Choice America Editorial

BENDERMAN
TRUTH BE TOLD
TOUR
 

AMERICA'S NEW GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is coming to a city near you!!!

Sgt. Kevin Benderman has begun his TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR  speaking to Americans nationwide.  Benderman is joined by his wife, Monica Benderman, a renowned writer who has been published worldwide.  If your organization would like to host the Bendermans in your city, please act immediately as dates are filling up quickly.   For in-depth information on Sgt. Kevin Benderman and his wife Monica, you can visit the following 3 web sites:

Benderman Timeline

The chronology of events leading to the court-martial of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a ten year Army veteran who filed for Conscientious Objector status having served one tour of duty in Iraq .  This site provides a full array of resources for anyone with questions regarding the military judicial system.

Benderman Defense

The chronicle of a personal journey to Conscientious Objection as experienced by Sgt. Kevin and Monica Benderman. This site provides personal insight into how a soldier's personal experiences can lead him or her to change his beliefs about war

Benderman's Bridge

• Developing projects designed to restore peace at home by reaching out to connect small towns and communities of America with the veterans who fought to defend them. 
• Remembering the values our veterans believed in when they volunteered their service.
• Living by the principles we sent them to fight to defend. Honoring their sacrifice by working toward positive social change within our communities.  

The TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR  features Kevin's past experience with the U.S. Army as a conscience objector to the War On Iraq, and the Bendermans’ unique approach to attaining peace. Highlights of the speaking engagement are the Bendermans’ frank discussion of Kevin’s in-depth beliefs regarding ending war, the relationship between civilians and the military, and their presentation for a solid direction on helping America 's Veterans via their new organization Benderman's Bridge, a part of the Benderman Defense Trust. Kevin Benderman also addresses his position regarding America's current foreign and domestic policies, removing the fear and restoring America, and the future of the America 's Veterans.

More than just a speaking event, every engagement becomes an interactive event as audiences are invited to become involved in discussions. No current speaking event has the impact of the Bendermans’ TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR.  Audiences have left feeling rejuvenated by the wealth of knowledge shared, the inspiration they are given to become involved, and the simplicity of the positive direction provided for America .  Kevin Benderman has been billed as part of America 's New Generation of Leadership and rightfully so.

Kevin and Monica recently attended the premiere of  SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE in Atlanta.  SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE is a documentary of Conscientious Objection and a discussion of soldiers faced with questions of morality as they actively served in the Iraq war. Benderman’s case served as the inspiration for the project. 

Kevin and Monica Benderman's book Letters from a Ft. Lewis Brig is due out later this year. The book is being published by Lyon ’s Press, a division of Globe Pequot Press.  

The first phase of the Bendermans’ TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR will be covering the west coast in June, the Midwest in July and the East Coast in August.  If you would like to host the Tour in your city contact Benderman Defense Trust at 912-369-4585 or EvansMediaUSA, 865-637-5742.

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Poll Shows Opposition
to Iraq War at All Time High 

By Dalia Sussman

Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the war began, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Six in 10 Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and more than three in four say things are going badly there - including nearly half who say things are going very badly, the poll found.

Still, the majority of Americans support continuing to fund the war as long as the Iraqi government meets specific goals.

President approval ratings remain near the lowest of his more than six years in office. Thirty percent approve of the job he’s doing overall, while 63 percent disapprove. Majorities of those polled disapprove of Mr. Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq, foreign policy, immigration, the economy and the campaign against terrorism.

More Americans - 72 percent — now say that “generally things in the country are seriously off on the wrong track” than at any time since The Times/CBS News poll began asking the question in 1983. The figure had been in the high 60’s earlier this year.

The poll made clear that the war continues to be the issue Americans are most worried about. Sixty-one percent of the poll’s respondents now say the United States should never have taken military action against Iraq, up from 51 percent in a CBS News poll in April and 58 percent in the same poll in January. Seventy-six percent say things are going badly in the effort to bring stability and order to Iraq, including 47 percent who say they’re going very badly.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Friday through Wednesday with 1,125 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A majority of the public, 76 percent, including a majority of Republicans, say the additional troops sent to Iraq this year by Mr. Bush have either had no impact or are making things worse in Iraq. Twenty percent think the increase is improving the situation in Iraq.

