Saturday, July 24, 2004

NATIONAL SECURITY

THE 9-11 COMMISSION REPORT

By Jack Random

“I don’t believe anybody could have predicted that they would try to use a hijacked airplane as a missile.” Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor. [1]

“The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against US facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.” CIA Intelligence Briefing to the White House, July 2001. [2]

“I believe the President should be able to hold the July and August briefings in confidence so as to enable him to do the best job for the American people.” Lindsey Graham, US Senator R-SC. [3]

“I think it’s disgraceful that no one will take responsibility for these events. With all that evidence for years about planes being used as weapons, why didn’t they think of this? It’s really shameful.” Stephen Push, Families of September 11. [4]
______________

Are we winning the vaunted War on Terror or, in the twisted terminology of our Secretary of Defense, are we slogging through the muck? Is the leadership of George W. Bush making the world safer for Americans at home and abroad or is the world a more dangerous place for all its inhabitants?

The answers to these critical questions are all too clear to any objective observer. We are not winning the War on Terror when 130,000 of our soldiers are trapped in the crossfire of Iraq. We are not winning the War on Terror when military conscription is the only means of moving our military agenda forward while the enemy has more volunteers than operations to engage them. We are not winning the War on Terror when the president’s reelection strategy is keyed to maintaining a high level of fear in the electorate. What else could explain the fact that his administration has done so little to protect our ports, railways, subways, nuclear facilities, chemical plants and, indeed, our commercial airlines from attack by handheld missiles? What explanation do they offer for these lapses? We have expended our resources on a misbegotten war, a misguided occupation, and record-breaking tax cuts for the ultra elite.

Americans cannot travel anywhere in the world without worrying that we will be shunned, derided, or even targeted by foreign terrorists.

Are we safer now, Mr. President?

We are constantly warned that terrorist cells are operating within our borders yet the president has done everything in his power to rescind the ban on automatic weapons. He has successfully fought back all efforts to close the gaping loophole on gun show purchases, the loophole that allowed two disturbed kids from Columbine High to amass a stockpile of deadly weapons. While he presses on relentlessly in his attack on civil liberties – freedom of speech, the right to assemble in protest, the right to privacy, freedom of the press, habeas corpus, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to confront one’s accusers in a court of law – he goes the extra mile to uphold the right to bear arms. It seems the only article in the Bill of Rights this president values is that singular phrase in the second amendment. Terrorists must be comforted that within this country they are free to purchase truckloads of weapons, cash on demand, without the inconvenience of having to register the transactions.

Are we safer now, Mr. President?

The 9-11 Commission Report, limited as it may be, is sufficient to raise questions that were once unspeakable – if not unthinkable. They are spoken now at dinner tables in Des Moines, at barber shops in Brooklyn, at storefront cafes in Portland and Duluth, and at barbecues in Austin, Texas.

Though it is only a whisper beneath the roar of political posturing, the most stunning and obvious finding of this investigation, no matter how it is spun or tortured by partisan analysis, is that this tragedy could readily have been avoided. Condoleeza Rice notwithstanding, the warnings were powerful and plentiful while the response was muted and dumb. Negligence in this historical context is the mildest of terms.

It is for others to revisit the facts and events preceding 9-11. It is a fertile ground for conspiracy theories and those who dismiss them outright do so to the nation’s detriment. It is sufficient to conclude that our leaders failed spectacularly to protect their people. Members of both major parties obsessed on bitter partisanship, including a ludicrous impeachment process, when they ought to have done their jobs. The Clinton administration lobbed missiles at milk factories when they ought to have reformed the intelligence community. The Bush administration, in its obsession with daddy’s war and daddy’s arch nemesis, clearly lost focus, dismissing direct warnings, dismantling counterterrorist agencies, and ultimately allowing the family of the prime suspect to leave the country without minimal questioning.

