Time to Wake Up

January 6, 2012

As Broadcast on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America

By Seth Leibsohn

 

Yesterday, our Secretary of Defense, with the President standing next to him, said we will be cutting the Defense budget.  He assured us, or tried to, by saying, “There’s no question that we have to make some trade-offs and that we will be taking, as a result of that, some level of additional but acceptable risk in the budget plan that we release next month.  These are not easy choices.”  Additional risk.  Additional acceptable risk.

 

I’ve never been privileged to serve in the military or law enforcement for that matter, but I know that one thing you don’t want when you are at the point of the spear is to know that you are taking more additional risk than you already have to.  If that line about “acceptable risk” wasn’t bothersome enough, here’s the opening paragraph of the Washington Post news story on the Obama military cuts:  “The U.S. military will steadily shrink the Army and Marine Corps, reduce forces in Europe and probably make further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the Obama administration said Thursday in a preview of how it intends to reshape the armed forces after a decade of war.”

 

How will all our interests in Europe be defended?  Here’s what the British Defense Minister said yesterday:  we will “need to reassure the U.S. that we are serious about defense.”  Europe will now need to reassure us.   So the West’s defense strategy now has the US receding on the stage and hoping for traditionally weaker allies, in even worse economic shape that we are in, to step up.  On our social front, Bill Bennett once remarked we have become the kind of place to which civilized countries used to send missionaries.  To that I will now add on the military and defense front that we are the kind of country that now requires the defense of others.

 

Here’s how the Wall Street Journal opened its news story on this: “President Barack Obama on Thursday proposed a historic shift in the U.S. military’s size and ambitions, scaling back its ability to wage the type of war and occupation that just concluded in Iraq as the administration seeks to cut defense spending over the next decade.

 

“Under the proposal, the Army would face a 14% reduction in troops—leaving it with too few to conduct two grueling ground wars at once, long a strategic imperative of the Defense Department.”

 

Historic shift…scaling back…reduction in troops…too few to conduct two grueling ground wars at once.

 

Just a simple question:  Has the world become appreciably safer over the last, say, three years?  Or, has it become more dangerous?  I look at a Russia on the march, a nearly nuclear Iran that threatens us daily now, North Korea as unstable as ever, China as bold as ever, Pakistan as precipitous as ever, Egypt converted from an ally to an enemy with the Muslim Brotherhood taking over, an Iraq in tatters as it considers alignment with Iran, and an Afghanistan yet solidified but with plans for the US to leave, and a missile defense system planned in Poland and the Czech Republic that we cancelled two-and-a-half years ago; and I say the world, by any obvious analysis, has not only become more dangerous and appreciably less safe, but more dangerous and appreciably less safe for America and its allies.

 

And so we think it wise to enact cuts that make it harder to fight if we have to fight, and we think it wise to broadcast plans that we are making it harder on ourselves to fight should any of our enemies be reading our newspapers or listening to our newscasts and taking note as they consider their strategies.  What must they think of America right now?  What must an Iran think it might be able to get away with.  Here’s an answer, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal editorial page a few days ago: “Taking hostages? Check. Sponsoring terrorism? Check. Covertly pursuing nuclear weapons? Check. Under international sanctions? Check. Repressing its own people? Another check.”  Add to those checks the attempted bombing of a restaurant in Washington, DC, the capturing of a US drone, and its generals threatening to blow us out of the Straight of Hormuze.  What comes next, after all this?  Think about that: what comes next?

 

But the larger point is this:  We are disarming.  Let us say it more directly: we are weakening ourselves, and at the point of greater likelihood, not less, that we may have to fight two ground wars simultaneously again…and that we may have to do so because our very own policies are creating those circumstances.  What was announced yesterday was not another example of leading from behind, it was an example of statecraft as madness.