A majority of Americans continue to support a timetable for withdrawal. Sixty-three percent say the United States should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq sometime in 2008.

While troops are still there, the overwhelming majority of Americans support continuing to fund the war, though most want to do so with conditions. Thirteen percent want Congress to block all funding for the war. The majority, 69 percent, including 62 percent of Republicans, say Congress should allow funding, but on the condition that the United States sets benchmarks for progress and the Iraqi government meets those goals. Fifteen percent of all respondents want Congress to allow all funding for the war no matter what.

The poll found Americans are more likely to trust the Democratic party than the Republican party to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq. For the first time, more than half of those polled, 51 percent, said the Democratic party is more likely than the Republican party to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq.

More broadly, Americans have a more favorable view of the Democratic party than of the Republican party. Fifty-three percent say they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic party, while 38 percent, have a favorable view of the Republican party. The Republican party has not had a majority positive rating in New York Times/CBS News polls since December 2003.

As for Mr. Bush,. 23 percent approve of his handling of the situation in Iraq, 72 percent disapprove; 25 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, 66 percent disapprove; and 27 percent approve of his handling of immigration issues, while 60 percent disapprove. On the economy, 38 percent approve of his handling of the issue, and on the campaign against terrorism 40 percent approve, matching his career low on the issue.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Will Republicans Destroy Themselves
 Before They Destroy America?

By Paul Craig Roberts

As everyone except for a dwindling band of Bush supporters now knows, the US is in a terrible situation in Iraq from which it cannot extract itself. For Bush and Cheney, their own pride and delusion are more compelling than US casualties, the destruction of Iraq and its people, and the inflaming of sectarian strife and anti-American violence throughout the Middle East.

Congress is complicit in the great strategic blunder. Republican flag-wavers led Americans like lemmings into the abyss. The Democrats have already abandoned the electorate that gave them Control of Congress six months ago in the false hope that the Democrats would corral the White House Moron and lead America out of the abyss.

Like the Republicans, the Democrats serve the few special interest groups that benefit, or believe that they benefit, from the war. By now we all know who these groups are: the oil industry, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby, AIPAC. This contrived war, based on lies and deception, serves no other interest.

There is no longer any question whatsoever, not a single sliver of doubt, that Americans were deceived into this disastrous war. The President of the United States lied to the American people, as did the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Undersecretary of Defense, as did every neoconservative in the Bush administration, think tanks, and media.

The fact that the American people were lied to and deceived does not absolve them from blame. The lie was transparent, the logic nonexistent, the true facts available and easy to discover.

America failed, because the American people failed. The American people failed, because their self-righteousness and their hubris made them easy saps for deception.

Even now after five years of a disastrous policy, Republicans cannot accept the facts about the US invasion and failed occupation of Iraq. At the recent “debate” between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, US Representative Ron Paul dared to tell the truth. Rep. Paul said that our difficulties in the Middle East are “blowback” from our government’s determined attempts to exercise hegemony over the Middle East.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani, a person who sunk so low as to frame innocents while serving as US Attorney in order to boost his name recognition [http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070510_giuliani.htm], played the self-righteous card to extreme. How dare Ron Paul suggest that US policy toward Muslims has anything whatsoever to do with attacks on the US! With all the outrage he could muster, Guiliani asked Rep. Paul “to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that.”

The thunderous applause from the Republican audience to Guiliani’s put-down of the only honest person present underlines that the Republican Party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war that under international standards is a war crime, an unprovoked naked aggression based entirely on lies, deception and a secret agenda.

At other times, the Republican audience applauded in support of torture and greeted John McCain’s protest against the practice with cold silence.

