When Brave Soldiers were led by Timid Generals
Mirza A. Beg
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Counter Currents, Tuesday, March 18, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg180308.htm
Cross Cultural Understanding march 17, 2008
http://www.ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/March/17%20o/When%20Brave%20Soldiers%20Were%20Led%20by%20Timid%20Generals%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
The American Muslim March 14, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/when_brave_soldiers_were_led_by _timid_generals/0015929
Pine Magazine March 24, 2008
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=1234
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on March 11th that Admiral William J. Fallon's request for early retirement had been granted regretfully. The 63-year-old admiral was appointed with great fanfare as the head of the U S Central Command only about a year ago, after serving as head of US Pacific Command. He became the commander of the US forces in the Middle East, responsible for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (as General Petraeus’ boss). And if Bush had his way in engineering a war with Iran, Admiral Fallon would have been saddled with this third war as well, while still being mired in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A fall out of the Republicans losing control of the Congress in the November 2006 elections was the resignation of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Bush was forced to appoint people like Secretary Gates, Admiral Fallon and General Petraeus, because the traditional yes-men could not be confirmed by a Democratic Congress.
Admiral Fallon’s frank testimony before the Congress and occasional pronouncements emphasizing diplomacy over war in dealing with Iran, were regular irritants to Bush and his cohorts. His backing of further troop withdrawals from Iraq to boost the forces in Afghanistan reversing the long trend of neglect of Afghanistan brought to focus the open secret that Afghanistan was spiraling out of control.
An article in Esquire magazine describing Admiral Fallon standing between the Bush administration and the war with Iran was the final straw. It became too obvious that unlike many of his predecessors, Admiral Fallon would not be a toady to the brazen, ill-conceived Bush follies. The public spat of Secretary Gates with the Europeans about more forces for Afghanistan, while the US is mired in Iraq and Bush is craving for a war with Iran, did not help either.
So the Admiral had to be fired, and he was.
Young soldiers in their teens and early twenties follow orders and serve on nebulous front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan as a patriotic duty. They bravely put their lives on the line in the mistaken belief that they are being led by a sane and caring policy executed by their officers who care for them as surrogate parents.
Generals seldom die in wars. How many generals have died or been maimed in Iraq? What bravery, courage and sacrifice are expected from the generals?
The bravery expected from the generals is that they speak “truth to power”. The courage expected is to be ready to resign, if they consider the policies of the administration to be injurious to the country they love and the constitution they have sworn to defend. The sacrifice expected is to give up lucrative careers for the sake of the soldiers under their command; the soldiers whose sacrifice and bravery they swear by; the soldiers who put their lives on the line for the generals.
General Shinseki was fired in 2003 before the Iraq war. His sin was, an honest testimony before the congress contradicting the contrived rosy and gross underestimates of troops required for the Iraq war by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. It drove the point home to many generals that expression of honest opinion was inimical to their careers. The Staff officers bold enough to express their opinions with courage and tenacity were shunted to obscure positions or were cashiered. The message was loud and clear, generals who fell in line were rewarded with promotions. Rumsfeld and Bush chose only those generals who lived by the “lofty ideals” of spineless subservience.
Dozens of retired generals have been very critical of the Bush policies and the contrived war in Iraq from the beginning. Some of the well known names are General Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO and General Anthony Zinni, the former commander of the Central Command, one of the predecessors of Admiral Fallon. Lately even some of the generals, who danced to the Bush-Rumsfeld tune, have discovered spine after retirement and have become critics of the policies and the conduct of the Iraq war.
It is customary to say that we oppose the war, but support the brave troops. It is an inherently thoughtless and contradictory position. Politicians afraid of the backlash from a misinformed public take this position to hedge their bets. Most soldiers indeed are brave, but to support them is to bring them home away from this misbegotten war. It is craven lip service to keep the soldiers in harms way, to use a hackneyed phrase. To keep funding the war means that soldiers will keep dieing and killing, in an immoral war based on proven lies and deceit.
