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(Sample) Letter of Absolution: Final Redress
List of grievances:
Resolution Desired:
Measures to be taken:
//List of Signatories//: Governors and State Legislators and Citizenry
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(Sample) letter of No-Confidence: Final Redress
Reiteration of List of Grievances:
Reiteration of The Federal Government Position (Response):
Final Statement of No-Confidence:
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these States, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of right ought to be jointly ruled by the mutual beneficial interactions between the individual States (collectively) working synergistically together in order to create a strong central government which adheres, unceasingly, to our law- The Constitution of the United States of America; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the Recalcitrant and Imperious Bureaucratic-Aristocracy of the Ruling Elites in Washington D.C., and that all political connection between them and the Recalcitrant and Imperious Bureaucratic-Aristocracy of the Ruling Elites in Washington D.C. is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as joint rulers of this synergistically formed strong and highly responsive central government which has full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to carry out all other functions which the nations of the World perform. And for support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor confirmed by our oath, which goes: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of Citizen of the United States, and that I will not fail to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America- with my life acting as collateral and bond”.
//List of Signatories//: Governors, State Legislators & Citizenry
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Passage of the 28th Amendment Pt. 5
Electoral Controls of Congress
Upon reaching the age of 30, citizens shall be subject to a national legislative-draft and shall serve in Congress for one year as a lawmaker. Two-thirds of Congressional seats shall have no term limits associated with them, while one-third of Congressional seats shall have a fixed term limit (of 1 year) which shall be filled by the national legislative-draft. One-third of the Congress should be draftees and the other two-thirds will be elected to serve according to the term limits.
This process will provide fresh blood in the Congress so there would not be only career politicians who forget the needs of the American people. (Draftees would know that they are only there for one year, so they are more likely to concern themselves with the needs of their constituents rather than the distracting worries associated with re-election.)
The Gears of War: The Protocols and Procedures for Peace
‘Tyranny’ shall be defined as: “a breakdown in government caused by the persistent and uncorrected violation of one or more of the 33 enumerated rights in the Bill of Rights; the 28th Amendment; or any of the rights reserved by the States and or the People of United States of America (respectively)”. It can also be defined as a situation where one or more of the 33 enumerated rights is violated and it becomes necessary, due to the deliberate acquiescence or inaction of all 3 of the traditional branches of the Government, to correct it, this is known and defined as ‘Tyranny’.
When this (‘Tyranny’) occurs, the Popular Branch shall consult The Protocols and Procedures for Peace. They (The Protocols) outline the process for the restoration of law and order, whenever there is a breakdown in government (an uncorrected violation of the Bill of Rights, the 28th Amendment or any of the rights reserved by the States and or the People of United States of America); It outlines the procedures to be followed when the Popular Branch encounters recalcitrant bureaucratic Institutions and obdurate civil servants who refuse to correct, block and or impede correction of a given violation.
The procedures are as follows:
1. Popular Initiative
First, citizens believing tyranny (persistent violation or violations of the Bill of Rights and/or the 28th Amendment) is present will put forth an initiative (with procedures not unlike those of WA State) to have a letter of Absolution drafted and sent to the other State Governments.
2. Secretary of State
After having achieved the required number of signatures needed, citizens will contact their State Secretary who will then in turn put the initiative to an immediate ballot (by mail.) The State Secretary will also ensure public knowledge of the initiative and notify the State Legislature as well as the Press.
3. Legislature
Should the initiative pass, the State Legislature will draft a Letter of Absolution. Next, they shall issue a directive that instructs the Governor to contact the governors of each of the other 49 states. The legislature will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
4. Governor
The Governor will contact the governors of each of the other 49 states, asking whether or not similar initiatives have been passed in their states. The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
5. Thirty-Seven Other States
If 37 (or more) other states have passed similar initiatives (establishing Quorum), then each of the 38 states will draft the first set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, to be sent to the Federal Government. The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
6. Each of the 38 states will issue the first set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
7. If Federal Government rebuffs or balks 1st set of 38 Letters of Absolution, each of the 38 State Legislatures shall recall their respective Senators & Congresspersons, (cutting off their pay until they appear before their legislatures, in the case of Senators, and before town hall meetings, in the case of Representatives, in their respective districts. These subpoenas will be fulfilled by the Congresspersons on the same day.)
8. Each of the 38 states will issue the 2nd set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
9. Thirty-Eight Governors call up their respective State National Guards & Militias. The Governors will also publicizing this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
10. Each of the 38 states will issue the 3rd set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
11. Each of the 38 states will issue 38 Letters of No Confidence, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
12. State Legislatures elect all new Congressional members and send them to Congress. The State Legislatures will also publicize this in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
13. Any actions required beyond those procedures outlined within the contents of this document would most likely result in open warfare (revolution), in order to restore adherence to the Constitution of the United States of America. This being the case, Patriots, prepare yourselves and your Arms- and make ready to “let slip the dogs of war” (W. Shakespeare).
Upon reaching the age of 30, citizens shall be subject to a national legislative-draft and shall serve in Congress for one year as a lawmaker. Two-thirds of Congressional seats shall have no term limits associated with them, while one-third of Congressional seats shall have a fixed term limit (of 1 year) which shall be filled by the national legislative-draft. One-third of the Congress should be draftees and the other two-thirds will be elected to serve according to the term limits.
This process will provide fresh blood in the Congress so there would not be only career politicians who forget the needs of the American people. (Draftees would know that they are only there for one year, so they are more likely to concern themselves with the needs of their constituents rather than the distracting worries associated with re-election.)
The Gears of War: The Protocols and Procedures for Peace
‘Tyranny’ shall be defined as: “a breakdown in government caused by the persistent and uncorrected violation of one or more of the 33 enumerated rights in the Bill of Rights; the 28th Amendment; or any of the rights reserved by the States and or the People of United States of America (respectively)”. It can also be defined as a situation where one or more of the 33 enumerated rights is violated and it becomes necessary, due to the deliberate acquiescence or inaction of all 3 of the traditional branches of the Government, to correct it, this is known and defined as ‘Tyranny’.
