Where is Dr. Bill Rosberg when you need him?

By Keith B.

I have never forgotten a political science class I had taken
at Kirkwood Community
College and the lesson taught on new
democracies.  Dr. Bill Rossberg implored
upon us then that you cannot impose a democracy from the outside, nor do most
fledgling democracies last beyond the initial administration.  They will usually end in a coup, junta or
collapse because the population doesn't have the support of the majority, the
necessary will or ability to maintain it.

Recall the United States own internal strife and challenges
during our 200+ year experiment.  If it
were not for Lincoln's fortitude,
what would America
look like today?

Looking back, I marvel that old Dr. Rosberg was teaching
this to a group of C students at a community college in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa 20 years ago. He
understood and imparted this knowledge onto the likes of people like me.  Yet, we now have a government and military
with all these fancy ideas and big brains 
who not only got us into this mess, but are apparently incapable of
figuring a way out now. 

Do you suppose the goal of this administration and Pentagon
is to not find a way out, but to establish a perpetual war machine to drain
many more resources and fortune from the American people.   The transparency and blatancy of the revolving
Pentagon door provides a steady stream of ex-generals with a golden contract in
hand heading for the plush serenity of Washington's
anonymous suburbs.  A simple review of
the Washington Post business section tells the story every month with the
latest defense contracts awarded to companies XY and Z.  It should surprise no one to learn that those
same companies are headed by old Pentagon and political hacks.

With so many of our fellow American citizens disconnected
from the reality of this war and the media's infatuation with a buxom blonde
bimbo's bizarre death, it's easy to comprehend how this fleecing could and
would occur.

 It was recently brought to light that $12 billion dollars is
unaccountable for in Iraq.  This is just one instance and yet there is no
outrage.  In fact, the story barely
musters fodder for late night comics. 

Every congressional district in the country has a defense
contractor with a union workforce attached to it.  I recall, Dr. Rosberg saying when this
happens – communities, unions, our government, elected officials and
individuals had become co-opted by the military industrial complex.  Just as Eisenhower warned.  We all have a direct or indirect stake in
this war.  After all, our nation's gross
domestic product includes the building of bombs and the jets that drop them.

To stop this war machine, Congressmen like Dave Loebsack are
going to have to stand-up and cut into the profits of the likes of Rockwell
Collins and the IBEW.  Bruce Braley is
going to have to question the work being performed at the Rock Island
Arsenal.  When the politicians talk about
cutting the funds for this war, they will be cutting the appropriations to
defense contractors who make a home in their districts and provide a living for
a lot of middle class union families.  

But will the Congressmen be cutting their own political
throats?  Will these politicians have the
courage to do that? These non-binding resolution are meaningless and the real
tests are yet to come.

If Saddam Hussuin possessed weapons of mass destruction, and
if he were the madman they made him out to be, I always believed he would have
employed the WMD when his country and Baghdad
were in peril.  What “madman”
wouldn't?  Hell, we had mild-manored
Truman in the White House and he rained nukes all over Japan.  What would stop Saddam other than the fact
that he had nothing to launch?

Besides that, the forces that invaded Iraq
were always too small.  It's simple
math.  A country of 25 million people
being invaded and occupied by a force of 150,000 was never going to be
enough.  Figuring half those troops are
in support roles,  we are down to 75,000
patrolling and fighting troops.  Figuring
soldiers require sleep like the rest of us, we are now down to 35,000
patrolling and fighting troops on duty at any given time. 

Imagine, thirty-five thousand troops controlling a
population of 25 million people who occupy a geographic area the size of California.   To top this, the occupied people speak a
different language, feel invaded, disgraced, and vengeful. 

The cities of Los Angeles
and New York have bigger police
forces and they aren't battling roadside bombs around the clock.

The fact that people, politicians and the media can't seem
to understand what went wrong or why this originally conceived operation was
never winnable is truly mind boggling.

Where is Dr. Bill Rosberg when you need him?