Fascinating Story of IED's in Iraq : Unlearned Lessons of History

MSNBC has posted a 5-page story on the IED problem in Iraq and how impotent the United States seems to be to counter this deadly insurgent weapon. "New type of bomb is unexpectedly lethal in Iraq," is the title of the piece and this opening paragraph frames the story:



"On Aug. 3, 2005, the deadliest roadside bomb ever encountered by U.S. troops in Iraq detonated beneath a 26-ton armored personnel carrier, killing 14 Marines and revealing yet another American vulnerability in the struggle against improvised explosive devices."



By the way, those 14 Marines were reservists were from Ohio. I mention Ohio for two reasons. First, I am from Ohio and mourn the loss of any soldier, but one from my area tugs especially hard at my heart. Secondly, I think back to the early history of Ohio when the white settlers began to pour into this 'wilderness' and staked claims to this pristine area. Of course, they didn't ask the Native Americans living here whether they minded the intrusion. White folks seldom have asked brown-skinned natives for such permission.



The hunters and trappers who came to Ohio were little threat to the Ottawa, the Wyandot, the Shawnee and the Miami who called Ohio their home. But the farmer was the one whose presence and whose land-destruction policies riled the natives. Fences and the axe disrespected both Mother Nature and the native way of life.



The newly formed American government cared little about Native rights and began campaigns to suppress the natives who were trying to defend their lands. Two incompetent generals were sent to the Ohio territory by President Washington to do just that. However, both generals, St. Clair and Harmar, were badly defeated because the Native American tribes used 'insurgent' tactics on the hapless American forces.

I recall a list of military battle advantages and disadvantages that need to be assessed prior to engagement of troops. Romans, millenia ago, knew them. Some I recall include: leadership- purpose- tactics and formations - group cohesion - effects of terrain and environment - influence of equipment on tactics - deployment of battle lines - command and communication - morale - weather- discipline of troops and so forth. However, the sports term 'home court advantage' is one of the most important factors to consider.

The so-called insurgents in Iraq clearly have that home court advantage just as the Native Americans did in the late 1700's here in Ohio. Hopefully, our current set of military experts advising Mr. Bush have laid out this advantage before him; I could have done the same. Folks fighting for their own homeland are tenacious; that is a simple fact of history which Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld failed to grasp before their preemptive invasion.

IED's seemingly provide the ultimate advantage to the 'insurgents' which may, in fact, trump all of power of the mighty American military machine. One needs only recall our colonial fight with the mighty British military some 230 years ago to help understand home court advantage. Sadly, those ideologues who planned the Iraq War should have been better students of history.

Toledo Area Priest Named a 'Priest of Integrity' Bishop Disagrees

The medieval hierarchy of the Catholic Church is again in the spotlight here in Toledo. The very conservative bishop of Toledo, Leonard Blair, has been battling priests in his diocese who speak out on injustice issues. After all, the only 'justice' that the Catholic hierarchy recognizes is the muzzling of vocal critics of the institution. Seems that the Catholic Church has been doing that ever since they muzzled Galileo for suggesting that the earth revolves around the sun. He recanted that wild idea.

According to The Blade, "Rev. Stephen Stanbery has railed against sexual abuse, parish closings, and an alleged murder cover-up involving the Catholic Church." The article goes on: "In its announcement of the award winners, Voice of the Faithful said Father Stanbery has "been on a continuing crusade for integrity and transparency in his diocese since the sex scandals became apparent in 2002. He has worked tirelessly to root out the evil in the [alleged] coverup of a murder probe of a slain Catholic nun, clergy sexual abuse cases, closed parishes, and financial impropriety. He participated in the Oscar-nominated documentary Twist of Faith."

Catholic priests ought to know better than to open the large wooden doors of the Church and expose the secrets hiding inside; that is strictly forbidden by the oh-so righteous hierarchy who are masters of the Good Old Boys' Club.

The truths that Stanbery exposed, says Claudia Vercellotti, co-coordinator of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are secrets that the church does not want the faithful to know. According to Vercellotti, "Bishop Blair sent Father Stanbery a letter last month that "declares that Father Stanbery will not publicly challenge the bishop."He's been formally admonished and censured," Ms. Vercellotti said. "The reason he's being honored nationally as a model priest is the exact same reason the hammer has come down so hard on him in Toledo."

It is interesting to note that only two priests attended the one-time showing of Twist of Faith* the story of priest sexual abuse in the Toledo Diocese. One was Fr. Stanbery and the other was recently ousted pastor Fr. Tom Leyland. Leyland spoke out against the bishop several months ago about the slicing up of St. Rose Parish for the newly formed suburban parish. As a result of this insolence, Leyland was transferred to a small parish on the outskirts of the diocese. Leyland retired rather than being punished by the bishop. Bishop Blair was embarrassed when the replacement for Leyland confessed to having had a sexual relationship, thus breaking the vow of celibacy.

