Archives: 2007 March

The ongoing incident involving 15 Royal British Sailors and Marines indicate how tense conditions in the Gulf region are becoming.

The British military personnel are from the HMS Cornwall, based in Plymouth, UK - the flagship of the coalition-Iraqi forces which patrol Iraqi territorial waters in the northern Gulf to combat smuggling.

The British claim that their forces were in Iraqi waters went they were sized at gun point by Iranian Naval forces. The Iranians state in no uncertain terms that the British military forces had aggressively intruded into Iranian territorial waters.

Either way the incident shows that with the continuing disagreement between Iran and the US and the majority of the world community, including Britain, over the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program there is a danger of a confrontation that could be sparked by even a relatively small incident.

To further increase the pressure on Iran to shut down it’s nuclear enrichment program the UN Security Council has just unanimously voted in favor of new sanctions against Iran. Iran remains steadfast in it’s statements that they will not cave in to international pressure and will continue with their nuclear enrichment program.

Recently, as tensions increase, the United States dispatched a second aircraft carrier battle group into the Gulf region further increasing the tensions. The warships of the US Navy, the British Royal Navy, and the Iranian Naval forces are all operating within a relatively small area.

In addition, Iran without a doubt, has a heavy concentration of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile batteries deployed along their shoreline fronting the Gulf. Iran has a highly strategic shoreline fronting on the Straits of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s oil supply passes. Iran reportedly has contingency plans to attempt to close the Straits should they be attacked in any manner by those who want to shut down their nuclear program.

The true cost of the War in Iraq can not be measured. The cost in blood and lives of American, British, and other coalition forces is beyond calculation.

The cost of caring for returning wounded warriors will be with us for decades. No doubt post traumatic stress syndrome will effect hundreds of thousands of Iraq War veterans. How can you measure the full cost of divorces, suicides, problems with adjusting to civilian life after three and four rotations into a war zone, and countless broken lives?

The answer. You can not. The cost is simply too great to be measured.

Then how do you measure the cost to the people who are experiencing the most deaths, injuries, and suffering? The long suffering people of Iraq who suffered under Saddam, then suffered more under the sanctions imposed by the United States and the UN, who are suffering even more and to a greater extent under the occupation.

While estimates very widely as to the number of Iraqis killed outright by the invasion and occupation, the number is probably in the hundreds of thousands. How do you put a price tag on this anguish?

Almost 2,000,000 Iraqis have fled Iraq, the country they love, to become refugees. Another estimated 1,900,000 have become refugees in their own land, fleeing ethnic cleansing by death squads who wear army or police uniforms. To underscore the security challenge in Iraq many of the death squad members are thought to be serving in the army or police.

How can you put a dollar estimate on that level of suffering and displacement of lives? You really can not, can you?

There are people in this world that, for whatever their reasons, seem determined to have a miserable life. Those who take this wish to an extreme even hope to have a long miserable life.

This begs the question that if they find pleasure in being miserable are they then really miserable since they experience pleasure? The answer to this question is outside of my range of expertise as I prefer to be as happy as I can possibly be and still not be considered as the always happy, no matter what, village idiot.

We will let the Psychologists deal with the misery may bring pleasure and therefore is happiness issue while we list and comment on ten sure fire ways to guarantee yourself to have a miserable life.

1. Renounce your family contacts. Those who completely divorce themselves from all family connections, even when their families are complete rascals and worst, stand a very good chance of leading a life of misery. The misery will probably increase by a factor of ten around important holidays , like Christmas and New Years.

2. Be sure to have no friends. If you want to be especially miserable stay by yourself just about all of the time. Reject all signs and efforts of friendship. Who needs those miserable people anyhow? Just do everything by yourself and be miserable doing it.

3. Work at a job that you hate. Going to work each day to a job that you hate really sucks. Over a lifetime of doing this you are sure to become ever more miserable.

Try to imagine this.

You are a highly trained medical doctor, having worked for many years in what was once the best center for medical services in the Middle East. You were not fond of Saddam Hussein but you kept your mouth shut, were not hassled, and were able to provide proper medical care to your patients.

Then everything changes. In 2003 the American President ordered the “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad and the invasion of Iraq. The capital and all of Iraq quickly comes under coalition force, mostly American, control. Saddam is out of power and soon will be out of luck.

Conditions quickly deteriorate at your hospital. There is not enough electricity, not enough medicine, too many militia groups, too many bomb victims, and too many killings inside the hospital facilities. Even one deliberate killing in a medical facility would be too many but there are more, many more than one.

You risk your life traveling to work each day. Your life is in constant danger as you carry out your daily tasks amid horrific conditions. You then risk your life again as you return to your fortress home. Under such circumstances what would you do?

While the above account is fictitious, it is an accurate account of the turmoil that many doctors and medical personnel experience in Iraq. Many have recently left Iraq for Jordan, where they tell how drastically medical services in Iraq have deteriorated since the occupation.

How could conditions have deteriorated so badly under American occupation? How is that a nation known for its generosity in providing assistance in humanitarian situations around the world can not manage to even supply adequate medical supplies, equipment, and security to hospitals in the capital city of the country that it occupies?

One of the primary reasons that American developed into one of the leading nations of the world is the tremendous energy, intelligence, determination, courage, and skills brought to America over the years by its millions of immigrates.

Most of the immigrates came to America of their own free will. They were either courageous people seeking to improve their lives, people seeking freedom from religious persecution, political refugees from countries that oppress freedom, in some cases scoundrels seeking to evade the law, and in other cases prisoners who were “exported” to the new America to get them out of Europe.

It all made for a colorful, at times explosive, mix of inhabitants who gave America an unmatched level of energetic, ambitious folks who were willing to work hard to improve their families fortunes. In doing so a great and prosperous nation was developed with a democratic form of government that gave a voice to all.

Well, nearly all.

There was another class of immigrants that America to this day doesn’t enjoy discussing. These were the dark skinned people from Africa who were brought to America against their will as property, to be bought and sold, and to provide a source of cheap labor for American farms and industry.

They were transported to America in slave ships under the most horrific of conditions. Only the strongest among them survived the journey. This was one of Darwin’s theories put to an unwitting and cruel test by those involved in the slave trade.

The use of slavery was a shameful period in American’s history. A civil war, the most destructive conflict in the history of America, was fought largely due to differences of opinion between the states as to the right for one man to own another. In America, this was a black versus white issue and the legacy of confrontation versus mutual respect and cooperation remains even today.