WE THE PEEPS 1

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The United States of Guns Tuesday, September 17, 2013

[One Nation under guns with thirty-round clips and ammunition for all.]

Our culture, as a Nation, was born two hundred and thirty seven years ago by way of armed revolution. The framers of our Constitution went out of their way to ensure the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms. Apparently this was important to them as they allotted the right to own guns in the 2^nd of twenty-seven Amendments to the Constitution. Following the American Revolution, the United States faced military conflict on the high seas as well as on the western frontier. The United States was a minor military power during this time, having only a modest Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. A traditional distrust of standing armies, combined with faith in the abilities of local militia, precluded the development of well-trained units and a large professional defense corps. Adherents to Jeffersonian theory preferred a small Army and Navy. They were concerned that a large military would involve the United States in excessive foreign wars, and potentially allow a domestic tyrant to seize power. So, how’s that been working out? Well, quite honestly, it hasn’t been going so smoothly. We seem to be getting more “war-y” and more “tyrant-y” as time passes.

So, just how bellicose is the United States of Guns? Let’s have the short look at our no-so-peaceful past.

ARMED CONFLICTS:

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783, vs. Great Britain

Northwest Indian War, 1783–1812, vs. Shawnee, Cherokee, Choctaw Native Americans

Wabash, 1791, vs. Shawnee, Cherokee, Choctaw Native Americans

Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1794, vs. Shawnee, Cherokee, Choctaw Native Americans

Quasi War, 1798-1800, vs. the French

First Barbary War, 1803, vs. the Berbers, Libya

Tecumseh's War, 1811 vs. Shawnee, Cherokee, Choctaw

War of 1812, 1812-1814, vs. Great Britain, Canada

Creek War, 1813-1814, Creek, Cherokee, Red Sticks

Second Barbary War, 1815, vs. the Berbers, Libya

Texas Revolution, 1835–1836, vs. Mexico

Mexican-American War, 1846–1848, vs. Mexico

American Civil War, 1861–1865, vs. [ourselves]

Indian Wars, 1865–1891, vs. Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho

Spanish-American War, 1898, vs. Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines

Banana Wars, 1898–1935, Cuba, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua

Moro Rebellion, 1899–1913, Muslim Filipino tribes

Mexican Revolution, 1910–1919, Pancho Villa

World War I, 1917–1918, Germany

Russian Revolution, 1918 -1919, Bolsheviks

World War II, 1941–1945, Japan, Germany

Korean War, 1950–1953, China

Lebanon, 1958, Russia, Muslims

Vietnam War, 1956–1975, North Vietnam, China

Dominican Republic, 1965

Grenada, 1983, coup d’état, Russia, Cuba

Beirut, 1982-1984, Hamas

Libya, 1986, Gadhafi

Panama, 1989-1990, Noriega

Persian Gulf War, 1990–1991, Iraq

Somalia, 1992-1993, Al Qaeda

Haiti, 1994-1995, coup d’état

Yugoslavia, 1999, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina

Afghanistan, 2001-present, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Afghanistan

Philippines, 2003, Al Qaeda

Iraq, 2003–11, Hussein, Al Qaeda, Shite, Sunni

Libyan Revolution, 2011, Gadhafi

This Nation seems to be in everybody else’s business, without any concern about the domestic side of things. Why, then, is it any wonder, that in the year 2013, we find ourselves mired in controversy over the proliferation of guns across the entire breadth and width of this Country? An interesting, and very disturbing, trend is emerging with each mass shooting spree we encounter. Back in the “good old” days, a mass shooting might yield six to eight people killed and, say, twenty to thirty people wounded. It seems that now the numbers are reversing themselves. Ever since the Columbine High School shooting, there have been many more people killed than injured/wounded. This statistic, alone, should make everyone sit up and take notice.