I would imagine that the Catholic hierarchy will continue to have incidents like these because they will not change, will not tolerate any fresh air to get into the closed chambers in which they live. As a result, more and more 'faithful' will leave because of that hypocrisy, taking their donations elsewhere. This loss of revenue has already hit the diocese and has forced them to downsize many of their departments.

Yet, there will be no change: they will batten down the hatches and hope to ride it out until all of the moderate and liberal Catholics have left the church. The conservative 'faithful' will remain and then, at last, the hierarchy will be free to operate in their medieval majesty once again.


* because of enormous pressure applied to theater owners in the Toledo area by the Catholic Church, Twist of Faith was never again shown in Toledo theaters.

Religious Right Blackmails 08 GOP on Abortion

"Giuliani is beyond the pale." It's just not going to happen. There's no way that conservative leaders are going to support a pro-abortion candidate. It was unanimous."

The words of one of those oh-so righteous Christian fundamentalists who gathered in Salt Lake for a special cleansing ritual to purge the GOP of ungodly people in the party. Reminds me of the Pharisees who challenged Jesus throughout his ministry.

The Giuliani quote is from Richard Viguerie, a direct mail pioneer, author of "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Republican Base."

Hijacked! Did this Christian fundamentalist say, 'hijacked?' 'Hijacked the Republican Base.' Apparently hijackers don't recognize their own kind. Two other Christian hijackers at the meeting were Rev. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Tony Perkins of the slickly named Family Research Council. The only 'research' that this group is into is to ferret out Republicans who do not toe the pharisaical mandate laid down by the Christian fundamentalists.

The three zealots, reports ABC News, spoke of their willingness to consider supporting a third-party presidential bid if a pro-choice candidate won the GOP nomination. They were speaking for the so-called 'values voters.'

One wonders if war is a value to these voters. One wonders if universal health care for children is a value to these voters. One wonders if job security is a value to these voters. One wonders if a safe work environment or a pristine environment is a value to these voters.

Or is it only about limiting a woman's choice about what she is allowed to do with her own body?

A Peace March for Non-Violence to Honor Gandhi

About 100 people marched from Corpus Christi University Parish to listen to an in-character presentation of Gandhi on the University of Toledo campus. Dr. Shall Sinha represented Mohandas Gandhi in a presentation entitled, 'Conflict Resolution the Gandhi Way.'

The presentation was sponsored by the Hindu Temple and The University of Toledo. Prior to marching to the Doermann Theater, members of the temple gathered at the parish and were presented a tapestry of Gandhi identical to the one which hangs at the parish. It was a gift to the Hindu community from the Catholic community to hang in their newly remodeled facility.

As the marchers walked, in honor of both Gandhi's birthday and International Day of Non-violence, October 2, people held hands in solidarity and sang songs as they marched, representing Gandhi march to the sea.

Before the main presentation, children of the Hindu Temple danced several numbers in honor of peace.

Dr. Sinha, an engineer by profession, has spent the past 20 years casting himself in the role of Mohandas Gandhi. He spoke for nearly an hour and kept the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time. He told of his poor childhood and the prejudice he felt in India and in South Africa. Naturally, he spent much of his presentation speaking of his efforts for change, for justice using non-violent means.

At the end of the performance, he took questions from the audience ranging from India's nuclear bombs to the demonstrations in Burma. He was also asked about religious scripture which promoted aggression and about India's relationship to Pakistan. Each answer, not surprisingly, was wrapped in justice and acts of non-violence.

This was the first in the series: Initiative for Enhances Inter-Religious Understanding and is presented by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toledo. The next presentation in the series will be, 'The Dead Seas Scrolls and the Canonical shaping of the Hebrew Bible,' October 25. 'The role of women in religious leadership -Jewish, Christian and Muslim' will be on Feb. 12.

The Defeat of the Bush Project for the Middle East

Last evening on Bill Moyer's Journal the title line of this post was said by one of his two guests who were discussing the refugee crisis in the Middle East caused by Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Journalist George Packer said, "...we're talking about the return of real politic. This is the final, I think, defeat of the Bush Project for the Middle East. We're talking about the only way that we can begin to secure our interests is by cutting deals with regimes that we don't like."

Packer and Deborah Amos of NPR have both spent many years in the Middle East and brought their expertise to the program.

Packer was answering the Moyer's question: "But arching over everything was the neo-conservative conviction that we were going to see the birth pains of democracy in the region you two cover. Are what you're talking about the birth pains of democracy?"