By resigning, Admiral Fallon has really served the country and has risen to the moral high ground of supporting the constitutional supremacy of the civilian authority of the elected officials over the military. He has come to the conclusion that the President’s policies are indefensible and are doing tremendous harm to the constitution and the country he loves. It is time for him to speak bravely and clearly to tell the nation and his peers in the services about his struggle to serve his country above and beyond the lure of promotions.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Friday, March 14, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Free speech & U. A. 08-3-3
Right of Free Speech At Univ. of Alabama
Mirza A. Beg
Written Monday, March 3, 2008
Tuscaloosa News, Wednesday, March 5, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080305/NEWS/803050315/1005
Counter Currents, march 7, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg070308.htm
Cross- Cultural Understanding, March 8, 2008
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/March/8%20o/Arresting%20Anti-War%20Protesters%20in%20the%20University%20of%20Alabama%20Trashing%20the%20First%20Amendment%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Unlike past wars in our nation's history, in the absence of the draft, the Iraq war is being waged primarily on the backs of less well-off and less educated soldiers. The military has reluctantly admitted that unable find enough volunteers, it has lowered its standards for recruitment.
Though the administration claims that it is an existential struggle for our survival, it has worked hard to insulate the American people from feeling the effects of war and the sacrifice of our soldiers. The news media has tried to inform about the nature and cost of war, but compared to previous wars, very few lives have been directly affected, particularly on the college campuses. The educational life and the partying go on. The death and destruction of a whole people and a country resulting from our blunder, does not penetrate the concerns of daily lives on the campuses.
Fortunately some students rise above their mundane concerns and take the promise of America and their moral responsibility seriously. They have imbibed values educational institutions aspire to teach. One hopes that most educators would take pride in nurturing better and well-informed human beings rather than robots that follow authority and discredited leaders; even after the lies have been fully exposed.
A few such students on the University of Alabama campus tried to raise the consciousness that Iraqi lives also matter; because all lives matter. The blatant killings and mistreatment of Iraqis by some of our soldiers and contractors under the immoral policies of the Bush administration are reprehensible. They are not only shameful for all decent human beings, but they sully the name and reputation of our country and us as a moral people.
In the five years since the invasion of Iraq, about 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives. About 30,000 have been severely injured. Paradoxically, the purported beneficiary of our largess, the Iraqis have lost more than a million lives, many more millions injured and more than four million, about one sixth of the population have been rendered refugees.
The students had invited to the University of Alabama, Jason Hurd, from the Asheville, NC chapter of “Iraq Veterans against the War” (IVAW), to speak about his experiences during his tour of duty in Iraq, at 6:15 PM on Friday the 29th of February.
To raise awareness about the plight of Iraqis, the two guests from North Carolina and a few students from the University of Alabama followed the well-respected tradition of impromptu “Street-theater” at the Student Center, as Jason Hurd has done on many other campuses. Four students dressed as Iraqis were lounging, when the two guests and two University students dressed in military fatigues feigned to arrest them in a rough manner. It appears the impromptu play had more than desired effect. Someone called the campus police. By the time the campus police arrived, Jason was in the process of explaining the point of the street theater the students had just witnessed.
The campus police took the two UA students and the two guests from North Carolina into custody for questioning. After about four hours of questioning without legal representation, they were taken to the county jail and booked on the charges of disturbance of the peace, a misdemeanor. After an ordeal of about nine hours the arrestees were released on bail at about 10 p.m.
The University Police Chief, Steve Tucker was kind enough to call me at my request and explained the situation. It was clear that in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings a few months ago and the shootings at the Northern Illinois University about a week ago, sensitivities are heightened and the campus police responded quite responsibly and with alacrity.
What is not clear is why the students were charged with misdemeanor, after it was obvious that the students’ intentions were completely peaceful. No harm was intended nor done, and no weapons were found. The irony is the students were protesting the evils of contrived war, misuse of authority and violence in our name.
Perhaps it would have been better had the students put up a placard indicating that a “street-play” was being performed. The worst they can be accused of is behaving in a sophomoric fashion. Well, they are young students. Some of them may even be sophomores.
Conscientious students tried to bring the issues of our involvement in destroying innocent Iraqi lives to our attention on Friday, February the 29th.The University Police should be commended for a quick response. The dean of students issued a statement, "The University of Alabama strongly supports the right to free speech and welcomes expressions of opinion; however, we cannot condone and will not tolerate behavior that mimics a true emergency on our campus."
The students could have been admonished for the inadvertent mimicking of actual emergency that stretched campus police resources. But throwing them in county jail and charging them with misdemeanor is completely contradictory to protecting the first amendment rights of free speech.
I hope better sense will prevail, the first amendment will really be upheld and the administration will drop the misdemeanor charges against the students.
