coolmite

When I was in school at the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University (I say this, because I used to be a journalist-in-training), we learned to corroborate sources of information to make sure we were being told the truth as journalists.

If only people had that ability ingrained in their brains–check and verify what you are told is the truth, it would be a lot harder for the government to snow us with propaganda. Fortunately, the internet is a good source of news information; however, it’s also a good source of echo chambers from every political bent that parrot what their ideologues want people to hear. It saddened me to read this in Sunday’s New York Times online.

Of course, we as civilians are told to rely on retired military experts to explain military procedure and war planning, because that’s not our job.  We’ve all seen Col. Ken Allard, Gen. Wayne Downing and other brass touting what the Pentagon and military are doing in their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What they forgot to mention is that they are specifically tailoring their ‘expert personal opinions’ to mirror what the Pentagon wants them to say, as opposed to the truth on the ground.

Go on and read the article. It’s long, so you might want to pack a lunch for it. I’ll wait…

…..

Back already? Awesome.  Do you own stock in Nortel Government Solutions? How about Northrop Grumman? Have you ever heard of Patton Boggs, or  McNeil Technologies?  Let me help out here.  Retired Air Force General Thomas McInerney sits on the board of Nortel Government Solutions and serves as an analyst for Fox News. Coincidence? Ret. General James Marks, of the Army, is a senior executive at McNeil Technologies, which is a lobbying firm for defense contractors. He was also a war analyst for CNN from 2004-2007. How about that?

Do you see the picture now? After calls of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay in 2005 and word of the insurgency in 2004, the Pentagon dispatched Generals Marks and McInerney to the networks to talk about all of the positives at Guantanamo. They helped downplay the insurgency, even when it was at its worst. For their good work, they were paid $500-$1000 per “hit” or appearance on TV. They also had their foot in the door for securing business for their friends in the military industrial complex.

The Pentagon said to them, basically, if you want to hang out at our bar, you’d better tell your mother you’re at the library studying.

Over time, the Pentagon recruited more than 75 retired officers, although some participated only briefly or sporadically. The largest contingent was affiliated with Fox News, followed by NBC and CNN, the other networks with 24-hour cable outlets. But analysts from CBS and ABC were included, too. Some recruits, though not on any network payroll, were influential in other ways — either because they were sought out by radio hosts, or because they often published op-ed articles or were quoted in magazines, Web sites and newspapers. At least nine of them have written op-ed articles for The Times.

So basically, the news reporters weren’t telling America the truth, because the media would rather take the word of bought and paid for officers. That’s what it boils down to. It’s all about the Benjamins when it comes to informing the nation.

Now, I understand the need to keep America positively focused after the reaction the nation took to Vietnam. Still, give us as Americans some credit! We can handle the truth about how the war is going. Should we have to go to BBC.com to get the real scoop on what’s happening on the ground in Iraq? Does America need to be psy-oped like we’re the enemy? Apparently, that’s the case.

This was a major theme, for example, with Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News analyst from 2001 to 2007. A retired Army general who had specialized in psychological warfare, Mr. Vallely co-authored a paper in 1980 that accused American news organizations of failing to defend the nation from “enemy” propaganda during Vietnam.

“We lost the war — not because we were outfought, but because we were out Psyoped,” he wrote. He urged a radically new approach to psychological operations in future wars — taking aim at not just foreign adversaries but domestic audiences, too. He called his approach “MindWar” — using network TV and radio to “strengthen our national will to victory.”

Just reading that last sentence makes me think of the sounds of jackbooting troops on parade and the strains of “Deutschland Uber Alles.” Are you kidding me? I never thought I’d see the day, where America would be taking pages of Joseph Goebbel’s propaganda playbook.

Dan Rooney just endorsed Barack Obama for president.

I didn’t really need Mr. Rooney’s word–I already voted for him in March to be the Democratic candidate–but if I hadn’t done so, that would have swayed me.

Dan Rooney is a legend. His family is arguably the best and classiest group of owners of a football team in the NFL, namely the Pittsburgh Steelers. They don’t make bad decisions. They’ve had three coaches in the past 49 years. The Browns, I think, have had 57 coaches in that span of time.

Top that off with Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis endorsing Obama and the position is closed–at least it should be in Pittsburgh. We’ll see how Obama does in PA. Fat lot of good my vote did for him in Ohio, but at least I got to be part of the process this time around.

My buddy Asif sent me this article today about our hometown of Youngstown, OH. His subject stated that CNN had news about Youngstown that isn’t necessarily good.

