Another look forward for Iraq

For latecomers, first some of the views that I hold on the modern US Armed Forces and what they are capable of and doing.

One is that we no longer fight wars even as we did in Desert Shield/Storm, not to say Viet Nam, Korea or WW I or II. Or the Cold War. To some extent this is necessary as the large Nation State military enterprise is only remaining in-force for those Nations that use coercive force to get their ends or threaten their neighbors. So China holds the world's largest armed forces, but a quantity/quality problem with them actually puts their effectiveness per man heavily downwards. And while 'quantity has a quality of its own', that is only true when it can be *applied*. The United States on the diagonal side of this equation favors effectiveness and quality per man over masses of them. Thus a smaller but more highly capable force allows flexibility across situations giving some capabilities that others lack, like integrated battle space, but then shows up lack when pure numbers are needed. After combat there is no light infantry constabulary force to back up gains made and enforce law, thus leaving a vacuum that must be filled by the smaller, flexible forces. And this then causes asymmetrical effort where it is least effective: policing.

Second, the types of conflicts that the US is likely to see are asymmetrical ones requiring advanced forms of analysis and application of same in a continuous learning approach. This starts out with the Wizard Wars concept. The Shadow Warriors of Intel analysts and folks sifting through imagery, data, comms, HUMINT and other forms of information are now the new backbone in fighting asymmetrical organizations. Their flexibility is limited by how and where the US Armed Forces can actually be deployed, and what actual capability can be brought to bear remotely. Tele-presence by analysts sitting in the US and operating robots and interacting with military personnel was first seen in Afghanistan and saw limited use for HUMINT and ground truth analysis. By bringing more knowledge and background to the battlefield, fewer US Forces are needed because diplomatic arrangements with smaller social units can be formed. This capability was available due to the 1980's work in Afghanistan against the USSR, but was not available in Iraq. Today, however, we do have thousands of individuals that have seen time in Iraq who *could* use remotely operated and telepresence devices to give continuity of operations and understanding between social groups and the US Armed Forces. This requires flexibility on the part of the Command structure which is sorely lacking, as it would leverage non-theater troops to give continuity to understanding, which would be outside of the easy chain-of-command the Armed Forces prefer. This tool is *missing* from the US Armed Forces and Intel Community in Iraq and needs addressing.

Third are Goals on the Global War on Terror to give a framework to the entire foreign policy of the US and how it will seek to employ its Armed Forces and give hard and fast objectives to them is absolutely essential to all endeavors by the United States and, to-date, has not been done in either a coherent or incoherent form. To put it bluntly the United States has no overall Foreign Policy. Without that, achieving *anything* with any other Nation becomes a troublesome task as the US is seen as not knowing what it is doing and likely to change course on *anything* in mid-stream. To give coherency to Iraq, the US Administration, no matter which President is sitting in the Oval Office, must have a definitive Foreign Policy and STICK TO IT. And I give further thought on some of the Goals here.

My first thoughts on why there would not be an Iraqi Civil War still stands.

I still believe that a Dream Team of turn-around specialists in business, law, social work, policing and other such areas is absolutely necessary so as to give good and credible third-party advice to Iraqi's from respected figures in each of those areas. It is essential for the Iraqi people in each of those areas to gain some understanding of the types of messes they are in and how to approach such problems and hear what has and has NOT worked for other folks and WHY. The responsibility for the Nation of Iraq falls upon the Iraqi people and they are starting at Square One in many areas and are still there in a number of them.

With recent capture of Iranian militants and intelligence personnel in Iraq and their aid to the Sadr Militia, dealing with Iran is a large key to this puzzle. I took a first stab at a semi-traditional view of dealing with Iran via military means. It is the old 'fuddy-duddy' approach, with a twist or two. I more fully believe that the NetWar approach is more likely, and do note that save for the few Special Forces to track down Zarqawi and such, that the mass of them are no longer heard from. That gives a new spin on *everything* and requires a NetWar view of Iran, that uses the full-spectrum approach and non-traditional capabilities to achieve National and Military objectives. I go over that here. I also respond to the Cold War concept of containment for Iran, and why that is not a fit into this area of the world, against this organization at this time, and, basically, doesn't work as either a concept or schema.

I synopsize much of my views on the actual problems with the US Armed Forces as resting in the central echelon of folks in the Pentagon and *not* at the highest levels nor Theater Command level. The fossils are preventing dramatic changes and are causing the most of the problems for actual capability of forecasting the need of forces for situation analysis and, generally, falling out of the command operations adjustment loop by not thinking ahead. And training. If they spend less than 1/8 of their on-duty time training, then they cannot ever hope to cope with the real world. Their troops now CONTINUALLY TRAIN with help from their peers around the world. The central command echelon does not do this and adjust to the modern world. And I vituperate upon this here.

