RSS Links
Chad in uniform.
From the desk of Bob Keefe
Washington, D.C.
September 1, 2010
Political Update
Before we got up this morning, Vice President Joe Biden presided over a change-of- command ceremony in Baghdad. Operation Iraqi Freedom ended and Operation New Dawn began. It was the end of the formal combat stage for U. S. troops and the beginning of a military assistance mission.
United State troops are not going away… not yet, anyway. Between now and December 2011, the “less than 50,000 troops” will continue to train the Iraqi military and provide moral support for the fledging Iraqi government. It is a far cry from the 166,300 service personnel that were in the country at its peak strength in 2007. The six brigades that remain are prepared for anything. They have their own intelligence and logistics components. In addition to their training program, they will provide communications support, med evacuation and air transport for Iraqi troops.
The drawdown of troops fulfills two of President Barack Obama’s campaign pledges. He said he would develop an honorable end the combat mission of the United States in Iraq in the first years of his presidency. And he said he would focus our military might on those miscreants in Afghanistan who started this whole mess in the first place.
Now, he said in his prime time, oval office speech last night, it is time to focus our energies and our resources on getting America working again and resolving our domestic difficulties. The Iraq War cost our nation dearly – more than a trillion dollars of our wealth went into the effort, and the loss in human capital was enormous, as well. We lost more than 4,400 of our young people. The toll of wounded is not complete. We count over 31,000 wounded in the action, but we know that many of the most serious injuries are the latent post traumatic stress cases that keep adding up.
The thought of 50,000 troops seems like a lot, but compared to our previous strength in that nation, it is really not many at all. As late as last year, U. S. troops had 357 bases in Iraq. Now we will only have 100. We have deconstructed hundreds of buildings. We have moved millions of pieces of hardware from the country. The logistics of all of this is phenomenal… It has been compared to the build up for World War II.
The lead U.S. agency in Iraq will now be the Department of State. It has hundreds of people in our embassy in Baghdad and outposts across Iraq in each of the provinces. Since the staff is civilian, it will need serious support from the military. They will use significant Department of Defense support – including some serious stuff, Black Hawk helicopters, med evac capabilities, and mine resistant vehicles to move about the country. And continuing the practice of the military, they will be using thousands of “security contractors” – a euphemism for rent-an-army – for protection. Some things never change.
Who Will Lead Them?
Tonight as I watched Joe Miller, the newly minted United States Senate nominee from Alaska, in his victory interview, I was struck by his ideas about the way America should be governed. Joe Miller is an Ivy League-educated lawyer, a West Point graduate and a decorated Gulf War veteran. He is an attractive candidate and a likely winner in November. In five minutes, he pledged support for a litany of conservative causes from top to bottom. Think of an issue and he is on the conservative side of it.
But he saved the best for last. He will actively work to end Social Security… the retirement payment system, the medical care – everything. He hopes that he will accomplish this task so that in twenty years or less, there will be no more social security programs in the United States. He understands the program well. He described how his parents depend on their Social Security checks to survive… But all of this must go.
I have heard these kinds of rants before, but never in such an articulate presentation. Joe Miller knows what he is talking about and he means it. Joe, of course is a Tea Party candidate who was strongly supported by the Tea Party PAC - $400,000 worth in his campaign to defeat the conservative incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Joe also was Sarah Palin’s choice. She and the Murkowskis have had a blood feud for years.
This led me to review an interesting trend in this year’s primary voting. What is happening in Republican primaries? What is happening is a strong lack of establishment discipline on the system. Candidates supported by Tea Party members and advocates are making great headway. Two sitting Republican Senators have been beaten by the Tea Partiers: Murkowski in Alaska by Miller; Bob Bennett in Utah by Mike Lee.
In Kentucky, Rand Paul (the son of libertarian-leaning Texas U.S. Representative Ron Paul ) defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson. And that was a big deal. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who considers himself “The Boss” of Kentucky Republicans had endorsed Grayson and actively campaigned against Paul.
Florida is a mess for the Republicans. Republican Governor Charlie Crist announced his candidacy and was considered to be the favorite in the race, initially holding a large double-digit lead over challenger Marco Rubio. Between Rubio’s Tea Party gang and whatever else, Crist’s number tanked and he decided to run as independent. Crist leads both Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek. The Republican is running third.
