This photo (again from ABC News) shows a proud schoolmaster and teaching staff as they send their apt pupils off with their new skills. One wonders if they dispense actual certificates or simply strap on the vests right then and there.

The photo (and others, as well as a videotape) was obtained from a Pakistani journalist who had been invited to the event to document the occasion. On the videotape, a Taliban military commander, Mansoor Dadullah, was shown introducing and congratulating each team as they stood.

“These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from
faraway places,” Dadullah says on the tape. “Why shouldn’t we go after them?”

Apparently this guy didn’t get the “we have to fight them over there so they don’t follow us home and fight with us here” memo the president sent out. Fortunately, there’s no possible way even one of these guys could make it into the US. After all, President Bush has personally done everything possible to make sure that our land borders are secure enough that we at least know who is coming in and going out, and he’s done everything a guy could do to make sure that airport security isn’t just a sham, and he’s even tried to keep an eye on all of our ports so that nothing bad could slip in through there. Yessiree, these Suicide Teams haven’t got a chance against the US.

Tell me again why we left the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to fight Saddam in Iraq?

Speaking from the Oval Office, Bush again used the events of September 11, 2001 to further politicize America’s security and to drive a wedge between the American people. In the past, this effort has been successful, as so many American’s prefered to believe in the fantasies of their commander in chief. Today, fewer and fewer people are buying the administration’s version of reality. With mounting evidence to refute much of what the president believes, it’s no wonder that Americans of all stripes and political persuasions are turning away from Bush and his neo-con agenda. Much like a Hollywood film purportedly ‘based’ on real events, the difference between the real world and the world according to Bush is stark. Consider a few of the following points…

Bush Reality: “On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.”

Actual Reality: Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taliban, and our ally in the GWOT, Pakistan, has made peace with some elements of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This is hardly a picture of a Taliban on the run. And what was that again about distinguishing between terrorists and states that harbor them? Of course, when you ‘cut and run’ from an unfinished military effort, as Bush did in Afghanistan so he could start a war in Iraq, this is not an altogether unexpected result. If only Afghanistan had a bunch of oil, maybe we’d have finished the job. Then again…

Bush Reality: “Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice. “

Actual Reality: The U.S. government has closed up the task force whose main goal was to track and capture or kill bin Laden. In fact, they haven’t been actively looking for bin Laden for years. After downplaying bin Laden for years, Bush has only recently begun to reincarnate this boogeyman as we near the mid-term elections, an election that most politicians and pundits believe will result in reversals of the Republican majority in one or both houses of government.

Bush Reality: “I’m often asked why we’re in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat…The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.”

Actual Reality: Hussein was an evil, brutal dictator, but he posed no threat to the United States, unless one considers his desire to create his own oil bourse using Euros instead of dollars as the primary exchange currency. The recent Senate Intelligence Committee report states as much by noting that Iraq had no WMD’s and no ties to al-Qaeda. Kuwait may be safer today. Maybe even Iran or Israel are safer today. But ordinary Iraqi’s seem to be no safer, and certainly the U.S., Spain, Britain, Indonesia, and scores of other countries are not safer because Hussein was militarily deposed. This assertion by Bush is just another in a long string of false information clearly not supported by the facts on the ground.

Bush Reality: “We’ve tightened security at our airports and seaports and borders…”

Actual Reality: Little to no action has been taken to secure American sea ports, strengthen security at our borders, or improve actual security at airports, unless you count banning water bottles and frisking grandmothers. It is almost as if by simply saying the word ‘security’ Bush expects us to believe that it is being done. But several million illegal border crossings do not suggest a secure border. Less than 10% of port cargo being inspected either before shipping or before being off-loaded into ports does not suggest increased port security.

I could go on and on and on deflating the president’s bubble of false assertions, but you clearly get the point. The president and his policies have offered little to America and the world in terms of security or success against global terrorism. In fact, his policy of preemptive war has only helped fuel the fires that create more terrorists. Time and again, the most successful efforts against terrorists and their plots have been won through persistent policing and investigative work. They have not been borne at the end of a gun, with the drop of a bomb, or by waterboarding some captured jihadist.

