topic by
real watcher
7/19/2002 (22:25) |
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'A confession to Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld'
Printed on Friday, July 19, 2002 @ 00:58:33 EDT
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=507
By Matt Osborne
YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States)
(YellowTimes.org) ˆ I confess, Mr. Rumsfeld. Blame me. I was the one
who cracked open the Secret Master Plan to make war on Iraq. But I
have to warn you, Don: it would have been somebody, and it could have
been anybody.
From the way you've been jumping up and down reminding the Pentagon
that Secret Master Plans are supposed to be, well, SECRET, I guess our
YellowTimes.org articles must have struck a nerve. You're sending out
mighty memos these days in the vain hope of keeping the generals'
mouths shut.
But you're barking up the wrong tree, Rummy. You are the one who said
something stupid! It was all right there in the open. I'm not just
patting myself on the back, either; this isn't about us, it's about
you and your big mouth, and your pathological distrust of democracy.
You see, this ain't the Soviet Union. There are thirty thousand local
TV stations out there, and my old job used to take me all over the
place - so I stayed in a dozen towns over a dozen days, watching a
dozen local news stories about local National Guard and Reserve units
getting deployed. Where to, they didn't say.
People I knew were getting called back to duty, even pulled out of
military schools. I talked to some of their families, who told me they
had packed desert BDUs. Not that I even had to ask about that - it was
a point of pride for them to know that their sons and husbands were
going to the scene of action.
Funny thing, too: when I turned on Fox News and CNN I saw combat
soldiers in Afghanistan, but they were wearing olive drab and khaki
camouflage, not the tan tricolors of standard desert uniforms. What's
up with that?
But that wasn't the giveaway, Donald - I started asking questions when
I saw your perfunctory disinterest in deploying peacekeeping troops to
Afghanistan. Sure, you're no fan of those Clintonian peace missions,
but this meant that the deploying units must be headed somewhere else.
Duh! That didn't take a genius - and what are you going to do, shut
the press up completely? Because even Fox News broadcast your view of
Afghan peace missions, Donald. Sooner or later this story would have
broken, with or without YellowTimes.org.
Bush's Middle Eastern allies were beating the war drums at his
request: King Abdullah of Jordan showed up on Larry King talking about
the need for a regime change in Iraq.
A representative of the Iraqi National Congress appeared on NPR that
same night, saying that the INC had assurances - for the first time -
that the American administration was determined to change regimes
there.
And this was mere months after Bush and company had cut off aid to the
INC - so why the change in attitude? Oh, but it gets better, Rummy.
Because then I heard the Saudis mumbling about the presence of U.S.
forces there - and there was a flurry of diplomatic activity between
the U.S. and other countries in the Gulf region. The VP went to
Jordan. What's that all about?
The pieces were all in place when I finally got two separate sources
to confirm what I'd already guessed at: a general deployment to new
bases throughout the region, involving Guard and Reserve units. One
source was amazed at how much I already knew without 'concrete'
evidence. Neither of them has ever been to the Pentagon.
I wrote an email to YellowTimes.org's editor, who shared it with other
writers, and Christopher Reilly posted a news article on March 28th,
titled 'U.S. armed forces surrounding Iraq under veil of secrecy.'
Your Secret Master Plan hit the web - where it got snagged by
reporters elsewhere, who have budgets to travel and call people they
know in other countries.
When they started asking these questions in the Pentagon, they got
even better answers than I did. 'Top Secret' bases in Jordan, Oman,
Kuwait, and the Emirates are all over the papers now.
The Pentagon has since confirmed all the particulars we first
reported. Even our speculations have turned out to be correct: Team
Bush's efforts to win Turkey's endorsement appeared on NPR the same
day they reported on your little memo about loose lips sinking ships.
And that brings me to the most crucial point, Don - this isn't World
War II. You can't count on public support for Secret Master Plans
because, well, they're SECRET. And we Americans have a natural,
healthy distrust of secrets.
We're not unpatriotic, we're sincere patriots. And we happen to value
democracy and the Republic more than we value our lives and physical
freedom. We don't cotton to secret plans that threaten our national
honor and way of life more than any box cutter-wielding terrorist
could.
Just imagine, if you will, what could have happened if we hadn't run
this story.
You get your bases and start your war. Thousands of Iraqis die, and an
entire generation of Arabs - representing more than half the
population of most countries in the region - watches it live on Al
Jazeera.
It's bad enough that they watch the Israelis killing Palestinians; now
they're super-political, and they begin turning the entire place
upside- down. Think twelve Iranian revolutions at once.
What then? And how do you replace Saddam? Because you know that,
without him, the whole place goes berserk. The various tribes begin
fighting for control. Baghdad turns into Mogadishu. What then?
The Kurds, the Shi'ites, and the Sunnis reestablish their pecking
order. Where is your Muhammad Karzai to bring them all together - and
will you garrison peacekeepers there, amidst all this danger? What
then?
Oh, and tell Ashcroft over in Justice about what will happen to the
Christians over there. They're seen as regime collaborators, and the
ensuing revolution will spark some very nasty pogroms. Will Team Bush
enjoy propping up a new regime full of Christian-bashers?
Of course, this is all a worst-case scenario, but imagine how betrayed
and angry the American people would feel once your Secret Master Plan
turns out half-cocked and hare-brained.
Don, you forget how democracies win wars. Secret Master Plans always
fail; they invariably get exposed and look stupid. Vietnam was a
Secret War with a Secret Master Plan, and we're still getting over it.
America never heard of Mohammad Farrah Aideed until we saw dead
American soldiers dragged through Mogadishu - and our instant reaction
was, 'what the hell are we doing here?'
Panama and Grenada were 'successful' only because they were over
before America had a chance to digest events. The War Powers Act
didn't kick in, and public opinion didn't take hold; heck, most
Americans couldn't find either country on a map beforehand.
And we're no fans of long, endless missions; we like to know exactly
how far we have to go. What's the endgame in Iraq? Is the game of
musical dictators an acceptable outcome there?
No solution to the Iraq question will ever be simple, quick, or
painless. America's regional allies like to keep us at arm's length in
good times; now they're looking at Afghanistan and wondering if we
plan on leaving them with the cleanup bill.
Saddam isn't the Taliban, and the Kurds aren't going to be your
Northern Alliance. The place is full of pitfalls, but you haven't run
that Master Plan past the American people yet.
Should you put it to a vote? Yes - in Congress. If you're going to
make war, it needs to be as uncomplicated as possible; if it's got to
be complicated, then you need the entire nation to agree with you.
Otherwise, the U.S. is just another Iraq, where leaders make Secret
Master Plans that wind up costing the nation dearly.
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