When members of both administrations protest that they did all they could to prevent a tragedy that virtually everyone in the intelligence community knew was coming, they are not to be believed. They failed to heed the warnings. They failed to take corrective measures when obvious lapses in security and intelligence occurred. Astoundingly, they failed to sound the alarm when known terrorists entered this country to take flight lessons. Incredibly, given the level of forewarning, they failed to secure the cockpit doors.

We are not likely to learn the full extent of these failures in our lifetimes. What concerns me now is that we are repeating the same pattern. Our leaders are once again embroiled in partisan spin and political gridlock. While measures have been taken to prevent the last attack, we have neglected to secure our most vulnerable targets. Despite all the sound and fury, the administration’s focus is less on terrorism than on the political opposition.

What concerns me now is that the administration’s next failure may alter the outcome of the next election. They have announced their fear that the enemy may wish to repeat what happened in Spain last March. In that horrific event, the innocent citizens of Madrid were made to suffer for the complicity of their government in the war on Iraq. Many believe the attack resulted in the defeat of the ruling party. What happened in Spain, however, is unlikely to be repeated in America. When Al Qaeda struck Madrid, the Asnar government immediately pinned the blame on a Spanish separatist group. They lied to the people and that lie combined with the government’s support for an unpopular American war led to its defeat.

If Al Qaeda were to strike in America before the November election, the probable result would be markedly different. The administration would not blame the Skinheads of Topeka. They would return to the pulpit of the War on Terror and the people would rally to the call. If the terrorists strike now it will not be because they wish to defeat George Bush. It will be because their hatred for America has grown so deep they no longer care. They no longer distinguish between Republicans and Democrats, peacemakers and warmongers, or Americans and their government.

I pray that we will not have to suffer the unthinkable again. I fear for the world that would follow. I worry that this president’s last, best hope for reelection is his repeated failure.

Have we done everything we can to prevent another terrorist attack? No, we have not.

Is there anyone out there who feels safer now?


Jazz.

1. Condoleeza Rice. White House Press Briefing 5/16/02.
2. CIA Briefing to the White House. Newsweek 5/1/03.
3. Stephen Push. Reported online ParaPolitics Forum.
4. Lindsey Graham. Congressional Hearings on 9-11 (ParaPolitics Forum).

The War Chronicles is available at City Lights SF & Amazon.com.

Monday, July 12, 2004

CRUSADE FOR DEMOCRACY

“We think the Americans are not looking out for the interests of the Iraqis. The elections they most care about are the ones in America.” -- Abu Hasan al-Ameri.

Of all the lies and deceptions the administration has asked the electorate to accept, perhaps the most insidious is the Crusade for Democracy in the Middle East.

In the Middle Ages, one might have expected the Crusaders for Christianity to faithfully represent the morality of Christ. History records that they were in fact antithetical to Christian values. They not only failed to establish a Christian Kingdom in the Middle East, they left an indelible mark of shame that forever stained western relations to the Arab-Islamic world.

Now, as the most non-secular president in history lays claim to champion the cause of democracy, we are compelled to demand evidence that he is faithful to the cause.

Where was the president’s support for democracy in Haiti when his agents orchestrated a coup to depose a lawfully elected leader? Where was his love for democracy when his clandestine representatives failed to depose Hugo Chavez of Venezuela? Where is the president’s allegiance to democracy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the will of the people is ignored in favor of heavy-handed and unqualified support for Ariel Sharon’s oppressive and faltering regime? What evidence of true democracy has emerged in Afghanistan, where a handpicked president is wholly dependent on international security forces and cannot stray from his palace in safety? Where is the president’s support for democracy in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, where governance is by the iron hand of despotism, aristocracy and hereditary succession? Indeed, where was the president’s love of democracy in the election of 2000? In Iran, they vetted the candidates for a general election. In Florida, they vetted the electorate.

The Grand Old Party is the party of the most egregious gerrymandering to deny equal representation in the history of the republic, yet its leader expects us to believe that he is chosen to defend and promulgate the principles of democracy. He must pardon his subjects if we remain skeptical.

