Smashing the Rosetta Stone by Ira Schwartz
A Few Days ago there was a “breaking News” story about a super secret report “accidently” leaked to a website called “wikileaks” that was immediately posted on their web page. In this report is detailed information on how the war in Afghanistan has NOT been going well for the last six years. How George W. Bush and Barack Obama have been candy coating press releases on our progress or lack thereof, in that backwards, Stone Age country almost since the “War” began.
So most of you out there really believed the action in Afghanistan was actually going well. You believed the propaganda all of us have been spoon feed by the last two administrations. Did we not learn anything from Korea or Vietnam?
SURPRISE……Our forces are NOT winning the minds and hearts of the indigenous people….SURPRISE….Pakistan is probably working WITH the Taliban not against them…. SURPRISE….we are sending special forces out to assassinate key Taliban officers….SURPRISE……our aircraft are being shot at by the Taliban with SAM’s we gave them to fight the Russians…..SURPRISE…the Russians are laughing their asses off at us right now and are just dying to say “I told you so.”
SURPRISE……you actually thought that “leak” was accidental?
Well now let’s think about this for a second. This war is quickly turning into a very, unfavorable campaign. The Obama administration is stuck trying to figure out how to end a war started by the previous administration and they have absolutely no clue how to do it. We are supposed to start withdrawing troops on July 2011 but most agree that timetable cannot and will not be met. Any troops that actually get withdrawn will probably be part of the 30,000 sent there during the “surge”.
Most of us know what will happen once the U.S. and our allies finally leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The same thing that happened in South Vietnam. A large portion of the Coalition trained local troops will immediately desert to the other side. Those that don’t will be overwhelmed and destroyed by the Taliban. Afghani President Hamid Karzai and his immediate cabinet will be whisked off to the United States where Karzai will become the owner and operator of a Holiday Inn and the rest will become Taxi cab drivers or run local 7-11’s with us footing the bill. Does anyone remember the movie “Air America”? If you don’t I suggest you rent it. It will open your eyes once you stop laughing.
So the present administration is left with this dilemma, “How do we withdraw our troops and save “face” at the same time?” Well we “could” accidentally allow certain documents showing how badly the war is really going to be mysteriously leaked to the public. We scream “foul” but now have a foundation on which to build. We get the American public on our side by telling them we only hid the real truth from them to protect them. After all it worked for the last few administrations didn’t it?
Then we begin withdrawing troops and by the next election in 2012 all our troops will be home and we will be heroes. People will forget about “Healthcare”, people will forget about birth certificates, we will be remembered as the administration that finally brought our troops home.
You think that form of thinking is farfetched? Guess again my friends. Governments have been engaged in “slight of hand” since mankind began living in groups. That is what they do and they have gotten good at it.
The story regarding the “leaks” was also published in the New York Times. When notified by the Times all the administration would say was, “The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security."
The document covers the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009. It spans two administrations and contains some 92,000 reports. The Times article breaks down the document into easily readable sections with each section containing a link to the complete report. A link to the article is provided below.
Winston Churchill said…
"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
To combat this we need to be informed enough to make sure we can tell the truth from that bodyguard of lies. That is our job and if we had done our job properly those “leaked” documents should not have come as a surprise to anyone. These documents should not serve as damning evidence of deception since deception has always been implied. They do serve as an excellent roadmap of how this war metamorphosised over the last six years. The missteps, the disasters, the tragedies, and the occasional fleeting triumphs that are what war is all about.
Remember the Obama administration is not the first administration to engage in this kind of deception. It is simply the latest. History has shown us every administration from the Revolutionary War forward has keep certain facts involving military campaigns from its citizens. It is simply “Business as Usual” for them. We have to make sure it’s NOT “Business as Usual” for us anymore.