When this (‘Tyranny’) occurs, the Popular Branch shall consult The Protocols and Procedures for Peace. They (The Protocols) outline the process for the restoration of law and order, whenever there is a breakdown in government (an uncorrected violation of the Bill of Rights, the 28th Amendment or any of the rights reserved by the States and or the People of United States of America); It outlines the procedures to be followed when the Popular Branch encounters recalcitrant bureaucratic Institutions and obdurate civil servants who refuse to correct, block and or impede correction of a given violation.
The procedures are as follows:
1. Popular Initiative
First, citizens believing tyranny (persistent violation or violations of the Bill of Rights and/or the 28th Amendment) is present will put forth an initiative (with procedures not unlike those of WA State) to have a letter of Absolution drafted and sent to the other State Governments.
2. Secretary of State
After having achieved the required number of signatures needed, citizens will contact their State Secretary who will then in turn put the initiative to an immediate ballot (by mail.) The State Secretary will also ensure public knowledge of the initiative and notify the State Legislature as well as the Press.
3. Legislature
Should the initiative pass, the State Legislature will draft a Letter of Absolution. Next, they shall issue a directive that instructs the Governor to contact the governors of each of the other 49 states. The legislature will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
4. Governor
The Governor will contact the governors of each of the other 49 states, asking whether or not similar initiatives have been passed in their states. The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
5. Thirty-Seven Other States
If 37 (or more) other states have passed similar initiatives (establishing Quorum), then each of the 38 states will draft the first set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, to be sent to the Federal Government. The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
6. Each of the 38 states will issue the first set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally)
7. If Federal Government rebuffs or balks 1st set of 38 Letters of Absolution, each of the 38 State Legislatures shall recall their respective Senators & Congresspersons, (cutting off their pay until they appear before their legislatures, in the case of Senators, and before town hall meetings, in the case of Representatives, in their respective districts. These subpoenas will be fulfilled by the Congresspersons on the same day.)
8. Each of the 38 states will issue the 2nd set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
9. Thirty-Eight Governors call up their respective State National Guards & Militias. The Governors will also publicizing this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
10. Each of the 38 states will issue the 3rd set of 38 Letters of Absolution, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
11. Each of the 38 states will issue 38 Letters of No Confidence, one from each state respectively, and send them to the Federal Government (the 3 traditional branches of government.) The Governors will also publicize this action in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
12. State Legislatures elect all new Congressional members and send them to Congress. The State Legislatures will also publicize this in the Press (both locally and nationally.)
13. Any actions required beyond those procedures outlined within the contents of this document would most likely result in open warfare (revolution), in order to restore adherence to the Constitution of the United States of America. This being the case, Patriots, prepare yourselves and your Arms- and make ready to “let slip the dogs of war” (W. Shakespeare).
Passage of the 28th Amendment Pt. 4
The Fiscal Controls of Congress
The American people shall have, at their disposal, controls over the elected representatives of this nation. For example, controls over the Congress’ pay. They shall not be allowed to vote themselves raises any longer. Their pay shall be pegged (indexed) to the average income of the American People. Congress’ pay shall rise and fall in tandem with the American people’s median income, in order to ensure their ability to empathize with those whom they serve. And to reiterate, they (Congress) shall be forbidden to give themselves a raise.
In order to get a raise, the Congress shall have to put forth an initiative to the American people that will state what pay increase they believe they should get, and why they believe they should get it. It should be presented to all 50 states and if two-thirds of the citizenry of each of the states agree, then they get their raise. If an initiative for a raise fails, Congress must wait one year before making another request.) The Popular Branch shall be responsible to verify all purported increases in the median income by monitoring indexes, in order to prevent illegal pay raises by the Congress. Congress shall be responsible to verify all decreases in the median income of Americans, in order to avoid inaccurate pay cuts ordered by (popular) law.
The next strategy I propose is that each state, through their legislatures (for senators) and an initiative by 2/3rds of their residents (for congress-persons), shall be able to freeze or suspend Congress’s pay at will. And, in order for this control to be effective, while members of Congress are in office, they are not allowed to have income other than the official salary they earn through their service in Congress. Even if members of Congress have personally owned holdings (sources of income), they shall be left with a private asset manager (at their own expense) until they resign, are voted out of or quit their office.
If members of Congress do not follow these rules, the consequences shall be imprisonment of no less than 9 years in a Federal Penitentiary. Concomitant with this, members convicted of this crime shall be fined 4 times the amount of the illegal income they are convicted of receiving.
In addition to voting and the enumerated fiscal controls, citizens shall have an alternate means of expressing their disproval of a particular member of Congress (one not requiring they wait for the next voting cycle): The referendum. Citizens can initiate a referendum that, if approved, goes into effect immediately, by following the aforementioned rules (modeled after Washington States’ for initiatives and referendums) to freeze a Congresspersons’ pay. These measures shall be used to ensure more responsive representation of the American people.
The American people shall have, at their disposal, controls over the elected representatives of this nation. For example, controls over the Congress’ pay. They shall not be allowed to vote themselves raises any longer. Their pay shall be pegged (indexed) to the average income of the American People. Congress’ pay shall rise and fall in tandem with the American people’s median income, in order to ensure their ability to empathize with those whom they serve. And to reiterate, they (Congress) shall be forbidden to give themselves a raise.
In order to get a raise, the Congress shall have to put forth an initiative to the American people that will state what pay increase they believe they should get, and why they believe they should get it. It should be presented to all 50 states and if two-thirds of the citizenry of each of the states agree, then they get their raise. If an initiative for a raise fails, Congress must wait one year before making another request.) The Popular Branch shall be responsible to verify all purported increases in the median income by monitoring indexes, in order to prevent illegal pay raises by the Congress. Congress shall be responsible to verify all decreases in the median income of Americans, in order to avoid inaccurate pay cuts ordered by (popular) law.
The next strategy I propose is that each state, through their legislatures (for senators) and an initiative by 2/3rds of their residents (for congress-persons), shall be able to freeze or suspend Congress’s pay at will. And, in order for this control to be effective, while members of Congress are in office, they are not allowed to have income other than the official salary they earn through their service in Congress. Even if members of Congress have personally owned holdings (sources of income), they shall be left with a private asset manager (at their own expense) until they resign, are voted out of or quit their office.
If members of Congress do not follow these rules, the consequences shall be imprisonment of no less than 9 years in a Federal Penitentiary. Concomitant with this, members convicted of this crime shall be fined 4 times the amount of the illegal income they are convicted of receiving.