In the opening years of the 21st century the Republicans have made it clear that they are willing to sacrifice the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in order to wage “war against terrorism.” This willingness makes the Republican Party a more dangerous threat to Americans than Muslim terrorists. Muslim terrorists cannot destroy our country’s reputation, trash our civil liberties and wreck our system of accountable government, but the Republican Party has done a thorough job of it.

The Democratic Party is complicit in the Republican Party’s crimes, but unlike the Republican electorate, the Democratic electorate does not support the occupation, the domestic police state measures, and the Bush administration’s decision to send more combat troops to Iraq. Although none of the current frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination are independent of the special interests that benefit from the war, it might still be possible for a Democrat to emerge who will represent the Democratic electorate instead of the special interests.

Republican support for Bush’s contrived war against Iraq has diminished the Republican party. Intelligent and decent people have abandoned the party, which has morphed into a Brownshirt Party with which fewer people are willing to be associated. The diminished Republican ranks will make it difficult for the party to steal any more elections.

If we are fortunate, Republicans will complete their self-destruction before they extinguish the Constitution and destroy America.

Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury's Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell





CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Bush Opposes

Military Pay Raise

Bush has come out in opposition to a proposal by Congress to raise military pay by 3.5 percent, according to a report by Army Times.

The administration had originally asked for only a 3 percent increase in pay, equal to private sector pay increases, effective January 1, 2008. The House Armed Services Committee raised the increase to 3.5 percent for 2008, and also recommended increases in 2009 through 2012 that would be 0.5 percent higher than private sector raises.

"The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today," according to the report. "Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase."

The report continues, "Bush budget officials said the administration 'strongly opposes' both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases 'unnecessary.'"

The White House's policy statement opposed several other Congressional provisions as well, including a death gratuity for civilians who die in support of military operations and benefits for disabled retireees and their survivors.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) sharply criticized the administration for its opposition.

"We ask our troops to risk their lives for our nation," said Emanuel. "We ask their spouses to raise families and make ends meet without them as they serve. The President is a lot of talk when it comes to supporting the troops and their families."

Emanuel continued, "It’s easy to say you support our troops, but actions matter and when it comes to the treatment of our troops and their families, our resources must match our rhetoric."

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Patriotism

AMERICA'S NEW GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP

SGT. KEVIN BENDERMAN 

Why are you a patriot only if you believe we need to have war to determine our national identity?

We have allowed a group of people who want to use our military and economic resources on an ill-begotten war of choice to convince a lot of us that we are not patriotic if we do not believe everything they say about this war.  I want you to read the following mission statement and then take a good look at the names below this statement.

June 3, 1997

"American foreign and defense policy is adrift.  Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration.  They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks.  But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world.  They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy.  They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives.  And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century. 

We aim to change this.  We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.  As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power.  Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades?  Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?  We are in danger of squandering the opportunity and failing the challenge.  We are living off the capital -- both the military investments and the foreign policy achievements -- built up by past administrations.  Cuts in foreign affairs and defense spending, inattention to the tools of statecraft, and inconstant leadership are making it increasingly difficult to sustain American influence around the world.  And the promise of short-term commercial benefits threatens to override strategic considerations.  As a consequence, we are jeopardizing the nation's ability to meet present threats and to deal with potentially greater challenges that lie ahead. 

We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan Administration's success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States' global responsibilities.  Of course, the United States must be prudent in how it exercises its power.  But we cannot safely avoid the responsibilities of global leadership or the costs that are associated with its exercise.  America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  If we shirk our responsibilities, we invite challenges to our fundamental interests.  The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.  The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.  Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today.  Here are four consequences:

- we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
- we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
- we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
- we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity and our principles.

Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today.  But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.