I further continued these lines of reasoning by putting forth that all of the trend-lines for Iraq are good and getting better continuously, and that its Military refuses to be a part of any Civil War. Also note that the Kurds have had a decade to get a governing capability together and fiercely protect themselves and look deeply askance at a Civil War. Also the Shia majority is divided and not a monobloc, so any attempt to actually *seize* power gets one the non-sectarian Armed Forces, the Kurds and everyone else who doesn't like you forming a long, long line to bring you down. And then post, yet again, on why the things we are seeing do not fall into the category of Civil War in Iraq.

So, I have thought on this just a bit.

With Act I closing, having opened in 1979 in Iran, it is closing with Iraq and Afghanistan getting to a metastable environment with all the trend lines there looking good, while all the political and governmental trend lines in the United States in decline. Iran continues to be the major supporter of terrorist organizations both against its neighbors and globally, while Saudi Arabia continues to be the main source of funds for Wahabbist Islam and its attendant jihadi outlook. The United States did not know that in 1979 it was entering a new global struggle that would pick up soon after the Cold War, but by the inactivity of multiple Adminstrations and the loss of rigor in approaching Foreign Policy and adhering to standards, Transnational Terrorism as a whole flourished.

As the fine folks at the Foreign Affairs roundtable on Iraq point out, the need for a workable solution for Iraq is manifest. Their solutions, however, by limiting themselves almost entirely to Iraq, do not address the deeper regional problems that are causing the problems within Iraq. Without more than glossing over terrorism and concentrating more on Sectarian differences, they miss the fine point that to solve the Sectarian problems in Iraq requires that they be ended elsewhere *first*. Iraq can serve as a mutual accommodation solution for Iraq, but that is not extensible to more homogeneous regimes or those that are Authoritarian in nature. Indeed, even that simple solution is garnering the ire of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, each of which is working to destabilize Iraq. The military solution of cutting off the means of entry overland is necessary but not sufficient to this problem, although it ensures that one means and methodology of continuing interference is cut off. And those DO need to be cut off.

Syria has found itself to be less and less able to influence events via the exfiltration of people and money. With the cooperation of Jordan, the Ba'athist funds stolen from Iraq are now being traced, although the Jordanians are not so fast at actually yielding up individuals for prosecution.

Iran is reacting harshly via sending bombs, personnel and intelligence gathering capabilities into enclaves that support them or have been paid off to look the other way. Iran's own internal problems are starting to push it apart at the seams and an effort to *export* its religious/political system will actually hurt it in the long run as it will be unable to use those resources at home. The net result of this could be a destabilization of the territory of both Iran and Iraq and a localized conflict that will be cross divided: Persians, Kurds, Arabs, Sunni, Shia, Wahabbi, Azeri and many other crossing social categorizes would be involved. One cannot discount the Kurds with a highly stable and capable government and military reaching out to the Azeri and other put-upon ethnic groups in Iran in a way to suddenly secede from Iran and form more contiguous and ethnically pure States.

Saudi Arabia remains a vexing problem as its regime is married to the Wahabbi branch of Islam. It is funded by the flow of money from oil export, but the Saudi's are also facing longer term caps on their production and actual production decreases as their oil fields play out. So, while global oil prices are high, they will gain less percentage market share and be unable to fund their economy AND their deadly brand of Islam. Here, the US can support vigorous use of the Athabasca oil sands and actually open up oil drilling on the Continental Shelf under US control. Together these would add new oil supplies onto the market, shift the market percentage slowly from Saudi Arabia and actually reduce the cost per barrel of oil. Thus, US Domestic Energy Policy needs to align itself with Foreign Policy. By doing these things the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will slowly lose capability to dictate market prices of oil and, in actuality, begin to have its entire society undermined due to lack of actual oil income. It is a house of cards that will fall in upon itself if it is shaken that way and totally out of the hands of anyone save the President and Congress of the United States to do.

Thus the sectarian faultlines need to be addressed in Iraq in such a way as to gain some form of understanding that peaceful screaming trumps the AK-47 and roadside bomb. This requires actual hard border control and lethal enforcement of same, using the New Iraqi Army to clean up militias and using US and Coalition capabilities to help rebuild the internal infrastructure of Iraq. On TOP of that there needs to be a full court press by the United States to address all major ethnic, social, business and governmental areas by bringing in those people who have the know-how and hands-on experience of turning those areas around. The expertise and depth of experience in Iraq to do this is *missing* and is a key piece of the puzzle. This should also include a non-US military advisory group made up of Coalition Nations that have moved from authoritarian regimes to democratically based ones. Thus a set of high level military and military affairs experts from the following should be found: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. These folks know how to re-build or build a stable military organization with many internal differences and make sure that their Nations are supported in that doing.