Now, in a radical move, the city – which has suffered since the steel industry left town and jobs dried up – is bulldozing abandoned buildings, tearing up blighted streets and converting entire blocks into open green spaces. More than 1,000 structures have been demolished so far.

I say this can’t happen fast enough. Regardless of what any politician wants to tell you, hard core manufacturers, car builders, and steel plants aren’t coming back to Youngstown or any former WW II era industrial city. They just aren’t coming here because Ohio taxes aren’t favorable to business and because the people needed for new technologies aren’t staying in Ohio upon graduation.

The infrastructure is still here. You have a good industrial workforce; however, they need to be retrained for the technologies and manufacturing processes of the future. That argument isn’t for this post; the shrinking of Youngstown is.

Nobody lives there now–and those who do aren’t college-educated people with children, which in my opinion is necessary to repopulate and better the prospects of any city. Without these people and their progeny, a sense of apathy has and will continue to ensue among the aging populace who do not want to pay property taxes for schools they don’t need to care about. Youngstown has closed South, Wilson, and East High Schools.  Rayen and Chaney on the east and west sides are the only public high schools left. There are only 7,000 + students in the district alone.

So shrinking the city does make sense. Give it proportions that are going to help the city draw those families and small businesses interested in cheap real estate. If this becomes a blueprint for change in other Rust Belt cities, that’s all to the better in my mind.

I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show this morning on WCPN 90.3. Her guests included Dr. Zbignew Breszinski and two other gentlemen whose credentials I can’t get on the internet as my workplace blocks radio stations and their sites.  I’ll get you the particulars later.

The point of this post is to answer the implied question of a guest who is touting whatever General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are talking to the Senate about today.  He posits that we, as a country need to get over all of the–and I’ll use his words–”miscalculations” that have happened in the implementation of the War on Terror/Iraq.  He said we are there and we need to focus on here forward.

I wish he would have spoken to me on the subject, because I know the answer to get America past the past five years of warfare and diplomatic blunders in one fell swoop.  Here’s the secret:

President George W. Bush needs to stand up in front of the country and say six little words.

I’m sorry, America. I fucked up.

He needs to own all of the blunders that our country has made in the lead up to the war, the implementation of the war and the situation we are in now. I know that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, General Colin Powell, the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, “bad apples” at Abu Gharib, Blackwater, Halliburton and all of the plotters at the Project for the New American Century are more responsible for all of the damage done to our nation, its reputation, and the loss of 4,000–and counting–soldiers than our President is.  This was not his plan. He just went along with it and made it happen.

Therefore, he needs to own it. Publicly. In front of the nation, nay, the world.

I’m sorry, America. I fucked up. I pushed the passing of Resolution 1441. I didn’t let the inspectors back into Iraq before attacking. I allowed the looting of the country, the wanton spending of your tax dollars, the atrocities at Abu Gharib, the bombing of sacred mosques and arguably the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The sacrifices of 4,000 plus Americans and their families are on my shoulders. I accept their gravity and weight, because the buck stops with me.

There have been positive outcomes in Iraq. I will own those too. I brought you the capture of Saddam Hussein and the liberation of the Iraqi people from his terror-filled dictatorship. I’ve brought you the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001. I have also watched over the dismantling of al Qaida in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, our invasion has allowed that hateful seed to germinate in Iraq, which was not my intent. Iraq, hopefully will be a better sovereign nation that can be an ally and a friend to democratic nations all over the world. Sadly, that will not happen on my watch, but not for a lack of trying.

I would like to thank America for putting up with the embarrassment I have caused you during this effort. Surely you did not deserve having your good name tarnished the way it has been around the world during the past five years. I would also ask you to remain loyal to the American way of life that I am sworn to uphold–the ideals of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ This has always been my guiding tenet as I’ve advocated military aggression in Iraq. I would like it to be the guiding tenet of my successor as he or she moves forward with foreign relations and our occupation of Iraq.

Most of all, I would like to apologize for making our country a unilateral aggressor of a sovereign nation that has never, I repeat, never attacked us. America wanted justice after 9/11 and in that quest for justice, I overstepped the bounds of the world.

There are other things that have happened on my watch that have been detrimental to our country. I’ll address them later, but right now, I’d like to own this war and dedicate the rest of my life–and my presidential library and foundation–to helping those veterans and their families who have suffered stoicly and heroicly move forward with their lives. Thank you and may God Bless America.

I may have some of the syntax of his speech off, but I have to tell you that America won’t move forward until this happens. I’d like to hear what you think will help us move forward as a country. Comments?