Persian Gulf

In the decade since the end of the Cold War, the Persian Gulf and the surrounding region has witnessed a geometric increase in the presence of U.S. armed forces, peaking above 500,000 troops during Operation Desert Storm, but rarely falling below 20,000 in the intervening years.  In Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other neighboring states, roughly 5,000 airmen and a large and varied Fleet of Air Force aircraft patrol the skies of Operation Southern Watch, often complemented by Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf and, during the strikes reacting to Saddam Hussein's periodic provocations, cruise missiles from Navy surface vessels and submarines.  Flights from Turkey under Northern Watch also involve substantial forces, and indeed more often result in Combat actions.  After eight years of no-fly-zone operations, there is little reason to anticipate that the U.S. air presence in the region should diminish significantly as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power.  Although Saudi domestic sensibilities demand that the forces based in the Kingdom nominally remain rotational forces, it has become apparent that this is now a semi-permanent mission.  From an American perspective, the value of such bases would endure even should Saddam pass from the scene.  Over the long term, Iran may well prove as large a threat to U.S. interests in the Gulf as Iraq has.  And even should U.S.-Iranian relations improve, retaining forward-based forces in the region would still be an essential element in U.S. security strategy given the longstanding American interests in the region."

Elliott Abrams;  Gary Bauer;  William J. Bennett;  Jeb Bush;  Dick Cheney;  Eliot A. Cohen; Midge Decter;  Paula Dobriansky;  Steve Forbes;  Aaron Friedberg;  Francis Fukuyama;  Frank Gaffney;  Fred C. Ikle;  Donald Kagan;  Zalmay Khalilzad;  I. Lewis Libby;  Norman Podhoretz; Dan Quayle;  Peter W. Rodman;  Stephen P. Rosen;  Henry S. Row;  Donald Rumsfeld;  Vin Weber;  George Weigel;  Paul Wolfowitz.
(Project for the New American Century - PNAC)

Both of these statements should give you a clearer picture of just what these people are up to.  These people, in their desire to rule the world, are getting good Americans killed who have served this country to defend it.

I have to ask; is this the way we want to handle ourselves as Americans?  Is this what we really want for our nation?

When I enlisted in the military it was to defend the ideals of the Constitution and country from attack by anyone who would attempt to violate our constitutional rights and our home.  This current administration has done more to undermine the foundation of our country than any made-up terrorists ever could. 

The American people need to realize they have the authority to run this country and the government workers, to include the president and congress, are the employees of the citizenry of the United States.  This authority is given to them by the United States Constitution;

Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution.  Ratified December 15, 1791.  The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People.  Ratified December 15, 1791.  Note: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The federal and state governments are, by the law of this land, subservient to the people of the United States.  The people we hire to manage our business have managed to make most of us believe they are the ones who know better than the rest of us and that we should let them guide us "lesser beings" because they know what is good for us.  I challenge Americans to stand up and take back their responsibility for running this country from the career politicians and demand they run the country within the laws of the Unites States Constitution.  If we stand by and let these people pervert our country then we have no right to complain about what they are doing.

It is a sad day in America when more people vote for the contestants of American Idol than in the last presidential election.  Everyone seems to want to have all the benefits of being American and none of the responsibility.  Well, I say you cannot have it both ways, either you accept the responsibility or you should not expect any of the rights.

There seems to be a large segment of our nation who is afraid to do the right thing and I do not understand this about the people of our nation, who have descended from the pioneers who had to face much harder living conditions than we now do.  there are people here who have descended from the slaves and we all know that the slaves had to endure much more harsh conditions than we now do and yet they fought with all of their being to be free of the madness they were faced with.

Are you asking me to believe that modern Americans with all of their conveniences cannot pull themselves up enough to stand up for what is right?  Are we so spoiled and out of touch with what is going on around us that we cannot see when we are being lied to outright?

Are we going to create another committee to talk about what is wrong or are we going to find it within ourselves to stand up and be counted for what we believe?

I, for one, have a much better vision of what we should be in this country and it is nothing like we have allowed ourselves to become in recent history.  I am going to continue to try and prevent our country from getting any worse than it is now.  I may not be able to affect a large scale change, but I am going to do what I can.  How about you, want to help?

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is a US Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and who was recently released from prison after serving over one year for his outspoken opposition to this and all wars of choice.  Please visit www.BendermanDefense.org to learn more.

Kevin may be reached at info@BendermansBridge.org

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

US Blocks Soldiers From Websites

The US military is blocking troops from using certain websites for sharing photos, video clips and messages.