Again and first: A Dream Team for Iraq. This is absolutely critical and needs be done immediately, if not yesterday. People who can go out, see the problems, listen to the townsmen and tribal leaders and *learn* about the different ways and THEN apply their understandings of how things *work* to Iraq.

Second: Adjusting US Foreign and Domestic policy to something the World can understand and that the Citizens of the US can support. These must include a clear statement of the major sources of problems for the US and the World, but address ONLY what the US can do about them. Once done it must be adhered to and pressed *hard* so that those seeking appeasement solutions with those that would kill them are put on notice that that is surrender. This must include Energy Policy and oil drilling, along with heavy support of the FRIENDS of the US that are also oil exporters.

Third: Clearing Iraq of outside influence. Seal the borders to controlled entry, work hard to clean out the last of the militias and Ba'athist redentists and generally work with the Iraqi Government and its Army to get both fully operational in this key area. Without this there will be *no* peace in Iraq. And those that wish to kill their fellow countrymen should be given the peace of the grave.

Fourth: Close the banking loopholes and set up a strict regimen of trade controls based in the US for all goods coming to the US. This is an orthogonal approach, but will require the full stopping of every non-verified vessel and its inspection. Control regimes worked out via Treaty with US Friends and Allies will only put a minimal burden on them as they join in a closed and secure banking and trade system. This effects Iraq in that it opens up the entire US market to its goods and makes it a safe haven for investment so long as Iraq adheres to keeping illegal money laundering and transfers out of its Nation *and*, with the help of the US, puts in an inspection regimen for all of its outbound shipping to the US. This must be coupled with the US Foreign and Domestic Policy so that all funds transfers between illegal organizations will no longer flow through legitimate banking services and that trusted goods have little overhead upon them for being verified as what they *are*. Over time this lowers the number of network points where money can flow freely and makes them easier to monitor. This helps Iraq by ensuring that it grows legitimate businesses and works within a secure community of trade and regulation to keep itself safer in its affairs. This will take a decade to stand up and should have started in 2001, but didn't.

Fifth: De-stabilization of Iran and Syria via covert or even overt means. Public Diplomacy adhering to clearly set goals needs be given to Iran and Syria. Their interference in adjoining States is to be ended or face reprisals as they are threatening FRIENDS of the US and the US itself. Dust of the old Jus ad bellum and let all Nations know that there are repercussions for starting problems with the US. This needs be adhered to like nothing else as it is the BASIS for Civilization and ensuring the rights of individuals. Without the Nation State and that unit of governance being held to diplomatic standards and their attendant consequences, the United States and, indeed, the entire world of Nation States will collapse. By holding Iran and Syria accountable for their past actions, the US can gain legitimacy in its grievances and look for support in that doing. Direct State based diplomacy needs to be re-asserted and international bodies diminished in their global role. This will give what Iraqi's do meaning and give them just recompense and recognition for being a Friend of the United States and give grief to Our mutual foes.

Without the Dream Team, the rest becomes nearly impossible to do as the social and political and business means to address a Nation and turn it around will not be available. Leading figures in each of these areas bring skills, knowledge and know-how and should be employed in the Grand Settlement of Iraq for Iraqi's. What Iraq needs cannot be prescribed by the US, but we can help them to look through what they *can* do and understand the differences of various paths to take. The final decision will be theirs, but it will not be blinkered and blinded by a single faction within the US, but will look at how problems at the National level can be approached and solutions found. National know-how is a hard won commodity and is in extremely short supply in Iraq.

The greatest good the US and its Coalition Partners can do is help Iraqi's understand how to stand up on their own, so they can be a Free People in their own way and appreciate that freedom and protect it.

So we won't have to.

Opining on Amending the Constitution and the Current State of the Union

I do thank Mr. Z at the Bloviating Zeppelin for giving a look at the things going on that people want to Amend the Constitution over! Dear me! Everyone wants to make something at that level so quickly to redress something by that truly belongs to the States. Needless to say things like marriage and the flag really are pretty well out there... marriage is wholly a States issue and handing it to the Federal Government via Constitution would just be *another* power handed to them.

And they do *so* well with the ones they already have, don't they?

