THE NEW PLAN

All,

Last evening the President of the United States stated that the mistakes made in Iraq, and there have been many, rests with him. The President stated that troop strength, Rules of Engagement (ROE), and the Iraqi government were among the mistakes that were made and these mistakes created, or at least, help to create the current condition inside of Iraq.

Anyone who has read my profile knows that I am a former warrior for the United States. Twenty years of my life have been devoted to the United States Army. I loved my service and truly love soldiers and their families. In fact, I am re-applying for re-appointment in the Army. I may know my status at the end of February. I have to fulfill my Army destiny, even after twenty years.

But I would be less than if, as a public intellectual, I did not comment on this "new direction" in Iraq. Mistakes have cost the American taxpayer over 357 billion dollars. Mistakes have kept the US in a war for over four years just inside Iraq, not around the globe. Colin Powell told the President that, "if you break it you bought it.", Gen. Shinseki told the President and then Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that you will need a sizeable force (i.e. 250,000 troops) to secure the country. Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the President dismissed the General's claims and they also dismissed the General. There was a huge mistake in judgement that an entire nation will welcome us as a liberation force. There was a thought that the "insurgency" is going to end and that in a short time the Iraqi people will be able to handle their own issues without the assistance of the American military.

There was a thought that there was going to be a coalition of nations in support of a free Iraq. But our President did not speak of other nations last night. He spoke of American troops on land and on the sea. Where is Great Britian, Russia, Turkey and other free nations. Inside Iraq exists a government that has ties to the past, a past that we have seemingly overlooked. How does the rest of the world recognize the dangers inside of Iraq and our government missess it?

Of all the mistakes the President spoke of, the issue of ROE is a monumental one. For the none soldier, ROE is how we know (as American fighters) who to shoot at and who most likely will be shooting at us. It describes the protocol that allows us to fight any enemy. Historically, ROE caused a great problem in Vietnam. ROE made the American military not go into Cambodia, not fly over the capital of North Vietnam, it made American soldiers not pursue the enemy, it made soldiers second guess with the finger on the trigger. All dangerous situations indeed.

But how can President Bush tell us that that was a mistake. If his operating premise was to find the killers and insurgents and kill or capture them, how could he have allowed Iraq to set up rules that made American soldiers not have that ability. How could he assume that a large group of Iraqi people, some with revenge on their heart, would not protect one of their own from western invaders. How is this possible? And now we are being asked to believe that he and the Iraq government is at a better place so that now can happen. For those who don't know, it truly means that American soldiers and Marines will be tasked to take back land that they already paid for with the lives of soldiers and marines.

No matter what the spin is, America is doing this duty by ourselves. Generals have come and gone and military units are going back for the third, fourth and fifth time. The new Secretary of Defense is stating that we need 90 thousand more soldiers and marines. Rumsfeld thought that to be unnecessary.

If the new Secretary has his way and I have mine, I may be a part of that new build up. Either in Iraq or in the Active Army. Either way I will serve. It is a funny thing to know so much about the manner by which my life and service might be used through the ideological views of others, but that's the way love goes.

I love my Army and it is in need...I just have a desire for people to love their positions of authority as much as we soldiers love our desire to serve in the mud and stench of war.

Until the next one...

To Soul Brother Number 1

For those who know, and maybe a lot more who don’t, Soul Brother #1 James Brown was more than a performer, he was a movement. Do not be easily swayed by his latter years to forget his early ones. He was a man who carried the rhythm section of the Black Power Movement of the late 1960’s while paying the price of fame and influence from supremacist ideology like Martin and Malcolm. He allowed a generation of people to stand up and “Say it Loud” when standing up could mean being laid out. His screams and yells came from within the soul of a man who knew hardship trial and tribulation and perhaps that is why some of us can’t get James, we may not have, as Malcolm said, “a concrete connection” with the pain and struggle of the invisible people. Perhaps we need to…

Sweet rest to the Godfather of Soul and the top of the pyramid of soul, R&B and shows that didn't stop the action…