In addition to voting and the enumerated fiscal controls, citizens shall have an alternate means of expressing their disproval of a particular member of Congress (one not requiring they wait for the next voting cycle): The referendum. Citizens can initiate a referendum that, if approved, goes into effect immediately, by following the aforementioned rules (modeled after Washington States’ for initiatives and referendums) to freeze a Congresspersons’ pay. These measures shall be used to ensure more responsive representation of the American people.
Passage of the 28th Amendment Pt. 3
These principles, not newly created, have undergirded our democracy, since the nations’ founding. But (being that they were not actual law) the procedural implementation of these principles had yet to be both realized and canonized into law, until now.
The Popular Branch, being responsible to ensure the rights of citizens, shall also have as its duty to oversight of the Federal Government. Specifically, there shall be 33 enumerated rights of the American People that they monitor for violations of constantly. And if any of these rights are violated, they (the Popular Branch) take the necessary actions, outlined in The Protocols and Procedures for Peace, to correct that violation. The enumerated rights are as follows:
1. No Government support of any Religion
2. No Government prohibition of any Religion
3. No Government restriction on the Freedom of the Speech
4. No Government restriction on the Freedom of the Press
5. No Government restriction on the Freedom of Assembly
6. No Government restriction on the Freedom of Petition the Government
7. We have the Right to maintain well-regulated Militia
8. We have the Right to Bear Arms
9. No Forced Quartering of Soldiers in peace or war
10. Right to be Secure in Your Person (to not be kidnapped)
11. Right to be Secure in Your House (Government can’t violate your house)
12. Right to be Secure in Your Papers (writings; intellectual property)
13. Right to be Secure in Your Effects (physical property)
14. Government can’t perform Unreasonable Searches of your effects
15. Government can’t perform Unreasonable Seizures of your effects
16. Government must have Probable Cause to issue Warrant against you
17. Warrants must be Specific (place to be searched; person/thing seized)
18. A Grand Jury must first indict you before you can be tried in Capital case
19. Double Jeopardy is not allowed
20. Self-Incrimination is illegal
21. Must receive Due Process prior to losing your life, liberty & or property
22. You must be compensated for Government confiscation of your private property
23. You have the Right to a Speedy Trial
24. You have the Right to Know the Charges Against You
25. You have the Right to Confront the Witnesses Against You
26. You have the Right to find Witnesses in Your Favor
27. You have the Right to an attorney
28. You have the Right to a Jury Trial (for suits over $20, in civil suits)
29. Protection from Excessive Bail
30. Protection from Excessive Fines Imposed
31. Protection from Unusual Punishments Inflicted
32. The accumulated law in the Constitution should not be interpreted as a belittling or denial of the Rights retained
33. People Retain Their Rights not abridged by the States and the Constitution
(The consequences and or penalties for violating these most fundamental of laws are enumerated within The Protocols and Procedures for Peace.)
The Popular Branch, being responsible to ensure the rights of citizens, shall also have as its duty to oversight of the Federal Government. Specifically, there shall be 33 enumerated rights of the American People that they monitor for violations of constantly. And if any of these rights are violated, they (the Popular Branch) take the necessary actions, outlined in The Protocols and Procedures for Peace, to correct that violation. The enumerated rights are as follows:
1. No Government support of any Religion
2. No Government prohibition of any Religion
3. No Government restriction on the Freedom of the Speech
4. No Government restriction on the Freedom of the Press
5. No Government restriction on the Freedom of Assembly
6. No Government restriction on the Freedom of Petition the Government
7. We have the Right to maintain well-regulated Militia
8. We have the Right to Bear Arms
9. No Forced Quartering of Soldiers in peace or war
10. Right to be Secure in Your Person (to not be kidnapped)
11. Right to be Secure in Your House (Government can’t violate your house)
12. Right to be Secure in Your Papers (writings; intellectual property)
13. Right to be Secure in Your Effects (physical property)
14. Government can’t perform Unreasonable Searches of your effects
15. Government can’t perform Unreasonable Seizures of your effects
16. Government must have Probable Cause to issue Warrant against you
17. Warrants must be Specific (place to be searched; person/thing seized)
18. A Grand Jury must first indict you before you can be tried in Capital case
19. Double Jeopardy is not allowed
20. Self-Incrimination is illegal
21. Must receive Due Process prior to losing your life, liberty & or property
22. You must be compensated for Government confiscation of your private property
23. You have the Right to a Speedy Trial
24. You have the Right to Know the Charges Against You
25. You have the Right to Confront the Witnesses Against You
26. You have the Right to find Witnesses in Your Favor
27. You have the Right to an attorney
28. You have the Right to a Jury Trial (for suits over $20, in civil suits)
29. Protection from Excessive Bail
30. Protection from Excessive Fines Imposed
31. Protection from Unusual Punishments Inflicted
32. The accumulated law in the Constitution should not be interpreted as a belittling or denial of the Rights retained
33. People Retain Their Rights not abridged by the States and the Constitution
(The consequences and or penalties for violating these most fundamental of laws are enumerated within The Protocols and Procedures for Peace.)
Passage of the 28th Amendment Pt.2
Purpose:
The People of the United States of America shall be the Official Fourth Branch of Government, with its own powers and obligations, such as: The power to conduct national initiatives and referendums along with the power to recall members of both houses of Congress (to their respective states); the power to pardon crimes (by a two-thirds vote of 38 state legislatures, which must include the state where the offense was committed); It makes voter registration mandatory at the age of 18 (from the time of its signing) and voting a national holiday (and a paid day off for all Americans); the first 6 lines of the Declaration of Independence apart of the new official prologue to the U.S. Constitution (immediately followed by the original Preamble) and, as such, was made law (legal and binding) both perpetually and irrevocably; And it also declares the Press (which includes all those who pass on information by word of mouth, scuttlebutt and or rumor) are to be the first to know of important things- things which concern violations of and or infringement upon the rights of citizens (especially those rights enumerated within the Constitution) and to disseminate this information to the entire populace of the United States of America by any means available and or necessary. In essence, the 28th Amendment, which creates the new fourth branch of the Government (the Popular Branch), shall give the American People the powers needed to fulfill the duties of their new office.