Both guests journalists, Packer and Amos, painted a stark picture of that region of the world and an even more dismal one of Iraq itself. Both told the same story: Iraq has 'lost' two million people who fled the situation created by the preemptive invasion. But wait, they cautioned, these refugees are not like the ones we see fleeing Darfur: these are upper to middle class Iraqis, the doctors, the engineers, the intellectuals, the bureaucrats- the people who are needed to run a society. They are gone and most will not return.

Not only is the loss a problem for Iraq but the refugees are a major problem for the Syrians, Lebanese and Jordanian governments. Their budgets are breaking trying to provide for these refugees. Parker warns that the refugees are unemployed there and are ripe targets for extremist fundamentalist recruiters. Both the refugees and their hosts are becoming more and more radicalized against America because of the war.

Moyers then turned to Iran and asked both journalists what they were hearing among the people in that region about the drumbeat of war with Iran. Parker said, "And the irony is the only country in the Middle East that has a genuine grass roots democratic and even secular movement is our number one enemy, Iran. That country has a-- a movement every bit as promising as what we saw in Eastern Europe and in other countries. And-- and yet we're almost at war with Iran. And I think if we do go to war with Iran it will set that movement back 30 years."

Amos said, " I can assure you that there is a rising anxiety level in the places I've just come back from, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, about the possibility of a war. And it's back. I mean, I've been going regularly. And it receded for a while. And I feel like people are much more anxious than they were just a few months ago."

The most stark prediction was said in the closing statement of George Parker. He warned, "What I fear is it will happen overnight. We will wake up one morning and discover that we have begun bombing targets inside Iran. And so there won't be a chance for all of the-- questions about war with Iran. What do you do afterward? You know, what-- what-- what do we do to protect our-- our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan from Iranian reprisals? What about Israel? Those questions have to be talked about now. But unlike Iraq this could happen very quickly. And it will be too late once those questions start getting asked."

Too late. Exactly, too late. But that is exactly how despots operate. They need no input, no advice because they know exactly what they want to 'accomplish.' To hell with the citizens after all, they are but mere pawns in the Grand Scheme.

Too late.

Perhaps.

The time Has Come For Citizen Action Against the Government

Now. Not in a few weeks or months, but NOW! By all accounts, the Bush/Cheney team will be launching a military assault on Iran any day now. It will be a sustained missile attack at strategic military sites throughout the nation. It will come during the night when we are asleep.

There is no other plan after the attack; it will be just like the attack on Iraq: a military 'victory' and damned the consequences. Seventy million Iranian citizens instantly angered at our nation. Seventy million potential new terrorists. A billion Muslims outraged!

Bush and Cheney could give a damned. They don't care one bit. What do they have to lose? Surely not credibility because that was lost years ago. They know that their legacy is a fait accompli. They have no election to worry about. Nothing left to lose by such a bold action.

Who will stop them? Congress is totally impotent in the matter as has been shown since the 2006 elections. The military could enact a coup d'etat but the public, sadly, doesn't really know how serious this situation is. They would not understand a coup at all.

The public needs to be educated and quickly. What could accomplish this?

As I see it, only massive citizen action can awaken the sleeping masses.

Several months ago a friend and I were talking about such an action and we were struck by a very simple but highly effective method of getting the attention of the entire nation in a rather fast way. The automobile as an agent of action. Not a moving automobile but a stationary automobile. A 'stalled' automobile.

Stalled in rush hour traffic causing massive traffic jams all over America starting in Boston and New York, moving westward to Detroit, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Chicago. Then to Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston. Further west to Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Thousands of stalled cars, millions of people brought to a standstill in 3 hours.

Americans would demand to know what was happening. The answer is simple: citizen action to stop the madness of George Bush and Dick Cheney. "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"

The Great American Stall Out.

Interested in spreading the word from coast to coast? Email me.

On the Probability of War with Iran

Those who make a habit of reading the tea leaves related to the Bush Administration's obsession with provoking war with the Iranians know that the U.S. has been actively drawing up war plans against Iran since at least 2004. The debate among administration officials these days seems to revolve around the type of war that will be delivered to us.

One scenario envisioned by the war hawks involves merely targeting suspected nuclear facilities in Iran, while other Bush advisors call for attacks on up to 2,000 of Iran's military installations, communications centers, and related targets.

The Bush administration has even managed to convince many Democrats to join in on the anti-Iranian festivities, as the Senate, in a 76-22 vote on Wednesday, approved a non-binding amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a "foreign terrorist organization". This is in response to claims that Iran is providing weapons and training to Shi'ite militias in Iraq, but the net result of this action will be to drive even more support behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian hardliners. Here are some of the relevant paragraphs of Senate Amendment 3017:

(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;
(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;
(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224;

Senator Clinton voted for the amendment, while Senator Obama abstained. The only significant criticism of this piece of noxious legislation came from Senator Jim Webb, who called the move Vice President Dick Cheney's "fondest pipe dream."

