Cyclone's Rant

I am in a ranting mood about what I have witnessed since the election, and have chosen two targets in particular for today. George W. Boosh and Condi Rice. I am not even going to edit this, so I apologize in advance for any typos or random thoughts that don’t seem to tie together. I am sick to my stomach, and fixing this would only make it worse. Enjoy, then blast away at me if you so choose.

George W. Boosh

While the Booshman was temporarily (unfortunate that it is temporary) sent to “time out” in Asia while the Big Boys went about taking control of the business of the country, statements that Boosh made from overseas made it clear that he has no more of a clue of what is going on in this world than does your average pre-schooler. It is somewhat comical that while he spent the majority of his 20-somethings trying to stay out of Viet Nam, in 2006 he goes there to try to stay out of Washington D.C.

“ I have seen firsthand the great vibrancy and the excitement that’s taking place in Viet Nam.” WHAT? Boosh appears to look at the economy of Viet Nam much like he does our own, with blinders on. While the annual growth rate of the Vietnamese economy is currently at 8.4%, a respectable number, the per capita income of that country’s citizens is $638. Yes, six hundred and thirty eight dollars per person per year. I’m certain that this is a situation similar to ours, while the wealthiest of the folks in Viet Nam are benefiting from the “vibrancy,” the average citizen can’t find their way out of a thatched hut. Much like here, as our stock market sets new records on a near daily basis, more Americans are being tossed out of their houses and into their cars in these days of record foreclosures. Yet he tells them how great their lives are.

Furthermore, he made the comment that “The only way that we will lose in Iraq is if we quit.” This man has no moral compass. Standing in the country where we lost over 50,000 soldiers over a 10 year period, and a block or two from where "his friend," (the 2000 campaign sure showed that) John McCain, was held captive for years, he maintains that we should “stay the course” in Iraq. If one extrapolates the numbers from Viet Nam and considers that in order to win we would have to still be fighting there, such a statement is mind boggling. Using the most conservative numbers available, a rate of 5000 American soldier deaths per year, to date we would have lost 160,000 troops in the Viet Nam war as we continued to "chase victory." If we stay in Iraq “until we win,” as Boosh says we must, using the current rate of casualties, we will lose 700+ soldiers per year forever. Better keep making babies, folks. This is again using the most conservative numbers possible. This is not even taking into consideration the numbers of permanently maimed, disfigured and severely injured, numbers which to date are uncountable. I am certain of one thing, though. The entire Iraqi population would perish before we won.

I don’t know how many people need to say it before this administration gets it. This war cannot be won militarily. The Generals know this, the diplomats know this, the administration advisors, apparently including even Henry Kissinger knows this, most members of his administration know this, yet Boosh and Cheney and a few others are determined to keep us bogged down in this place until hell freezes over.

We will also not win the “hearts and minds of the Iraqi people,” in fact the opposite is true. First, the citizens want us out of there, as they have for the last year or two. Second, for every “terrorist” we kill, we manufacture untold numbers of more than willing successors to the “blow yourself up for Allah” campaign. Third, the Maliki government is a failed experiment. Everyone knows this, except Boosh and his closest comrades. While they may have been democratically elected, purple stains and all, every general, diplomat and administration advisor, again including Henry Kissinger, know that this government cannot stand. It lacks the support of the Iraqi people, from the Sunni’s to the Shia’s to the Kurds, all across the board. The government will fall the minute we leave Iraq, whether it be tomorrow or a hundred years from now. If I hear one more time, that should we leave Iraq it will turn into “chaos,” I think I will puke. If what we are witnessing already is not “chaos,” I need to be in a rubber room somewhere.

Bring our troops home today and put an end to this aborted policy, damned the consequences. It will matter not in the long run within the region, we have already cemented the fact that the Middle East will be in a perpetual state of chaos by our ill advised march to Baghdad four years ago. Staying one more hour or ten more years will not change things one iota.

Condi Rice

Which brings me to Condi Rice, and her statements last week regarding China.

“There are concerns about China’s military buildup. It’s sometimes seemed outsized for China’s regional role.”

China’s regional role? I’ll comment on that momentarily, but first we need to hear some more “Condi-isms.”

“US policy is aimed at having China be a responsible stakeholder in international politics. That means that Chinese energy, Chinese growth, Chinese incredible innovation and entrepreneurship, would be channeled into an international economy in which everybody can compete and compete equally.”