And as for the flag... well, the flag has an actual definition as to shape coloration, spacing, proportionality and every such thing. Its colors are defined and within multiple spectra, to boot! So making a flag desecration or burning would require that an *actual* flag of the US is burned... not a mere replica!

I can see the commercial now:

*Scene starts... backyard barbecue... evening sets... father sprays lighter fluid all over the barbecue... it bursts into flames... and the flag nearby catches fire! *

*A nosy neighbor calls the police and the father is put away for a felony 10-20 years*

*Narrator Voiceover*
Yes you, you the patriotic public are at risk at simple display of the flag!
But this wouldn't have happened if they had used an Old Glory Flag Replica!

*cue to flag replica*
This replica flag uses coloration just slightly different from the official ones....
Note that every Old Glory Flag Replica comes with a full guarantee to protect your rights to use our flag in any way you deem fit...

*view shifts back to the father in jail*
Narrator ominously: Unlike THEIR flag!

*shift back to two flags flying side by side*
Narrator: Our Old Glory Flag Replica is backed by a team of color experts...

*view of people working in a scanning area showing the actual color values of the flag*
...and these folks will appear in court to testify that an Old Glory Flag Replica is NOT an Official Flag...

*camera pulls back as the folks in the lab stand up and put their hands over their hearts*
...and beyond that we keep a full suite of Constitutional and Legal experts on retainer...

*cue up multiple shots of lawyers and scholars smiling and waving to the camera, hand over their heart*
...each of which we will fly out and pay for at the expense of Old Glory Flag Replica Company's cost to establish that any Old Glory Flag Replica is *not* any old glory flag but a genuine REPLICA!

*cue back to the flags flying side-by-side*
...because...

*pull back to see the staff of OGFRC standing beneath the two flags*
...We stand with our products and YOUR RIGHTS...

*dissolve to the father in jail*
...unlike THEIR FLAG... ours comes fully enabled BY THE CONSTITUTION to meet all of your free speech and patriotic needs!

*dissolve to a large flag on a flagpole during stormy weather*
Narrator: Our Old Glory Flag Replica lines include this doozy that is part of our Duralast line with a Duraplant flagpole, guaranteed to withstand 220 mph winds without tattering or we will replace it FREE OF CHARGE. You have your choice of either Kevlar or Tyvec and NEITHER is an OFFICIAL STANDARD for the REAL AMERICAN FLAG... THEY can't offer you this, but we CAN!!

*dissolve to a flag flying on a flagpole with spikes pointing downwards*
Narrator: And our Duraplant flagpole also comes in the Damned Tarnation line that is theft resistant...

*dissolve to large sized car of expensive make losing traction as it tries to push up the flagpole*
... and guaranteed to resist 10 tons of force applied to it! Or we will come out and replace it FREE OF CHARGE for the rest of your natural life!

*dissolve to an OGFR being burnt on the steps of some important looking building*
Narrator: Our EZ Burn and EZ Smoulder line of flags are specially impregnated to either disappear with no fuss or put out smoke as it slowly burns away...

*dissolve to Old Glory Flag Replica scientists looking at charred remains in plastic bags*
...and our forensics specialists will verify that only an Old Glory Flag Replica was used as we have special nanofibers and nanoparticles that are unique to each and every Old Glory Flag Replica of ALL of our lines... you show us proof of purchase and we will verify that you did NOT burn a REAL FLAG but one of OUR Replicas!

*dissolve to the first scene, but this time the father pulls out the sales receipt and police call to confirm it was an Old Glory Flag Replica*
Narrator: Because we CARE about all of your rights to use the flag in any way you want... unlike THEM.

*dissolve to an Old Glory Flag Replica waving in the wind*

Ah, Capitalism!

Still, that said there is a serious side to this and that requires copy and paste of my commentary, of which you will now start to get it. The following are my words, as said, although the damned formatting may get FUBAR some, all spelling and syntactical errors kept for your reading befuddlement:

I would not endorse a Constitutional Convention for much of anything, save the fact that the current Government is no longer adhering to the current Constitution in which the Federal Government will take to protect all the States in the Union. That was the agreement of 1787 and is codified by giving the Federal Government the capability to have a National Militia with support from the States so that All the States may be protected and no single State to hold the burden of defending itself.

To protect this Union the States were given rights of autonomy within the Union save for those few things that were held in common to All States. In return for those powers, the Federal Government agrees to be held accountable by the States and the People for its activities on their behalf. And by the rights and powers and balancing of same within the Constitution, States have the capability to change many things and to directly go to the Federal Government and tell them: "You shall either protect us or declare the Constitution to be ended". Of course there are many things that can be done via responsible means short of that. But, if I were a governor or part of the Peoples in States no longer afforded protection and Sovereignty as People within an autonomous State within the Union, I would press heavily for that accountability all the way to that major question on why the Federal Government has reneged on its agreement held since 1787.