George W. Bush may not be a 21st century Nazi, but his propaganda tactics sure would make Joseph Goebbels proud. Indeed, by sticking to the Nazi propaganda minister’s primary dictum, that one must only repeat a lie often enough for it to eventually be taken for the truth, Bush has riden a wave of irrational exuberance for the last four years. It took total annihilation for the German people to rid themselves of their insidious propaganda government. Fortunately for America, we only have to wait a few more months. Come November, America will be changing the direction. We’ve had more than enough of the course we’re on now.

Purely by accident, I was born in the good old U.S. of A. From my first breath, I already held an advantage over two thirds of the planets human population. I did nothing to deserve this; my eventual skills played no part in my good fortune. It just was.

But rather than assume that the advantage of birth is a foregone conclusion, entitling me to all the good things in life just because, I came to realize that success, whether individual or larger scale, is built on the backs of those who came before us. I was lucky to be born in a country that was technologically advanced, democratically governed, and financially affluent. All of these things contribute to my present condition, and they were fought for and won by those who came before me. So despite my own hard work to prop myself up, others paved the way, created an environment for me to excel, and defended the rights of the common man as described in our Constitution.

Yet with so much in my favor, with so much good fortune on my side, why is it that I am so angry at what our country is becoming; at what it has become? This is a question posed often in various ways by conservative commenters and writers who fail to see not only what is changing in America, but also how it is that we got to be so advantaged in the first place.

“What are you whining about?” they say snidely. Or, “Why should I care about that?” in response to some social or foreign policy issue. For someone with limited ability to see beyond one’s own good fortune or pleasant circumstances, the question may seem valid. And try though I might to illuminate my displeasures, the moat of selfishness is often too large to breach. Yet for the sake of trying, I will make another attempt, in statement and response form.

“Why do you always blame everything on Bush?”The president is a categorical liar, beginning with his self-description of “compassionate conservative” to his rationale about Iraq through to his false refutations regarding foreknowledge of the potential damage from Katrina. And these are just the big ones. He has a proven record as a failed businessman, a proven record of unbridled cronyism, and an unhealthy love affair with corporations. He distorts spirituality and cheapens religious beliefs by using them as cynical political ploys. And, he and his administration are responsible for the policies and actions that have gutted decades of environmental and social progression, lowered our reputation among the nations of the world, and squandered our tax revenue and our soldiers in pursuit of folly and a misguided sense of destiny.

“The economy is doing just fine. People who don’t make it are just lazy and expect handouts.”The economy may be okay in my house and in your house, but that could change in a heart attack. Even with my own great medical plan, one major situation and I’m in the hole. But I understand that my own good job is dependent on so many others. With increased outsourcing, there are fewer good paying jobs around. That means less money to spend or circulate, lower tax revenue, fewer public works and support, and on and on. The net effect of other people losing their jobs is felt by us all, and that concerns me, both on a personal level and from an empathetic point of view. Because I don’t just worry about myself. I care about other people too.

“There is no right to health care in the constitution.”There is no right to corporate subsidies either. To paraphrase an original American patriot, give me equity or give me nothing. The Declaration of Independence proclaims the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution declares government to provide for the general welfare of the people. I can’t seem to find the words corporation or lobbyist anywhere in these documents. I can more readily parse “good, affordable health care” from those documents than I can for corporate welfare.Yet aside from the human element, even corporations would benefit from a release of financial obligations for employee health care. It can be done and it should be done.

“Nobody cares about the wiretapping.”Aside from being patently false, the number of people who care is not the relevant issue at hand in the illegal wiretapping scheme carried out by this president. It was, and still remains, an illegal practice as performed at the direction of the president. He is not above the law. No amount of spin can change the facts. Most people don’t care about a hold-up at an obscure 24-hour mini-mart either, but we don’t stop arresting armed robbers. The issue here is not only did the president break the law, but we have men and women dying today fighting to preserve and spread our democratic belief in the rule of law. We’ve had men and women dying for generations to preserve the ideal. It is both a stain on their sacrifice and a spit on their memory to allow any public official, but especially a president, to get away with that kind of arrogance.