We do not believe that the president is democracy’s champion. We do not believe that his crusade is in behalf of the American people. We believe that his constituents are the new aristocracy: the economic elite. We believe that he has led this nation to war, spilling the blood of Americans and Iraqis alike, in order to fatten the pockets of those who already possess more than they could ever need.

“Again and again and again: The more you say it is not about oil, the more certain we are that it is.” (Jazzman Chronicles, Volume II: The War Chronicles.)

In early June, the president gave a promise to the world that, if delivered, would mark the end of the American occupation and the beginning of democracy in Iraq: the transference of “full sovereignty.”

Though it has scarcely been two weeks since the secretive transference ceremony, it is time enough for an initial assessment. Has the president made good on his word? Has he delivered the sovereignty of Iraq to the Iraqi people?

In a previous Chronicle (The Sovereignty of Iraq 6/6/04), this writer proposed four fundamental conditions of sovereignty: 1) No undo American influence on the selection of Iraqi governing officials, 2) Iraqi control of Iraqi oil, 3) Iraqi authority over government contracts, and 4) Iraqi control of military forces.

Even before the impromptu ceremony, it became clear the president was less than a man of his word. The new government would not be granted control of the military. They would be allowed to request withdrawal of occupying forces but those forces would be under no obligation to do so. Further, the Iraqi government would not have authority to alter existing contracts. Sovereignty denied the new government would be retained by Halliburton, contracted mercenaries and American generals. As for the oil, while the new oil minister makes a great show of proclaiming control, when the contracts are signed, sealed and delivered, how is Iraqi control anything but nominal?

The failure of the administration to deliver on these essential conditions of sovereignty is sufficient to dismiss the American effort as disingenuous and deceptive. When one considers the nature of the new government, however, that dismissal rises to a level of condemnation for blatant hypocrisy.

The first thing to understand about the new Iraqi Interim Government is that its power is concentrated in the office of the Prime Minister. Even when a National Assembly is selected, its role will be advisory. The president and vice presidents have a right of approval in some cases but their roles are essentially symbolic.

So, who is the new Prime Minister of Iraq and how was he selected?

Curiously, thought the United Nations was initially granted control of the selection process, Dr. Iyad Allawi (who is not a real doctor), was not the choice of UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. He was certainly not the choice of the Iraqi people (polls indicate less than 5% support). A powerful Iraqi exile, Prime Minister Allawi’s primary qualifications for head of state appear to be his extensive connections with British and American intelligence (MI-6 and CIA). He figured prominently in a failed 1996 CIA-backed coup and likely contributed to the misleading intelligence used to justify the invasion.

There are more questions than answers regarding the background of this man (replete with rumors of assassinations, sabotage and terrorism). What is certain is that he is very well connected, well financed and protected by powerful organizations. He has invested a small fortune in lobbying and public relations within the United States of America.

Our president speaks fervently about freedom of choice. We must now demand of the president: Given freedom of choice, would the Iraqi people choose a man who is at best an asset of the Central Intelligence Agency to lead their country to democracy?

The president has failed utterly to deliver his promise. Now that Prime Minister Allawi has proclaimed the right to impose martial law and the intent to bring back the same security forces that terrorized dissidents under Saddam, it is clear that he is less interested in building electoral support and more interested in imposing order with an iron fist. Allawi’s colleagues in the new government have strange notions concerning the democratic process:

Oil Minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum: “We must keep out of the conference (to select a national assembly) … anyone who does not believe in the new democracy, who has anti-progress ideas. That will not be allowed.” -- SF Chronicle 7/7/04.

It seems the oil minister has learned from the Republican operatives in Florida.

Vice President, Ibrahim Jafari: “Martial law is the only way to protect the democratic process.”

It seems our president could learn from Jafari.

There will be no sovereignty in Iraq as long as oil is in the equation. Where there is no sovereignty, there can be no democracy. The war within Iraq will go on, the occupation will continue, and democracy will remain a desert mirage.

