FIRE THE GENERAL; CANCEL THE PARADE

In April, 1951, my mother took this six year old to a gigantic parade in Chicago to honor the recently fired General Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command over our Korean War forces by a very unpopular President Truman. How could a President be so foolish to fire such a wildly popular and successful general, I thought, just beginning my life long interest in international affairs and diplomacy. Some years later I discovered McArthur deserved to be fired for actively trying to subvert the President's Constitutional powers to set foreign policy and conduct war. MacArthur's generalship brought America thousands of needless casualties when he totally underestimated China's willingness to intervene on behalf of their neighbor North Korea as MacArthur pressed his attack to the Chinese border. Not satisfied with that defeat, MacArthur publicly pressed for confrontation with China.

Now, fifty-eight years later, another General, Stanley McChrystal, who heads up our military forces in Afghanistan, is treading MacArthur's path to a possible showdown with President Obama over his quite vocal and public lobbying for an immediate infusion of 45,000 more soldiers to avoid what he claims will be imminent mission failure. Obama was reportedly so upset over McChrystal's politicing for a wider war without his permission, he brought the General aboard Air Force One for some serious "face time" while parked in Copenhagen during the President's Olympic meeting visit.

After eight years of utterly senseless, wasteful and murderous war, in which American casualties are at a all time high and Afghan civilian casualties are too numerous and scattered to count, the last thing we need is a General trying to set policy on behalf of his real masters in the Military Industrial Complex.

I wasn't quite seven when President Truman left office, but I still miss him. I saw his famous paperweight inscribed "THE BUCK STOPS HERE" at his Key West, FL retreat, and wish some of that mantra would rub off on the current Commander In Chief. If the President fires McChrystal for insubordination over Afghan policy, a majority of Americans will applaud. And one more thing; there won't be any parades for the fired General this time.

Also published in Daily Herald, October 18, 2009

THAT'S CHUTZPAH - RESPONSE TO CHICAGO TRIBUNE EDITORIAL "A LINE IN THE SAND"

Chutzpah is defined as unmitigated gall and impudence, and it describes just about any editorial the Trib Editorial Board publishes about the Middle East. The September 26 editorial “A line in the sand” is just the latest example starting after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In the run up to our unnecessary, senseless and therefore criminal war in Iraq, The Board swallowed whole every piece of propaganda, disinformation and downright lie the Bush Administration told them to gain their assistance in launching a war and occupation which has needlessly cost 5,742 GI and contractor deaths, a hundred thousand injured and a trillion dollars of treasure that could have been used to rebuild a crumbling American economy.

And eight years later the Board continues to the same pattern of parroting the fear tactics related to Iran’s nuclear program, peaceful or otherwise. This latest editorial reads like it was written by the Military Industrial Complex and the Israel Lobby as a call for tough sanctions if not outright military attack on Iran to counter the new approach of “negotiate first and shoot last” being offered as a reverse of previous Administration policies.

If the Board is so concerned about reducing the threat of war in the Middle East, why do they continue to ignore the fact that Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has been certified to be in compliance by the International Atomic Energy Agency? If so concerned about nuclear proliferation in the most volatile region of the world, why does the Board ignore the fact that Israel is not only AWOL from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, it has assembled possibly over 100 nuclear weapons without a peep from America? Why didn’t the Board call out President Obama when he refused to answer reporter Helen Thomas’ question to name the nuclear powers in the Middle East at a February press conference. Why does the Board shamelessly spread the mis-interpretation of the Iran’s statement about “wiping Israel off the face of the map” when an honest interpretation is that the policies of the Israeli government toward the Palestinians cannot stand and will wither away.

If the Board would apply candor and honesty to a sensible discussion of promoting peace in the Middle East, they could no longer be accused of Chutzpah…except by those whose interests and goals lie with getting America embroiled in a third senseless war in that war-torn region.