13 Principles
The following thirteen principles shall be law and shall be the basis for the limitations, rights, powers and obligations of the Popular Branch. They are as follows:
1. People can dissolve the political bands which have connected them to one another.
2. People (and individuals), upon birth, are as sovereign as any nation or government.
3. People can take back their sovereignty, if the government
breaches the Social Contract.
4. People should declare the causes which impel them to dissolve their political bands.
5. We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal.
6. All humans have indestructible rights like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
7. Governments exist and are instituted in order to secure their peoples’ inalienable rights.
8. Governments derive their just powers and authority from the consent of the Governed.
9. We the People have the right to alter or to abolish our government.
10. No government is forever. They exist until they cease securing their Peoples’ rights.
11. A government should not be changed for light (trivial) and transient (ever-changing; inconsistent) reasons.
12. People have the right and the duty to throw off a despotic government (government bend on placing us under despotism).
13. People have the right to institute new political systems and future legislative safeguards.
The People of the United States of America shall be the Official Fourth Branch of Government, with its own powers and obligations, such as: The power to conduct national initiatives and referendums along with the power to recall members of both houses of Congress (to their respective states); the power to pardon crimes (by a two-thirds vote of 38 state legislatures, which must include the state where the offense was committed); It makes voter registration mandatory at the age of 18 (from the time of its signing) and voting a national holiday (and a paid day off for all Americans); the first 6 lines of the Declaration of Independence apart of the new official prologue to the U.S. Constitution (immediately followed by the original Preamble) and, as such, was made law (legal and binding) both perpetually and irrevocably; And it also declares the Press (which includes all those who pass on information by word of mouth, scuttlebutt and or rumor) are to be the first to know of important things- things which concern violations of and or infringement upon the rights of citizens (especially those rights enumerated within the Constitution) and to disseminate this information to the entire populace of the United States of America by any means available and or necessary. In essence, the 28th Amendment, which creates the new fourth branch of the Government (the Popular Branch), shall give the American People the powers needed to fulfill the duties of their new office.
13 Principles
The following thirteen principles shall be law and shall be the basis for the limitations, rights, powers and obligations of the Popular Branch. They are as follows:
1. People can dissolve the political bands which have connected them to one another.
2. People (and individuals), upon birth, are as sovereign as any nation or government.
3. People can take back their sovereignty, if the government
breaches the Social Contract.
4. People should declare the causes which impel them to dissolve their political bands.
5. We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal.
6. All humans have indestructible rights like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
7. Governments exist and are instituted in order to secure their peoples’ inalienable rights.
8. Governments derive their just powers and authority from the consent of the Governed.
9. We the People have the right to alter or to abolish our government.
10. No government is forever. They exist until they cease securing their Peoples’ rights.
11. A government should not be changed for light (trivial) and transient (ever-changing; inconsistent) reasons.
12. People have the right and the duty to throw off a despotic government (government bend on placing us under despotism).
13. People have the right to institute new political systems and future legislative safeguards.
We need to pass the 28th Amendment
The 28th Amendment
First and foremost, we shall take the principles enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and add them to the Constitution. And we shall do this because these thirteen principles serve to both justify the American People (concerning their right to take action) and to obligate the American People to take action (in times of tyranny.) Additionally, these thirteen principles shall (having been made law) form the basis for the limitations, rights, powers and obligations of the Popular Branch.
Next, we shall strengthen the Bill of Rights. This is the centerpiece to my strategy, because (although the Bill of Rights is the exact type of legislation needed to help ensure human rights) it lacks teeth; it lacks a strong advocate and executive who will ensure its enforcement. We, the American people, shall be that strong advocate, executive and agent of enforcement. We shall be the grand executors of ‘the Founders” will, as expressed through the Bill of Rights.
Then, we (‘We the People’) shall establish certain controls over those we elevate over ourselves (those elected officials whom we send to Congress to ‘re-present’ our interests.) They (our members of Congress) shall have both monetary and electoral controls placed on them by the American People.
Lastly, we shall establish the consequences and punishments for violation of the Bill of Rights and other popular protections as outlined in the 28th Amendment, the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution of the United States.
First and foremost, we shall take the principles enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and add them to the Constitution. And we shall do this because these thirteen principles serve to both justify the American People (concerning their right to take action) and to obligate the American People to take action (in times of tyranny.) Additionally, these thirteen principles shall (having been made law) form the basis for the limitations, rights, powers and obligations of the Popular Branch.
Next, we shall strengthen the Bill of Rights. This is the centerpiece to my strategy, because (although the Bill of Rights is the exact type of legislation needed to help ensure human rights) it lacks teeth; it lacks a strong advocate and executive who will ensure its enforcement. We, the American people, shall be that strong advocate, executive and agent of enforcement. We shall be the grand executors of ‘the Founders” will, as expressed through the Bill of Rights.
Then, we (‘We the People’) shall establish certain controls over those we elevate over ourselves (those elected officials whom we send to Congress to ‘re-present’ our interests.) They (our members of Congress) shall have both monetary and electoral controls placed on them by the American People.
Lastly, we shall establish the consequences and punishments for violation of the Bill of Rights and other popular protections as outlined in the 28th Amendment, the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution of the United States.
How To Win In Afghanistan Part 4
THE MECHANICS OF IT ALL
Okay, now we move into the basic mechanics of my thesis- how it’s supposed to work. Presuming all of the aforementioned deconstruction work has been completed, the first thing we should do is to withdraw all of our conventional forces. We should do this to return to a state of balance and readiness as well as to reduce our footprint in Afghanistan. Concomitant with this move, we (the U.S) should leave behind CIA officers who will act as observers- ensuring that neither the government of Afghanistan nor its people are cooperating with Al Qaeda. In order to help protect the CIA officers, Green Beret teams will also be deployed providing force multiplication- by befriending local powerbrokers and training their forces to assist our own in combat operations (should the need arise.) Along with the CIA operatives and Green Berets, we would deploy United States Air Force Combat Controllers. They would be responsible to coordinate the continuous and aggressive halo of multi-force fighter jets and bombers providing a continuous watch overhead. The aircraft would most likely originate from several Aircraft Carriers cruising both the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and be supplied in an unbroken chain of jets.