“China’s economic growth has been a net gain for the international system.” She followed this by expressing US concerns about “economic fairness” and “China’s record on human rights.”

And, “There are concerns about a rising China, concerns about China’s transition, concerns about whether the Chinese economy will in fact act in a way that is consistent with the level playing field that the international community needs.”

In an attempt to do a public service to Condi, Cyclone is going to attempt to educate her on a couple of things that she clearly needs to be educated on.

1) “….seems outsized for China’s regional role…..” Condi, the fact that you want China to stay limited to a “regional role” and the fact that you seem to think you get to tell China what to do with their military is a bit presumptuous, don’t you think? On second thought, no, you probably don’t think that at all, given the arrogance with which you and your administration present yourselves. Here are a few facts that you might want to commit to memory.

First, China has a population of approximately 1.3 billion people, a little over 1 billion more people than we house or choose not to house here in the United States. They comprise about one-fifth of the population of the entire world. Yet, you make these half-cocked comments about how they are “regional players,” which given the demographics alone, seem a bit ill advised. They just might take offense to your calling them second rate citizens.

Second, they own our ass, pure and simple. They can crash our economy tonight if they so choose, though I’m not sure you or Boosh need their help. You might want to be careful who you talk down to in the future, they might just jump up and bite you and the self-absorbed, misguided policies that you helped construct.

Here’s the Real Deal, Condi. China is undergoing a huge military buildup because they are sick of being bullied by a banana republic that insists upon parading around like a superpower, that being your country, the USA. They are undergoing a huge military buildup because they have watched us pre-emptively strike a sovereign nation without cause, torture citizens from around the world then retroactively make it legal, and they will not allow it to happen again. They are undergoing a huge military buildup because, despite what you say, they are not content with being considered a “regional player.” They are going to become the World’s Player, and you can thank yourself and your neocon buddies for that.

Condi, there is no way to break this to you easy, so I’m just going to have to say it. China is not going to cower to you or your ilk for much longer. Instead, they are going to “flex their muscles.” I tried to tell you long ago that they owned us, and that they (and others like Russia) were waiting for us to weaken ourselves to the point where we were no longer much of a threat to them. That then they were going to “pounce on us like a bulldog on a slab of raw meat” is close to the way I phrased it, I believe. While you have been sitting on your high horse and admiring your position from atop your golden saddle, they have been working on building a few relationships with others who might just leave our team and join theirs. In this day and age of free agency, things like this happen. While your head has been turned, we have come very near to that point of vulnerability.

2) “…US policy, economic fairness, level playing field, human rights blah, blah, blah……”

Condi, another tough one for you, because no one cares about US Policy! It is irrelevant, immaterial, is already laughed at and is soon to be ignored. As you have allowed our middle class to be decimated, and watched our jobs be transported overseas, you have taken “economic fairness and a level playing field” off of the table for the citizens you allegedly represent. For you to now try to blame those countries that have taken the jobs is beyond absurd. You and yours have created the environment that has allowed for the takeover of America, and for that you should be skewered.

And human rights? Give me a break. You have stripped us, the American citizens, of more human rights in 6 years than the Chinese citizens have even had in their thousands of years of existence. You and your rubber stamp cheerleader, Alberto Gonsales, have authorized and legalized the torture of God only knows how many innocent people, Muslims, Christians, Canadians, US citizens, you name it. You’ve got people right here in your country living in cars, losing homes by the minute, literally starving to death, while your big oil buddies and corporate thugs have earned billion dollar profits in a fiscal quarter. You have a large number of those same citizens without health insurance, and most that do have insurance find that the cost is doubling or in many cases, tripling. And you dare judge others, especially on human rights issues?

Here’s a clue, they don’t give a rat’s ass what you think about their take on human rights. Now, what are you going to do about it? Here is another clue. You are going to do nothing about it, beyond running your mouth as you have been. Why, you ask? Because there is nothing that you or Boosh or anyone else can do about it, pure and simple. The days of the USA being able to con their way out of every little immoral scrape we find ourselves in are over. The days where we can threaten others with sanctions and threats of bombing them to hell and back are over. They no longer care. Many of them figure that they will likely be bombed anyway, so why play the game any longer? The bully on the block has been humbled, and there is nothing you can do to turn back the clock. The destruction of a once proud and great nation is near completion.

Enjoy your perch while you can, Condi. It won’t last much longer, the "regional powers" in the world will see to that. The sad thing is, you have taken the rest of us with you, and many of us don't want to go.

Cyclone