Are the bad guys becoming better shots? I don’t think so. I’ve witnessed professionals who can’t hit the broad side of a barn, with any type of firearm. It has to be that the bad guys simply have more fire-power today than they did in the past. The availability of semi-automatic assault style weapons with large capacity clips is a glaring example of what should not be allowed in the public sector. Thirty-round clips have been around for quite some time. Now, the bad guys have figured out that they can’t hit the broad side of a barn, either, so more bullets equal’s better outcomes. I have had the necessity of using this type of firearm, so I can speak from experience that the ultimate function of an AR-15, or an AK-47, is to kill as many people in the shortest period of time as possible. There is absolutely no other reason to use such a weapon. The same holds true for hand guns, like the Glock 9-mm, with similar ammunition capacity and firing frequency. It’s not just in the movies anymore; these deadly weapons are also showing up in public with laser guided sights. These are military firearms, and should remain the sole possession of our Armed Forces. You certainly have your pick of many other types of firearms more suited to individual ownership. If it’s personal protection that’s in question, then might not a simple shot-gun suffice? I can tell you, again from experience, that a basic shot-gun has a superior “kill radius” with a single pull of the trigger. It’s easier to handle, easier to aim, easier to keep clean, and a whole lot cheaper than the military style alternatives.

Then there are folks under the impression that the one major problem here is Mental Health. You must keep the “crazies” off the streets. Well, we’ve had a remarkably large community of people suffering from various Mental Health problems for hundreds of years. They are not the reason for the spike in gun violence since 1999, and the shooting in Columbine High School. Perhaps another rock to look under is that of the drug culture in this Country; both legal and illegal. It’s our dirty little secret that Mommy and Daddy don’t like to talk about. The fact of matter is that very high quality opiates are on the market, and their proliferation has driven the price down dramatically. Whether in powder form, or pill form, prescription, or street bought, we are raising a generation of “junkies”. What could possibly go wrong when you mix guns and drugs? I hate to harp on my own experiences, but I’ve witnessed, “up close and personal”, what a good dose of opiates does to a normally functioning human being. It’s not a pretty sight.

It’s time to stop this gun phenomena, come to our senses, and come up with some answers. The start of any solution to this problem begins with setting national priorities. Perhaps one of the first priorities should include the cessation of hostilities beyond our borders, and the trillions of dollars we are flushing down the toilet. While our Nation’s Military is off bombing the rest of the planet, the home front is crumbling and dying with bullets in the brain and/or needles in the arm. With our ammunition stored safely in bunkers, maybe we will have the intestinal fortitude to seriously tackle the problems of guns and drugs in our culture. Until such time, there will be more mass-casualty shootings and bombings, and the body counts will rise accordingly on a more frequent basis.

Hutch Dubosque is a Vietnam Combat Veteran, a retired manufacturing Engineer, and, currently, Vice President of the PTSD Veterans Association of Northport, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) non-profit service organization). He has degrees in both Communications and Energy Technology, and has written on a number of his “blog” sites over the past six years; concentrating mostly on Foreign Affairs and the Military.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Iraq in retrospect

Iraq in retrospect 8/8/2013

A recent essay in Political Science Quarterly ^[1] caught my eye and, having read it, I can say with some degree of certainty that no one in Washington, DC has a clue as to what went wrong with our actions in Iraq. I recall that, after a little “shock & awe” had rained down from the sky, the word out of Washington was that this certainly was not going to be another Viet Nam. We were told by the Beltway intelligentsia that Regime change was a good thing, and, once we had rebuilt Iraq in our image, the world would be a safer place. I find it mildly surprising that these words were uttered from some of the very mouths that told us we were winning in Southeast Asia fifty years hence.