Accompanying all those already mentioned, I would include some Psychological Operations troops. They would act like a thermometer- by establishing, maintaining and constantly gauging the level of support and rapport the team has with the local populace; looking for shifts in attitudes or feelings (symptomatic of contact with the enemy) while simultaneously developing and implementing counters to any enemy propaganda encountered. They will also help to determine how best to maintain the support from and reward all those Afghans working with our forces (their team).
In other words, I would have us recreate the force configurations that existed early on in the war (plus or minus a few changes), while we go into neighboring Pakistan to blitzkrieg the Al Qaeda forces and their recalcitrant Taliban allies and quickly get back out afterwards (in order to find the next target). This is the basic mechanics behind the concept I put forth in my thesis.
SUMMARY
Fundamentally, this whole debacle in Afghanistan is the result of a failure on the part of our previous leadership to shift gears properly and to continue the fight (through pursuit of our real enemy Al Qaeda.) We should not have stayed in large numbers in Afghanistan after the escape of Bin Ladin. We should have followed him and the remnant of his forces fleeing Afghanistan right into Pakistan, as soon as it became apparent, that our ‘ally’ was either incapable of or unwilling to continue the fight for us.
SUMMARY (cont.)
This is why I have proposed: That in order to win in Afghanistan and interdict resurgent terrorist activity there, the United States should perform a holding action, through real diplomacy with the Taliban and by leveraging its use of Special Operations Forces who would be aggressively and continuously supported by a much larger conventional force (most likely an Aircraft Carrier Group) just outside of the country.
The ultimate purpose, of course, being: to free ourselves up to continue the fight with Al Qaeda in some far more significant and appropriate locale (i.e., Pakistan at the present time).
Okay, now we move into the basic mechanics of my thesis- how it’s supposed to work. Presuming all of the aforementioned deconstruction work has been completed, the first thing we should do is to withdraw all of our conventional forces. We should do this to return to a state of balance and readiness as well as to reduce our footprint in Afghanistan. Concomitant with this move, we (the U.S) should leave behind CIA officers who will act as observers- ensuring that neither the government of Afghanistan nor its people are cooperating with Al Qaeda. In order to help protect the CIA officers, Green Beret teams will also be deployed providing force multiplication- by befriending local powerbrokers and training their forces to assist our own in combat operations (should the need arise.) Along with the CIA operatives and Green Berets, we would deploy United States Air Force Combat Controllers. They would be responsible to coordinate the continuous and aggressive halo of multi-force fighter jets and bombers providing a continuous watch overhead. The aircraft would most likely originate from several Aircraft Carriers cruising both the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and be supplied in an unbroken chain of jets.
Accompanying all those already mentioned, I would include some Psychological Operations troops. They would act like a thermometer- by establishing, maintaining and constantly gauging the level of support and rapport the team has with the local populace; looking for shifts in attitudes or feelings (symptomatic of contact with the enemy) while simultaneously developing and implementing counters to any enemy propaganda encountered. They will also help to determine how best to maintain the support from and reward all those Afghans working with our forces (their team).
In other words, I would have us recreate the force configurations that existed early on in the war (plus or minus a few changes), while we go into neighboring Pakistan to blitzkrieg the Al Qaeda forces and their recalcitrant Taliban allies and quickly get back out afterwards (in order to find the next target). This is the basic mechanics behind the concept I put forth in my thesis.
SUMMARY
Fundamentally, this whole debacle in Afghanistan is the result of a failure on the part of our previous leadership to shift gears properly and to continue the fight (through pursuit of our real enemy Al Qaeda.) We should not have stayed in large numbers in Afghanistan after the escape of Bin Ladin. We should have followed him and the remnant of his forces fleeing Afghanistan right into Pakistan, as soon as it became apparent, that our ‘ally’ was either incapable of or unwilling to continue the fight for us.
SUMMARY (cont.)
This is why I have proposed: That in order to win in Afghanistan and interdict resurgent terrorist activity there, the United States should perform a holding action, through real diplomacy with the Taliban and by leveraging its use of Special Operations Forces who would be aggressively and continuously supported by a much larger conventional force (most likely an Aircraft Carrier Group) just outside of the country.
The ultimate purpose, of course, being: to free ourselves up to continue the fight with Al Qaeda in some far more significant and appropriate locale (i.e., Pakistan at the present time).
How To Win In Afghanistan Part 3
FUTURE PLANS
Therefore, in my opinion, a better way to go about doing things in Afghanistan is to immediately mend relations with all of the informal institutions and power structures of the country. We need to tolerate and respect these elements and adopt a policy of non-interference as it relates to the political and social structures in Afghanistan. In other words, we need to let the Taliban be, so long as they are not supporting Al Qaeda, even if their practices offend our western sensibilities (sensibilities, I might add, that took us over 200 years to arrive at.)
We also need to stop wasting our time targeting Afghan drug-lords. If we really believe that drug sales are helping to finance terror, then we need to strike at the crux of the problem (the market) and not waste our time, lives and resources groping after the tail (the supply of drugs.) Simply put, we need to take the profit motive out of drugs through legalization. This would be the longest-lasting, most efficient, and by far the most insidious strategy we could employ against the drug-lords.
But the courage to use a strategy like this one only comes from an ability to see beyond ones’ nose (present troubles) and by not getting bogged down in costly short-term fixes that prove to be disastrous in the end. Otherwise you could go with the failed drug strategy of interdiction and, having done so, do something ludicrous like employ our DEA in Afghanistan; the same DEA which has failed to win the war on drugs in America, having been boxed into the asphyxiant strategy of interdiction (legislatively.)
Essentially, we (the United States) must undo all the nation-building efforts that have been undertaken thus far in Afghanistan. We must tear down all of the ethnocentrically driven social experiments we have concocted there; experiments such as western style governance (democracy) along with our social norms and customs. And it won’t take long either. Thanks to the nature of the universe (the fact that all things tend toward entropy), deconstructing a thing is always much faster and easier than putting it together.
Now if the idea of democracy is ever seen expressed again on the landmass which is Afghanistan, may it be in accordance with the will of the Afghan people themselves (and not foreign interlopers such as ourselves.) More importantly, by undoing this Western façade (through acknowledging, making peace with and cooperating alongside of the ‘real powerbrokers’ in Afghanistan) we maintain a higher level of real activity (momentum producing non-wasted effort), relative to and in comparison with our enemies. Also by not being bogged down, having rejected the foolishness of ‘nation-building’ (which inefficiently turns soldiers into things like placatory appeasers) we avoid the costly and unproductive busy work of ‘the vicious cabaret’ played out before our eyes in Afghanistan these last 8 years.
