that it chooses?  After all, Saudi Arabia's military budget is about 20 times that of Syria.

The attitude of too many in the U.S., that we are a super-power that can police the world, has gotten out of hand.  Too many people believe that we can solve their problems and we are too willing to appear that we can.

George Washington warned us over two hundred years ago: "The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest." - Farewell Address

Syria: Fighting evil with evil?

My following letter to the editor of the Duluth News Tribune was published 2013-09-08.  I also sent it to President Obama, Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Franken.

Thanks to U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan and the News Tribune for their opposition to an attack on Syria (“Nolan is steadfast against Syria strike,” Sept. 4, and, “Our View: Nolan listening, leading on Syria”).

I read somewhere that evil is treating people as things. Someone in Syria treated 300 or 1,400 people as things with a poison gas attack. The first figure is from some in the opposition; the second is from the U.S. government.

Now the U.S. government is threatening to be evil by treating several hundred or even several thousand people as things. Will the victims of Tomahawk missiles be those who ordered or carried out the gas attack or will they be office workers and pedestrians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Syria: Popular opinion vs. political opinion

The comments on New York Times articles about Obama's proposal tend to be against any military action with some support for military action.  Apparently popular opinion throughout the country is against any military action.  Apparently the political leadership in Congress seems to be for military action.

Fortunately, some congresspeople are not following the political crowd.  See "Following Classified Briefings, Nolan Will 'Vote and Work Against' U.S. Attack on Syria", Rep. Rick Nolan, 2013-09-03
http://nolan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/following-classified-briefings-nolan-will-vote-and-work-against-us

I added my own little comment to "House Leaders Express Their Support for Syria Strike", Mark Landler, Michael R. Gordon, and Thom Shanker, New York Times, 2013-09-03:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
"[O]nly the dead have seen the end of war."
– George Santayana

No matter what your opinion, be sure to send email to the President, your Representative, and both of your Senators.  They might not read your email, but rest assured their staffs are putting them in pro and con "piles".

Oh, yeah!  Remember that little incident in Sarajevo?  How many millions died because of all the miscalculations?

Syria: world of laws or a world of men?

Letter to WhiteHouse.gov

John Adams put into the Massachusetts' Constitution of 1780 "a government of laws and not of men".

In 1945 the United States was a promoter and signatory of the United Nations Charter, which includes "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace".  That is, a world of laws and not of men.

Too many times during my lifetime, almost every U.S. President from Harry Truman to George W. Bush have taken unilateral action against another government who they claimed was a threat to the peace.  Now a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been beating the war drums to take unilateral military action against another member of the United Nations.

What happened to "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

End of letter

Be sure to send your own view on Syria to the President, your senators, and your representative.  If you are a citizen of another country, be sure to send your own view to the members of your government.

World War III or IV has begun!

Email to President Barack Obama via whitehouse.gov.

You are considering what to do about the atrocities committed in Syria, but if history is any guide, you will be fighting the wrong war.  You will be fighting an aerial bomb war but somebody has already started an electronic war.  Your bomb war will only make the electronic war worse.

The Syrian Electronic Army has already claimed to shut down the New York Times web site twice.  What have they done besides annoy a lot of people.  We don't know, but they may have stolen passwords and credit card information.  We don't know, but they may have planted little viruses that change a story or even plant their own stories.  We don't know, but they may spread a virus to the computers of readers of the New York Times.  I do know that after attempting to access the New York Times I had more and more difficulty accessing other sites.

How will your aerial bomb war make the electronic war worse?  Your bomb war will recruit more electronic warriors on behalf of Syria, and this will happen without any help from the Syrian government.  Many of these warriors may not even be in Syria.  Are you going to bomb Moscow because the Syrian Electronic Army's site is hosted in Russia?

And the more Syrian Electronic Army Units there are, the more damage they can do.  Bring down NASDAQ?  It recently had an outage.  Was it a coding error?  Or was it an attack?  What other weevils lurk in the hearts of these men?  Instead of stealth bombers, you need to find lots of Shadows!

See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2013/08/syria-letter-to-president-of-united.html.

Syria – A letter to the President of the United States

I posted the following on "Contact Us" at http://www.whitehouse.gov.

Before you were born, the Department of War became the Department of Defense.  Unfortunately, several times since the Department of Defense has become the Department of Offense with disastrous results for troops, our citizens, the economy, and other countries' views towards us.

If we are truly to have a Department of Defense, what is the threat that dictators like Assad pose towards the U.S.?  Is he going to invade us?  If we invade Syria you can rest assured that action will breed terrorists who will invade us.

If Assad is a threat to the region, don't Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have enough U.S. equipment to take on Assad?

If the U.S. sticks its nose into Syria, it will only give these countries cover to not take action themselves, leaving us as the fall guy when things go badly.

The Axis of Weasels

Syria, Iran, and North Korea have voted against the Arms Trade Treaty.  An axis of weasels that would rather have the right to threaten opponents, domestic and foreign, than have a reduction in the arms trade that enables petty tyrants and terrorists to destabilize countries.

Now, thanks to a few who wrongly fear that the Arms Trade Treaty would take away their right to have their guns, the United States may be prohibited by a vote of the Senate from signing the treaty, thus joining the Axis of Weasels.

Oh, well, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned against the military-industrial complex would be a RINO to those opposing the Arms Trade Treaty.

See "Tell the Truth about the Arms Trade Treaty", Rachel Stohl, New York Times, 2013-04-11

A couple of Middle East surprises

When I wrote "Muslims do speak out" I mentioned some newspapers including The Daily Star of Lebanon.  I scanned the headlines and read a story or two.

One story was that the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Syrian rebels have about 50 Stinger missiles.  Stinger missiles were used quite effectively by Afghani fighters against Soviet helicopters.  I wondered when some would be available to the rebels in Syria against the aerial attacks by the government.  I didn't see any mention of the missiles actually being used.  But Lavrov voiced concerns about the missiles being used against civilian aircraft.  Given the shifting mix of fighters, this should concern all countries.

The other surprise was an ad near the bottom of a page - an ad for Mitt Romney for President sponsored by www.MittRomney.com/Minnesota!  We're being tracked!!

Physician - heal thyself!

Bashar Assad, president of Syria, was trained as an ophthalmologist, but he seems to be blind to what many people in Syria want. Ironically, he was trained in a country, England, where he enjoyed the freedom of expression that he denies his own people. See the Wikipedia entry on him.

Peace in the middle east?

Daniel Terdiman thinks that cheaper desalinization might be the most pressing problem to solve (What innovations are most important to world's future?, CNET News, 2008-11-14). He also suggests that water access may be a more important issue between Israel and Syria.

If Israel could desalinate water and sell it cheaply to Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, it may make itself indispensible to the supposed enemies.

See also his Space Station residents to drink recycled urine", CNET News, 2008-11-14.