 

As an economic matter—as all this is dressed up to be—it’s equally unserious.  As Mark Steyn has written, “Well before the end of this decade interest payments on the debt will consume more of the federal budget than military spending. So you could abolish the Pentagon, sell off the fleet to Beijing and the nukes to Tehran and Khartoum and anybody else who wants ‘em, and we’d still be heading off the cliff.”  The military is not the problem—we are making it the problem and we are making the world more problematic by making the military the problem.

 

The additional tragedy here is not just everything I reported, it is that this story will bury the other large story of the week, or, I should say the other story of the week that should have been larger:  The US has been engaged in direct talks, that is, negotiations, with the Taliban, negotiations that began one year ago, and they include the release of prisoners from Guantanamo, including Mullah Mohammed Fazl who is responsible for the massacre of thousands of people, has close relationships with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, is involved in narcotics trafficking, and is considered to pose a “high risk” to American forces and our allies if released.

 

There you have it.  We’ve gone from bombing a country out of the stone age (in Christopher Hitchens’ memorable phrase) to doing everything one would do if asked “how do we go about reinstalling that very government we ousted?”

 

One of the tragedies of war, folks, is that we sometimes don’t end them well.  I hope we can all see we’ve now gone some distance beyond that.  The left, during the height of the war against radical Islam in Iraq and Afghanistan, continually lectured us that our military efforts were folly, that our soldiers were dying in vain.  That was a disgusting enough set of criticisms, but not nearly as disgusting to me as it is to precipitously withdraw our soldiers from the battlefields as we actually negotiate with those we said there could be no negotiation with and then release the worst of their war criminals as quote, unquote confidence building measures—as if we need to give the likes of the Taliban confidence building measures.  The Taliban.  That retrograde regime of fascists that welcomed bin Laden, gave him and al-Qaeda safe haven to train terrorists, plan and bomb the United States, and treated women as if they were lower than dogs, pigs, and monkeys.  The stone age was too modern a term for the Taliban—and we are bringing them back.

 

That was the story I feared would get buried this week by the story of our cutting the Army and Marine corps.

 

But as I related some of this to a friend this week, he kept saying to me, “What ‘we,’ what ‘our,’ Kimosabe?  And he makes a fair point.  The policies and actions I describe—and they are of a piece with so many other disastrous policies on the world and domestic stages—are done in our name, because we are one people and one nation.  But they have been done in our name by one man and one administration.

 

I despise the extra-constitutional routing of the Constitutional Senate process to name government officials.  That is clear contempt for our democratic processes.  But let us put at least as much attention on the weakening of ourselves and our allies; no, I’m sorry, the endangering of ourselves and our allies, by the very policies and actions of President Barack Obama.  There are not enough radio stations and affiliates to discuss all that this administration is doing over any given week.  So, the task is all of ours.  Talk to your friends about this.  Talk to your neighbors about this.  Make it a passion of yours beyond our brief time together.  This country deserves at least that—our passion for its defense.  Inaction over a weakened America is no virtue.  Accountability still matters, in fact, I think it’s the essence of democracy.

“There are stars who’s light only reaches the earth long after they have fallen apart.  There are people who’s remembrance gives light in this world, long after they have passed away.  This light shines in our darkest night on the road we must follow.
The Talmud

Love,
Amma

(Reposted from 31 December 2009)

I reference it here for The Daughter and The Boy for reasons they know too well.  I think they will appreciate it.

I am also feeling quite guilty. There have been many moments of gratitude, deep abiding gratitude, in between moments of sorrow and despair.  And thanks to Gerard for reminding me.  I’ll be getting back to to the Best Thing About Today Posts…right now….

* American Digest

*Everything on my to do list…has a check mark next to it. I AM ready for Christmas.  God Bless us every one!

*A song I often sing to myself when times are  not so simple….as they have been of late….(“I’m still alive and no one’s shooting at me”  always makes me smile.)

Love,
Mom & Amma

Thank you.

Love,
Mom

Love,
Mom

I chose someone on the list of broken links who was the age I am now.   Yvonne E. Kennedy.  Rather than paraphrasing the many articles I’ve read about her, I’m just going to repost her biography from the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.