Beyond this, we save face before the World and remain fleet of foot as a nation able to change course quickly in order to respond to new or resurgent threats in a timely manner. Doing otherwise is like being in a fight and throwing a punch (powerful but slow) that is left out too long allowing a swifter and more agile opponent to slip passed it delivering a knockout blow- in the form of a hook to a vulnerable and undefended flank. If the arm (leadership), with its hand (armed forces) cannot retract (withdraw forces) itself quickly enough, the blow will land and the fight could be lost.
Our nation is not a Christian nation, despite some of the founders being Christian themselves, and had they (the founders) wanted it to be Christian they could have easily said so- and dispensed with that whole First Amendment thing. Therefore, it is not our job (as a nation) to ‘go into all the World and preach the Gospel’- freeing the oppressed as we go. We are not ‘the Savior of the World’ either. And need to stop acting like it as well. Besides, we have way too much nation-building going on (and that needs to go on further still) in our own country- than to be wasting our resources building up another nation; that has grown to hate and despise us for all our interloping. (Insurgencies cannot exist without aid from the local populace.)
We went to Afghanistan to capture or kill terrorists. Beyond that, all we wanted to was to deny them save haven (in Afghanistan). And that’s it! So we need to get back to the task at hand and our real mission in the World (because these experiments have not at all been beneficial to us.) And This we must do, in order to exit that nation.
We have to undo ‘the Gordian knot’ we have created for ourselves and end this doomed experiment with democracy. I call it doomed, by the way, because democracy is something that only works if it comes out of the heart of a people- it can’t be forced; not through sham elections, alien political institutions, corrupt politicians and us saying, ‘democracy is the way’. Democracy only works when it originates from the heart of a people, though it can be helped along somewhat (once beyond its infancy.)
In order to mend relations with these elements, one of the first things we must do is return the natural sovereignty of each region and province of Afghanistan. We must have the corrupt Afghan government formally cede back all lands and territories it has claimed to the local parties that originally had control over them. And we have the right to request this- being that the Afghan government exists only through the blood of our dead. For without us it would soon collapse under the weight of its own decay.
The corrupt Afghan government should be a shell left intact to serve only as a ‘figure-head’ that wields no real power. President Karzai and his government would simply be the rulers of the region surrounding the capital, as one of several provincial satrapies (and nothing else.) All the rest of the territories of the country would be ceded back to the current (or original) powerbrokers that have control over them at present. Should the leadership of Afghanistan choose to build a real nation out of the shell government that exist there now, we (the United States) should not interfere (for good or for evil.)
Therefore, in my opinion, a better way to go about doing things in Afghanistan is to immediately mend relations with all of the informal institutions and power structures of the country. We need to tolerate and respect these elements and adopt a policy of non-interference as it relates to the political and social structures in Afghanistan. In other words, we need to let the Taliban be, so long as they are not supporting Al Qaeda, even if their practices offend our western sensibilities (sensibilities, I might add, that took us over 200 years to arrive at.)
We also need to stop wasting our time targeting Afghan drug-lords. If we really believe that drug sales are helping to finance terror, then we need to strike at the crux of the problem (the market) and not waste our time, lives and resources groping after the tail (the supply of drugs.) Simply put, we need to take the profit motive out of drugs through legalization. This would be the longest-lasting, most efficient, and by far the most insidious strategy we could employ against the drug-lords.
But the courage to use a strategy like this one only comes from an ability to see beyond ones’ nose (present troubles) and by not getting bogged down in costly short-term fixes that prove to be disastrous in the end. Otherwise you could go with the failed drug strategy of interdiction and, having done so, do something ludicrous like employ our DEA in Afghanistan; the same DEA which has failed to win the war on drugs in America, having been boxed into the asphyxiant strategy of interdiction (legislatively.)
Essentially, we (the United States) must undo all the nation-building efforts that have been undertaken thus far in Afghanistan. We must tear down all of the ethnocentrically driven social experiments we have concocted there; experiments such as western style governance (democracy) along with our social norms and customs. And it won’t take long either. Thanks to the nature of the universe (the fact that all things tend toward entropy), deconstructing a thing is always much faster and easier than putting it together.
Now if the idea of democracy is ever seen expressed again on the landmass which is Afghanistan, may it be in accordance with the will of the Afghan people themselves (and not foreign interlopers such as ourselves.) More importantly, by undoing this Western façade (through acknowledging, making peace with and cooperating alongside of the ‘real powerbrokers’ in Afghanistan) we maintain a higher level of real activity (momentum producing non-wasted effort), relative to and in comparison with our enemies. Also by not being bogged down, having rejected the foolishness of ‘nation-building’ (which inefficiently turns soldiers into things like placatory appeasers) we avoid the costly and unproductive busy work of ‘the vicious cabaret’ played out before our eyes in Afghanistan these last 8 years.
Beyond this, we save face before the World and remain fleet of foot as a nation able to change course quickly in order to respond to new or resurgent threats in a timely manner. Doing otherwise is like being in a fight and throwing a punch (powerful but slow) that is left out too long allowing a swifter and more agile opponent to slip passed it delivering a knockout blow- in the form of a hook to a vulnerable and undefended flank. If the arm (leadership), with its hand (armed forces) cannot retract (withdraw forces) itself quickly enough, the blow will land and the fight could be lost.
Our nation is not a Christian nation, despite some of the founders being Christian themselves, and had they (the founders) wanted it to be Christian they could have easily said so- and dispensed with that whole First Amendment thing. Therefore, it is not our job (as a nation) to ‘go into all the World and preach the Gospel’- freeing the oppressed as we go. We are not ‘the Savior of the World’ either. And need to stop acting like it as well. Besides, we have way too much nation-building going on (and that needs to go on further still) in our own country- than to be wasting our resources building up another nation; that has grown to hate and despise us for all our interloping. (Insurgencies cannot exist without aid from the local populace.)
We went to Afghanistan to capture or kill terrorists. Beyond that, all we wanted to was to deny them save haven (in Afghanistan). And that’s it! So we need to get back to the task at hand and our real mission in the World (because these experiments have not at all been beneficial to us.) And This we must do, in order to exit that nation.