A memo from General BB Bell, US Forces Korea commander, says use of YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular sites via US military portals will be blocked.

The US says the use is taking up too much bandwidth and slows down the military's computer system.

But a US Strategic Command spokesman said a "secondary benefit" was to help operational security.

Personal computers

BBC defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says the decision could stop thousands of soldiers from communicating with friends and loved ones.

For many US soldiers serving overseas, YouTube and other similar websites are a popular way of keeping in touch, he says.

• The cyberspace battle space was not one that we were particularly operating well in. 

                 Lt Col Christopher Garver, US Army

The spokesman for US Strategic Command and Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations said: "As these sites have become more and more popular, they've had an impact on bandwidth resources and network availability and we're having to restrict use of some of them."

He denied that the military was unhappy with the nature of content being posted.

"We're not stopping anybody looking at anything. It's not the nature of the stuff being posted."

However, he added: "Wherever you have sites this popular, you have the potential for malicious activity. A secondary benefit of restricting use of these sites is for operational security."

The block on accessing such websites will not affect those soldiers with their own personal computers. Those, though, are few and far between in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, our correspondent says.

The Pentagon only recently started posting its own videos on YouTube, showing soldiers in action in Iraq in a move designed to reach out to a younger audience and to show the successes of the US military.

In two months, the Multi-National Force-Iraq channel has climbed to 16th in YouTube's most subscribed-to listing and has, the military says, just passed the one million video-views mark.

The BBC's Laura Smith-Spark in Washington says the channel is also a belated attempt to counter the influence of Islamist extremist groups, that have used the internet to post footage of hostages or attacks on US forces.

© BBC MMVII


CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Land of Opportunity

By Monica Benderman

Juan was sixteen or he could have been twelve.  Neither one of us spoke the other’s language but we communicated with hand signals, drawing pictures in the air and pointing to symbols to describe the words we couldn’t understand.  

Stretching out into the deepening surf of the southern Gulf of Mexico, rock jetties provided the perfect place to sit and watch the crashing waves, pelicans feeding and the sky darken to meet the color of the water at the end of the day.  Juan was quiet as he inched his way closer to the rock Dylan, my golden retriever, and I were sitting on.  He reached out to pet Dylan with a sad look in his eye.  

For the next few nights I drove to the beach, Juan always seemed to appear out of nowhere wanting to pet Dylan and talk in the language we had contrived.  He was from a poor village in Mexico.  His parents had come across the border bringing him with them, hoping to find the better way of life the stories their friends told had painted into a bright colored picture.  They’d been in the States for almost a year, and life had not gotten better.  Juan had left his dog in Mexico.  They were best friends.  Now Juan had no one to talk to.  

I would drive him home from the beach after we talked for a while and he’d had his fill of playing with Dylan.   I never did know exactly where “home” was for Juan.  We always drove down an abandoned street where he got out of the car at an abandoned house; windows and doors boarded up and tree limbs strewn across the yard.  He would leave the car and run through the yard not looking back, carrying the latest flashcards I had made for him to learn more English words before our next visit on the beach.  I never left empty handed – I would bring colored pencils and empty cards of my own for him to use to create my lessons in Spanish.  

One night Juan was already at the rocks when Dylan and I walked to the end of the jettie.  He was trying not to cry but with little success.  His father had been taken away and he couldn’t articulate why.  He and his mother were returning to Mexico.  He reached over and hugged Dylan.  He was leaving another friend.  

America – land of dreams.  It seems as if that is all this country is anymore; a land of dreams.  There are so many visions, so many campaign promises, so much money given to support the politicians with the strongest, loudest spoken words.  Where are the people doing the work to see that the promises are kept as we watch more and more dreams become nightmares?

Abraham was sixty-two but he could have been seventy.  He walked with a limp leaning on a rough-hewn walking stick, his attempts to carve it into a work of art left unfinished when arthritis got the better of the act.  

A small county-seat town west of San Antonio displayed a Mexican influence in the stucco walls and red tile roofs of the buildings circling the courthouse and town square.  In the center of this land-locked square sat an old lighthouse, now the local police department and a museum of the Old West; cowboys, cattle and their influence on the development of the community.  

Abraham was sitting on a bench outside the door of a small coffee shop which seemed to cater to the cosmopolitan-minded people working in the legal offices adjacent to court.  Well-dressed people trafficked in and out, coffee in one hand and cell phone in the other.  

I brought my coffee outside and handed a second cup to Abraham.  His eyes said “thank you” and I sat down on the bench next to him to talk.  He seemed surprised, but quickly started to tell me his life’s history.  His family had brought him to Texas when he was ten.  They crossed the border with several other families in the dark of night.  He had been scared, but could do nothing except move along as his parents tried to find their way to a better life.  Abraham’s father had been a craftsman, working stones and metal into pieces of art.  Abraham reached in his pocket and pulled out a cross made of silver and turquoise.  His father had made it when Abraham turned twenty-one and he’d kept it in his pocket ever since.  He’d had a variety of jobs over the years, never finished school and struggled now as his arthritis threatened to become debilitating.  His parents had died never seeing the fulfillment of the dream they left home for.  Abraham never did find a home, but he had his cross, his faith and a cup of coffee.  

As I rose to walk on, a woman came out of the coffee shop, closed her cell phone and looked over at Abraham.  She kicked his foot, slapped at the air in front of his eyes and launched into a tirade of curses telling him to go away, go anywhere, but go away from there.  She was tired of looking at him, tired of watching him sit and ask for help and she was going to do whatever she could to see that he was forced out of town.  

America.  People come here for the promise of dreams fulfilled.  People living with no hope for a better future look to the illusion of success displayed on our websites, our TV advertisements, our movies, and risk their lives for a piece of that illusion.  Beneath the finely coiffed and painted exteriors of the images we project lies the truth, and the reason we should be closing our borders, building walls to keep the dreamers of success away, sending them back to the reality of their homelands.  

We can’t give these people what they are looking for because we don’t have it ourselves.  

We can’t help those who believe in the illusion because it is simply an illusion; words spoken well, but nothing more than words, nothing more than computer generated graphics showing what we all dream of but few actually do the work to achieve.  

Xavier was ageless; young and old at the same time.  He was like a shadow working around the tennis club where I gave lessons, the results of his efforts always clearly visible as the man remained hidden from all but the most trusted members.  He would come to my office at the end of the night when leagues were over and it was time to close.  He had been working there for years before I arrived, knew the story of every member and kept their secrets.  He spoke broken English with a twinkle in his eye showing a spirit that knew how to fight to survive in a country his family had come to hoping for more than just survival.  He was going to have to figure out what to do next, the new company buying the club was not going to let him stay, and would be hauling away the old trailer he lived in with two dogs, five chickens and a goat.  He was worried about what was going to happen to the animals more than he was himself.  He thought he might just find an old sofa, put it on the beach and live there selling palm branch designs for the money to pay for food to eat.  

He had a ritual before leaving each night; to make sure the lights were turned off, the front door locked and when my car engine was running and the headlights on he would always ask what the one word was that I lived by.  I would always answer “Believe,” spelling it out before he asked because I knew he would.  

I came to work one morning and Xavier was gone, but when I opened my car door that night there on the seat was a small piece of wood with a hand-woven design covering it “Belive” it read in bright orange, green and yellow thread;

“ BE  --  LIVE”  and I could almost see the twinkle in Xavier’s eye knowing the misspelling had been intentional all along.

America.  I wonder sometimes if it isn’t that those who come do so for the better life they are supposed to find here, but rather that they come because we need them to show us the meaning of the lessons we too arrogantly believe we do not have to learn.  

We have a constitution – more than just paper, it is a legitimate enumeration of the laws of humanity which should apply to all, and which would apply to all if all understood their responsibility to follow those laws.  

