December 13, 2015

Truth or Consequences

Bill Tatro

12/11/2015 12:01:00 AM - Bill Tatro

A little food for thought or as Sherlock Holmes used to say “When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” As a prelude to yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Ash Carter (Secretary of Defense), Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham took a little jaunt to Iraq to inform the Prime Minister, Haider Abadi, a number of senior Iraqi Cabinet members and Iraqi military officials that as many as 100,000 foreign troops, including 10,000 Americans, would be making a call in the not too distant future. Abadi’s response was thanks but no thanks. McCain informed Abadi that the decision was “non-negotiable” and that “has already been taken”. First in Turkey with men and tanks. So much for Iraqi sovereignty! Sounds like an invasion to me. Normally the American public and perhaps a few leaders would express outrage, a bit of anger or at least concern, when after more than a decade and so-called “mission accomplished”, the first body bag comes home. The convenience of 9/11, Fort Hood, Charlie Hebdo, Paris and San Bernadino have all accomplished, intended or unintended, a xenophobic attitude that is quickly rivaling the ‘30s of Germany and prevents most from looking at this objectively. When, in theory, all of the above are the works of one particular group, the most normal response to U.S. Senator McCain’s Iraqi directive and Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s immigrant policy would be “go get ‘em” and “sure why not” respectively. At this point Sherlock Holmes would say “the games afoot”. Please dwell on each of these terrible tragedies slowly and with some thought: 9/11 Fort Hood Charlie Hebdo Paris San Bernadino When whipping up the electorate for war, an election or both it only makes sense to recall many of these past incidents to fan the flames. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or one who’s immersed in the Kardashian culture to connect the dots as they appear to be. Just take this simple quiz: All of the above were committed, theoretically, by A) Born-Again Christians, B) 7th Day Adventists, C) Buddhists, D) Southern Baptists, E) Muslims. Should you have answered “E”, be careful you may be called a “hate monger” and be brought in for questioning by the Justice Department. However, pure logic and patriotism (?) says that it is understandable why McCain and Trump are being so successful. If you answered A, B, C or D to the quiz you may want to go back and give it another try. With all that said it seems that everything is just too convenient and there may be some other explanations and possibly even other culprits. We just need to keep enough suspects alive long enough to discover Holmes’ impossible, probable and the real truth. A discussion for another time. However, did anyone hear anything about an oil pipeline? Sherlock wants to know!