We have to undo ‘the Gordian knot’ we have created for ourselves and end this doomed experiment with democracy. I call it doomed, by the way, because democracy is something that only works if it comes out of the heart of a people- it can’t be forced; not through sham elections, alien political institutions, corrupt politicians and us saying, ‘democracy is the way’. Democracy only works when it originates from the heart of a people, though it can be helped along somewhat (once beyond its infancy.)
In order to mend relations with these elements, one of the first things we must do is return the natural sovereignty of each region and province of Afghanistan. We must have the corrupt Afghan government formally cede back all lands and territories it has claimed to the local parties that originally had control over them. And we have the right to request this- being that the Afghan government exists only through the blood of our dead. For without us it would soon collapse under the weight of its own decay.
The corrupt Afghan government should be a shell left intact to serve only as a ‘figure-head’ that wields no real power. President Karzai and his government would simply be the rulers of the region surrounding the capital, as one of several provincial satrapies (and nothing else.) All the rest of the territories of the country would be ceded back to the current (or original) powerbrokers that have control over them at present. Should the leadership of Afghanistan choose to build a real nation out of the shell government that exist there now, we (the United States) should not interfere (for good or for evil.)
How To Win In Afghanistan Part 2
THE PRESENT
The foreign concepts and ethnocentrically driven ideology, I speak of, are all of the social and political programs enacted in Afghanistan, in an effort to “modernize” that nation. Instead of respecting and cooperating with the existing informal institutions and working within the already present power structures, the decision was made to re-invent the wheel through a little ‘nation-building’. ‘Nation-building’ is not only costly (in blood and treasure) but it is insanely stupid.
In the midst of a war with a much smaller mobile force that doesn’t stay fixed in place for very long (when challenged), it is unwise, as a leader, to get bogged down in self-inflicted quagmires (i.e., excursions into nation-building) brought on by the static unimaginative minds of the supposed military experts who slither about your feet.
While you are busy ‘nation-building’ (creating democratic institutions, voting infrastructure, conducting elections, and stabilizing security forces, etc.) your smaller, highly mobile, and more mentally agile (terrorist) foe will simply evade you and leave the area altogether (because a smarter smaller force will only limit themselves to fighting when it is easy and in their favor to do so- they will not make any desperate last stands unless backed into a corner.) What’s more, having incorrectly labeled one or more of the indigenous groups of that nation as being tantamount to Terrorists themselves (as we have done in Afghanistan), you then create for yourself a wonderful little thing called an insurgency (which we now have in Afghanistan.)
Similarly, (when faced with a much smaller highly mobile force that doesn’t stay fixed in place for very long when challenged) parking (or surging) a large body of troops somewhere for a long period of time, in the midst of a war with that smaller force, is foolish and unnecessary; being that the much smaller force is not going to line up all ‘revolutionary war like’ and fight some pitched-battle with you. Wisely the terrorists (the smaller more mobile fighting force) will run away, in the face of superior force.
Likewise, In the case of the insurgents (the people indigenous to the nation who are fighting against our forces and most likely their corrupt government), it becomes a game of waiting; waiting for us to lose support back at home, waiting for us to run out of resources and time is on their side. They are at home in their own country able to cease fighting and blend back in with the populace at will.
While we waste the lives of our troops and watch our mounting national debt soar to even further astronomical heights, the insurgents we fight grow stronger by doing nothing at all. The insurgents have a superior economy of force at work and therefore, once again, time is on their side.
All of the failure, along with the inefficiency and loss, inherent in our current efforts in Afghanistan is due to our strategy; the horrible terra-forming project which sought to radically alter the country’s social and political landscape. If you incorporate bad thinking and narrow-mindedness into your planned actions, you get a bad result. If you adopt a flawed worldview and fixed paradigms into your foreign policy decisions, you get disastrous consequences. In the case of Afghanistan, this could not be more true.
The time has come for a new strategy; a strategy that breaks free from all previous paradigms and that is based on things as they are at any given moment and not how they were or how we said they would be during some inane press conference. We need to get away from any and all attachments that keep us from accomplishing our real goal; the far more logical and utility goal of efficiently capturing or killing Al Qaeda while denying them safe haven anywhere in the world. And we cannot do this with viscous inertia-laden thinking that only helps to prolong and produce the type of quagmires we find ourselves in today.
The foreign concepts and ethnocentrically driven ideology, I speak of, are all of the social and political programs enacted in Afghanistan, in an effort to “modernize” that nation. Instead of respecting and cooperating with the existing informal institutions and working within the already present power structures, the decision was made to re-invent the wheel through a little ‘nation-building’. ‘Nation-building’ is not only costly (in blood and treasure) but it is insanely stupid.
In the midst of a war with a much smaller mobile force that doesn’t stay fixed in place for very long (when challenged), it is unwise, as a leader, to get bogged down in self-inflicted quagmires (i.e., excursions into nation-building) brought on by the static unimaginative minds of the supposed military experts who slither about your feet.
While you are busy ‘nation-building’ (creating democratic institutions, voting infrastructure, conducting elections, and stabilizing security forces, etc.) your smaller, highly mobile, and more mentally agile (terrorist) foe will simply evade you and leave the area altogether (because a smarter smaller force will only limit themselves to fighting when it is easy and in their favor to do so- they will not make any desperate last stands unless backed into a corner.) What’s more, having incorrectly labeled one or more of the indigenous groups of that nation as being tantamount to Terrorists themselves (as we have done in Afghanistan), you then create for yourself a wonderful little thing called an insurgency (which we now have in Afghanistan.)
Similarly, (when faced with a much smaller highly mobile force that doesn’t stay fixed in place for very long when challenged) parking (or surging) a large body of troops somewhere for a long period of time, in the midst of a war with that smaller force, is foolish and unnecessary; being that the much smaller force is not going to line up all ‘revolutionary war like’ and fight some pitched-battle with you. Wisely the terrorists (the smaller more mobile fighting force) will run away, in the face of superior force.
Likewise, In the case of the insurgents (the people indigenous to the nation who are fighting against our forces and most likely their corrupt government), it becomes a game of waiting; waiting for us to lose support back at home, waiting for us to run out of resources and time is on their side. They are at home in their own country able to cease fighting and blend back in with the populace at will.