This report should be an eye opener for those of you that actually believed all the propaganda that has been tossed around for the last 8 years. Why do you think Israel never engaged in a long, drawn out war with its neighbors? Because they always knew what we are now finding out; when combating local militia, on their home grounds, with a standing army you will never win. They always have the home field advantage and the support of the people. The British found that out the hard way; the Germans and the Japanese did, the French and Russians did; now we are. The only question is how long will it take for this realization to sink in and how many more lives will it cost?
Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Ira Schwartz, Vietnam
posted by Frank T. DeMartini @ 3:06 PM
8 Comments:
Ira
I agree the disclosure leak was done on purpose by the sick twisted tards' in the White House and the Dems. in Congress wanting to harm the US image and manipulate the war. I do not agree with your conclusions. If our military and intel did not have to kiss the proverbial butt of every liberal, we could have done the job, and attempted to put a democracy of some form in there! Remember, Vietnam - The Russians, Chinese communist armed the North, the Liberal media made us leave, and about 2 million innocents were killed by the commie bastards! Sorry about the term! Charlie Wilson and his Dems kicked out Russia. Taliban moved in because we did not secure, and yes, Russia probably armed the Taliban too. They are in everything, and never stopped - Neither did the KGB - So we cannot lay down and die either. Al Qaida and Taliban are getting foot holds because we are having to fight like wimps instead of tough big sticks. There is just too much liberal misinformation everywhere!
Gammy Sparkles
America is desperate for another pivot point liken to that from 9/10 to 9/12, what a price we paid then to be reminded of something so sacred, freedom, that which our founding father gifted to us, when a divided nation united over night. It can happen. It did happen. And that is a “fact.” And many have already forgotten. Can cultures, religions and nations live in peace? Is a Muslim Mosque at ground zero as fitting and proper as a Christian Cathedral at Mecca and Medina? When is “yellow journalism” a good thing? When it reminds us that a healthy distrust of government, media, opinions, ideologies and religions is not only healthy, it is indispensable for survival.
“Where have all the good men (serious bloggers) gone? And where are all the Gods? Where’s the street wise Hercules To fight the rising odds?” The left has achieved remarkable success with Healthcare, Financial Reform and two Supreme Court nominations (not a word of real substance about these two ladies on this forum). And we argue over Shirley Sherrod because charges of yellow journalism, racism, race baiting, race switching and economic warfare (certainly true sometimes) has become our ticket to elitist entrée? Has anyone researched Mrs. Sherrod’s past or her husband’s? Is that silence I hear?
Our nemesis is Redistribution of wealth, globalism, big government/Marxism and Class/Race warfare. Our religion must be individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets and freedom to succeed or fail. But we will continue to be distracted by experts. And then there was Walt Disney and the world of make believe. Walt’s make believe was benign, harmless and pure entertainment. How things have changed. The latest…well read on. And one opines, the genesis of misdirection.
The genesis of misdirection must have started in heaven before the creation of hell. And now there is Oliver Stone as an apologist for how, Israel and the Jews are forces of intended or unintended inequity, where Hitler, Hugo Chavez, Castro and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are just misrepresented, misunderstood, taken out of context and then he proffers, an argument for acceptance, the following. “The 10-part documentary [which Stone is planning] will address Stalin and Hitler “in context” (there is that pesky word “context” again (sic)), he says. “Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein. German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support.” He also seeks to put his atrocities in proportion: ‘Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30m (the crematoriums didn’t kill enough).” Why such a focus on the Holocaust then? “The Jewish domination of the media,’ he says. ‘There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f**ked up United States foreign policy for years.’” Now one could write volumes about this by why bother. Who does not know and love Oliver Stone as one must get down to get the Hollywood slant. Is this yellow journalism (sic) with screen credits? But it deserves to be heard.
Ah, yes, Breitbart, shoot the messenger, is who he is and sadly or proudly we are who we are. And that immediately adds to or detracts from what was said. Too much goes into what and how something is said while the “why” is often carefully, cleverly, magically masked, clouded or hidden, doing the intended (subliminal?) work but not transparent, or it would have been rejected.