This Government no longer protects National Sovereignty nor the Sovereignty of its States, does not use the diplomatic means at its disposal to hold other Nations accountable for their actions, encourages the diminishment of the common welfare by not enforcing the Laws of the Land and, in that doing, no longer provide equal Justice to All of the People.

For flags and marriage, that is a matter for States. For protecting the Union... either do so or declare the Government incapable and withdraw support from it and open a new State's Convention for a new Constitution. Apply all other pressure FIRST, but if those cannot be done properly and the Government remains unaccountable to its role as Sovereign Protector of the Union as a whole, then it must be ended.

The Constitution is *only* a guarantee if it is looked at and used as such. When responsibilities are abdicated and the Union used to mere partisan or ideological goals, then it is subverted in whole in that doing as those do not account for all of the People. The Federal Government was formed to *govern* not *rule* nor *reign*. And its first duty, above all, is to protect the Union.

After we are the People of the United States we are then a UNION, even before Justice and the common defense. That is the priority we are given and agreed to since 1787. I adhere to that as all Citizen *must*: it is Our Duty to do so. And that comes before any mention of *rights* in the Constitution, so it takes precedence as a responsibility and those rights must be *used* to uphold that responsibility.

Or the Union, as we know it, ends.

And so endith comment one by me!

Now I proceed to comment two by me, and let that number be the second of the counting:

To turn the Nation requires One, just One Governor to step up to this plate and ask that the State be protected by the entirety of the United States being so protected.

One People with their State may reach a new accord so as to forcefully protect their State and then hand all invaders over as INVADERS and DEMAND protection.

And in either case the warning is: "Protect this Union or a new Convention shall be called by my State so that a Government that CAN protect us shall be formed."

One fine Shays away from the depths of the pit.

And if the choice is put of destruction of the Union by inaction or the possibility of a ledge we could fall upon on the way down into the abyss... who could say that such a ledge is not a better place from certain loss of Nation?

A Republic could easily withstand these tribulations. It did so in the 19th Century and We the People became stronger for it.

What we have today cannot withstand these problems and so will collapse into ruin, either by piece or whole, but wholly undermined unless the old and stable structure is found within the mass of additions and those additions lost. Try to keep it all and all is lost as the structure pulls firm ground down with it.

Lose much of the shambling structure now and the basis of liberty is saved and can move forward from such loss as it is on firm ground.

Each generation is challenged with the Loss of the Republic. Each has said so in its papers and memoirs and writings, and we scoff at them at our peril. They built hard to ward off such loss, but kept to the main structure... by adding on useless parts on unfirm ground we now find the entirety sinking... and can either watch in horror...

Or remain Citizens and say that much of what has been added on is folly and should be lost so We the People can re-assess what is absolutely *necessary* to have a government that *governs*. In welfare, health care, social security, agriculture, business administration... it has proven worse than useless. A Republic does not *do* these things... unless 'Socialist' is in front of it... and the United States was not formed to be that creature that devours heart and soul and lives and gives abject poverty to all.

And thus endith the second comment of the counting.

Basically it boils down to this: arguing about marriage and flag amendments is truly discussing about the need to get mosquito netting as one's leg is being gnawed upon by a grizzly bear. Perhaps of some distant interest, but there are more important things that now need addressing in life.

Nanotechnology to the energy rescue?

Hat tip to Instapundit on direction to this article on using nanotech and all things small to get us out of our energy problem.

Here is the premise by MIT's Vladimir Bulovic :

"If 2 percent of the continental United States were covered with photovoltaic systems with a net efficiency of 10 percent, we would be able to supply all the U.S. energy needs," said Bulovic, the KDD Associate Professor of Communications and Technology in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Well, lets do my favorite thing and Run The Numbers!

Let us start off with the Knowns:

1) Insolation for the United States - Previously looked at this is 4 kWh/sq. meter/day which is 1, 460 kWh/sq. meter/year. This is on average, mind you.

2) Area of the Continental United States - To everyone who is wondering this *includes* Alaska- The Land Area is 9,158,960 sq. km or 3,536,294 sq. mi.

3) 1 sq. km = 1,000,000 sq. m.

4) Two percent of the land area of the Continental US is 183,179.2 sq. km round off to 183,180 sq. km.

5) Total insolation of this two percent solution: 1,460 kWh/sq. meter/year x 1,000,000 sq. meter/sq. km x 183,180 sq/km = 267,442,800,000,000 kWh/year or 2.67 E14 kWh/yr. This is actual energy delivered on average to this 2% of the US per year.

6) Net efficiency of the energy storage and distribution system is 10%... which is about the current best on low-end silica photovoltaics, so a slight improvement there and a complete superconductive system end to end would be 10% delivered. So net energy delivered is 2.67 E13 kWh/yr.

7) For fun, daily production is: 7.14 E11 kWh/day.

8) As previously looked at current energy delivery to gasoline powered motors is approximately 9.16 E11 kWh/year and this does take all of their inefficiencies into mind. Thus the daily use of energy by vehicles and other gasoline powered devices is: 2.509 E09 kWh/day. Now, assuming a vehicular system delivery system that delivers 90% of the stored electricity for actual vehicular use, this then adds a bit of overhead into the system, so this puts total need at 1.02 E12 kWh/year or 2.78 E09 kWh/day.

So far so good!

9) Total energy consumed by the United States, including all motor vehicles and all petroleum products and all of the fun stuff included in (8) above [2004]: 99.74 Quadrillion Btu. And the short scale quadrillion is 1 E15 (the numbers would get all out of whack with the UK Quadrillion). Thus, the amount is 9.974 E16 Btu/yr.

10 ) Convert Btu to kWh: 1 Btu = 0.000293071 kilowatt hour or 2.93 E-04

11) So Total Energy Consumed by the US per year in kWh: 2.92 E13 kWh/yr or 8.00 E10 kWh/day.

Ahh! In the same ballpark with some quibbles, here and there. I handed the 2% folks a bit more land, to be sure, but the rest is pretty cut and dried.

The large problem with this solution: such a small fraction of the industry actually produces photovoltaic cells that it could not ramp up at any decent rate to meet this need. A truly large scale production system that could augment itself quickly over time would be an ideal solution.

And the land mass of that 183,180 sq. km? Well from this 2000 statistical abstract we can find a few close to this in total land area:

Missouri 178,414
North Dakota 178,647
South Dakota 196,540

So there you have the idea of the collected geographic size of such a thing. Luckily this can also be done with a shade-grown crop as not all photovoltaic cells use the entire spectrum and even with good spacing there is always a lot of reflected sunlight on the ground. Desert is good for this, too. And space, of course, is best.

If you had a research initiative that looked into using differing technologies and incentivizing them, you might actually be able to start working on this. Unfortunately there is no political will for this as it would require innovative thinking and new approaches to problems and that is NOT a hallmark of the two party system or, apparently, the Republic these days.

A Derived Cardinal Rules for Assassins

The United States has suffered a number of assassinations over its period upon this planet and a goodly number are high level ones. That said, many of the lower level ones are masked by the professionals in this business as *something else*. Now, when I look to this area it specifically does NOT include: Gangland Slayings (these are turf wars and most killings are done by everyday thugs, and some few are to *prove* manliness or worthiness to lead and are not, truly, the same category as high level assassinations), killings done in the heat of passion, lovers quarrels, feuds, and all killings done as part of robbery, assault, rape, home invasion, etc. No, what I am looking towards are the high-level assassinations of leaders or very high ranking officials or other prominent figures. They do happen and are quite rare and they are differently motivated than the areas being discounted above.

A short list of some assassinations and the one who did them, with a pithy summary of them is as follows:

John Wilkes Booth - Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln - Booth was a believer in the Confederacy, did not like being on the losing side of the conflict, took part in a possible plot although much is conjectured upon that, was disaffected and an actor at a time when acting had not sheared itself from its disreputable connections to prostitution. Basically a self-important individual with delusions of righting wrongs and, by sticking to the losing side and not making adjustments to the outcome of the war, a loser. Even with some sort of plot running deeply to *whoever*, this individual had enough motivations, on his own, to do this with or without lots of help.

Charles J. Guiteau - Assassinated President James Garfield - An individual with mental disturbances, possibly due to child abuse, and history of fraudulent creation of background and credentials so as to make himself look important. He plagiarized one author for a religious tract, in its entirety, and tried to re-write a speech praising Grant to one of praising Garfield, without actually changing the events attributed to the first which possibly confounded the two in his mind. He felt that this speech, perhaps given all of twice, led to Garfield's victory and wanted an ambassadorship for his work. Not getting that he had decided that God had told him to kill the President. Basically a mentally deranged individual without the necessary mental skills to lead a normal life and, thus, fraudulently created one for himself so as to make himself seem more important. He believed this and the harshness of his total insignificance pushed him over the edge and led to the act that he believe would gain him favor in his final judgment.


Leon Czolgosz - Assassinated President William McKinley - Czolgosz was a Polish immigrant disaffected with the United States and its society and adhered to Anarchy. He was poor, had few skills, little opportunity and blamed the entirety of society for these things, by all accounts. But so suspicious in his demeanor that even regular Anarchists wanted nothing to do with him, and so he was pushed even from that last of social areas. When one comes down to it he was a loser, one who could not better himself and blamed all else save himself for his problems, and did little to better his own situation before making his hatred of society embodied in the act of assassination.

Lee Harvey Oswald - Assassinated President John F. Kennedy - Oswald grew up being told he was unwanted and took that to heart and attempted to make his mark on society. To do so he took up polar opposition to the rest of the United States and espoused Communism and Socialism, even when in the Marine Corps. Within the Corps he was noted for being confrontational, fractious and totally at-odds with most of his fellows. He did, however take up sharpshooting and gained high proficiency at that while serving for 3 years. Upon leaving the Corps he went to the Soviet Union to look to be taken in there. Their secret police and investigative services soon realized that this was not a CIA Agent, but a troubled young man who was completely unsuitable for any intelligence work. The USSR denied him sanctuary. Upon hearing that Oswald slit his wrists in his hotel room to force the issue. He was accepted, moved to Minsk and took up an everyday job and got married, only to realize that he would *still* not make his mark on society. He returned to the US expecting all sorts of reporters to question him and, instead, got no one. He came up with the idea of assassination to become *someone* and attempted to kill General Edwin Walker. Oswald had previously abused his wife and she urged a change environs to him to help things out, but that did not help as he took a confrontational pro-Cuba stance in New Orleans and became an outspoken advocate for that, while still being unemployed. His wife left him after he suggested they hijack a plane to Cuba. Finally, he returned to Dallas and a friend of his wife got him a job at the Dallas Public Library Book Depository a week before the assassination. For Oswald, upon seeing the route, everything fell into place. This man was basically an outcast, disaffected with society, confrontational to authority, had an idea of his own self-importance, could not hold a job and realized that he had amounted to *nothing* up to that point in his life.

Jack Ruby - Assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald - Born in Chicago with some ties to the Capone gang and ran errands and other such things for them. Served in WWII as an aircraft mechanic. Described by a police officer who covered the area that Ruby worked in as 'a good guy but meshugga, you know? Not dealing with a full deck.' Jack Ruby, by all accounts, loved the Nation that gave him opportunity to run a *business*, although only a strip club, and he made sure to get in on the good side of *everyone*, including the police, by keeping fresh hot coffee for them in a separate room and ensuring they got what they needed while there. Ruby had always tended towards mood swings and sudden violence, and one of the girls at the club reported that he was devastated by the assassination of his beloved President. He talked of killing the one who had done it. Basically, although on the outskirts of the criminal world he was a small-time, self-important business operator that let everyone know that he aimed to be an important businessman in his time, while being prone to those things that would not allow him advancement in either the criminal nor legitimate business world. He also knew his time in life was short, dying from lung cancer, which finally caused a heart attack and killed him, but not after finally becoming *someone*.

James Earl Ray - Assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. - Ray, by all accounts, was a segregationist and white supremacist. He had no reason to care for King, although he may have had help or accomplices in his acts, or possibly been part of a conspiracy and no part in the actual act. That said, he had signed a confession to the murder, although later recanting it. For the assassin of a well respected leader, not much is known of Ray, save that he had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List after escaping custody of the police. He made his way to the UK on a false Canadian passport and was extradited back to the US. He served as his own attorney during the trial after firing his own attorney. Ray made references that his attorney, Percy Foreman, had been part of a conspiracy that may have led to King's assassination. To date, even with a civil award against Loyd Jowers, none of those that would have been involved in such a conspiracy were high level government operatives nor, because of temperament, likely to keep such a secret over time.

Sirhan Sirhan - Assassinated Robert F. Kennedy - Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian born in Jerusalem that had converted from Islam to Christianity. Although not much is known about the man, still serving time in prison, implications are that he was not much enamored of Kennedy's position on the Six Day War. When one looks at a Palestinian that supports Israel and converts from Islam to *any* other religion, one gets the feeling of an individual much mixed up at that point in life and trying to adhere to *something* that would be stable. Lack of good accounting of his life that is reliable tells much of him and the lack of life he had. What one can say is that he was a professional at not very much and of not much account as an individual.

