Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
XXI.
(January 2010)
Bill
Sykes looks back in retrospect at material which has
been published in previous editions of "View from
America", in an attempt to determine whether the
subject matter written then is still applicable in
today’s world.
Article #21A.
Introduction.
Please forgive me for not putting together the usual Christmas Edition but I’m afraid that I just didn’t leave enough time between the last published edition, (The November 2009 Edition), and a new edition and consequently I didn’t manage to put together a Christmas article for publication, so I’m afraid that this is going to have to be the January 2010 edition of "Bill Sykes - In Retrospect".
I offer my apologies - but there again where in the world of today is there peace on earth and glad tidings of great joy, in a world that is currently awash with terrorism and the senseless killing of so many, many human beings on a daily basis.
Another day another broken promise Mr. President.
It was reported on the Second of December 2009 that you Mr. President gave the order for the American military to go ahead and send another 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan by the end of 2010.
That will make a total of 100,000 American troops facing possible death, or being severely wounded, by members of the Taliban and Al Queda.
Mr. President when you were campaigning for the office of the President of the United States you promised to get all the American troops out of Iraq by the end of your first year in office, and that promise was broken. I don’t remember what you had to say at the time with respect to the number of American forces that would be sent into Afghanistan to fight another un-winnable war, but I’m sure that a number of other promises that you also made at that time have been broken.
During your campaign for President you made promises which certainly influenced the public vote, but now that you have placed another thirty thousand young American soldiers in jeopardy in Afghanistan I’m sure that many of those voters, including myself, will have to reconsider who to cast their vote for at the next election.
To make matters worse, I’ve just learned that "Blackwater", (surely you’ve heard of the outfit that supplies military contractors), has received a $44M contract to send another 56,000 contractors, (mercenaries), to Afghanistan to provide security and protection for American and Allied forces.
This brings the total number of American contractors in Afghanistan to 160,000.
Apparently these soldiers of fortune receive unbelievably high monetary compensation, many in the region of $100K plus per year, which obviously is far greater than what the American soldiers receive.
At the same time that you made your announcement, President Hamid Karzai sent you a response that Afghanistan will not be able to finance an all Afghan Army for at least another sixteen years.
This of course begs the question as to whether that means the United States will have to continue providing Karzai with the financing which he has become used to, and misused, or on the other hand are you willing to keep our troops in Afghanistan for many more years to come?
Eight years of war in the Middle East have gone by, in which time over 5,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat, 4,300 plus in Operation Iraqi Freedom and another 900 plus in Afghanistan, and an estimated one hundred thousand have been wounded, and that is only considering American troops and does not take into consideration the number of Allied troops and other people that have been killed or wounded, or the many, many thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians that have also been killed or wounded. A thing that really concerns me, and something that I have difficulty in believing, is the number of daily suicides of American soldiers which has been stated to be around eighteen per day.
My question:
What, if anything, have we Americans, and the people of the two countries in which the wars are being fought have in common, and what if anything has been gained from the deaths and terrible injuries of so many people, certainly not an end to the ongoing every day killing of both military personnel and civilians.
Since both the wars that we are engaged in are still being fought, I’m of the opinion that the time has come for America to get out of this mess immediately and admit that neither of these futile wars have been won. I would also suggest that in my opinion, wars are made for behind the lines generals and home loving politicians who apparently dictate to the man in charge, currently President Barak Obama, that if they could have more and more "boots on the ground", (as the common soldiers are referred to), that we will be able to live up to the good old American win, (or appear to win), at all cost philosophy. I beg of you Mr. President to remember the debacle of Vietnam.
I’m beginning to think that you Mr. President are taking advantage of the people who voted you into power when you made promises that you knew would not be kept and then you reneged on them - but then after taking into consideration the alternative of a John McCain/Sarah Palin Presidency I suppose that we will have to put up with you for at least another three years until the end of your first term in office.
I know that you were burdened down with debt by the previous administration when you came into office, but if things do not improve considerably during the next couple of years, especially with respect to the two wars, I would forecast that you will have a very difficult time at the polls when that time comes for your possible re-election for a second term in office.
You are not forgotten.
A belated Christmas greeting to all the American, British, and other Allied forces, whom so ever you may be, and who are away from your homes and families this Christmas fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I know that I’ve included this poem in previous editions of either, "Bill Sykes - In Retrospect 2, or “View from America”, and I will not apologize for once again including a small part of the poem.
“For the Fallen”, By Lawrence Binyon
They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We shall remember them.
I do so hope that the above poem will provide some solace to the many families that have lost their sons, daughters, or friends, in the two terrible wars that we are currently involved in and that it isn’t
considered to be a meaningless gesture on my part.
Late Breaking News: (Christmas Day, 25th December 2009)
Today a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, was arrested at Detroit Airport and charged with attempting to ignite a bomb on board the North West Airlines flight 253 which was travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit. This of course brings back memories of Richard Reid the notorious,"Shoe Bomber" who tried to do the same thing on a Paris to Miami flight in 2002.
Apparently the young Nigerian male purchased his ticket for cash, (which cost $2,831), in Accra, Ghana, but later the ticket was reissued to read Lagos-Amsterdam-Detroit,
Incidentally the purchaser did not check any baggage, but he did have a carry on shoulder bag and went through the normal screening process. The passenger in question had a Nigerian Passport with an expiration date of September 2010 and had a multiple entry visa for the United States, that was issued in London on the 16th of June 2008 with and expiration date of June 2010.
Apparently he carried a powerful explosive, PETN, (Pentaerythritol Tetra-Nitrate), which he apparently acquired in Yemen, and which was taped to his legs beneath his trousers. Apparently he was badly burned when he tried to set off the explosive. Fortunately a couple of very brave passengers. (who also suffered burns), managed to overpower the individual and assist in extinguishing the flames which were obviously intended to initiate the explosion of the bomb, and bring down the aircraft.
Note: Apparently the father of the individual, (a prominent banking and finance official), had notified both the British and the American Embassy staff in Nigeria some months previously, that he believed that his son had been indoctrinated by a Muslim source and was unstable.
The British Embassy apparently immediately revoked the visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab.
The American Embassy sent a warning to the CIA, (or whom-so-ever), who apparently did not take any action. There obviously is a problem of lack of internal communication between departments here in the United States that needs to be rectified immediately.
Note: Juval Aviv, (An ex-Israeli intelligence agent), was quite correct in his prediction of an imminent attack on America soil but he was wrong when he said that the terrorists would not use aircraft, one cannot be right all the time!
Comment:It has been known for some time that the United States has been financing Yemen, and today Sunday the 10th January, the head of Central Command, General David Petraeus, declared that Washington was to double its security assistance program to Yemen from $70M to more than $150M.
I’m afraid that I’m not privy to whether that is monthly or annually.
I assume that this funding is being provided to Yemen in order for them to try to control the ever growing influx of Muslim terrorists who apparently are being trained there and are stashing weapons and explosives in that country,
My question then arises as to how many American troops are currently in that country, or are about to be shipped out there?
Then of course we have the secondary problem of the situation in Somalia of the hjacking of foreign ships and it makes one wonder if Somalia is also housing Muslim extremists?
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this news letter has been gleaned from American and international media sources, (including the internet), and as such is quoted as accurately as possible.
I try to obtain confirmation on each subject from several outlets, so the text is a mixture of composite items and personal comments and therefore the reader must make his/her own judgment as to the reliability and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
Eric (Bill) Sykes, (Southern California).
January 2010.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
|
