The latest middle east "crisis" sucks aid from other countries

Ann wrote: "I hate to say this, but I feel like I just want to give up. Here in BiH, just when the country is starting to turn around, NATO, USAID, and many other foreign aid organizations are pulling out. Why? Because of the sink hole that is the Middle East. I am all for helping the tsunami victims and others who cannot help themselves, but the endless strife created by pointless wars in the Middle East and Africa just seem...um...well...endless and pointless.

Now I just feel like I am too exhaused to try to think up more ideas for solutions that no one will ever listen to..."


I responded:

The problem that I see with the world stage is not a lack of resources, but a lack of foresight combined with too much self-image. No one, it seems, wants to be looked at as not caring or callous. This makes them jump from one crisis to another.



In the medical field this would be called triage. Triage can be defined as the emergency care of a patient which has the tendency to temporarily halt the immediate life threatening condition. Triage does not cure a patient. It does not even ensure that the patient will survive. It is simply a pressure bandage trying to hold in the life fluid long enough for someone else to step in and perform a life saving operation.



On the world political scene the organizations that perform triage are called: NATO, USAID, UN, WHO, etc. This would be a good thing if there was someone that could (or would) take over and save a life. But, there are not.



Many leading countries, which are all run by us lowly flawed humans, react to the news. They do not want the internal political pressure to push them out of the seat of power. If their national news broadcasters continually paint them as ineffective or uncaring they will not be re-elected to office. “What about the UN,” you might ask. I bet the Secretary General wants to keep his job too.



The world has the resources to address all the issues individually and collectively. All that needs to be put in place is a long-term plan to address the situation. This would mean that the multi-national players could not allow the course of recovery to be dictated by the local political figure. The choice must be clear: The Plan or Your Complaints. If they choose the plan, great. If they choose to complain and bitch, great. They can go to the back of the line and hope that some charity flows their way as the rest of the world prospers.



It may sound cold, but when faced with chaos at home and no international support whatsoever, many would calm down. For those that simply refuse to do anything but make war on either their own people or others a more forceful response may be necessary. However, most countries will not fight another if there is no benefit in it for themselves. As there is currently no internationally controlled military organization that is willing to act as a Global Police Force/Referee it seems that senseless death and fighting will continue for the immediate future.

American public invites the Bush Administration Scam on Iraq.

Try to imagine living life being able to spend as much money as you want on anything you want. Imagine that you have no one to answer to for spending money that you don't have. How would you feel if you could tell the most obvious blatant lie and that no one cared that you were lying. Imagine being able to steal from your realitives and everyone keeps your shameful family secret. Imagine being a member of the Bush Administration.

Wow, does that sound harsh? I think it does. It is also true though. In case you did not realize it we are talking about the Iraq war. I know, I know: Congress never declared a war, so there actually isn't a war. True, but since the administration is living in a make believe fairytale world, and the American public decided to join them, lets go with this for now. Okay?

Congress, acting on a request from the Bush administration asked for specific money to fund the "war effort" in Iraq and Afghanistan, passed a budget. They have done this for the past several years. Part way through each year they pass an emergency funding budget to supplement the bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. Fine, got that. Each year they raid the budget of the rest of the military to get additional funds for the war effort.

The US military is taking funds from its regular units to supplement the "Wart on Terror." This is the money for maintenance. This is the money for training. This is the money for books for the libraries and electricity for the buildings. This is not the money that Congress set aside for the war in Iraq.

So you tell me, why do we as a whole allow the lie to continue? Why do we allow these stellar individuals to continue to live in a make believe land of their own making? Why do we join them by pulling the blankets over our heads so that we won't see the monsters coming out of the closet?

"High court: Military trials for Gitmo detainees illegal"

Well, this Stars & Stripes headline has it almost correct. ABC News is a little closer. What it all comes down to is not that military trials are illegal, but Bush's phony trials are a sham. Anyone that supports them as legal is either A) a liar; B) a fool; or C) a scary individual that should not be in polite society.

Extreme view? How would you like to be held in prison for years without being charged with a crime? How would you like to go through a trial without knowing what evidence is being used against you? How would you like to be tried and convicted without being able to defend yourself? How would you like to be charged for violated a "law" that was made up a year after you were arrested? How would you like to be told that although two years ago the Secretary of Defense said you were being held as a terrorist, this year he said that you could not be released because you would face persecution in your home country? Is prison life, with no rights, better than going home?

"But we have to protect our country!!!!" Quit your whining and either a) vote for someone that actually has a clue about what we need; b) join the Army or Marines and actually be sent into harms way; or c) Have a memory that is more than 10 minutes long. And don't use the "but, we are at war" line on me. We are NOT at war. War must be declared by Congress, which they haven't done. The last war that we were in was WWII. If you want a war, declare one legally. Bush depends on the ignorance (lack of knowledge) of the average voter to get his way.

Here's some reality about the Military Tribunals: They could work. The only thing that you need to do is provide the rights to the individual that are already on the books. Wow, you mean that we don't need to create new laws or rules?!?!?! Of course, if we did that the voters might look at the deteriorating state of the country and vote some politicians out of office.

NOTE FOR POLITICIANS: Don't waste the American public's time with senseless debates over flag burning (1st Amendment) and Gay Marriage (Human rights) when you could do something productive like improve health care, address the sagging economy, or get rid of "No child left behind." And for those of you that say that gay marriage is not a human rights issue understand this: The CONSTITUTION of the United States states that every state will give full faith and credit to the laws of other states. It is one of the little items that holds our country together. Telling one state that it can ignore the laws of another is the path that leads to the destruction of our union. SO LEAVE MY CONSTITUTION (and country) ALONE.