the opinionist

For the past few years my nocturnal teeth grinding has become an issue and my dentist is far from happy. I used to put this unconscious chomping and gnashing of the molars down to marital bliss but perhaps the daily consumption of disheartening news headlines might be adding to the elevated stress levels. In which case there must be many (many!) people sharing these same anxiety issues?

I wonder if President Bush grinds his teeth? To be frank, I would be gravely disappointed if he did not! What are his symptoms of stress? Does he kick the Presidential dog - Barney - as he walks away from the Oval office shaking his head at his latest calamity? Friends, colleagues and associates are the leaving the sinking ship, rebellion has formed on the Hill, the media pundits are rolling together like jolly rum-drinking pirates inspired by his weakened administration! Yikes, where’s the bottle!

This morning, as I sat down at the Mac - with a cuppa tea in one hand and the rubbing of tender jaws with the other - and I caught up on some of my favorite news sources; the BBC News, the New York Times, and the International Herald Tribune.

Three headlines, related, disturbing but terribly insightful caught me unawares and eager to be consumed by their negativity.

BBC News has a news item titled “Washington ’snubbed Iran offer‘”

In a nutshell it reports on a BBC interview with Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson - the former chief of staff to the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Wilkerson suggests the Bush Administration was offered a ‘package of concessions’ in 2003 by Iran that was quickly dismissed by the Vice President’s office with something akin to ‘We don’t talk to evil‘.

The retired Colonel describes the package - an olive branch from Iran - as follows:

“Tehran proposed ending support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups and helping to stabilise Iraq following the US-led invasion. Offers, including making its nuclear programme more transparent, were conditional on the US ending hostility.”

In return, the BBC reports, “Tehran asked Washington to end its hostility, to end sanctions, and to disband the Iranian rebel group the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and repatriate its members.”

The BBC concluded by saying the package closely mirrors the very demands the U.S. are now pressuring Iran to accept - almost four bloody years of untold destruction and thousands of deaths later.

This is certainly something to think about … now that tensions between the United States and Iran have widened considerably with a boat-load of new United Nations resolutions, newly imposed trade sanctions, the formation of a coalition of anti-American nations (which includes a chunk of Central America) and the continued out-of-control despair that is Iraq.

I personally believe the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is evil - but this BBC report - if true (and why should we doubt?) just takes the biscuit.

The New York Times published an article, “What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy” by David Leonhardt

The article starts out by confirming what we already know! A ‘Trillion‘ is a bloody big number! Too big to rationalize - which is the point of the article no less.

The NYT suggests the reader stop thinking about the number itself but instead focus on what could be bought with it - should you be the President of the United States and dramatically fiscally, socially and emotionally stable.

NYT’s terrifyingly valid suggestion:

“$1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.
The cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.
The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.”

Or - as the New York Times article succintly presents; the $1.2 trillion - arm-wrestled from taxpayer sweat and toil, Chinese loan sharks and the Federal money press could be spent on the Iraq War debacle.

The International Herald Tribune has a wonderful report, “Iraqi leader says U.S. should provide better weapons in comments critical of Bush”

Which begins, “Iraq’s prime minister said security forces would have better control over their country if the United States had equipped them with more — and better — weapons, speaking during an interview in which he was deeply critical of Washington, an Italian daily reported Thursday.”

Boiled down - the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - a Shiite sympathizer and rapidly growing burden to the Bush administrations efforts for a happier , more optimistic war - suggests if only the U.S. military had given the Iraqi forces more weapons! read: guns.

al-Maliki is quoted “… we would have had a lot fewer deaths among Iraqi civilians and American soldiers.”

When the very Government the U.S. military is trying to prop-up is intent on blissfully walking away - you know it’s time to get out of Dodge!

The only problem; the likelihood of an escalated civil war - between Iranian-backed Shia and Saudi-backed Sunnis would look even more inevitable. What a bloody disaster for everyone directly involved, and a positive blessing for opponents of the United States. Joy!

To cap an already glorious read … and just you imagine the outlook for the day cannot look any rosier … it appears planet Earth is being scouted by a mysterious alien space-craft hell bent on the destruction of the United States. Oh wonderful! Join the queue.

Posted on January 18th, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Iraq, New York Times, Powell, UFO, al-Maliki •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback