In Iran, Nuclear Centrifuges are Spinning; In the U.S., All the Talk is Misunderspinning
By John E. Carey
August 16, 2006
We are in a serious situation. We are losing the war against terror. At least we suffered some serious setbacks during the last few weeks.
The problem is: we haven’t yet admitted that and taken corrective action.
Right before our eyes, Hezbollah is already refusing to disarm and move out of southern Lebanon.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the UN is a tool of the US, so we should be happy that the UN is on the way. Kofi Annan and the U.N. are busy with business as usual.
Every Israeli life lost in the recent 34 day war may have been in vain.
In Iraq, the war is not going well. The nation is slipping into civil war.
Will our own U.S. lives lost in Iraq and on 9-11 have been in vain?
Iran is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon: and defying the United Nations along the way.
There are fifteen days left before the UN deadline to Iran on the nuclear issue.
The nuclear processing centrifuges in Iran are undoubtedly spinning. The clock is ticking.
And President Bush is guilty of some serious misunderspinning.
What is misunderspinning? Misunderspinning is that situation in politics and other dialogues that involve “spin” when one misses and/or underestimates the result or the facts of something. The consequent spin produced is both too little (underspin) and wrong (mis-spin). The resulting spin produced to depict or characterize the situation is almost laughable.
It seems to us that many analysts and pundits missed the meaning of the result of this war in Lebanon.
President Bush said on Monday, August 14, 2006, the first day of the cease fire with Hezbollah, that the “responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah.”
“There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon,” President Bush said.
“Lebanon can’t be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state and that’s Hezbollah,” Bush said.
First: Responsibility. Arabs, and all the Lebanese, are blaming the droppers of the bombs, Israel, and the provider of the bombs, the US.
Second: ‘New Power’ in south Lebanon. Who? The men of Hezbollah are the people of southern Lebanon. They collect taxes, provide welfare, run the schools, take out the trash, sit in the congress.
I’ve been in Lebanon.
Does anyone think the Lebanese army and the U.N. will be the new power in south Lebanon?
The President talks about Lebanon as a strong democracy. People who are very familiar with Lebanon doubt that it is now as many in the west believe it to be. Or wish it to be. Lebanon is an Islamic state now (at least in the south), or on the slippery slope toward that end.
In fact, in Lebanan and the greater Arab world, Hezbollah is seen as a state and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared almost daily during the war on Hezbollah TV (al-Manar “The Beacon”), and al-Jazeera during the conflict saying, “We have not been harmed.”
Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah are major forces in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has an army, C-802 Chinese made anti-ship cruise missiles, a flag, a TV station and thousands of short range rockets that can hit Israel at a range of 42 miles and more. They don’t have a seat at the UN or an Olympic team; but their army beat the Israelis and their Public Relations beat the Israelis and the US.
Hebollah has an accomplished leader in the Arab world heading it and it has a following. And their spokesman, Hassan Nasrallah, beat our spokesman, George Bush, all over the Arab Street.
And who is going to disarm and disband Hezbollah now? The Israeli army couldn’t disarm them.
The Hezbollah fighters are going to melt into the public in southern Lebanon because they are the public. There are Hezbollah rockets still in Lebanon, and if little gremlins move them northward and out of the zone to be monitored by the UN in the next few days would you be surprised?
There was also some severe underwinning here too. Hezbollah won this round: not Israel.
Nobody in the Arab world believes Israel’s calm assertions that they are better off. Nobody.
Israel had three major goals in this war: get rid of Hezbollah’s rockets; get rid of Hezbollah; achieve the return of Israeli soldiers held hostage. If the war is over, as of today, they achieved none of these objectives.
The final chapter of this round of a protracted conflict now depends upon the UN. Destiny has been in their hands before.
Americans generally prefer destiny in their own hands.
The U.S. needs to consider a course change. A few helpful ideas include:
–Get serious about airport security. Target the people you really want to search; not my 92 year old grandmother. Don’t use racial profiling but get serious about behavior profiling. Use the model of the Israeli airline: El Al.
–Talk bluntly to the American people. Be honest. We can take it. Put November on the back burner.
–Increase troop levels in Iraq. General Casey asked for more troops in Baghdad and that caused a troop tour extension for our guys expecting to go home. We need to send more troops over to Iraq.
–Throw the red flag and force off some yardage with the UN and the world community as soon as possible about Hezbollah.
