The Alaska
Pioneer Press
Online Opinion Page
Here we bring you commentaries from across the nation, or just down the Spur Road.
Opinions expressed here are the opinions of the authors. I won't tell you what I think
unless you buy me a beer.
-- John R Moses, Publisher
Pioneer Press
Online Opinion Page
Here we bring you commentaries from across the nation, or just down the Spur Road.
Opinions expressed here are the opinions of the authors. I won't tell you what I think
unless you buy me a beer.
-- John R Moses, Publisher
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Latest 'Human-made
Disaster Attack'
Succeeded
By Dr. Earl Tilford
History holds that during World War II the Army
executed only one American soldier, Private Eddie
Slovik. There was another, a footnote to history.
In 1944, B-24 Liberators taking off from a base in
Italy began exploding when they “rotated,” after the
pilot pulled back on the yoke bringing up the nose of
the aircraft. Planes fully loaded with fuel and bombs
blew apart. Debris littering the runway stopped
operations, meaning that the day’s planned bombing
mission either went on with aircraft already airborne or
was completely cancelled. Additionally, each incident
destroyed a B-24 bomber and cost the lives of 10
crewmen.
Army investigators soon discovered the cause: When
the plane’s nose came up, the spring in the front landing
gear extended to detonate an explosive charge. It was a
case of sabotage, probably carried out by an American
soldier.
Further investigations focused on an enlisted man
working in maintenance who was sending home large
sums of cash. When questioned, he stated that the
windfall resulted from luck at poker. When his poker
partners told how much they had lost, the sum paled in
comparison to the amounts going into the suspect’s
bank account back home. After further interrogation, he
admitted German agents paid him to sabotage the
planes. The wing commander convened a court-martial
that convicted him of treason, sabotage, and murder.
The death sentence was carried out immediately. It was
wartime. We knew the enemy and what to do.
The “alleged human-made disasterist,” Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab’s attack on Christmas Day, succeeded.
Why? And what are the lessons?
First, know your enemy. Abdulmutallab is a terrorist
and not a “human-made disasterist.” Second, his acts
were not “alleged,” as President Obama stated on
December 28. He detonated a bomb on an airliner.
Fortunately, it failed to explode. Had it done so,
everyone on board would have been killed along with
innocent people below celebrating Christmas with their
families in their homes. Third, it was clearly a case of
Islamic terrorism for which al Qaeda in Yemen claimed
responsibility.
The definition of modern terrorism is, “an act of
violence perpetrated against innocents to achieve a
political purpose.” This act fits the definition. The
airliner was loaded with innocents: civilians, men,
women, and children, people of many religious
convictions, Americans and non-Americans.
Additionally, since the timing coincided with an
established religious holiday—Christmas—it should be
classified a “hate crime,” thus intensifying the penalties.
Expect those charges just after it snows in Gitmo.
Although no one was killed, the Christmas attack
succeeded in at least three ways:
First, hundreds of people endured hours of
inconvenient post-event interrogation. Many missed
connecting flights. Friends and relatives spent Christmas
Day anxiously awaiting news from loved ones on the
flight. This was its lowest order of success.
Second, terrorists often carry out attacks to prompt
an over-reaction. Certainly the U.S. national security
apparatus must react, but the reaction should be well
thought out and effective. After a sickeningly hesitant
start, the reaction more resembles a mother goose
flapping her wings. So far the response involves
expanding existing figurative boxes that must be
checked: more frisking, going through luggage, hassling
everyone so as to not seem insensitive towards anyone,
making travel even more uncomfortable than it already is
by keeping passengers in their seats an hour before
landing. The next step may be to insist passengers shut
the blinds on the window so they can’t tell when the
plane is landing. The sound of flaps coming down and
landing gear locking into place, however, cannot be
muffled. A determined human-made disasterist will still
know when to punch the “gateway to paradise” button.
Third, the attack will render a long-term economic
effect. Today’s traveling public looks forward to air
travel like they do visits to the dentist. Terrorists
persist because terrorism works and it is cheap. The
total cost to al Qaeda for 9/11 was less $500,000; half
the cost of a single cruise missile. They killed almost
3,000 people and destroyed $80 billion in property.
Wars cannot be won unless the nation under attack
understands it is in a war, the nature of the aggressor,
and the enemy’s goals. The Obama administration
refuses to acknowledge that the United States is at war.
Worse, it continues to blame the Bush administration
rather than al Qaeda for the current “overseas
contingency operations.” The administration also
refuses to acknowledge the nature of the enemy.
Dubbing them purveyors of “human-made disasters”
rather than “terrorists” has all the strategic acumen of
sticking one’s head in the sand to avoid recognizing a
threat.
There have been two terrorist attacks in the United
States since last November, with Maj. Nidal Hassan’s at
Fort Hood, Texas being the first. Terrorist attacks in
Afghanistan and Iraq are up. The scent of blood carries
far, and our enemies sense our weakness. If the United
States is en route to a human-made disaster, it is one of
our own making.
— Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for
the Middle East & terrorism with The Center for Vision
& Values at Grove City College. He currently lives in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he is writing a history of
the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A retired Air
Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in
American and European military history at George
Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served
as Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic
Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for
a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught
courses in military history, national security, and
international and domestic terrorism and counter-
terrorism.
Disaster Attack'
Succeeded
By Dr. Earl Tilford
History holds that during World War II the Army
executed only one American soldier, Private Eddie
Slovik. There was another, a footnote to history.
In 1944, B-24 Liberators taking off from a base in
Italy began exploding when they “rotated,” after the
pilot pulled back on the yoke bringing up the nose of
the aircraft. Planes fully loaded with fuel and bombs
blew apart. Debris littering the runway stopped
operations, meaning that the day’s planned bombing
mission either went on with aircraft already airborne or
was completely cancelled. Additionally, each incident
destroyed a B-24 bomber and cost the lives of 10
crewmen.
Army investigators soon discovered the cause: When
the plane’s nose came up, the spring in the front landing
gear extended to detonate an explosive charge. It was a
case of sabotage, probably carried out by an American
soldier.
Further investigations focused on an enlisted man
working in maintenance who was sending home large
sums of cash. When questioned, he stated that the
windfall resulted from luck at poker. When his poker
partners told how much they had lost, the sum paled in
comparison to the amounts going into the suspect’s
bank account back home. After further interrogation, he
admitted German agents paid him to sabotage the
planes. The wing commander convened a court-martial
that convicted him of treason, sabotage, and murder.
The death sentence was carried out immediately. It was
wartime. We knew the enemy and what to do.
The “alleged human-made disasterist,” Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab’s attack on Christmas Day, succeeded.
Why? And what are the lessons?
First, know your enemy. Abdulmutallab is a terrorist
and not a “human-made disasterist.” Second, his acts
were not “alleged,” as President Obama stated on
December 28. He detonated a bomb on an airliner.
Fortunately, it failed to explode. Had it done so,
everyone on board would have been killed along with
innocent people below celebrating Christmas with their
families in their homes. Third, it was clearly a case of
Islamic terrorism for which al Qaeda in Yemen claimed
responsibility.
The definition of modern terrorism is, “an act of
violence perpetrated against innocents to achieve a
political purpose.” This act fits the definition. The
airliner was loaded with innocents: civilians, men,
women, and children, people of many religious
convictions, Americans and non-Americans.
Additionally, since the timing coincided with an
established religious holiday—Christmas—it should be
classified a “hate crime,” thus intensifying the penalties.
Expect those charges just after it snows in Gitmo.
Although no one was killed, the Christmas attack
succeeded in at least three ways:
First, hundreds of people endured hours of
inconvenient post-event interrogation. Many missed
connecting flights. Friends and relatives spent Christmas
Day anxiously awaiting news from loved ones on the
flight. This was its lowest order of success.
Second, terrorists often carry out attacks to prompt
an over-reaction. Certainly the U.S. national security
apparatus must react, but the reaction should be well
thought out and effective. After a sickeningly hesitant
start, the reaction more resembles a mother goose
flapping her wings. So far the response involves
expanding existing figurative boxes that must be
checked: more frisking, going through luggage, hassling
everyone so as to not seem insensitive towards anyone,
making travel even more uncomfortable than it already is
by keeping passengers in their seats an hour before
landing. The next step may be to insist passengers shut
the blinds on the window so they can’t tell when the
plane is landing. The sound of flaps coming down and
landing gear locking into place, however, cannot be
muffled. A determined human-made disasterist will still
know when to punch the “gateway to paradise” button.
Third, the attack will render a long-term economic
effect. Today’s traveling public looks forward to air
travel like they do visits to the dentist. Terrorists
persist because terrorism works and it is cheap. The
total cost to al Qaeda for 9/11 was less $500,000; half
the cost of a single cruise missile. They killed almost
3,000 people and destroyed $80 billion in property.
Wars cannot be won unless the nation under attack
understands it is in a war, the nature of the aggressor,
and the enemy’s goals. The Obama administration
refuses to acknowledge that the United States is at war.
Worse, it continues to blame the Bush administration
rather than al Qaeda for the current “overseas
contingency operations.” The administration also
refuses to acknowledge the nature of the enemy.
Dubbing them purveyors of “human-made disasters”
rather than “terrorists” has all the strategic acumen of
sticking one’s head in the sand to avoid recognizing a
threat.
There have been two terrorist attacks in the United
States since last November, with Maj. Nidal Hassan’s at
Fort Hood, Texas being the first. Terrorist attacks in
Afghanistan and Iraq are up. The scent of blood carries
far, and our enemies sense our weakness. If the United
States is en route to a human-made disaster, it is one of
our own making.
— Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for
the Middle East & terrorism with The Center for Vision
& Values at Grove City College. He currently lives in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he is writing a history of
the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A retired Air
Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in
American and European military history at George
Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served
as Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic
Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for
a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught
courses in military history, national security, and
international and domestic terrorism and counter-
terrorism.
No Happily Ever
After for 2009
By Donald Kaul
As the year lurches to its close, perhaps it’s time
to take stock of where we’ve been. At the dawn of
2009 we found ourselves tied to the railroad tracks
with the Train of Financial Ruin bearing down
upon us, at which point a handsome stranger came
along and rescued us. And we lived happily ever
after.
Not really. It wasn’t that kind of year.
It was the kind of year when a president could
save the economy, get an international agreement
on global warming (sort of), push through the most
far-reaching health care legislation since Medicare,
win the Nobel Peace Prize and still be widely
reviled as an alien creature out to reduce the nation
to serfdom.
It was a year when the No. 1 American sports
hero, bar none, could suffer an instant fall from
grace when he is found to be augmenting his quiet,
sedate family life with a private, secret life that
Bill Clinton would envy.
A year when the first Hispanic woman is named
to the Supreme Court, only to be called a racist.
That kind of year: a sour kind of year.
Still, as Donald Rumsfeld would say, sometimes
you have to go to press with the year you’ve got
rather than the one you would prefer, so here are
some of the major figures of the year that is about
to leave the station:
Barack Obama: He, of course, is the fellow who
untied us from the railroad tracks (thereby saving
what was left in our IRAs after George W. Bush
got through with them, I might add) and
immediately plunged in the polls.
Faced with a Republican opposition impervious
to reason, logic or facts, he did the best he could on
health care and global warming, but it wasn’t
enough. He kept sinking in the polls.
If he found a cure for cancer, his enemies would
accuse him of trying to put radiologists out of
business.
He’s my Person of the Year, barely beating out:
Tiger Woods: One moment it was all “Be like
Tiger, kids,” and “Buy this, buy that, Tiger does,”
and the next he had a popularity rating usually
reserved for war criminals. You would think he
was the first good-looking famous multimillionaire
who was found to like other women, even while
married.
Still, I must confess to being amused at the
thought of his wife chasing him out of the house
with a golf club in the middle of the night, like
some 1930s comic-strip character. He’s living
proof of the axiom: To be very unpopular, one
must first be very popular. To his former fans I
would say: “You mean you actually went out and
bought a Buick because you thought he was a good
husband?”