Nevada Senator (and Democratic Majority Leader) Harry Reid was widely considered the most vulnerable incumbent in the 2010 election cycle. Then the Tea Party happened. Former State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, (Madam Tea Party, herself) defeated Nevada Republican Party Chair Sue Lowden for the GOP nomination and Harry now holds a narrow lead.
The Tea Partiers have done great havoc in these races to the Republican dream of regaining control of the Senate. But the real havoc can happen when the next Senate convenes. Some of these Tea Partiers will win. Other candidates are reacting to the pressure of the group to adopt goofy-right positions. Herding cats will look easy for the Republican Leader next year, if he wants to make sense and contribute to governing this nation.
Now, the Next…
Having put aside the Iraq situation, at least for the nonce, the President is wading into another international political quagmire. He has a few friends in for dinner tonight and is giving them the top shelf treatment in the private quarters.
The leaders of Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt will sit down to dine with our President, our Secretary of State Clinton and Mitchell to begin a dialogue that will hopefully move the ball downfield… if only a small distance.
Obama’s challenge is one that has attracted the attention of his predecessors and confounded most of them. Bringing peace to this portion of the Middle East is important. Tensions in this area are always high and trust is always low. President Jimmy Carter brought Israel and Egypt together and helped them build a peaceful and productive relationship that has lasted for thirty-five years. But since that time, the efforts of Presidents have not borne fruit, despite good efforts.
In fact, one could easily make the case that things have gotten progressively worse in the Three I League. Israel’s relation with its neighbors is not improved; there are minor skirmishes regularly and a major one every two or three years. Iran has moved from an atypical state to a real menace as its leaders have created a radical theocracy internally and a nuclear threat internationally. Iraq has calmed dramatically and has a genuine political process in place.
President Obama came into office with an urgency, not to resolve the intractable differences between the parties, but to create a working situation in which peace can prevail. He appointed former Senator George Mitchell to be his liaison in the Middle East to manage a process that he hopes will lead to real results. Mitchell is a successful international negotiator, having served previous administrations in like roles. His greatest success so far was his resolution of the seemingly intractable differences between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. Mitchell works quietly and exudes patience. He never gives up.
We are hopeful that the current conditions will allow the leaders to move forward to some form of agreements. The old line about the Israelis and the peace process is that the leftist politicians cannot make peace. The conservatives don’t want to, but could be pushed into it. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a hard liner who seems to see the value in making peace now. The Palestinians have a president who has improved life on the West Bank. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has brought infrastructure, policing and a sense of order to that chaotic slice of land.
Obama can claim to his guests that he has begun to make a difference in how the United States deals with them and their region. He worked diligently to produce far tougher sanctions on Iran than had ever been in place previously. He has pulled out of Iraq… and he enjoys the sight of a working, but tentative government in Palestine.
Bon appetit.
Meanwhile, our Wars Continue
Lest we forget, Americans keep dying and keep being injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The official count as of August 15, 2010, of the dead since our involvement in Iraq began on March 23, 2003 is 4,416, the dead from the war in Afghanistan from its beginning in September 2001 is 1,267. The count of American service personnel wounded in Iraq is now 31,882; in Afghanistan 6,773 according to the Department of Defense. (DOD reporting on wounded is delayed and these figures are usually two months late.)
The numbers are really only numbers until you add a human element to them. I remember tracking through Indiana with Senator Birch Bayh on his high school graduation tour during the Vietnam era. Everywhere we went, there was a memorial tribute to one of last year’s graduates who had been killed in the war. It made a big impact.
I had another one of those gasping moments yesterday. I have recently become interested in my genealogy and got really lucky to meet a distant cousin who is working on my mother’s family tree. She sent me a note yesterday…
Chad's father is dead so they are a small family unit. Annie only has Danielle and Chad. He was a good kid that grew up a lot in the military.
We think 4 others were in the humvee with him and were killed also...that was the 5 you heard yesterday on the news. Today there were 5 more so that is 19 in 4 days!
They have flown out to Dover AFB to meet him and Annie said it should be on the news… as they had to ask her if that was all right. He comes stateside September 1. It is just so many numbers until it hits family!
CHAD CLEMENTS
Obama proved this week he will keep his word. I will hold him to his August 2011 end date for this disaster which Afghanistan has become… And pray he will pull the eject cord earlier.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Robert J. Keefe
TKC International, Inc.
Telephone: 202 255-8161 – E mail: rkeefe@tkci.com
Past issues of Political Update available at www.bobkeefedc.com
Comments On This Article
- no comments yet.