One Comment
john Carey
In Iran, Nuclear Centrifuges are Spinning; In the U.S., All the Talk is Misunderspinning
By John E. Carey
August 16, 2006
We are in a serious situation. We are losing the war against terror. At least we suffered some serious setbacks during the last few weeks.
The problem is: we haven’t yet admitted that and taken corrective action.
Right before our eyes, Hezbollah is already refusing to disarm and move out of southern Lebanon.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the UN is a tool of the US, so we should be happy that the UN is on the way. Kofi Annan and the U.N. are busy with business as usual.
Every Israeli life lost in the recent 34 day war may have been in vain.
In Iraq, the war is not going well. The nation is slipping into civil war.
Will our own U.S. lives lost in Iraq and on 9-11 have been in vain?
Iran is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon: and defying the United Nations along the way.
There are fifteen days left before the UN deadline to Iran on the nuclear issue.
The nuclear processing centrifuges in Iran are undoubtedly spinning. The clock is ticking.
And President Bush is guilty of some serious misunderspinning.
What is misunderspinning? Misunderspinning is that situation in politics and other dialogues that involve “spin” when one misses and/or underestimates the result or the facts of something. The consequent spin produced is both too little (underspin) and wrong (mis-spin). The resulting spin produced to depict or characterize the situation is almost laughable.
It seems to us that many analysts and pundits missed the meaning of the result of this war in Lebanon.
President Bush said on Monday, August 14, 2006, the first day of the cease fire with Hezbollah, that the “responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah.”
“There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon,” President Bush said.
“Lebanon can’t be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state and that’s Hezbollah,” Bush said.
First: Responsibility. Arabs, and all the Lebanese, are blaming the droppers of the bombs, Israel, and the provider of the bombs, the US.
Second: ‘New Power’ in south Lebanon. Who? The men of Hezbollah are the people of southern Lebanon. They collect taxes, provide welfare, run the schools, take out the trash, sit in the congress.
I’ve been in Lebanon.
Does anyone think the Lebanese army and the U.N. will be the new power in south Lebanon?
The President talks about Lebanon as a strong democracy. People who are very familiar with Lebanon doubt that it is now as many in the west believe it to be. Or wish it to be. Lebanon is an Islamic state now (at least in the south), or on the slippery slope toward that end.
In fact, in Lebanan and the greater Arab world, Hezbollah is seen as a state and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared almost daily during the war on Hezbollah TV (al-Manar “The Beacon”), and al-Jazeera during the conflict saying, “We have not been harmed.”
Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah are major forces in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has an army, C-802 Chinese made anti-ship cruise missiles, a flag, a TV station and thousands of short range rockets that can hit Israel at a range of 42 miles and more. They don’t have a seat at the UN or an Olympic team; but their army beat the Israelis and their Public Relations beat the Israelis and the US.
Hebollah has an accomplished leader in the Arab world heading it and it has a following. And their spokesman, Hassan Nasrallah, beat our spokesman, George Bush, all over the Arab Street.
And who is going to disarm and disband Hezbollah now? The Israeli army couldn’t disarm them.
The Hezbollah fighters are going to melt into the public in southern Lebanon because they are the public. There are Hezbollah rockets still in Lebanon, and if little gremlins move them northward and out of the zone to be monitored by the UN in the next few days would you be surprised?
There was also some severe underwinning here too. Hezbollah won this round: not Israel.
Nobody in the Arab world believes Israel’s calm assertions that they are better off. Nobody.
Israel had three major goals in this war: get rid of Hezbollah’s rockets; get rid of Hezbollah; achieve the return of Israeli soldiers held hostage. If the war is over, as of today, they achieved none of these objectives.
The final chapter of this round of a protracted conflict now depends upon the UN. Destiny has been in their hands before.
Americans generally prefer destiny in their own hands.
The U.S. needs to consider a course change. A few helpful ideas include:
–Get serious about airport security. Target the people you really want to search; not my 92 year old grandmother. Don’t use racial profiling but get serious about behavior profiling. Use the model of the Israeli airline: El Al.
–Talk bluntly to the American people. Be honest. We can take it. Put November on the back burner.
–Increase troop levels in Iraq. General Casey asked for more troops in Baghdad and that caused a troop tour extension for our guys expecting to go home. We need to send more troops over to Iraq.
–Throw the red flag and force off some yardage with the UN and the world community as soon as possible about Hezbollah.
–Hold Iran accountable on nuclear projects.