“Criticism only emboldens the terrorists. I guess you love al-Qaeda.”And I guess you are a complete idiot. Anyone not thoroughly brainwashed by neo-con, ultra-evangelical ideology can see that it is my deep love of the good fortune I now have that causes me distress over the course this country is on. I see an unsustainable federal spending spree forcing generations to pay for today’s errors, ultimately driving down our country’s economic stability and superiority. I see social programs, designed to uplift those among us who haven’t the money to become educated or get a doctor check-up or eat three squares a day, being systematically cut down or farmed out to religious indoctrinators. I see a hyped up “War on Terror” that expects no civilian sacrifice or participation other than to keep spending those dollars while the tax revenue gets funneled to corporations who don’t even perform the work they were hired for. My criticism is not given blithely. It has been well earned by this administration. And were I not to criticize, were I to remain silent and mute my free speech, only then would I be emboldening the terrorists. For it is that kind of society, one where self-censorship predominates all public discourse, that they embrace and thrive in.

“Why do you hate America?”Why haven’t you been listening? Really listening. Just as no one is perfect, neither is America. Yet in normal times, it is her imperfection that gives her charm and strength. But in times of duress, which is what we entered when planes were used as cruise missles and our government decided to go all squishy while the POTUS had one to many Napoleonic dreams, we can not simply sit back and marvel at our own good fortune. For as government becomes more and more separated from the people, our individual good fortunes will eventually falter. Our collective good times will end if this path is not altered. If you really love America, you wouldn’t sit by and idly accept every lame excuse from the mouths of liars. You wouldn’t profess admiration or fealty to men and women who discard our most important secular documents of all. If you really love America you
’d be right here beside me too.

So as I wrap up another day in my fortunate life, as I get ready to crawl into a warm bed, I realize that for too many in America the good times aren’t real. The struggle is constant. The relief is fading. And I know that if I do not speak, if I do not empathize, I am no better than those who actively fuel their downfall. Out of honor for those who have come before me I will speak for those who fall beside me. Out of respect for the sacrifices of our forbearers, I will fight to preserve the freedom they died to give me. And so long as I have the ability to vote, I will insist that those who speak for me really speak for me.

Winning the fight with our enemies will require many years of hard fought battles, and many of the casualties will be innocent civilians. But the fight between cultures, for let’s use our common sense here and call it what it is, will not be won just by spilling blood. Many will die, let’s be clear, for that is inevitable in a war where one sides stated goal is to kill all of the other. There is no way to win this without the use of force and violence. But we must also deploy all the other tools in our arsenal: diplomacy, assistance, and investment.

I called this a fight between cultures, and because I don’t want any confusion about what that means, let me explain. Our primary enemies today are not all members of the Islamic religion, but Islamic hard-liners who follow a particularly strict interpretation of their religion. Their goal is to return the state of civilization to a pseudo-medieval arrangement. They seek to impose their ideals on the rest of the world, spreading from their original homelands, primarily in the Middle East and Africa. The most effective of these enemies, Al-Qaeda, is not even a foreign government who we could wage a more conventional war against. Instead, they are scattered across the world. For while America is their primary target, they seek to cower to entire world before they are done and they spread their violence and terrorism to our allies as well. They operate a well-financed organization, obtain highly trained scientists and tacticians, and maintain a steady influx of recruits. Their culture is inherently different from our own. Their laws and governments are written and run by the clerical hierarchy. Their interpretation of their holy books dictates daily life. Personal freedom is nearly non-existent and public dissent forbidden. Were they to win, we would lose everything we hold dear.

We, on the other hand, represent a way of life that embraces personal freedom. We are made up of many factions, and rightly so, for to our enemies, anyone not with them is a legitimate target. And because we embody so many different beliefs, we rule ourselves with tolerance. These two ways of governing are not compatible. Only one will ultimately win. Currently our way, or variations of it, has proven to offer a quality of life unknown in much of the world. Their way offers a life of slavery. Given the choice, I’ll fight for our way every time.

