60 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 8 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 7/31/08

Keeping it Simple - Stupid

By       (Page 3 of 3 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   7 comments
Message Stephen Pizzo
Become a Fan
  (12 fans)
All of which tells me we have a pretty amazing tolerance for selfinflicted carnage. Would that we showed the same restraint after 9/11.

 (Oh, and as the RAND folks suggested, drop the "War of Terror" slogan. Because the only thing that's made it a war is the Yosemite Sams in this administration.)


Just this week, the Pentagon's favorite right wing think tank, the Rand Corporation, released a study showing that only 7% of the world's terrorist groups have been defeated militarily. The other 93% who were defeated either negotiated a political settlement or were arrested or killed by the police.

So.

1) As for domestic security turn the job over to the nation's cops, FBI, and America's Most Wanted.  Yes I know they failed us on the lead up to 9/11. But interagency cooperation and intelligence-sharing has since been greatly improved. Improve it more. Make sure the channels of communication between local and federal law enforcement are unencumbered by turf nonsense and that local authorities have the information, tools and authority to act independently and quickly. The idea that somehow the Pentagon and NSA can protect folks in San Francisco's financial district is absurd in the extreme. No one knows their own community, and the people in it, than local cops.

2) But what about Islamic nations that continue  supporting and/or harboring terrorists? We won a much more potentially dangerous war, the Cold War, by containing our would-be enemies. Containment worked then and it can work here again. Remove our troops from the entire region. Let the countries involved that we will have nothing to do with them until they get a handle on things within their own borders. That means no military aid, no humanitarian aid, no food aid, no World Bank loans, nothing, nada.  (Oh, and yes, that includes the Saudis. In fact they would be the first ones on our list of countries to isolate, if we weren't hooked on their oil. Which brings us back to the first part of this post... put a floor under the price of gas, then choke the Saudis off where it really hurts, the palace pocketbook.)

3) But what if we are attacked by terrorists from one of those countries anyway? That's what all that expensive, high-tech stand-off weaponry we keep paying to develope is for. Any attack traced to terrorists from a particular country or countries, would be responded to with a punishing round of cruise missiles. But let's not waste these expensive dodads on terrorist mud huts. Instead target that nation's expensive infrastructure; bridges, dams, power grids, stuff that cost money and takes time to replace. (As you can tell, I'm not a turn-the-other-cheerker. I'm Sicilian.) I call it my "Just Don't Do That" defense policy. When a troublesome nation gets tired of replacing all that expensive infrastructure they'll have to decide if they want to keep replacing it or if maybe it wouldn't be cheaper to just get rid of of the terrorists. If not, and it happens again, we do it again. After all, it's no skin off our nose since we won't have our own troops in harm's way.


There. Now will someone in Washington just get this stuff done. I pay taxes so I don't have to get involved in this kind of nitty gritty, day to day operations of government. That's what we pay you guys and gals up there to do. So for Christ sake do it, will ya?


Oh, and do try to keep it simple -- stupid!

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Stephen Pizzo Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a Pulitzer.

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Secrets Kill Too

Dying for Change

What's the Matter With Gaza?

Who You Callin' Un-American?

Worst Clinton Contributor Ever

I Was At the Birth...

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend