Reflections from the Southern Hemisphere, Part 1

Today's Top Story:
At the time of this posting, 1054 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

(Why is this "The Top Story"?

1. Each of these soldiers died in a war that was initiated by a President who is intentionally misleading the American people about the future prospects in Iraq to serve his own ends, and
2. Like Gen. Anthony Zinni, I believe that this has got to be more important than "American Idol").

Today's Feature: Reflections from the Southern Hemisphere, Part 1

I'm back in Sao Paulo, Brazil again this week. Long days at work, followed by late evening dinners and conversation with my hosts and colleagues. It is both invigorating - I really enjoy being here with these people - and exhausting. By the end of the night I have little time to do much more than crawl in the hotel bed and hope I can sleep all night.

Tonight, though, I wanted to jot down a few notes on topics I've been thinking about since before I left Indiana on Sunday afternoon. I make no promise that they are connected...or that the result will be coherent. Here goes...

When I was in college -- long ago and far away -- I had a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. It was one of my all-time favorites. Having grown up in a small, rural Kentucky town, Rolling Stone was a window into a whole 'nother world. There was no Internet in 1973, so I got my news about the stuff that really mattered -- sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, politics -- from RS.

Fast-forward to the present. I haven't seen a copy of Rolling Stone in 30 years. My 17 year old son gets a subscription. A recent issue arrives with a large spread on the classic photos of rock-and-roll. It's fun to look at. Photos of all the folks I grew up with - Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Elvis - and a bunch that I've learned about since. Some of the old feeling came back. This is nice.

But what I started to write about was an article titled "Heavy Metal Mercenary" about a guy named Wolf Weiss, one of over 20,000 "for-profit contractors" (aka "mercenaries") operating in Iraq. According to the article, these "corporate soldiers [are] the second largest contingent in Iraq after the U.S. military". Weiss is an ex-Marine (I know that's incorrect...once a Marine, always a Marine) -- ok, he's no longer an active-duty Marine. But he's plenty active, with a small corps of like-minded souls in heavily armed SUV's racing around Iraq, escorting convoys and generally doing lots of jobs we might otherwise expect our soldiers to be doing. The biggest exception - Weiss makes upwards of $20,000...a month.

The story has a real Rambo kind of feel to it. Lots of fast driving, pointing guns at people, shouting curt commands, and relishing the adrenaline rush. There's a movie to made from this.

Having read the story, and thought about it for several days, I still have conflicting thoughts about the situation it describes. I'm mostly disturbed by what appears to be another example of our incursion into Iraq going out of control. How did we get ourselves into a situation where we have to depend on private contractors to run a war? I'm not bashing Weiss, here. He saw an opportunity and pursued it. I have no doubt he's earning his money. God knows it's a job I wouldn't do. But I also wonder about the cumulative effect of 20,000 Weisses and what their kick-ass-and-take-names style does to the perception of Americans in the minds of the Iraqi people.

And it seems to be inextricably related to the same failures of leadership and accountability that resulted in the government giving Halliburton a blank check.

Money...money...money. Is this the common denominator that underlies the whole botched "war on terror"?

Here's the flip side of the same coin. In Monday's New York Times, James Glanz wrote about American truckers who have gone to Iraq to drive in supply convoys - risking their lives to double or triple their take-home pay. As one driver put it, "It's all about the money".

I'll forego another rant about lack of controls on spending, lack of oversight and controls, etc. (Yes...I'm in Brazil doing Sarbanes-Oxley audits...controls are on my mind.)

The most striking thing about both of these stories is the sense I have that these men (and maybe some women...none were identified in the stories) have taken jobs in the middle of a war zone because it pays better than the jobs they can find in the United States!

Something's desperately wrong with this picture.

But it's getting late and I've only touched on one topic this evening.

Today's Photos: Political advertisements in Sao Paulo.
Banners like these adorn lamp posts and telephone poles. They are hand-painted on the walls of houses and businesses. On the surface, it appears as though there are thousands of candidates for local offices. Each one has a registration number that appear on his or her advertisements. The larger the number, the smaller the offce -- 2 digit numbers represent the mayoral or gubernatorial candidates while a 5 digit number reflects a candidate for the local council.


Election time in Brazil 


Election time in Brazil 


Election time in Brazil 



BTW, the election is next Sunday.

What Are They Thinking?

Today's Top Story:
At the time of this posting, 1041 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

(Why is this "The Top Story"?

1. Each of these soldiers died in a war that was initiated by a President who is intentionally misleading the American people about the future prospects in Iraq to serve his own ends, and
2. Like Gen. Anthony Zinni, I believe that this has got to be more important than "American Idol").

Today's Feature: What Are They Thinking?

One of the strangest news items I've seen in this whole strange political year appeared yesterday:

MSNBC - NBC poll: Bush holds narrow lead: "when voters were asked what they would want in a second term for Bush, 58 percent say they want major changes, compared with only 9 percent who say they want his second term to look a lot like his first term. "

There are lots of things I don't understand here, but the first thing that comes to mind is "How could anyone expect a president who can't admit a mistake on any topic to make significant changes in his second term?"

And I'll credit Mary with the better question, "How would he do this as a lame duck?"

Here's a suggestion for anyone who wants a "major change" in Bush's second term: Vote for John Kerry!

A Strong Reminder

Today's Top Story:
At the time of this posting, 1005 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

(Why is this "The Top Story"?

1. Each of these soldiers died in a war that was initiated by a President who intentionally misled the American people to serve his own ends, and
2. Like Gen. Anthony Zinni, I believe that this has got to be more important than "American Idol").

Today's Feature: A Sharp Reminder
It's been a busy summer - a week of vacation, two weeks in Brazil for work, some extra projects at home and at work. Mary's surgery. The net result is that I have not spent much time doing blog posts. I've read a lot of them, and have appreciated the dedication to the medium that other bloggers display. (Two of my favorites are John Bailey's "journal of a writing man" and "Ever So Humble" by Amy. Good writing and photography on both sites. My benchmarks.)

This is not to say I haven't thought about the blog. I have thought about it, even if I haven't contributed to it. I've thought about the purpose, or lack thereof. I've thought about maintaining a consistent point-of-view and political orientation. (OK...so mainly I was just thinking about how important it is that we replace George Bush this November.) I've thought about some topics that I'd like to explore and write about. I've accumulated some pictures that I'd like to post.

But some of this is why there is winter in Indiana - to give us time to do "indoor" things. This has been a glorious summer in southern Indiana. Mary and I have enjoyed many delightful evenings sitting on the screened porch, listening to the crickets and the sounds of soccer games coming from the park down the way. We have started talking about how we will change our lives when we become "empty nesters" next year. We've daydreamed about visiting Italy, and Paris, and other places. And we started watching TV again. (The "No TV Journal" might make a good blog series...later this year.)

And as I've thought about the blog, I wondered if the current format, with the "Today's Top Story" block, continued to make sense. Maybe the awareness of the death toll in Iraq was there, after all. It's been all over the news this week. And there is certainly plenty of rhetoric about the war in the political campaigns. Maybe my little voice in the wind didn't really matter.

Then on Monday I read one more thing. In Sunday's New York Times Magazine, David Rieff wrote:

And even the summer's steady toll of roughly two American combat deaths per day has neither seemed to resonate all that much with the public nor received anything like the coverage in the media or on the campaign trail that might have been expected. Certainly, American fatalities have received far less attention on local TV news, in the tabloids and on the cable networks than the Scott Peterson case or the Kobe Bryant trial.(1)

What it meant to me: It is important that the true costs of the war in Iraq be reported to the American people, and the rest of the world. We have lost over 1000 of our young men and women in a war based on lies and misstatements. These brave young people were asked to do something their own president and vice-president refused to do - to serve in combat. They willingly risked their lives in defense of the ideals of liberty and freedom, in a war effort led by liars. To subordinate their stories to those of murderers and rapists is to demean their service.

I believe we can honor the troops even as we reject the arguments of their leaders.

I also believe we will see many more lives lost before this conflict is completed. It is impossible to disengage from Iraq any time soon. We created this mess. We must stay to put it to right.

So...

I may not post every day, or even every week. But when I do, I will continue to lead with the "top story". And then, if there's something important enought to say on a different topic, maybe I'll get around to saying it.


(1) David Rieff, "Welcome to Iraq, Mr. President", The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, September 5, 2004, p. 11.