Ask the residents of Bell, California how they arrived at the doorstep of today’s dilemma. Ask why Jerry brown is only now interested in something anyone of his stature and life’s experience in the public sector knows about intimately, without surprise, and had not addressed it until it became “politically” expedient and safe. And then the “What ever happened to the California ACCORN scandal?” Is there anything egocentric here about elections, sometime soon, selling ones soul and the governorship of California?
Like most messages, the content/context is twisted and tortured, a clever eternal Machiavellian maneuver and somewhat of a monumental disservice to the pristine message, that is unless the message is not what it seems. That process my friend is the genesis of “truth” “facts (an absolute never quite absolutely)” and “insidious spin.” Sometimes intentional, sometimes unpremeditated, always present, due to undeniable life experiences, a formed and natural bias.
It is here in these comments, in this blog and in the reader’s interpretation of what they read. Our mission, as always, should we accept it, is to make up our own mind, for we will find it more reliable than anything anybody else will every tell us, if we persist, with reason. And even when everything is against “common sense”, even when you cannot rationalize that doubt, even when one cannot prove otherwise, hang on to an honest, nagging, uncomfortable reservation. Yes, there will be more people in heaven than just the Catholics who were baptized. It is far, far easier, and dangerously lazy, to accept a premise, splendidly presented, supremely articulated, logically well founded, staged and presented by messengers we admire, than to rationalize it through an agonizing process of independent thought.
Beware, propaganda is the art of malicious public relations, the scientific engineering of consent of ideas we would toss in a minute of clarity. We are ultimately responsible and accountable for what we think and believe. And our individual intellects are second to none. We are never to be fools without our sanction.
There is no better advice, repeated here, capture it with your soul, to trust your instincts and question the very existence of God for he (or she) would want it, demand it, that way.
At one point in history, we at least could rely on journalistic integrity to bring the truth to us. Now .... well, since the media outlets are all corporate-owned, and we know where corporate America's loyalties lie, it is no surprise at all that the truth is no where near the published accounts.
Murrow would turn over in his grave if he wasn't already spinning in it.
Bill S.
Bravo Ira, you're article is spot-on and exactly what my own suspicions were when this story broke. Very well written as we've all come to expect from you.
Thank you once again for an enlightening and thought provoking piece.
Nice posting Ira,
I just don't know how many more times I can be reminded that the Government doesn't have enough respect for us to tell us the truth. They are supposed to be our representatives yet they care zero about what we have to say.
I think this...if you go to war then go to war. If you are not willing to roll up your sleeves and go hard core to victory then you should not be there. I personally think that one of several problems is "FOCUS". We have too many political agendas to maintain to just dig in and finish the job. If we go to war with North Korea you might see what America is really capable of.
An army with more pride than brains that actually wears a uniform and charges straight ahead is a made to order enemy for us. They say they have a one million man standing army. Well, I guess we know what the casualty count will be for them. These Vietnam type messes we get into are so expensive and as Ira stated in the long term counterproductive as things will go back to the same or worse after we leave. We use a $600,000.00 laser guided missile to kill Taliban that are playing cards in a populated area so as not to hurt any of the surrounding inhabitants. A great idea but so expensive!
I would love to see America get control of it’s wits and get back to being financially stable and build our army and weapons for when we really need to take care of business.
China doesn’t get messed with because they don’t spend all their time trying to be liked by everyone to the point they are actually hated. Sound familiar?
Great Blog Ira…..thanks
Bruce Carson
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier. - Kipling
Agreed, lets just get out, tell Karzi?? or what ever his name is, he has a certain amount of time and we are gone. He better have a standing army and be able to defend his self. We should have done this way before now and it should have been kept secrete, till is was a done deal. I have been praying for this now for 8 years. Washington MORONS!!!
We shouldn't and can't be the world police. This is our young men and women dying!!!! It shouldn't never be for a political agenda!!!
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