Bushes' Fault

The current Geo-political situation in the Middle East causes the Colonel to chew on his tongue..., because..., he told you so.

Two decades ago, back at the beginning of the idiotically named Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) -- successful wars are fought against specific regimes; not their tactics -- the Colonel opined that unless and until the specific regimes employing terrorism as their asymmetric weapon of choice were deposed/destroyed, state-sponsored terrorism would continue to plague the planet.

Specifically, the Colonel identified the strategic center of gravity in this fight, and he will repeat it here: 

The strategic center of gravity of the current troubles in the Middle East (with spill-over effects globally) is the Iranian theo-fascist regime. 

Parenthetically, it matters not what the brand of theism is. Despite the inane and shallow attempts by many to portray the current conflict in the region as religiously motivated, the root cause of this conflict is the same as it has always been in every war in history: Land, Resources, and Power.

Let the Colonel repeat that for clarity.  The root cause of all conflict is Land, Resources, and Power.  And, yes, the Colonel includes supposedly religion-based conflicts such as the spread of various caliphates across the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula, and the strategic counterattacks of the Crusades and the Castille-Aragon alliance.              

Certainly, leaders cloak their ambitions in religious garb to inflame the passions of the people, but they couldn't care less for the spiritual welfare of their people -- only that they fall in line.  

Iran -- more specifically, the theocratic dictatorship running the nation of Iran -- is the single largest supporter of terrorism on the planet.  Has been for the last two generations.  Without Iran's material support, Hamas, Hezbollah, and a plethora of lesser-known militant groups employing terror -- internally, as well as externally -- to exert control over local land, resources, and power, would not exist.  Iran bankrolls these groups' terror tactics. Period.

The Iranian regime cloaks its territorial, resource, and power ambitions in the garb of Shia Islam, but the theo-fascist Iranian regime cares not one whit for the spiritual welfare of the people of the region.  

So, if the Iranian regime is the strategic center of gravity of the current conflict in the Middle East, why did we waste so much time, blood, and treasure on peripheral campaigns (Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly) that had no appreciable effect on diminishing Iranian influence in the region?

Bushes' fault.

For those of you whose historical memory is limited by lack of study and/or age, the expeditionary forces of the United States and an unprecedented coalition of Middle Eastern and European nations had Saddam Hussein's bloody regime on the ropes in the Spring of 1991 and failed to administer the coup d' gras.  What took another expensive expedition twelve years later to effect regime change, could have been accomplished quickly in 1991.  That was George (the elder) Bush's fault.  

The intervening decade saw a weakened Sadam Hussein's Baathist regime struggle (with bloody results) to resist growing Iranian influence over the majority Shia population in the southeastern portion of their territory, and a growing Kurdish nationalism in the northeastern portion.  

Because we didn't depose Sadaam in 1991, he was left alive to plot an assassination attempt against Bush 41, for which Bush 43 held an understandable grudge.  But grudges rarely make good bases for strategy.  The attacks of 9/11/2001 and the resultant Congressional Authorization of Force for the Global War on Terror (the phrase still sets the Colonel's teeth on edge) gave Bush 43 the green light to topple Sadaam in the Spring of 2023.  

A brilliantly executed destruction of Sadaam's forces was followed by a dismally bad occupation and rehabilitation of the nation of Iraq.  Instead of maintaining an overwhelming force in Iraq until we re-established the security apparatus we broke, token forces were left in place with large red targets on their backs.  Not only did the understrength US and allied forces struggle to defeat the Sunni insurgency in the west, but US forces were increasingly under attack by Iranian-backed militias in the south.  It is no exaggeration to say that the theo-fascist regime in Tehran was directly responsible for several hundred US military deaths at the hands of Shia militia trained and supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).  

Bushes' fault.  

Had we liberated the Iraqi people from the brutal Baathist Regime immediately following the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, we would have been free to address the true center of gravity for the current terrorism scourge: the mad mullahs in Teheran.

And now, two decades later, the theo-fascist regime in Iran, whose tentacles have spread not only across the Middle East, but also throughout our own hemisphere, is at the bottom of the vast majority of the terroristic mischief plaguing regions whose fate are undeniably in the strategic interest of the United States.  

It's not rocket science -- it's basic strategic thought.  Iran's ruling regime is the Center of Gravity.  Take it out and peace will break out.     

A Dog Named "Heck"

The Colonel's father, the quiet and straight-shooting Mister Vernon, sat nursing a cup of hot black coffee (Gregory men don't drink iced or polluted coffee) and watching his bird-brained son's cloud of thirsty hummingbirds milling buzzily around a feeder just out of arm's reach.  For long, still minutes, broken only by the hum and chatter of the ruby-throats, the Gregory patriarch and his heir apparent (with no hair apparent) sat in the oak shade relishing the slightest of breezes blowing away the growing heat of a July morning.

"Almost comfortable out here this morning," the old man finally offered to the sparse conversation.

"Yessir."  

"Could use some rain."

The Colonel thumbed open the weather app on his phone.  "Nothing in the forecast for at least a week."

"Hmmmph. Whaddatheyknow."

"Well, it is July in Mississippi, Dad.  Ain't never much chance of rain in July."

Buzzing and chattering filled the warm air between them, again.  Sometimes bird chatter is preferable to the human kind.  But, as quiet as Gregory men can be on occasion, the urge to talk is often irresistible, and stray synapses fire to spark stories. 

"Inherited a weird dog, once."

"Sir?"

"His name was Heck.  Weird dog.  He belonged to my cousin, Al.  When Al went off to the Army, ole Heck took up with me."

"What kind of dog was he?"