How soon we forget that the identical theories and practices used in Viet Nam were also used in Iraq right from the beginning. Both conflicts centered on Nation States lead by questionable characters. Both lacked a Congressional Act of a Declaration of War and saw the Executive Branch flex its muscle; changing the rules by which this Country is constitutionally supposed to go to war. Both conflicts had their own unique style of a “surge”. Both conflicts dealt with secular tribes at all levels. You can nit-pick at some of the details. Yes, most of the logistics were a little different, given modern day warfare. Yes, the soldiers who fought the battles were trained and equipped a little differently, again given to modernization. And, yes again, Communism is just a little different from radical Islam. Yet, none of that takes away from the fact that the American public was sold down the river one more time. Why do we insist on drinking the Kool-Aide every time some politician thinks it would be good for the Military/Industrial Complex to throw a little armed conflict into the mix? Based on history, yes, we are just that stupid.

What were the leaders saying during these times of armed conflict?

John F. Kennedy, 1961

“Pay any price, bear any burden, meet any

hardship, support any friend…to assure the

survival and success of liberty”. ^[2]

“Kennedy received conflicting advice with regards to Vietnam. Charles DeGaulle warned Kennedy that Vietnam and warfare in Vietnam would trap America in a “bottomless military and political swamp”. ^[2]

“In 1961, Kennedy also agreed that an extra

1000 US military advisers should be sent to

South Vietnam to help train the South

Vietnamese Army.” ^[2]

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? These decisions and the one funding the South Vietnam’s Army were not made public because they broke the agreements made at the 1954 Geneva Agreement. ^[3]What happened in “Camelot”, stayed in “Camelot”. Yes, everybody’s darling of a President lied to us, too. Shocked? Don’t be. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Don Rumsfeld all lied about “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq. There seems to be a historical pattern when the U.S. Government decides it has all the answers to other people’s problems, and unilaterally decides a shooting war is the most effective way to deal with the situation.

Other timely quotes from the notable players

Ho Chi Minh to the French

“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours,

but even at those odds, you will lose

and I will win.” ^[3]

Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You have a row of dominoes set up;

you knock over the first one, and what

will happen to the last one is that it

will go over very quickly.” ^[4]

John F. Kennedy

“Now we have a problem in making our

power credible, and Vietnam is the place.” ^[5]

Lyndon B. Johnson

“Our purpose in Vietnam is to prevent the success of aggression. It is not conquest, it is not empire, it is not foreign bases, it is not domination. It is, simply put, just to prevent the forceful conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam.” ^[6]

********************************************************************************

Saddam Hussein

“Allah is on our side. That is why

we will beat the aggressor.” ^[10]

Saddam Hussein

“We are not intimidated by the size of the armies, or the type of hardware the US has brought.” ^[11]

George W. Bush

“Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where

civilization is taking a decisive stand against

chaos and terror, we must not waver.” ^[12]

George W. Bush

“The tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.” ^[12]

George W. Bush

“Mission Accomplished” ^[13]

George W. Bush

“I sent American troops to Iraq to make its

people free, not to make them American.

Iraqis will write their own history and find

their own way.” ^[14]

And, while Rome burned.............

Richard M. Nixon

“I'm not going to be the first American

President to lose a war.” ^[7]

Henry Kissinger

“We believe that peace is at hand.” ^[8]

Alexander Haig

“We didn't lose Vietnam. We quit Vietnam.” ^[9]

Donald Rumsfeld

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.” ^[^15]

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney

“What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action.” ^[16]

Tommy Franks

“Probably we'll think of Bush in years

to come as an American hero." [17]

Barak Obama

“Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.” ^[18]

( to be continued…….)

***********************************************************************

How much did Vietnam cost?

19 years:

The answer to this depends on how you do the accounting, or who you ask. There are as many estimates as there are “people who know”.

What items do you included in the "cost" of any War? And do adjust for inflation to compare apples to apples? Our Nation spent 828 billion (1975 dollars) on all military operations during the Vietnam War, which is $5 trillion (2008 dollars).

Viet Nam casualties: ^[19]

58,286 KIA or non-combat deaths

303,644 WIA

1,645 MIA

725-837 POW

30% of wounded service members died of their wounds

How much did Iraq cost?