Still, we have our faults and they are great. The time has come for us to really look at what we are doing in the world and determine how we could be doing it better. We never asked to be the world’s Superpower. The world asked us. And as a result, as we went on our prosperous way, enriching our lives and strengthening ourselves, the world looked at us in a new way. They sucked our culture up like a coke fiend at an all-nighter and then cursed us when the stuff turned out to be laced. We never sought the limelight and we never went looking for trouble. But the world came asking and we took up the challenge. And in doing so, we turned into management. The problem with being in management is that you tend to stop looking at the individual and begin looking at the goals of the whole. Good managers know that you have to do both. A good manager isn’t afraid to use common sense, but we haven’t always had good managers. Our government today has few, if any. And without good managers, both the whole and the individual begin to fail. The policies and the actions of our government have not always been designed to benefit us as citizens, or even us as a country, but to satisfy the greed of autocratic businessmen or power hungry bureaucrats. As such, we have made enemies without even knowing it, at least, not until it’s too late.

So while we must continue to fight the enemy on the battlefields and in the cities, we must also look within ourselves and recognize that while we didn’t ask for this war, we can’t win it without changing ourselves too.

Diplomacy is not a tool that can be used directly with our Islamic enemies. Their goals allow no concessions, their purpose to win by slaughter or submission. We can’t hold a dialogue with an enemy who cuts off our head when we sit at the table. But diplomacy can and must be used to prevent the terrorists from gaining ground in other Middle Eastern or under-developed nations. And diplomacy can and must be used to maintain our allies and bring in more who will help. Diplomacy will allow us to show the world that they are part of the “us” in the “us versus them” equation. We should be prepared to offer our support to nations who join in the fight against the enemy. That support should be offered in ways that include technology sharing, medical training, and infrastructure support as well as financially and militarily. By offering these things, we would be showing our friends as well as those on the fence, that we too are one of “us” and that in order for “us” to survive, “we” must work together. By working to end the culture of haves and have-nots, we eliminate one of the reasons for others to hate or envy us. It’s time to change our unspoken national motto from “Greed is Good” to “Greed Can Be Deadly.”

Assistance and diplomacy go hand in hand. By working with other nations to improve the lives of their citizens, we make ourselves safer. Why should the people of the world strive for the American Dream? Do they really want to leave their homelands and families? Why don’t we help them create their own dreams? What’s wrong with striving for the Afghani Dream or the Mexican Dream or the Thai Dream? By helping them develop their own national dreams, they create a culture that would naturally reject religious totalitarianism like that of Al-Qaeda. And if they help us now we should begin to help them now.

Of course, diplomacy and assistance require investment, both in capital and in time. As members of an expensive and fast paced culture, these are two commodities that are dear to us Americans. We often pay lip service to diplomacy but we are reluctant to offer commitments without specific parameters. But mutually cooperative agreements don’t need to be held on a schedule. They should continue until both sides have achieved their goals. If we are asking for friends then we must be ready to be a friend. Everyone knows what it’s like to depend on someone and then have them let you down. After a while, you don’t think of them so much as a friend as an adversary. It the geo-political world, adversary is just a stones throw from enemy. So in order to succeed in the non-combat areas of this war, we need to listen to our allies, offer what we can and expect them to do the same. At the same time, we must change their negative impressions of us by seeking better ways to manage and share global resources, technology, and education.

America is a great country. Our biggest problem is that we have spent too much time in management and are out of tune with our world. The ninety percent of the world that wants us to succeed in this war includes Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, pagans, atheists, and quite possibly Druids and Jedis. We must all work together to conquer the enemy and ensure the quality of our lives. We have so many problems facing us as a species that we need to put an end to this culture war once and for all.

It will not be won without sacrifice from each and every one of us. In ways that we don’t even think about consciously, we have to be ready to change how we live and relate to the world. We have to be prepared to sacrifice now so our children can have a better tomorrow. We have to see beyond ourselves and our immediate desires to ensure that we are creating a foundation for the future generations. It will be painful. It will be costly. It will be worth it.