As surely will be reported upon in this issue, the State of the City was well stated last week by a threesome of King City’s head honchos. You can get the particulars of each speaker’s field of expertise in this issue and elsewhere but, as one trained in public speaking, I want to touch on delivery.
Mayor Mike had a cue card but only referred to it with rare glances, all the rest was extemporaneous where he covered a lot of ground with all the facts in his head, which is a remarkable recall ability that comes only after really knowing your subjects. And while City Manager Jose understandably referred to written notes, the extent of information covered revealed he has hit the ground running after having many conversations with staff and reading volumes on city affairs. The last speaker iterated the state of his department and, as happens when emotions arise, when he spoke of the loss of a fellow officer, Chief Bob showed he has heart; and his recovery showed he is professional through and through.
Methinks the future of the city is in good hands.
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America has not been involved in a world war since 1941, and that was only after sitting out a European war that had raged on for two years. It wasn’t until an attack on American military did the president ask Congress to declare war on two sovereign nations and their allies. The reason for the two-year hesitation on the part of the Roosevelt administration is the same reason all leaders of all nations hesitate, knowing the gravest decision any nation can make is to go to war.
Our Constitution was conceived by men but greatly influenced by the women in their lives, women who as mothers and wives and daughters of those who would surely die in a war had strong opinions not in legislative councils but in kitchens and bedrooms, and so the act of going to war was not left to the decision of one person but a collective decision of those chosen by we the people.
Now we are engaged in another world war, but this one is by choice of one man and a handful of his crony henchmen.
I should think there are readers who question my use of the term world war, but a look at the number of countries directly under attack comes to about seven in the Middle East, where actual aerial combat is taking place and rockets have verifiably struck targets. And then the economic impact on the major oil consuming nations (this war is all about Iran’s oil, not their nuclear weapons development because that was obliterated last summer, remember?) is already evident in rising prices, which will continue to rise as this war rages on.
But let us put all that aside for argument’s sake and try to understand the mindset of some of the Middle Eastern players in this war. The consensus seems to be that the Iranian leader was horrible, he killed thousands of Iranians who opposed his rule. He also, like others from that part of the world, said some horrible stuff about America. Over the decades, many hateful words against America have flowed out of the Middle East. Here is a rather lengthy quote but does indicate how some in that part of the world would treat America harshly and if caught such treatment would nonetheless continue:
“If we get caught, they will just replace us with persons of the same cloth. So, it doesn’t matter what you do, America is a Golden Calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it piece by piece until there is nothing left but the World’s biggest welfare state that we will create and control. Why? Because it’s God’s will and America is big enough to take the hit so we can do it again, again, and again. This is what we do to countries we hate. We destroy them very slowly and we make them suffer for refusing to be our slaves.”
In the parlance of the Old West, “Them’s fightin’ words, mister!” And so sure enough our leader up and decided to ally us with Israel and … and what, exactly? I’m no military expert, but it seems that many military and former military people in and out of elected office are pointing out that this war has no real definable strategy or end game; who is going to control the Iranian government? Or, more appropriately, who will control Iranian oil? There is a phrase, the fog of war, which in its simplest definition is that no matter how well planned a military action when the actual fighting begins anything can, and usually does, drastically change and training and instinct take over.
In this case, it seems the fog of war existed before the first rocket was fired and the amount of American service men and women killed and wounded will only increase until Congress or the Pentagon steps up and says “Enough!”
And what is my personal interest in this debacle? I think about my granddaughter Rebecca, who recently married her long-time boyfriend who now as a soldier trained in avionics has been notified that he is to be deployed on May 6 to Kuwait, where he will repair and maintain helicopters. A Kuwaiti airfield is where the first American soldiers died in Mr. Trump’s illegal and immoral war with his buddy Benjamin Netanyahu, so Becca is understandably worried.
Also, I misled you with the above quote, it is not Iranian. It is from a 1991 speech by Benjamin Netanyahu. Seems the Israeli prime minister is not only a genocidal, convicted war criminal, he’s also a prophet because his nation is totally reliant upon American money and arms sent over decades; just like he said would happen. And, in this writer’s opinion, will continue to happen while Trump maintains in power of Israel’s Golden Calf.
Take care. Peace.