While we waste the lives of our troops and watch our mounting national debt soar to even further astronomical heights, the insurgents we fight grow stronger by doing nothing at all. The insurgents have a superior economy of force at work and therefore, once again, time is on their side.
All of the failure, along with the inefficiency and loss, inherent in our current efforts in Afghanistan is due to our strategy; the horrible terra-forming project which sought to radically alter the country’s social and political landscape. If you incorporate bad thinking and narrow-mindedness into your planned actions, you get a bad result. If you adopt a flawed worldview and fixed paradigms into your foreign policy decisions, you get disastrous consequences. In the case of Afghanistan, this could not be more true.
The time has come for a new strategy; a strategy that breaks free from all previous paradigms and that is based on things as they are at any given moment and not how they were or how we said they would be during some inane press conference. We need to get away from any and all attachments that keep us from accomplishing our real goal; the far more logical and utility goal of efficiently capturing or killing Al Qaeda while denying them safe haven anywhere in the world. And we cannot do this with viscous inertia-laden thinking that only helps to prolong and produce the type of quagmires we find ourselves in today.
How To Win In Afganistan Part 1
THESIS
In order to win in Afghanistan and interdict resurgent terrorist activity there, the United States should perform a holding action, through real diplomacy with the Taliban and by leveraging its use of Special Operations Forces who would be aggressively and continuously supported by a much larger conventional force (most likely an Aircraft Carrier Group) just outside of the country.
THE PAST
The United States invaded Afghanistan over eight years ago in an effort to either capture or kill Osama Bin Ladin. Unfortunately, that effort was unsuccessful, culminating in Osama Bin Ladins’ purported escape across the mountainous regions of Tora Bora over into Pakistan. Following this, for reasons I can only guess were borne of sheer desperation and embarrassment, the fight in Afghanistan was set aside by the Bush Administration and put on the back burner- as our forces were flung headlong into a conflict with the country of Iraq (over the supposed existence of WMDs there.) This then left Al Qaeda able to simply move into Pakistan uncontested, refitting and reconstituting their forces once there.
At the same time, as that Executive debacle played itself out, before the eyes of the world, the fight in Afghanistan degenerated into an ethnocentrically driven terra-forming project; which sought to radically alter the social and political landscape of that country. Eventually the effort in Afghanistan would disintegrate even further into fights with the local populace over their customs, as well as the political and social norms of certain groups (e.g., the Taliban) within the country.
At the same time, back here in the U.S., imprecise journalists and right-wing political pundits began confusing the term ‘taliban’ with the much hated and rightly maligned term ‘al qaeda’ in the media. This erroneous collation of the two terms produced an infectiously synergistic dumbing-down effect that wrongly oversimplified the situation, in the minds of the public, many of the political pundits and so-called journalist in the press. Once the language was controlled and co-opted (by those of the right) and the terms were made synonymous, it then became possible to justify the unnecessarily large and continued presence of our conventional fighting forces in Afghanistan.
But the truth of the matter is that, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not synonymous with one another. Al Qaeda is seeking global dominance and the overthrow of western society, while the Taliban (on the other hand) only seek to control lands traditionally their own and have no known aspirations to do otherwise. This may sound silly, that affixing two words to the same definition could lead a nation (along with its army) down a costly and deceptive course, but language is quite powerful.
And with this errant language, our former leaders foolishly expanded the scope of the conflict in Afghanistan- well beyond its original bounds and stated purpose (to capture or kill Al Qaeda and all those harboring these terrorists)- in order to justify our continued occupation of Afghanistan. As a result, the United States shifted its focus and began to make war not on Al Qaeda but on the Afghan population as a whole. This war was not fought merely by the bullet and bomb but with foreign concepts and ethnocentrically driven ideology as well.
In order to win in Afghanistan and interdict resurgent terrorist activity there, the United States should perform a holding action, through real diplomacy with the Taliban and by leveraging its use of Special Operations Forces who would be aggressively and continuously supported by a much larger conventional force (most likely an Aircraft Carrier Group) just outside of the country.
THE PAST
The United States invaded Afghanistan over eight years ago in an effort to either capture or kill Osama Bin Ladin. Unfortunately, that effort was unsuccessful, culminating in Osama Bin Ladins’ purported escape across the mountainous regions of Tora Bora over into Pakistan. Following this, for reasons I can only guess were borne of sheer desperation and embarrassment, the fight in Afghanistan was set aside by the Bush Administration and put on the back burner- as our forces were flung headlong into a conflict with the country of Iraq (over the supposed existence of WMDs there.) This then left Al Qaeda able to simply move into Pakistan uncontested, refitting and reconstituting their forces once there.
At the same time, as that Executive debacle played itself out, before the eyes of the world, the fight in Afghanistan degenerated into an ethnocentrically driven terra-forming project; which sought to radically alter the social and political landscape of that country. Eventually the effort in Afghanistan would disintegrate even further into fights with the local populace over their customs, as well as the political and social norms of certain groups (e.g., the Taliban) within the country.
At the same time, back here in the U.S., imprecise journalists and right-wing political pundits began confusing the term ‘taliban’ with the much hated and rightly maligned term ‘al qaeda’ in the media. This erroneous collation of the two terms produced an infectiously synergistic dumbing-down effect that wrongly oversimplified the situation, in the minds of the public, many of the political pundits and so-called journalist in the press. Once the language was controlled and co-opted (by those of the right) and the terms were made synonymous, it then became possible to justify the unnecessarily large and continued presence of our conventional fighting forces in Afghanistan.
But the truth of the matter is that, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not synonymous with one another. Al Qaeda is seeking global dominance and the overthrow of western society, while the Taliban (on the other hand) only seek to control lands traditionally their own and have no known aspirations to do otherwise. This may sound silly, that affixing two words to the same definition could lead a nation (along with its army) down a costly and deceptive course, but language is quite powerful.
And with this errant language, our former leaders foolishly expanded the scope of the conflict in Afghanistan- well beyond its original bounds and stated purpose (to capture or kill Al Qaeda and all those harboring these terrorists)- in order to justify our continued occupation of Afghanistan. As a result, the United States shifted its focus and began to make war not on Al Qaeda but on the Afghan population as a whole. This war was not fought merely by the bullet and bomb but with foreign concepts and ethnocentrically driven ideology as well.
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