Vietnam

Declarations of War

Sometimes, I deliberately forget to take my medicine before I go to bed, knowing full well that I will come wide awake between 3:05 and 3:15 AM

Back in the day, I used to wake up making deals, deal making being one of the things I do for a living.

Now days, I usually wake up free of a thought.

I like it.

To my way of thinking, my head empty of noise is a good thing.

So having failed to take my medication last night I came wide awake at precisely 3:12 AM as expected.

Only this time, I was thinking about War.

War with Iran feels inevitable to me.

Paranoid Roany is pretty damn sure that "The Powers That Be" are goading Israel into a war with Iran that's gonna blow up into an ungodly horror in an effort to change the subject away from the absolutely criminal job they've done on our economy.

Evil Roany is pretty sure there's a mess of those Iranian assholes that need killing anyway.

Good Roany on the other hand ........ is uhhhmm ........ well ........ Good Roany ........ you know ...... is pretty much in agreement with Evil Roany on this one.

Which brings me to my point.

In the past, if we were mad at somebody, we'd declare war on the whole damn country.

We declared war on Germany (twice), Japan, I'm pretty sure we declared war on Italy.

Korea was a little different.

That was a "Police Action".

It was authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

Basically, everybody was still sick of war after two "World Wars" so ......... they called it something different.

Same basic theory as "Liberal" and "Progressive".

Vietnam was also different in that it was authorized by "The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" which was not a formal declaration of war, but rather provided then President Lindon Johnson with the authority to do whatever was necessary including the use of military force to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty (in this case South Vietnam) without a formal declaration of war.

Close enough for government work.

The "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678" authorized "The Gulf War".

The "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists" got us started in Afghanistan.

Congress authorized the present war in Iraq with the "Iraq War Resolution (formally the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002)".

Ok, so here's my thought.

I don't want to have a war with Iran.

Sure, there's a bunch of guys over there I'd like see dead, and would even cheerfully chip in toward their demise.

But I kind of like a lot of the Iranian people.

I'm on their side, I don't want to hurt em.

Hell, I think a lot of them are heroes.

So, instead of naming the damn thing something that's gonna drag a lot of people that I like into a mess they don't need, like "The resolution to get nuclear weapons the hell out of Iran".

Why not just declare war on the assholes?

Leave the Iranian people out of it.

So, if it's me, I'm naming it "The resolution to kill deader'n Hell; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mullah Ali Khamenei, the entire Iranian Parliament, the couple hundred pricks still around who attacked our embassy, and anyone else dumb enough to want to attempt to defend the above named assholes. After which we'll be as gone as Keyser Soze and wishing the rest of you (and your children) long, healthy and happy lives."

I know it's long, but it is beautiful in it's precision.

Here's where the beauty resides.

Let's just for fun pretend we're Iranian citizens. And the word gets out that The United States of America has just declared war on us.

Ahmadinejad is all over the TV about how we must defend our country against the American invaders. This is scary stuff, and because we're scared, we're getting real damn mad. Our hearts are in our throats as we prepare to defend our families, our wives, our children, our selves, our country.

Then the word gets out.

The Americans aren't coming after us, they're coming after that dickhead Ahmadinejad.

Aahhhhhhh!!!!

This changes everything.

Now, instead of being scared and madder'n Hell, we're starting to channel Tonto,

"What do you mean we, white man?"

Now, instead of oiling up the AK-47 and running off to some damn barricade to fight, we're oiling up the AK-47 but staying home, just in case one of the assholes decides they want to hide under our bed.

I like to think that (if I thought I could get away with it), I'd pop a cap or two in one of the bastard's asses myself, if only to save a little time.

People should listen to their Uncle Roany.

I got answers.

To quote John F. Kennedy

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

For of those to whom much is given, much is required.

One person can make a difference and every person should try.

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient; that we are only 6 percent of the world's population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every adversity; and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.

We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad.

Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible will make violent revolutions inevitable.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.

The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation.

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

I'm an idealist without illusions.

On this earth God's work is in our hands.

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

We are not against any man-or any nation-or any system-except as it is hostile to freedom.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.

We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

There is, in addition to a courage with which men die, a courage by which men must live.

In a time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is power.

Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

The basis of effective government is public confidence, and that confidence is endangered when ethical standards falter or appear to falter.

Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.

The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war, corruption, or both.

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats.

We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.

For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory.

Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It's the system that functions in the pinches that survive.

So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.

Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.

Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.

There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.

An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.

I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times.

There is nothing, I think, more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat-looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week's exercise.

I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

To quote Sun Tzu

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.

Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near

Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

Know your enemy and know yourself

and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near. If you are near, make him believe you are far.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.

It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents

are recruited and used.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.