"German shepherd.  Big ole scruffy, German shepherd.  Weird dog."

"What was weird about him?"

"Well, for starters, ole Heck had a broke tail.  He would follow me to Lee High School and run alongside my bike.  Got his tail stuck in my spokes once and broke a crook in it."

"Did that break him from following you to school."

"Naw. He just kept his distance."

"Ha! I bet he did."

"Weird dog.  Had a big chunk of brick that he chewed on like a bone."

"A chunk of brick?"

"Yeah, a big ole chunk of brick.  Ole Heck could hardly get his jaws around it.  He'd just chew and slobber, and roll his eyes like he was having a fit.  That brick bat had been kinda square, but Heck had the thing pretty well rounded off.  I tried to take it away from him a couple of times, but I could never pry it out of his jaws."

The patriarch looked off into the middle distance.  The birds buzzed and chattered.  The Colonel waited for the next story synapses to fire.

"Ole Heck carried that brick to school one day and one of the teachers saw him sitting on the front steps with that big ole brick bat in his mouth, eyes rolled back in his head.  She felt sorry for Heck, 'poor puppy has a brick wedged in his jaws!'  She knelt down and tried and tried to get the brick out of Heck's jaws.  She couldn't budge it.  Ole Heck just laid there with his eyes rolled back in his head, slobberin'."

"She stood up and asked, 'whose dog is this?'.   I just shrugged my shoulders.  I wasn't gonna claim that weird dog."

"Ole Heck got up and walked over to me, dropped the brick at my feet and turned and grinned at that teacher.  She glared at me for a moment and then stormed up the steps."

"Ole Heck went missing a few weeks later and my mother sent me out to look for him.  I didn't look too hard." 

 

 

Rebel's Rules

In no particular order of importance or inspirational catastrophic event; and with no claim of originality nor exclusivity:

1.  Tractors don't swim. (Don't ask.)

2.  Loving a woman is like paddling a canoe in a stiff breeze -- both require constant attention, a little bit at a time.  

3.  First reports are nearly always false, but perfect intelligence is unattainable.

4.  That which does not kill you, may make you a cripple.

5.  E-mail kills.  The spoken word is thin as air, the written word is always there. 

6.  The speed and accuracy of an electron is inversely related to the urgency of the task involving the electron.

7.  Power tools don't discriminate.

8.  Low-information voting is not an exclusive province of either end of the political spectrum.

9.  "Please" and "Thank you" are power words.

10.  Trees and trucks are mortal enemies.

11.  Give a man a 4WD truck, a length of chain, and a chainsaw and he will play, not-so quietly, by himself for hours.

12.  Any store that doesn't sell duck calls and stink bait is a waste of bricks and mortar.

13.  Eating during hours of daylight is a sign of weakness.

14.  A mug of strong, hot coffee fuels inspiration.  

15.  Never trust a man who wears a hat indoors.

16.  Never trust a man who wears his hat backwards -- fashion statements are for women.

17.  Never trust a man who doesn't carry a pocket knife.

18.  The bigger the knife the smaller the man.

19.  Never underestimate the destructive potential of a squad of Marines, a three-year old grandson, or a six-month old labrador retriever.

20.  Empires that build walls aren't empires for much longer.

21.  The larger the known universe becomes, the greater God is.

22.  Gardens cause weeds and trailer parks cause tornadoes.

23.  Perception becomes reality.

24.  The best ideas in any organization usually come from the ranks.

25.  An organization is as great as the leader says.

26.  Hope is not an acceptable course of action.

27.  Training is everything and everything is training.

28.  Meetings that last longer than 15 minutes usually devolve into pole vaulting over mouse turds.

29.  Executive actions are indicative of legislative paralysis.

30.  No such thing as an "over-built" bridge.

31.  Change is a dragon; fight it and be eaten; ride it and live.

32.  The line beyond which a word or idea is considered "politically incorrect" incessantly encroaches on common sense and freedom of expression, and is destructive to society-binding customs, courtesies and traditions.

33.  Political correctness is antithetical to diversity.

34.  Pity the man who has everything to live for and nothing worth dying for.

35.  February is twenty-eight days of being pecked to death by a duck.

36.  Never pass up the opportunity to allow someone else the opportunity.

37.  Republics either continue to expand, or contract into irrelevance.

38.  Chewing gum is the devil.

39.  The highest responsibility of the government of a free people is to stay out of the way of the people it serves. 

40.  Limited war limits the possibility of a satisfactory outcome.

41.  Covering wood grain with a coat of paint is a crime against nature.

42.  Nothing calms the soul like a bird at your feeder.

43.  Men and women are different for a reason and equal by reason.

44.  No such thing as a fair fight.

45.  Nothing good happens after midnight, unless you're at home.

46.  Sleep is the reward of the righteous.

47.  One man's music is another man's noise; share accordingly.

48.  There's no such thing as a free lunch, a deep discount, or a pet rattlesnake.

49.  Wherever you go, that's where you are.

50.  The smartest man in any room is the man looking for the smartest man in the room. 

51.  The Pepsi Rule: Drinking more alcoholic drinks in one sitting than you would drink non-alcoholic drinks is alcohol abuse.

52.  A long walk alone is therapy for a frantic mind.

53.  Righteous indignation is a dish best served rarely.

54.  A license to drive should not be issued to anyone without a full-time job.

55.  Never pass up the opportunity to catch the buck.

56.  The "perfect" leader would have perfect subordinates.

57.  Boredom is God's call to prayer.

58.  Understand the present by knowing history; understand history by knowing geography.

59.  Climate and culture are not static.

60.  A man who makes long lists of sophomoric sentences has far too much time on his hands.