7 years:

There are Analysts and “talking heads” who put the cost of the War at $80 billion. They go on to quote a figure of $10 billion per year to hold the place together. The true cost of the Iraq war: is probably more in the range of$3 trillion to $3.5 trillion.

Iraq casualties: ^[20]

4,452 KIA and non-combat deaths

31,928 WIA

1 MIA

8 POW’s

The enemy:

In both cases, the enemy masterfully engaged in “guerrilla” warfare with the use of “booby traps” and “hit & run” as effective tactics against superior forces.

The outcomes:

In both cases, a negotiated cease fire preceded the withdrawal of American Forces. In both cases, the U.S. Government was humiliated and vowed never to wage a similar war.

While researching quotes and figures, I ran across this article by Major Garrett, “How We Could Do More For Our Vets” ^{[21] [22]}. I wasn’t aware of his concern of, and writing on, Veterans issues, so this article definitely caught my attention. I have included three excerpts from his essay that I feel capture the essence of what the American public needs to know about the men and women who fight their wars.

“According to the Census Bureau, there are 2.5 million 9/11-era veterans. Their rate of service-connected disability is 26.7 percent—far higher than the 20.2 percent rate for the 7.5 million Vietnam-era veterans. The reality is most veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, despite being deployed multiple times, have returned and will return alive. In the Korean War, 2 percent of combat veterans died. In Vietnam, it was 1.7 percent. In Iraq and Afghanistan, it is currently 0.3 percent. This is the result of professional training, precise mission execution, and breath-taking advances in battlefield medicine.” ^[21][22]

“Combat veterans need better service, and they need it now. Their lives wither while they wait for the bureaucracy to process payments for that which they lost on the battlefield. Annual increases in appropriations won't do the trick. Combined annual spending on veterans' care is now more than $140 billion. That figure is up 41 percent from 2009—and we're still way, way behind. Combat veterans deserve better.” ^[21][22]

“I propose paying those costs up front. Now. With debt. Debt that's inexpensive and that can render real and permanent benefits to those who deserve it most. We can sort out the details of who qualifies and for how much. That is easy compared with summoning the political will now to acknowledge the costs, admit the politics of paying them will only become more precarious in the years ahead, and biting the debt bullet now. The debt that is owed is real. We can and should repay it—starting now.” ^[21][22]

I am dumb-founded by the fact that politicians in this modern era can fool all the people all the time when it comes to sending our young men and women off to fight and die on foreign shores. It probably shouldn't surprise me. After all, less than 1% of the Nation’s population sees fit to don the uniforms of our Armed Services. This is certainly not the 1% that the “occupy” movement speaks of. This is the 1% who, when they return to civilian life after their stint in the Military, can’t find a job, can’t pay the rent, can’t put food on the table for their Families, get thwarted at every turn by a Veterans Administration who is supposed to help. And, God forbid if they own a house. The bankers don’t seem to care that it is illegal to foreclose on a Service Member in most instances. It’s not their family, or their kids, being tossed out in the street.

The citizenry of America are the only ones who can change this dilemma into a positive force for peace. Perhaps, our Society does have to reach rock bottom for us to act in any meaningful way. There will always be disagreements between people, tribes, sects, states, and countries. And, the dialogue may get heated from time to time. That’s alright. We can survive that. Possibly, someday, we will come to realize that hurling words at each other is a lot less harmful than hurling bullets.

Bullets tend to have a finite quality about them.

Toenotes:
All images are from "Google" images.

[1] = http://www.psqonline.org/article.cfm?IDArticle=19043#

[2] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html

[3] = http://www.quotesandsayings.com/qvietnam.htm,

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/kennedy_vietnam.htm

[4] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_d_eisenhower.html

[5] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html

[6] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lyndon_b_johnson.html

[7] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richard_m_nixon_2.html

[8] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henry_a_kissinger.html

[9] = http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alexander_haig.html