Jazz.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

NADER, KERRY & THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

“For those of us who believe…that the two party system is corrupt beyond redemption, the prospect of supporting a Democrat is agonizing … and yet, John Kerry versus George W. Bush is something akin to Hubert Humphrey versus Genghis Khan. Such is the nature of war.”

Jazzman Chronicles, Volume II: The War Chronicles.

Barring an “October surprise,” (or perhaps despite it) members of the antiwar movement hold the key to the outcome of the next election. The Bush-Cheney machine is breaking down. Ironically, they appear to be as inept at repair and maintenance as they are at foreign policy. Ironically, they are running out of gas well short of the finish line.

It is not the time for an open assault on the policies of Democratic candidate John Kerry but it is time to reconsider the role of independent candidate Ralph Nader. It is hardly a dark secret that we are discontent with the war policies of Senator Kerry. The idea that we “cannot fail in Iraq” is as tired as the latest appearance of the band of brothers. The admonition against a “cut and run” approach is more appropriate to a football game than a foreign policy. Senator Kerry should mind Einstein’s admonition that folly is repeating the same pattern of behavior while expecting a different result. We have lost in Iraq and no declarations of resolve or pipedreams of internationalization will alter that solemn fact. What remains to determine is the cost.

Either John Kerry does not believe that an antiwar candidate can win the presidency or he has painted himself into a corner. Given the record contributions he has collected and his steady climb in presidential polls, he has every reason to stay the course. Given the rising sentiment against the war, however, the Senator would do well to consider the distinct possibility that he cannot win without the antiwar movement.

Already the more impassioned of our numbers have begun zeroing in on the Senator’s policies and who can blame them? He has seemingly done everything in his power to alienate us. He has issued a call for more troops in Iraq. He has groveled at the feet of John McCain. He has refused to disavow military conscription. He has taken a stand against Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He has backed away from criticizing the Bush coup in Haiti. If we were to rely on his campaign to inform us on the issues of the day, we would never know there is a war going on for the Senator scarcely mentions it.

Enter Ralph Nader to deliver a well-earned rebuke: There is a limit to our patience and pragmatism. If the good Senator has no ear for our message, if in fact he demands that we vote for a policy of escalation, he will leave us in a quandary like the soldiers in Baghdad.

We have listened to the lamentations of Democrats too long. It becomes a drone like elevator music before Pink Floyd. Ralph Nader did not lose the 2000 election, the disenfranchisement of black Americans did. Why not drone about that? Ralph Nader did not run the most inept presidential campaign since Walter Mondale. Why not drone about that? Would Albert Gore be president today if Ralph Nader had not run? We will never know. My informed opinion is that the fix in Florida was in. Republican operatives were primed and ready to pull as many votes out of the hat as needed. The fact that the Democrats chose to dispute the results based on hanging chads rather than high treason is a scandal equal in proportion to the Republican disgrace. But why drone on about the past?

Ralph Nader is right. We all know it. When he speaks, he speaks our views. When he strikes out against the war machine, he does not pull his punches. He is against the war and the occupation. He favors a scheduled withdrawal of our troops. Most importantly, he is right on target when he claims that he is the only practical means of influencing the Democratic party and its candidate.

Realistically, for most Americans, a vote for Ralph Nader is not evidence of political lunacy. For most Americans a vote for Nader will have no more influence on the election than a vote for Bush or a vote for Kerry. If you live in California, New York or Texas, you can vote freely or not vote at all and it will have no impact on the outcome of the election. In fact, if you live anywhere outside the estimated fourteen or fifteen “battleground” states, your vote is as meaningful as a vote in Moscow. As the Republicans in Florida were so fond of reminding us: We do not live in a democracy. We live under a representative system so corrupted that political parties game it as Enron and El Paso Gas gamed the electrical power system.

For most of us, the only hope of influencing the direction of our nation resides in a vote for independent, third party or mainstream antiwar candidates (that rarest of breeds) in every race from city council to Senator. In congressional elections, we may actually find some success. The major parties have gerrymandered districts to such an extreme, concentrating progressive voters in Republican states and conservative voters in Democratic states, that they are vulnerable to the challenges of true progressives and true libertarians, respectively.