Lynette Fromme - Attempted Assassination of President Gerald Ford - Lynette Fromme drifted into the sphere of Charles Manson and drug addiction. After Manson's arrest and imprisonment she drifted in life, unable to hold a job and finally hit upon this idea of killing the President, but was so mentally unfastened that she forgot to load her gun. In prison she has violently attacked another prisoner, escaped from prison to see Charles Manson but was recaptured, and has, since, turned down all hearings on her case.

Mark David Chapman - Murdered John Lennon - Mentally unstable and a drug addict that became obsessed with John Lennon after a nervous breakdown. That sums him up better than any other appellation could do.

John Hinckley, Jr. - Attempted Assassination of President Ronald W. Reagan and severe injury to Press Secretary James Brady- Hinckley was none too capable of keeping to school, failed as a songwriter in Hollywood, and returned home totally broke. Wash, rinse, repeat a few times. Hinckley's family is one of the better connected families, particularly with the business and political side of the Bush extended family. John Hinckley, Jr., however, became obsessed with actress Jodie Foster and was in some space of his own that led him to believe that some path to her led through assassinating the President. He was found Not Guilty by reason of Insanity, but still is out of contact with much of this reality, and thusly kept out of circulation. By all accounts a loser that could never find a life, not even a good fantasy one.


From these folks going after high level individuals what can be said about Professional Assassins or Hitmen?

The First Derived Cardinal Rule is: Never, ever go after a high profile target. Their deaths get investigated pretty well the higher you go in the strata of society. Plus, if you do, look at the company you will be associated with.

The Second Derived Cardinal Rule is: Everyone loves a conspiracy, but the only one that has held up over the centuries is that of the Knights Templar and YOU are not one of THEM. Do *not* get involved with amateur plots.

The Third Derived Cardinal Rule is: The Government is least well able to keep a secret, so never, ever get involved directly with a Government.

The Fourth Derived Cardinal Rule is: Your life is in Your hands at ALL times, do not, ever, let anyone put that in peril. Professionalism and detachment keeps you alive, anything else gets you the First Rule.

The Fifth and Final Derived Cardinal Rule is: Your bread and butter is doing things few and well, do not aspire for more. EVER. It leads to an unbalanced state.

None of the assassins listed were: Professional Assassins, mentally sound, leading normal lives and highly capable at much of anything. They all had: aspirations beyond their capabilities, some complaint against their target, and, no one to tell them that this was *not* a good idea.

Painfully, the United States has many such individuals within its bounds, beyond deranged jihadi's with a goal of a Global Caliphate or Narcoterrorists looking to destroy the sanctity of the United States and turn it into personal sales markets. These are the type of people who have *failed* at the American Dream or were not capable of ever properly coming to terms with it due to personal problems.

And when a couple of them have meshing instabilities, it looks like a conspiracy instead of just plain bad luck that the wrong person is at the wrong place at the wrong time. None of these individuals could have been in a conspiracy because it would have made them *someone* and they would want to tell *everyone* how important they had become. Those spinning conspiracies are telling you *more* about themselves than about the conspiracy, and should be viewed that way. With slitted eyes and an askance look.

They think they mean well for the Republic or the World.

But so did those doing the killing, when they were not looking for glory upon themselves.

Clark, We Need You!

The New York Times in its munificent wisdom decided that the *potential* possible danger to a few American's foreign business transactions that *might* have gone through hands associated with Terrorists was too great an affront to the Nation to ignore. They may have moved the story behind their wall, but the damage of their salvo is done.

Some few said that the Wall Street Journal acted as a 'Wingman' or 'Shield' for the Times to hide behind. But they deny this and vehemently call the Times to task.

And now the Times responds to the response here (again, likely to be walled away, like the Times itself). And excerpting of both sides by Editor & Publisher here.

Yes, a regular donnybrook going on, with the Nation's security put at peril and none being held responsible for it nor investigations starting.

Last night my lady and I saw trailers and heard commentary on the new Superman movie.

Her response was one that floored me: "We do not need Superman. We NEED Clark Kent!"

Yes, indeed! An honest and ethical reporter who *knows* that putting lives at danger for a mere 'scoop' is not an option.

Clark Kent, wherever you are, pack away your cape and return to us!

Your business no longer protects the People but only its own self-interest and desperately needs a voice of reason and competence. We need a super man, with a human heart to help those that have wandered so far afield.

We no longer need you on mere rescues of individuals nor in flight above the Earth when those down here are desperate for someone who rights with care and reason.

The Nation needs you!

Clark Kent, return to us!

Please?