A Proposed New National Strategy

I cannot describe how distressing it is for me to write that the U.S. government is not trustworthy, but I do believe it is true. And, since the U.S. government is run by politicians that we elect, I believe we are responsible for its actions. When we say the U.S. government, we are not referring to “them” - we are we referring to “us”. Therefore, we are responsible for all the broken promises and treaties over our nation’s history. Pages would be required to recite all the instances. Just in my lifetime:

• we promised to provide Close Air Support to the displaced Cubans at the Bay of Pigs, but we broke our word and they consequently suffered a horrible defeat;
• we broke our word when we bailed on the South Vietnamese, and then we promised we would supply their army with arms and supplies as needed, but we broke our word again, and they suffered more than a million casualties at the hands of the communists;
• we promised to support freedom fighters in several Central American countries facing communist takeovers during the 1970s and 1980s, but we broke our word;
• after the first Iraq War, we promised to support any Iraqis who revolted against Saddam, but, we broke our word and did not support Iraqi uprisings in both the North and the South;
• in the second Iraq war, we promised to stay in Iraq until they had established an effective government, police force, and military (and that may actually happen since it appears that the 2008 surge has worked), but President Obama has made it clear that we are pulling out whether the surge works or not – even if pulling out means breaking our word; and,
• we promised a missile shield to Poland, the Czech Republic, and other former Soviet block nations, but, last month we changed our mind, and broke our word.

Even the U.S. government does not trust the U.S. government. The most recent example involves the CIA, an integral part of the government. After 9-11, we started an all-out campaign to protect ourselves from future attacks. This included a large increase in the number of CIA spies, and very clear boundaries regarding the types of interrogation techniques that were allowed. Those techniques were vetted by the politicians, bureaucrats, and lawyers in the Administration, the Congress and the CIA hierarchy. Now, 8 years later, a new Administration comes in and the new Attorney General has decided to investigate the CIA interrogation techniques and who knows what else. CIA and related government personnel may now be prosecuted by the government that ordered them to do the work and assured them of its legality. The CIA, a U.S. government agency, cannot trust the U.S. government to keep its word. Who’s next? The military, no doubt – several left-wing congressmen have been maneuvering to open or re-open investigations into so-called military “atrocities” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. The bottom line is that the very people who risk their lives to protect us cannot trust the government that sends them into harm’s way – oh, whatever administration sends them may be ok, but, as soon as a new crowd gets in, it’s Katie bar the door.

In all of these instances, there is a common pattern: one administration makes a promise, and then a new administration breaks the promise. Naturally, the new administration always has a rational argument for breaking the government’s word, but, however well the rationale sells to the media, it always leaves someone out there hanging. I believe that nothing is more sacred than a person’s word. I’ve broken my word exactly once in my life, 30 years ago, and I remain deeply ashamed – it haunts me. My country breaks its word at the drop of a new congress or a new administration.

By the way, our enemies know this and it is a key factor in their strategies. They know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield, but they don’t have to. They simply have to stay in the fight long enough for new American politicians to bail on our promises and give up.

Our friends also know it, and their intelligence gathering agencies are very hesitant to share information with us, knowing that sooner or later the intelligence is likely to be leaked by our politicians or someone in our government.

All of this is shameful, of course, and I don’t know how to fix the problem – it’s just too vast and complex. I think it may be part and parcel of the democratic process. Politicians are and should be elected independently and they do not feel bound by the promises of their predecessors. In fact, they often run on a platform of undoing the commitments made by their predecessors. Each congress and administration is independent of the prior ones. I certainly don’t want to change our democratic system, so, I guess I just have to accept that America has not been, is not, and will not be, true to its word. Ugh.

If I’m right and America is not trustworthy, perhaps we need to completely revise our national strategy to conform to this harsh truth. Rather than double-crossing the brave young intelligence agents and military men and women who protect us, perhaps we should

• reconsider the conditions under which we send troops into harm’s way in the first place,
• revise the consequences of leaking classified information to the media or press, and,
• enact black letter laws protecting intelligence and military personnel from prosecution by future administrations who re-interpret the law.

The following proposals may or may not be the exact directions we need to follow, but they are indicative and they are certainly better than the disastrous path we are currently on. Here are some examples of actions we can take:

On foreign policy:

If you attack us or those we are sworn to protect, or if you harbor those who attack, or, if we have cause to believe you harbor those who attack, we will respond with devastating force.

We will use various forms of air and naval power in “devastation attacks” to destroy your roads, bridges, power plants and transmission lines, telecommunications facilities, factories, refineries, fuel depots, military bases, dams, railroads, and ports.

We will accomplish this in a matter of weeks and then we will stop.

We will provide you with 72 hours notice before our first strike, in order to give you time to remove any innocents from harm’s way. If you insist on hiding behind women or children or hospitals, then you are responsible for their deaths and injuries.

We will act quickly, decisively, and unilaterally, and we will not seek permission or support from any other nation or organization.

If you persist in your terrorist activities after two devastation attacks, we will come into your nation with troops and we will hunt down and kill the anti-American leadership. Then we will leave.

We will not send in troops to help you with the anarchy that is certain to follow destruction of your infrastructure. There will be no “boots on the ground”. If you would like troops to help you deal with the aftermath, ask the U.N. We won’t come.

We will cease providing any foreign aid to any nation that we suspect of harboring terrorists or that advocates harm to us. If you want aid from us, then act like our friends. If you choose to adopt an anti-American stance, then seek aid from someone else.

We will continue to support freedom-loving people in their revolts against totalitarian regimes. We will seek to organize coalitions in favor of supporting the revolts. We will supply troops on the ground, but only long enough to depose the dictators. Once the dictators are deposed, other nations in the coalition will have to supply the nation-building forces.

On domestic policy:

If you divulge or leak any classified information to the media or press, you will be prosecuted, regardless of your position, and you will serve a minimum of five years in the general population of a high security prison.

If you follow any order or policy or rule that you understand to be lawful, you will not be prosecuted by later administrations under their re-interpretations of laws, policies, or rules.

We will use active duty troops to protect our borders and ports from illegal immigration and terrorists.

Seem a little draconian? Well, up to now we have adopted a much more humanistic position. We can all see how well that has worked. America is seen as weak and untrustworthy, even by our allies. Politicians regularly leak classified information for purely political reasons. The surest way to divulge a secret is to tell it to a congressional oversight committee. We prosecute the very men and women who protect us. Terrorists enter our country at will. Our military is badly over-stretched. Equipment is deteriorating, and many of our troops rotate in and out of combat every year or so, sometimes less. The health, personal lives and families of our troops have suffered greatly. Enough!

It is time to stand up. It is time to honor our forefathers and our brave patriots who have fallen in defense of freedom around the world. It is time for us to act like the world’s only superpower instead of apologizing for it. It is time to remind the world of the stuff Americans are made of. It is time for Americans to take back America. This is our country - it belongs to no administration or congress. It is time to elect leaders, not politicians. It is time to act.