So where does all this leave us in the presidential election?

We must continue to support John Kerry as an alternative to the Bush war machine but, as we do so, we should also support Ralph Nader as he pushes Kerry to assume an antiwar stance, to open his thinking to the possibility of withdrawal, to oppose the draft, the Bush doctrine and the Wolfowitz approach to the war on terror.

Until John Kerry gives us something to vote for we must regard him with the same indifference that Albert Gore inspired in 2000. We are not naïve or stupid and we will not be taken for granted. We are counting on the Kerry campaign to hear our voices. We are imploring the Democrats to embrace the cause of peace. If they fail us, we will still make John Kerry president but we will also make him a one-term president.

Jazz.

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Wednesday, May 05, 2004

A DOOMED IDEOLOGY

A RESPONSE TO JACK RANDOM’S
IRAQ & VIET NAM: THEY WON’T KILL THEIR OWN

By Dragon Lady

Dear Sir,

You have acquitted yourself with such passionate eloquence in validating an uncomfortable reality - one my father once stated with equal passion and conviction. Being a war-hardened soldier, his words were taken seriously by all of us kids. He had fought 'the good fight' to liberate Europe - and always denounced colonialism and imperialism. None of our family 'volunteered' for Vietnam, or endorsed any of America's idealistic brush-wars.

The one unfortunate circumstance this time though, is that the world's oil reserves will be depleted in short shrift. Already the greedy are fighting over the scraps of a doomed philosophy and a doomed ideology. This is one war that won't go on for hundreds of years - the treasure, once looted, will leave the desert blood-soaked and empty. The Iraqis - those that survive this atrocity - will be abandoned. There will be bigger problems occupying those that pillage and loot - the ability to roam the world at will ends when the oil runs out. Then it's back to basics - wind, water, and sunlight will create new realities on the ground - and new challenges for society.

I do hope the Iraqis are successful in ridding their country of conquering invaders bent on looting and exploitation - hoarding their national treasure might force these modern day pirates to change their ways. If the Iraqis succeed in defeating the military super-power that claims dominion over the entire planet, it might lead to hope - and freedom - for billions of others. Iraq just might be the new Armageddon - the evil forces of violence against the resistance of ordinary people. That would be a lesson in democracy to make despots tremble - a true David-and-Goliath struggle of epic proportions.

It's ironic that the fate of the world might just hang on the actions of a handful of unemployed, uneducated, disillusioned, misguided Iraqis - the fundamentalist dogma of some insurgents hardly merits admiration - but their dogged resistance is pure inspiration. It's unfortunate that the resources of the 'civilized world' are aligned against their noble endeavor - imagine what might be if we co-operated and encouraged freedom instead of so violently opposing it! How dare they dream of sharing in prosperity? How dare they envision freedom? How dare they insist on being masters of their own destiny? Can't they see that Americans know better? Impudent ingrates!

Being intimately familiar with colonialism, it pained me to see Vietnam so brutally devastated - the mendacious ruses of the current US administration make me wonder if there isn't a fatal flaw in American mythology. In spite of a long and damning history of brutality and exploitation, they had no trouble rousing the people again, to indiscriminate mob violence against an innocent non-enemy. Creating imaginary enemies to be subjugated by the brute force of unimaginable atrocities seems to be deeply imbedded in the American psyche. A persecution complex born of guilt, much akin to that of the Zionists.