Say what you will of him, at least he hasn’t said
the experience has caused him to find God. Yet.
Other notables:
Sarah Palin: Returned to the scene by throwing
aside her day job as the Governor of the Very
Important State of Alaska and writing a book:
“How I Almost Saved the Republican Party but
Those Moosebutts in the McCain Campaign
Wouldn’t Let Me.” Good to have her back; we
missed her.
Bernie Madoff: Proved that while you can’t fool
all of the people all of the time, if you fool enough
of them for long enough you can really make a
bundle.
Mark Sanford: The South Carolina governor who
made a wrong turn on the Appalachian Trail and
would up in a lady’s bed in Argentina. It could
have happened to anyone. Well, maybe not
anyone, but it could have happened to Tiger
Woods.
General Motors: At this writing it’s on the brink
of killing off Saab, an eccentric Swedish auto brand
that it recently bought. Saab now joins Saturn,
Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and LaSalle as car companies
GM has run into the ground.
It may not longer be the largest car company in
the world, but it certainly is the biggest auto
graveyard.
Have a happy New Year anyway.
-- Minuteman Media columnist Donald Kaul lives
in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
After for 2009
By Donald Kaul
As the year lurches to its close, perhaps it’s time
to take stock of where we’ve been. At the dawn of
2009 we found ourselves tied to the railroad tracks
with the Train of Financial Ruin bearing down
upon us, at which point a handsome stranger came
along and rescued us. And we lived happily ever
after.
Not really. It wasn’t that kind of year.
It was the kind of year when a president could
save the economy, get an international agreement
on global warming (sort of), push through the most
far-reaching health care legislation since Medicare,
win the Nobel Peace Prize and still be widely
reviled as an alien creature out to reduce the nation
to serfdom.
It was a year when the No. 1 American sports
hero, bar none, could suffer an instant fall from
grace when he is found to be augmenting his quiet,
sedate family life with a private, secret life that
Bill Clinton would envy.
A year when the first Hispanic woman is named
to the Supreme Court, only to be called a racist.
That kind of year: a sour kind of year.
Still, as Donald Rumsfeld would say, sometimes
you have to go to press with the year you’ve got
rather than the one you would prefer, so here are
some of the major figures of the year that is about
to leave the station:
Barack Obama: He, of course, is the fellow who
untied us from the railroad tracks (thereby saving
what was left in our IRAs after George W. Bush
got through with them, I might add) and
immediately plunged in the polls.
Faced with a Republican opposition impervious
to reason, logic or facts, he did the best he could on
health care and global warming, but it wasn’t
enough. He kept sinking in the polls.
If he found a cure for cancer, his enemies would
accuse him of trying to put radiologists out of
business.
He’s my Person of the Year, barely beating out:
Tiger Woods: One moment it was all “Be like
Tiger, kids,” and “Buy this, buy that, Tiger does,”
and the next he had a popularity rating usually
reserved for war criminals. You would think he
was the first good-looking famous multimillionaire
who was found to like other women, even while
married.
Still, I must confess to being amused at the
thought of his wife chasing him out of the house
with a golf club in the middle of the night, like
some 1930s comic-strip character. He’s living
proof of the axiom: To be very unpopular, one
must first be very popular. To his former fans I
would say: “You mean you actually went out and
bought a Buick because you thought he was a good
husband?”
Say what you will of him, at least he hasn’t said
the experience has caused him to find God. Yet.
Other notables:
Sarah Palin: Returned to the scene by throwing
aside her day job as the Governor of the Very
Important State of Alaska and writing a book:
“How I Almost Saved the Republican Party but
Those Moosebutts in the McCain Campaign
Wouldn’t Let Me.” Good to have her back; we
missed her.
Bernie Madoff: Proved that while you can’t fool
all of the people all of the time, if you fool enough
of them for long enough you can really make a
bundle.
Mark Sanford: The South Carolina governor who
made a wrong turn on the Appalachian Trail and
would up in a lady’s bed in Argentina. It could
have happened to anyone. Well, maybe not
anyone, but it could have happened to Tiger
Woods.