Yvonne Estelle O’Prey was born to Jack and Mona O’Prey on the 29th of June 1939, in the Western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Seven years later her brother, Barrie, was born.

Yvonne attended Glenfield Primary School and furthered her education at Liverpool Girls High School, where she completed her Senior Certificate. Yvonne began working as a secretary and bookkeeper for ES&A Bank in Sydney. She worked for both the South Sydney Council and the Sydney City Council.

Even at this early stage in her life, Yvonne was smitten by the travel bug and lived for a time in New Zealand. On returning to Sydney, she met the love of her life, Barry Leigh Thomas Kennedy. They courted and were married on the 16th of January 1972.

In 1973, Leigh James Charles Kennedy was born and in the following year, Simon Paul Kennedy arrived. They grew together as a family and built the family home in the Sydney suburb of Toongabbie. Yvonne and Barry commenced their own successful business and traveled the world with their two boys.

With two active boys constantly getting into mischief, Yvonne realized the importance of having knowledge of first aid and, consequently, in 1976 Yvonne joined the Australian Red Cross as a volunteer and First Aid instructor, reaching the rank of Commandant.

On the 10th of May 1985, Barry tragically died, leaving Yvonne to care for the business and their two boys alone. Yvonne’s parents, Jack and Mona, moved to Toongabbie to assist her, and as the years went by, Yvonne tended to the needs of her aging parents and cared for them until their deaths.

In 1990, Yvonne began her career as a full-time staff member at Red Cross. Her work involved developing the Voluntary Aid Detachment and Training and Coordinating First-Aid volunteers. The Australian Red Cross became Yvonne’s passion; she continued her work there until her retirement on the 15th of December 2000 and, of course, once again became a volunteer.

Yvonne was awarded the “Australian Red Cross Distinguished Service Medal” in May 2001. In July 2001, she was elected Executive Officer of the Corps – a position she would never have the opportunity to fulfill.

Yvonne proudly attended the wedding of her eldest son, Leigh, to Tracey Kathleen in New Zealand in March 2001.

Her interest in travel never subsided. Yvonne decided to have the adventure of a lifetime – a tour of North America, Canada and the Arctic. She set off for her dream holiday on the 4th of August, due to return home on September 15th. Yvonne never made it home. Her trip was cut short by a tragic chain of events. Yvonne passed away happy, living her dream.

She was the strongest pillar of her family. Her door was always open to those in need and those who wanted to see a friendly face. She was loved, respected and admired by all who knew her. She will be sadly missed by her family and friends. Her determination and her spirit will be with us forever.

Reposting on this 10th anniversary of the day that changed everything…

Nina Patrice Bell from the NYT

Nina Bell was every inch a fighter pilot’s daughter — slender, athletic and looking even taller than her 5 feet, 8 inches. Born in the Netherlands, the first stop in a nomadic Air Force childhood, she grew up confident, smart, “the It girl,” as a friend once put it. A bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder led her to become a manager of information systems and, most recently, into project management.

But to her friends and family, there was also the side that was not all business. Ms. Bell’s notebook had a bumper sticker that read, “Mean People Suck.” With her brother, Lowell Bell, 40, she kept up a private banter, sometimes based on the dim Canadian duo, the Mackenzie brothers, from the 1970′s television show, “Second City TV.” “Hey, hoser,” she would call him.

This September, Ms. Bell, 39, had settled in Manhattan, in a new apartment on the Upper East Side and in a new job as a project manager with Marsh & McLennan. In an e-mail message to her friend Lorraine Davis on Monday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m., Ms. Bell wrote, “I am so very happy.”

Nine years later, here I sit, “remembering” a young woman I never knew. A young woman who was a member of Mensa, having scored in the top 2% of the general population on a standardized intelligence test. Who loved her Yorkshire Terrier. Who was adored by her sister, as shown in an entry in Nina’s Legacy Guest Book.