We are the United States of America, a nation of immigrants who struggled to survive in a land full of opportunity for all, until all became a hollow word and the greedy few found false power in the illusion of their monetary success.  

Five more American soldiers died today, in a land we invaded under the illusion of helping its people find what we have.  People say we’re losing that battle.  I look at the direction our country is heading - I listen to the news of the direction the country we invaded has taken today.  I don’t think we’re far from achieving our goal after all.  

How much farther along would we be if our soldiers had been home defending our laws, helping us to become what we were meant to be?

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Warships, Warships Everywhere,
and Many a Bomb to Drop

By Michael T. Klare

Looking down from the captain’s deck some six stories high, the flight deck of the USS Nimitz is an impressive sight indeed: 80 sleek warplanes armed with bombs and missiles are poised for takeoff at any minute, day or night. The sight of these planes coming and going from that 1,100-foot-long flight deck is almost beyond description. I can attest to this, having sailed on the Nimitz 25 years ago as a reporter for Mother Jones magazine.

Today, the Nimitz is rapidly approaching the Persian Gulf, where it will join two other U.S. aircraft carriers and the French carrier Charles De Gaulle in the largest concentration of naval firepower in the region since the launching of the U.S. invasion of Iraq four years ago.

Why this concentration now? Officially, the Nimitz is on its way to the Gulf to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which is due to return to the United States for crew leave and ship maintenance after months on station. But the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), which exercises command authority over all U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf area, refuses to say when the Eisenhower will actually depart — or even when the Nimitz will arrive.

For a time, at least, the United States will have three carrier battle groups in the region. The USS John C. Stennis is the third. Each carrier is accompanied by a small flotilla of cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and support vessels, many equipped with Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles (TLAMs). Minimally, this gives modern meaning to the classic imperial term “gunboat diplomacy,” which makes it all the stranger that the deployment of the Nimitz is covered in our media, if at all, as the most minor of news stories. And when the Nimitz sailed off into the Pacific last month on its way to the Gulf, it simply disappeared off media radar screens like some classic “lost patrol.”

Rest assured, unlike us, the Iranians have noticed. After all, with the arrival of the Nimitz battle group, the Bush administration will be — for an unknown period of time — in an optimal position to strike Iran with a punishing array of bombs and missiles should the President decide to carry out his oft-repeated threat to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program through military action. “All options,” as the administration loves to say, remain ominously “on the table.”

Meanwhile, negotiations to resolve the impasse with Iran over its pursuit of uranium-enrichment technology — a possible first step to the manufacture of nuclear weapons — continue at the United Nations in New York and in various European capitals. So far, the Iranians have refused to give any ground, claiming that their activities are intended for peaceful uses only and so are permitted under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of which it is a signatory. The United States has made vague promises of improved relations if and when Iran terminates its nuclear program, but the full burden of making initial concessions falls on Tehran.

Just this weekend, a conference in Egypt, called by Iraqi officials to explore regional approaches to stability in the region (with Iranian officials expected to be in attendance), was being viewed in Washington as yet another opportunity to pressure Tehran to be more submissive to the West’s demands on a wide range of issues, including Iranian support for Shiite militias in Iraq.

President Bush keeps insisting that he would like to see these “diplomatic” endeavors — as he describes them — succeed, but he has yet to bring up a single proposal or incentive that might offer any realistic prospect of eliciting a positive Iranian response.

And so, knowing that his “diplomatic” efforts are almost certain to fail, Bush may simply be waiting for the day when he can announce to the American people that he has “tried everything”; that “his patience has run out”; and that he can “no longer risk the security of the American people” by “indulging in further fruitless negotiations,” thereby allowing the Iranians “to proceed farther down the path of nuclear bomb-making,” and so has taken the perilous but necessary step of ordering American forces to conduct air and missile strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. At that point, the 80 planes aboard the Nimitz — and those on the Eisenhower and the Stennis as well — will be on their way to targets in Iran, along with hundreds of TLAMs and a host of other weapons now being assembled in the Gulf.

Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum.

Copyright 2007 Michael T. Klare

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