Obstructionist Ship of Fools

(M)an: Dude! Robert M. Gates memoirs, entitled Duty as in being called to serve one’s country, is more like a remnant of the Romney 2012 presidential campaign.

(D)ude: Man! Do you think that former defense secretary Robert M. Gates had anticipated a position in a Mitt Romney White House?

M: Dude! No. I think he was certain that the Bush Dynasty would take control of the presidential reigns once more in 2016, specifically Jeb Bush as the Republican front-runner and definite winner after Mitt Romney’s stint as a one-term president.

D: Man! Where have I heard that before?

M: Dude! This Week With George Stephanopoulos was anchored brilliantly by Martha Raddatz on Sunday and included Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois’s 16^th congressional district, a Republican Party member who extolled the perspectives taken by Robert M. Gates in the book but then insisted he had only read the excerpts pre-released by the book’s publisher.

D: Man! Representative Kinzinger has heroically served three tours in Iraq and has accepted  endorsements by Sarah Palin and sought his present position after redistricting efforts in 2009 resulted in the creation of the 16^th Congressional District in Illinois.

M: Dude! I think Illinois’s Congressional District 16 was reconstructed to throw off redistricting critics across the United States. Kinzinger’s opponent Don Manzullo had represented the 16^th since 1993 and lost the 2012 Republican Primary to Kinzinger after redistricting. And, keep in mind, Manzullo is a staunch Republican, tobacco backing, pro-lifer with ambitions to gut non-defense spending and secure the right for the populous to keep and bear arms.

D: Man! I think the Republican Study Committee was constructed in 1973 to rid all transparency and moderation within the House Republicans. And whatever tactics they utilized and wanted to keep hidden from the American people and the United States press corps worked in their favor in 1995, when the Republicans became the majority party in the House of Representatives with then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s wiping their slate clean by dissolving the RSC and other groups like it temporarily.

M: Dude! Robert M. Gates’ stances in the book match Kinzinger’s sound bites during the roundtable discussion on This Week moderated by Martha Raddatz. Keep in mind that Gates’ book was released worldwide yesterday, Tuesday, January 14, 2014. Kinzinger said,

“You know, it may chip away at that a little bit [Gates undermining President Obama as Commander in Chief], but to be -- I might have to take a different view than the panel. I mean, I think it's important for some of this to come out. I mean, the reality is nobody's been critical of this administration's foreign policy, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, by and large. We haven't heard a lot of it.

For Gates to come out and say, look, here behind the scenes, this is the truth, the President and Hillary Clinton opposed the surge for political reasons. By the way, using politics on foreign policy is absolutely terrible and a leader should never do that.

And in terms of Afghanistan, when was the last time you've -- and I'm a believer in the war in Afghanistan, that we can and should win. When was the last time you have heard the president of the United States tell the American people why we're there and what our interest is? He hasn't talked about it; he's avoided it.

And in fact, in the bilateral security agreement, we're hearing that they're floating a number of 9,000 or 10,000 American troops, when General Allen and generals on the ground recommended at least 15,000 to accomplish the mission. This is important today because America is paying for this, and it's our men and women over there.”

D: Man! That’s a four-part answer by Congressman Kinzinger and I have an analysis, using Robert 

M. Gates’ own words in the memoirs released yesterday. First, regarding foreign policy abroad, Iraq and Afghanistan specifically, I am reminded of the revelations Gates makes early on in his book, unwittingly coming across as a diehard Bush Dynasty fan and fellow warmonger, apparently all constructive social reform recommendations, made on behalf of the Iraqi people by U.S. Military Generals, conveniently overlooked and deliberately pushed aside by Robert Gates as sentimentality.

Page 13: They [Democratic Senators, Fall/Winter 2006] professed to be enormously pleased with my nomination and offered their support, I think mainly because they thought that I, as a member of the Iraq Study Group, would embrace their desire to being withdrawing from Iraq.

Page 26: On February 15, 1991, Bush [41]  had ad-libbed at a press conference that one way for the bloodshed in Iraq to end was, “to have the Iraqi people and military put aside Saddam.” The entire Bush team was convinced that the magnitude of their defeat would prompt the Iraqi military leaders to overthrow Saddam.

(page 26 continued ) To our dismay, almost immediately after our military offensive ended, both the Shia in the south and the Kurds in the north spontaneously rose up against Saddam. They had interpreted the president’s words- aimed at the Iraqi military- as encouragement of a popular uprising. Neither the Kurds nor the Shia- especially the latter- would forgive us for not coming to their assistance after they thought we had encouraged them to take up arms. 

Page 29: Forming a coalition government composed of several Shia parties, the Kurds, and politically acceptable Sunnis after the December election, however, the, was a major challenge. As those negotiations were dragging on, the bombing of a historic Shia mosque, the Askariya Shrine at the Golden Mosque of Samarra, on February 22, 2006, ignited horrific sectarian violence that escalated around the country. By October some three thousand Iraqi civilians were being killed every month. Attacks against U.S. troops increased from an average of 70 per day in January 2006 to an average of 180 per day in October.

Page 33: We [Iraq Study Group] also spent some time talking with the Lt. General Pete Chiarelli, commander of the Multinational Corps-Iraq, who was the direct commander of our troops in the fight. Chiarelli impressed us all with his thoughtful analysis about why we needed to protect the population and get the Iraqis services and jobs- to get young Iraqi men to pick up a shovel instead of a rifle. He spoke of the need for more U.S. civilian aid workers and development experts as well as military efforts, and he observed that something like restoring sewer service to an entire neighborhood could have a far more beneficial effort than a successful military engagement. Chiarelli, echoing Speckhard, spoke at length about the need to improve security in Baghdad as the prerequisite for success.  

M: Dude! Republican Representative Kinzinger’s promoting warfare in Afghanistan and sanctions on Iran is just an overview of what’s at stake in the 2014 United States Midterm Elections. And Bob Gates’ book has been released right in time for the American public to read yet another attempt by the Republican Party leadership to rewrite George W. Bush’s criminality as intellectual prowess and All-American candor. And judging by the reviews, I think Robert Gates almost got away with the objective of the book: To rebrand George W. Bush’s Administration as effective and far-reaching.  

D: Man! I don’t agree! I think Robert Gates purposefully released his memoir prematurely, right at the beginning of the latest attempt by the Bush Dynasty to ascend and overthrow all the achievements made thus far in the peace accords that John Kerry is negotiating and overseeing on behalf of freedom to finally get a chance. Tyranny is always the easier route and this push for sanctions on Iran by the status quo in the United States only reveals how threatened the status quo gets whenever the issue of universal human rights and opportunities expands to include places like the Middle East and Eurasia and Africa.  

M: Dude! The status quo in the United States is the same regarding domestic policy! Look at how Jeb Bush’s son George Prescott Bush has begun a bus tour across the state, running for Texas Land Commissioner, but holding political rallies aligning  gubernatorial Democratic candidate Wendy Davis with President Obama and getting the crowds all riled up against the Democratic Party collectively!

D: Man! George Prescott Bush has adopted the same strategies utilized by Republican Christ Christie in his 2013 gubernatorial race against Democrat Barbara Buono. Like Buono, Wendy Davis cannot be labeled an Obama Democrat or a Clinton Democrat. Wendy Davis is a brilliant candidate for the Texas governorship.

M: Dude! That’s just it! The GOP is always labeling itself Tea Party and each other RINO, but in the end, they are all in the same obstructionist ship of fools together. Thanks to the Supreme Court and gerrymandering, the GOP ship of fools believes it is unsinkable. And it just may be right, if the people don’t cast their ballots on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.