January 07, 2002

there may be words enough to express the loss of my sister but I don’t have them. if you knew her at all, you have an idea how great the loss really is. if you didn’t know her – you missed a good one…please think of her often. it keeps her close. and finally, try to take the counsel offered in her tag-line!love!laugh!play! – nipabe

~

Dutch Bell,

Boston, Massachusetts

How do you “remember” someone you never knew? That was the question I asked myself as I thought about signing up for the 2,996 Project. I signed up and decided to figure out the “how” later. I’d read a lot of the profiles done in previous years but was still intimidated…especially after beginning to read about my assigned name…

GLENN J. WINUK

A name, and my memory of 11 September 2001, was what I started out with. “What is a name?” The answer, I am still discovering, is many things. As I began my research I realized I’d been assigned a hero…in the truest sense of the word. A man who ran into the danger.

Mr. Winuk had been a volunteer firefighter for 20 years with the Jericho, New York Fire Department. On that tragic morning of 11 September, Mr. Winuk was in his office at Holland & Knight a block away from the World Trade Center. After helping evacuate his own workplace, his first instinct (a hero’s instinct) was to do what he could to help.

“Glenn was last seen outside the recently evacuated New York office at approximately 9:30 a.m., donning some simple emergency gear — a mask and gloves,” Robert R Feagin, managing partner, and William J. Honan, executive partner, said in a statement.

He had also been involved in the evacuation of the towers after the 1993 bombing.

I thought about a poem that was sent to me after my mother passed away. It is called The Dash. I began to do the same thing I’d done with my mother, making a list of descriptors…words I could almost “see” between the dates…the essence of “who” that is represented in the dash. Reading the Legacy.com Guest Book for Mr. Winuk, the words of people who knew him stood out on the pages.

1961

-

hero…special…intelligent…sterling example…funny…selfless… kind..caring…

good..integrity…helpful…gentle…giving…good hearted…substance…warm…

generous…compassionate…hell of a guy…calm…honorable…strength…

trusted…powerful…modest…genuine…sincere…humble…patriotic…gifted…

2001

Just four days before the 8th anniversary of 9/11 Glenn Winuk has posthumously received the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor.

From Newsday:

For Seymour and Elaine Winuk, having their son posthumously recognized with the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor Monday was bittersweet.

Just four days before the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the Winuk family gathered at the Jericho park named after Glenn Winuk to receive the recognition they had long been seeking.

“We’re sorry we lost him,” said Seymour Winuk, 78, of Jericho. “But he’s getting an award that is well deserved for many reasons.”

A 19-year volunteer firefighter for the Jericho Fire Department, Glenn Winuk was hailed Monday for his willingness to put himself in harm’s way to rescue people. He responded to the crash in 1990 of Avianca Flight 52 in Cove Neck and three years later to the bombing of the World Trade Center.

And on Sept. 11, 2001 when the first plane hit the North Tower, Winuk, an attorney in a law firm nearby, helped evacuate the building he was working in, then rushed toward the chaos.

Winuk, 40, died when the South Tower collapsed. Six months later, his remains were found next to those of other would-be rescuers.

“He was always running to help people,” his father said.

Because Winuk had not been an active member of the fire department since 1998, the Department of Justice refused to recognize him as a qualified rescuer who died in the line of duty.

I think it is appropriate to use the paraphrased Gen. Patton quote used every week in the Wednesday Hero posts.

We Should Not Only Mourn The Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

NEVER FORGET

“Happier Times”

Shape that i’m in
Never let her down a day in my life
Tree’s all around me
As i see the time pass me by

Never trade you for the world
Never do the things i used to
I guess it’s not good enough
This i see

But I’ll remember happier times

Life it hits me
Comes faster now day by day
Places that i’ve been
Are not the place i wanna be

Never trade you for the world
Never do the things i used to
I guess it’s not good enough
This i see

And i’ll remember happier times

Friday comes and goes
I guess i won’t talk to you anymore
So many things unsaid
So many things i wanna say

Never trade you for the world
Never do the things i used to
I guess it’s not good enough
This i see

But I’ll remember happier times
And Now remember happier times