Continued resistance from Eikenberry raises serious questions about our overall strategy.

In today’s New York Times we have several articles that should make American veterans sit up and take notice. The first is concerning Ambassador to Afghanistan Eikenberry’s reluctance to support more troops for Afghanistan. He is a former commander of American troops in Afghanistan. That article is here.

Eikenberry joins a long list of American generals throughout our history that understood that government is often nothing more than raw power and that the over-use of raw power does nothing more than build raw resistance from those on the receiving end of the ‘power’.

Those generals from Washington to Jackson to Eisenhower to Eikenberry worked hard to keep a Prussian-like ‘military class’ from emerging in our society with too strong an emphasis on raw power. It remains to be seen if Eikenberry can come out on top on this present tug of war between him and so many others in the President’s inner circle on this issue.

In this article ultra-conservative Muslims who always seem to be described as ‘militants’ in the Western press have bombed the Pakistani Intelligence Community’s main headquarters. That story is here.

In this story we learn how the people living at Fort Hood struggle with their emotions to remain stable now since the attack.

In this story we learn that Major Nidal Hasan, M.D. has been charged by military authorities with 13 counts of murder. It is important to know that neither of his lawyers were present when the charges were read. This is sooo UCMJ and in a civilian setting, would be terms for a legal objection. This is going to be a long trial and justice process, trust me.

Here is an alternative account of just who it was the stopped the shooter at Fort Hood. Some doubt exists.

In this story Secretary of Defense Gates blows off steam concerning leaks in the government relative to President Obama’s decision making process on Afghanistan. The article is here.

This is important. We have leaks all over the place in D.C. for many reasons. Spite, competition between rivals in two different camps, the need to get a minority view out to the people, etc. all figure into the ‘leak system’ here. Leaks are a way of life here. Leaks levels the playing field for all points of view. I support them 100%.

Leaks keeps everyone honest and it makes sure that the ‘government’ is not holding all the cards, that the people get some say in the things that are decided upon by the barons and dukes in government here in the ultimate Oz on the Potomac. Without leaks we would have no government, we would have pure oligarchy of the very powerful and connected over the uninformed and unconnected. That would be us.

Leaks ensure that the Fourth Estate can watch what ‘government’ that is left in this country closely. Without leaks we would have $6 dollar a gallon gas and a fundamentalist government that would make Joe Stalin green with envy. Thank God for leaks. It is the only thing between us and completely formatted press releases masquerading as news.  It is the only way we can have any chance whatsoever of finding out what has happened.

Unless you live here, you cannot believe how much effort and money goes into keeping the American people uninformed and out of the loop.  It would stun you if saw this on a daily basis.

In this article we learn that despite what the Bushies told us about a rebuilt Iraq, American companies are being almost completely shunned when it comes to getting contracts for business inside Iraq. This is tit for tat. They will not trade with us.

The entire Bush team scenario of "freedom for Iraqis" so that we could cash in on the trade opportunities that would open up for us in Iraq has just blown up in our faces. They simply won’t trade with us. How do you feel about that? Was it worth all those American lives? Was it worth the maimed troops and the broken families and the children without fathers and mothers? They simply refuse to trade with us. The plan did not work, did it?

Here is that sad story.

In an editorial, Paul Krugman tackles the problems created by the longest period of long term unemployment in this country since the 1930’s. We are in deep trouble economically. About 18% of us are out of work and that is not healthy in any way.

We need to forget about the wars in western Asia and head off huge societal problems here with that war money. We need to use that ill spent money to put Americans back to work.

We are in serious shape and not many people are talking about this as the deeply troubling national security issue that this really is. The story is here.

This is the problem with having a military leadership in this country so closely aligned with the American Reich Wing that still holds tremendous power here.  They want a Prussian State, a place where generals and admirals have the power of government.  This is simply not who we are. 

We must do everything we can as veterans to break this evolving fascism within our country. You can see it evolving and mutating to survive every day in the news.  It is a horrible reminder of just how fragile representative government is here.

In this editorial Roger Cohen speaks to the uncomfortable truth that killing people with airborne drones does not allow for any public debate as to exactly who we are killing or why we are killing them. This is state sponsored death without debate. And that is not part of our democratic traditions. The story is here.

And in this highly unusual note from the Editors of the New York Times we find that one of their routine contributors, Peter Galbraith, is being taken to the woodshed by the Editorial Board for writing several articles on Kurdistan oil consumption and production/sales without disclosing his involvement with oil revenue generation within Kurdistan itself.

This is a very unusual move for a major newspaper, someone on the board did not do their homework when they let Peter Galbraith have access to the Times’ readership with highly skewed information. This is so American it does not need any further explanation.

This is why you have to be so critical as an American veteran and an American citizen concerning exactly who is telling you what.  The note is here.

In today’s Washington Post we have an article outlining the siezing of the U.S. assets of Iran relative to a front organization in the U.S. that was using charity money to front possible Iranian terror interests. That story is here.

In this article we learn that President Obama’s options for Afghanistan are completely dependent upon how competent and cohesive the governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan can be. That is not a good sign , is it?

In this story, infighting between American intelligence agencies rears its head above the constant scuffle to give us a rare insight into how completely adolescent and self serving America’s intelligence buearacracy can actually be.

We should take a page from Russia’s Book of Frank Assessments. In this article we learn that Russian President Medvedev has taken his country’s economist back to the woodshed for their backward looking approach to Russian economic growth.

From the BBC News we learn of a car bomber striking outside a NATO base in Kabul and also that the British government is asking the Afghan government to mend fences with the Taliban. That news is here.

And in this article we learn from the BBC that the Greenland Ice Sheet is melting almost twice as fast as it was in 2007. Yow! This cannot be good. There are definite national security implications to rising sea levels, our own generals have told us that. Maybe we can pay attention now?

Get informed, stay informed. An informed veteran is a comfort to his friends and a danger to his adversaries.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)