I scored 15 on the Libertarian test, probably because I favor reduced military spending and eliminating social security.

I probably don’t really favor eliminating social security, but I hate the politics around it. I’m also probably not in favor of reduced military spending, but I hate the money wasted on political weapons systems when military benefits and personal force protection efforts go unfunded.

Damn. Maybe I’ll have to take the test again.

Speaking of politics (and reading a little farther down the page to our dear Maximum Leader’s last big posting), I think both ‘Sept 10th’ and ‘Sept 12th’ thinking is wrong-headed. Before 9/11, I didn’t really imagine that kind of attack could take place outside of the movies. Obviously, I was wrong, as were all of us except the CIA and FBI experts that warned Bush before it happened. The day AFTER 9/11 I was hardly a new model of enlightenment: rather, I was deeply affected by sadness and fear. Those emotions were legitimate, but you don’t want to make important decisions with disabling feelings at the forefront. It’s time to move past 9/11 and look rationally at the world and the situation we’re in. Too many Americans, in my opinion, are still reacting out of fear, and fear combined with rampant patriotism leads to jingoism and hatred. Sure, I’ll make jokes about the French like everyone else, but ‘Freedom Fries,’ seriously?

Additionally, anyone for whom 9/11 reminds them of ‘why we’re in Afghanistan and Iraq’ (to quote Maximum Leader) has fallen prey to disinformation. Yes, we invaded Afghanistan because the Taliban tried to shelter Osama bin Laden. From the beginning, I’ve supported our efforts in Afghanistan. However, there was is no connection between 9/11 and Iraq, other than the fact that the current administration used our fear and anger to justify a war they had planned well before terrorism became the notable issue it is today.

Now you’ve got me on a roll. Linking the war on terrorism with the war in Iraq reminds me of an op-ed piece I read just this week. Selecting a few key paragraphs from the middle:

Last week…a senior CIA official told the Washington Post that thanks to the
war in Iraq, the CIA “is stretched beyond their limits.” That is, the lead
agency in the campaign against al Qaeda is suffering because of the war in
Iraq. And Bush’s commitment to (or obsession with) his elective Iraq war has
created large opportunity costs.

It’s not just the usual anti-war types who have argued that Bush
undermined the war on terror with his war in Iraq. In December, the
Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College published a report that
harshly called the war on Iraq “an unnecessary preventive war of choice
against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for
Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing
the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda.
The war against Iraq was not integral to the [global war on terrorism], but
rather a detour from it.”

A few weeks ago, James Webb, secretary of the Navy in the Reagan
administration, made the same point more brutally: “Bush arguably has
committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. To put it
bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. While he boasts of removing Saddam
Hussein from power, he did far more than that. He decapitated the
government of a country that was not directly threatening the United States
and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our military in a region
that never has known peace. Our military is being forced to trade away its
maneuverability in the wider war against trrorism while being placed on the
defensive in a single country that never will fully accept its presence.” Webb
added, “The reckless course that Bush and his advisers have set will affect
the economic and military energy of our nation for decades. It is only the
tactical competence of our military that, to this point, has protected him
from the harsh judgment that he deserves.”

The full op-ed piece is available here: http://laweekly.com/ink/04/16/news-corn.php. The piece itself deals with the 9/11 ads and is admittedly anti-Bush. However, I think the quotes I’ve referenced stand on their own. The war in Iraq is a distraction from the war on terror. I hate seeing our military wasted. I served for five years, as many of you know, and I hate seeing our people killed for a foolish neocon re-imagining of the Middle East.

For more on the thought process within the Bush administration leading up to the war in Iraq, I again post an article about Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski and the Office of Special Plans: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/13/news-cooper.php.

Interested in that? Here’s a more detailed article written by Lt Col Kwiakowski herself: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/03/10/osp_moveon/

Those are my quick thoughts, unintentionally not-so-quick, which I think stake out the position of the reasonable left. I’ve got more to say, but I suspect that’s enough of a post for now (many thanks for your gracious patience, Maximum Leader). You may now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.