General Motors: At this writing it’s on the brink
of killing off Saab, an eccentric Swedish auto brand
that it recently bought. Saab now joins Saturn,
Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and LaSalle as car companies
GM has run into the ground.
It may not longer be the largest car company in
the world, but it certainly is the biggest auto
graveyard.
Have a happy New Year anyway.
-- Minuteman Media columnist Donald Kaul lives
in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
CEOs Sacrifice
Alright -- They
Sacrifice the
Workers
By Jim Hightower
Funnyman Bob Newhart used to do a comedy
bit in which he portrayed a commanding officer
addressing his troops on the eve of a big battle.
The commander spoke bluntly about the bloody
horror the troops would face and the certainty
that many of them wouldn’t survive. The officer
rallied them with appeals to courage and sacrifice
and then concluded by saying, "My only regret
is that I, personally, will not be able to go with
you."
That's a perfect expression of today's corporate
ethic as practiced by chief executive officers.
With bloody ruthlessness, CEOs constantly
sacrifice workers in the name of global
competitiveness, but the chiefs never seem to
join in the sacrifice. We've recently been given
another example of this disparity in a report on
corporate pensions by the Government
Accountability Office.
The GAO found that four of the largest
corporate bankruptcies of the last 10 years were
disastrous for the employees' pension funds.
Prior to their bankruptcies, United Airlines, US
Airways, Polaroid, and Reliance Insurance had
underfunded their employees' retirement plans
by $11 billion—money essentially stolen from
the workers. The corporations then abandoned
any responsibility for the pensions, turning the
obligation over to the federal government under a
program that pays only a fraction of what is
owed to the employees.
But guess which employees did not suffer any
cut at all in their retirement money? Right—the
four CEOs. Indeed, as they were underfunding
and axing the workers' pension plans, the four
chieftains quietly pocketed a total of nearly $50
million in retirement pay for themselves.
Bob Newhart's joke has become a nightmare for
millions of workers. It’s time for Congress to tie
CEO pensions to the value of their employees'
retirement funds.
-- Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer,
public speaker, and author of Swim Against The
Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The
Flow. He's also a radio commentator, writer,
public speaker, and winner of the 2009 winner of
the Nation/Puffin Prize. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown..
Alright -- They
Sacrifice the
Workers
By Jim Hightower
Funnyman Bob Newhart used to do a comedy
bit in which he portrayed a commanding officer
addressing his troops on the eve of a big battle.
The commander spoke bluntly about the bloody
horror the troops would face and the certainty
that many of them wouldn’t survive. The officer
rallied them with appeals to courage and sacrifice
and then concluded by saying, "My only regret
is that I, personally, will not be able to go with
you."
That's a perfect expression of today's corporate
ethic as practiced by chief executive officers.
With bloody ruthlessness, CEOs constantly
sacrifice workers in the name of global
competitiveness, but the chiefs never seem to
join in the sacrifice. We've recently been given
another example of this disparity in a report on
corporate pensions by the Government
Accountability Office.
The GAO found that four of the largest
corporate bankruptcies of the last 10 years were
disastrous for the employees' pension funds.
Prior to their bankruptcies, United Airlines, US
Airways, Polaroid, and Reliance Insurance had
underfunded their employees' retirement plans
by $11 billion—money essentially stolen from
the workers. The corporations then abandoned
any responsibility for the pensions, turning the
obligation over to the federal government under a
program that pays only a fraction of what is
owed to the employees.
But guess which employees did not suffer any
cut at all in their retirement money? Right—the
four CEOs. Indeed, as they were underfunding
and axing the workers' pension plans, the four
chieftains quietly pocketed a total of nearly $50
million in retirement pay for themselves.
Bob Newhart's joke has become a nightmare for
millions of workers. It’s time for Congress to tie
CEO pensions to the value of their employees'
retirement funds.
-- Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer,
public speaker, and author of Swim Against The
Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The
Flow. He's also a radio commentator, writer,
public speaker, and winner of the 2009 winner of
the Nation/Puffin Prize. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown..