The demonization of the Republic of Iran began many years ago after the Iranian Revolution, and the visit this week by Ahmadinejad to Columbia University ended up being another public relations coup for the Bush Administration. University President Lee Bollinger played an important role for the Bush administration in the run-up to a war with Iran, introducing the Iranian President as a "petty and cruel dictator" and someone whose comments on the Holocaust demontrate that he is "either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated."

While Ahmadinejad is indeed a poor historian, he is the leader of a sovereign nation, and it is clear that there is a concentrated effort by American elites such as Bollinger to justify war with Iran through the process of demonization, whether as willing participants or as unwitting dupes. This is regrettable, because an attack on Iranian military targets will likely mean at least a significantly wider regional war, and perhaps be a trigger for a new world war.

I am of the opinion that military actions against Iran will commence in February or March 2008, and that the net result of this foolhardy plan of action will be an inescapable escalation of the conflict into a wider war with the use of nuclear weaponry for the first time since 1945.

May God have mercy on all of our souls if this comes to pass.

This essay on the probability of war with Iran was also cross-posted on the historymike blog.

GOP 'Vote Caging" Ready to Suppress Ohio's 08 Election

The McClatchy News posted an alarming article about a tactic that the GOP is using in several states to suppress the Democratic vote among inner city voters. It is called 'vote caging.' according to the article: Caging, used in the past to target poor minorities in heavily Democratic precincts, entails sending mass mailings to certain voters and then using the undelivered letters to compile lists of voters for eligibility challenges.

The article goes on to say: In Ohio, which swung the 2004 election to Bush, new Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said in a phone interview that an election law passed last year and signed by former Republican Gov. Bob Taft effectively ``institutionalized'' vote caging.

Gosh, what a surprise: GOP dirty tricks. But, of course, Jesus is on their side so everything is OK.

Fascists for Christ v. Fascists for Islam

Lots of 'good' Christian folks were up in arms over the visit to America of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. No doubt the commentators on FoxNews dragged out their 'islamofascist' label as they told the story of his visit. Surely Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity pounded the word into the ears of their captive audiences.

Good Christians all. And good patriots of America, as well. No doubt about it, just ask them.

Does it matter much whether the Fascism is comes from an Islamic state or a Christian state? Fascism is fascism.

How odd that the good Christian folks here in America, those who have been labeled 'Christofascists' by some, cannot see that what they want for our government here is little different from those Islamic fascists over there. Many in Toledo got their panties all in a knot when an op ed appeared in The Blade written by Dr. Amjad Hussain who challenged the policy of Christian conversion in Muslim countries, specifically that the U.S. military has allowed Christian groups to send religious and proselytizing materials to the American troops overseas.
A bevy of letters to the editor followed his article.

Christofascists, or Dominionists as they are more properly called, are conservative politically-active Christians who seek to influence and/or control secular civil government through political action. Their ultimate goal is a nation governed by Christians. Further they demand that this nation be governed by a Christian understanding of biblical law. Biblical law to me means eye-for-eye punishment and old testament biblical 'morality' as well as Christian teaching in public places and certainly in schools.

Enter Iran. Iran has achieved that goal. The Koran is their bible and it rules the land, the schools, the culture, as well as the government, the laws, and its constitution. Thus that term, islamofascism. A theocracy.

Enter Dominionists. America is their goal. They are working hard to have the Bible rule this land, our schools, or culture, our government, our laws, and our Constitution. A theocracy.

Democracy as we know it will evaporate. Fascism, led by religious zealots, will overtake our American way of life. We ought to be very afraid of these people. They are hard to spot. The look like ordinary Americans. They fly the flag and have magnetic yellow ribbons on their car bumpers. But they lurk in every neighborhood in this country, fed by their righteous leaders, their magazines, their web pages. They know their mission: congress, state legislatures, public school boards. Kansas was one of their targets and nearly succeeded in turning the state into a fully-functioning christofascist empire.

Domionists, christofascists, ultra right-wing fundamentalist Christians. What ever their name, the mission is the same: turning America into a theocracy.

Songstress Mitchell Portrays Contemporay American Life

Joni Mitchell has recorded a new albumn, "Shine".
In her songs she critiques comtemporary American
life. Her album is found on the Starbucks label.
The title song, "Shine", has the following lyrics:
Shine on the Catholic Church/and the prisons
that it owns/Shine on all the churches/that love
less and less/. The song continues, Shine on lousy
leadership/licensed to kill/Shine on dying
soldiers/in patriotic pain/Shine on mass destruction/
in some God's name/.

In another song Mitchell sings, "The cats are in the
flowerbeds/A red hawk rides the sky/I guess I should
be happy/Just to be alive/But we have poisoned
everything/And oblivious to it all/The cell phone
zombies babble/Through the shopping malls.

Other good songs are "hanah" and "If I had a heart,
I'd die".