Mirza A. Beg invite comments at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written Monday, March 3, 2008
Tuscaloosa News, Wednesday, March 5, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080305/NEWS/803050315/1005
Counter Currents, march 7, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg070308.htm
Cross- Cultural Understanding, March 8, 2008
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/March/8%20o/Arresting%20Anti-War%20Protesters%20in%20the%20University%20of%20Alabama%20Trashing%20the%20First%20Amendment%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Unlike past wars in our nation's history, in the absence of the draft, the Iraq war is being waged primarily on the backs of less well-off and less educated soldiers. The military has reluctantly admitted that unable find enough volunteers, it has lowered its standards for recruitment.
Though the administration claims that it is an existential struggle for our survival, it has worked hard to insulate the American people from feeling the effects of war and the sacrifice of our soldiers. The news media has tried to inform about the nature and cost of war, but compared to previous wars, very few lives have been directly affected, particularly on the college campuses. The educational life and the partying go on. The death and destruction of a whole people and a country resulting from our blunder, does not penetrate the concerns of daily lives on the campuses.
Fortunately some students rise above their mundane concerns and take the promise of America and their moral responsibility seriously. They have imbibed values educational institutions aspire to teach. One hopes that most educators would take pride in nurturing better and well-informed human beings rather than robots that follow authority and discredited leaders; even after the lies have been fully exposed.
A few such students on the University of Alabama campus tried to raise the consciousness that Iraqi lives also matter; because all lives matter. The blatant killings and mistreatment of Iraqis by some of our soldiers and contractors under the immoral policies of the Bush administration are reprehensible. They are not only shameful for all decent human beings, but they sully the name and reputation of our country and us as a moral people.
In the five years since the invasion of Iraq, about 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives. About 30,000 have been severely injured. Paradoxically, the purported beneficiary of our largess, the Iraqis have lost more than a million lives, many more millions injured and more than four million, about one sixth of the population have been rendered refugees.
The students had invited to the University of Alabama, Jason Hurd, from the Asheville, NC chapter of “Iraq Veterans against the War” (IVAW), to speak about his experiences during his tour of duty in Iraq, at 6:15 PM on Friday the 29th of February.
To raise awareness about the plight of Iraqis, the two guests from North Carolina and a few students from the University of Alabama followed the well-respected tradition of impromptu “Street-theater” at the Student Center, as Jason Hurd has done on many other campuses. Four students dressed as Iraqis were lounging, when the two guests and two University students dressed in military fatigues feigned to arrest them in a rough manner. It appears the impromptu play had more than desired effect. Someone called the campus police. By the time the campus police arrived, Jason was in the process of explaining the point of the street theater the students had just witnessed.
The campus police took the two UA students and the two guests from North Carolina into custody for questioning. After about four hours of questioning without legal representation, they were taken to the county jail and booked on the charges of disturbance of the peace, a misdemeanor. After an ordeal of about nine hours the arrestees were released on bail at about 10 p.m.
The University Police Chief, Steve Tucker was kind enough to call me at my request and explained the situation. It was clear that in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings a few months ago and the shootings at the Northern Illinois University about a week ago, sensitivities are heightened and the campus police responded quite responsibly and with alacrity.
What is not clear is why the students were charged with misdemeanor, after it was obvious that the students’ intentions were completely peaceful. No harm was intended nor done, and no weapons were found. The irony is the students were protesting the evils of contrived war, misuse of authority and violence in our name.
Perhaps it would have been better had the students put up a placard indicating that a “street-play” was being performed. The worst they can be accused of is behaving in a sophomoric fashion. Well, they are young students. Some of them may even be sophomores.
Conscientious students tried to bring the issues of our involvement in destroying innocent Iraqi lives to our attention on Friday, February the 29th.The University Police should be commended for a quick response. The dean of students issued a statement, "The University of Alabama strongly supports the right to free speech and welcomes expressions of opinion; however, we cannot condone and will not tolerate behavior that mimics a true emergency on our campus."
The students could have been admonished for the inadvertent mimicking of actual emergency that stretched campus police resources. But throwing them in county jail and charging them with misdemeanor is completely contradictory to protecting the first amendment rights of free speech.
I hope better sense will prevail, the first amendment will really be upheld and the administration will drop the misdemeanor charges against the students.
Mirza A. Beg invite comments at mab64@yahoo.com
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