I have little trouble with the assessment of much of the world that the US is the greatest threat to peace and prosperity - the record is undeniable. There is a fatal flaw that seems to thwart the best of intentions - Americans just don't 'learn' anything - from anyone. They really believe they are the epitome of civilization - that they have achieved the limits of 'perfection' in human evolution. The arrogance is stunning. My father had a piece of advice about that too - he always said 'You'd better learn from the mistakes of others - you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.' Every soldier in this new conquering army is proof that one ignores history at their own peril. I might grieve for their stupidity - but not for any of them. Every time I see the 'Stars and Stripes' I am reminded of other arrogant follies - the swastika, the rising sun - symbols of hubris and impending doom. I can't help wonder how so many people can embrace cognitive dissonance as some kind of achievement - is it racism? Is ignorance a normal human state? Is morality relative? Then why do some of us see so clearly what others are so busy denying? Are we the vanguard of a new philosophy? Or the remnants of one in dissolution? Or just a constant minority that laments the needless waste of so much talent? Sometimes I can't help but feel that I'm watching an ant farm.

You've raised a lot of questions in my mind - and I thank you for that. Maybe that's the highest compliment anyone can pay to a writer. Maybe challenging those around us is all that we can hope for - and more than we can appreciate. One thing for sure - when the oil runs out, life will be very interesting - maybe all that energy can then be devoted to real social progress. Maybe oil just stagnated evolution. But the despots have always found an excuse - we just have to keep fighting.

Sunday, April 25, 2004

IRAQ & VIETNAM: THEY WON'T KILL THEIR OWN

By Jack Random

“So they stood on the sidelines as the parade marched on and 50,000 of our soldiers died in a war they did not understand. And they watched and cheered as millions of Vietnamese died at our hands, while the silent enemy went to Sunday barbecues and John Wayne movies and trotted out the flags for the Fourth of July. They watched and applauded, year after year, as presidents spoke of victory and light at the end of the tunnel, as the body count grew and soldiers came home in boxes. They watched until their silence turned to sickening horror and they began to whisper among themselves: What have we done?”
Jazzman Chronicles, Vol. II: The War Chronicles


Confronted with the Tet Offensive in 1968, American warlords publicly professed confidence in our campaign to liberate Viet Nam. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Secretly, they lamented the ineffectiveness of South Vietnamese forces: Vietnamese would not kill Vietnamese. We know now that the presidency of Lyndon Johnson would not survive long enough to see that light revealed as Vietnamese liberation.

Confronted with the rising tide of Iraqi resistance in the wake of Fallujah, our president assures us it is only the remnants of Saddam loyalists and isolated foreign terrorists. Secretly, our generals know better. They have expanded the targets to include noncooperative journalists (Al Jazeera) and civilians who refuse to collaborate with the occupying force. Like Operation Phoenix in Viet Nam (a CIA operation that killed 20,000 South Vietnamese), we are targeting the very people we are supposed to be liberating. Openly, our warlords lament the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi security force. It seems we must learn again another lesson of Viet Nam: Iraqis will not kill Iraqis – at least not for a foreign invader.

What has become clearer than any light at the end of the tunnel is that there can be no American victory in Iraq. The people of Iraq have delivered a strong and unambiguous message: Victory is an end to the occupation. They do not believe we are liberators. They believe we are there to secure their oil and to establish a permanent military base in the Middle East. As long as our president flatly refuses to disavow such claims, those beliefs will persist and harden into a conviction that will feed the resistance. We cannot kill enough Iraqis to suppress the will of the nation and the more we kill, the stronger the resistance will become.

The president is right for the wrong reason: Failure is not an option because it has already been secured. America will never be allowed to establish permanent bases in Iraq. America will never be allowed to control Iraqi oil. And whatever form of government evolves in Iraq, it will be one of their own choosing.

The Vietnamese fought against foreign invaders for centuries before securing independence. Are the Iraqis so very different? How many lives are we prepared to sacrifice to find out? How many lives must be sacrificed before America can admit: We are wrong? How many more must we ask to give their lives for this mistake?

You cannot convert wrong to right by prolonging the occupation. You can only increase the cost in lives, money, and the respect of all nations. You can only fuel the fires of our true enemies and further alienate our true friends.

Let us undo the harm insofar as it can be undone. Let us use our resources not for weapons but to rebuild the nations we have destroyed. Let us make amends as best we can. Let us admit wrong and withdraw our troops. Let us pledge our support to the United Nations. At this critical juncture, we can do little else.

Jazz.