YA-O-O-O-W-L!
WUSS FACTOR IN FAILED (AMERICAN) LEADERSHIP
—9/11 DEBACLE AND DISASTROUS AFTERMATH
In leaders of nations, as well as families, honesty, fairness, wisdom, forthright brave, correct thinking is to be hoped for as plans are laid, decisions made, action commenced. Insofar as leaders are insecure, fearful, incompetent (the latter a factor in uncertainty and fear), in varying degrees plans, decisions, and actions fall short of ideal.
The topic of this Yowl is grievous outcome when those in positions of highest leadership—president and leadership of the United States—fall short in wisdom, honesty, particularly courage and bravery. 9/11 and its aftermath are the focus. The point made is that incompetence coupled with “wuss” is a formula for disaster in times of crisis.
It may be noted that courage and bravery is never mere reaction, however bold, bad-ass, admirable reaction may be or appear to be. Mere reaction—instinctive fight/flight—is the mode of beasts, not brave, courageous behavior.* Bravery and courage occurs only when there is awareness of danger, threat, one’s fear, and that fear is suppressed.
What transpires when fear cannot be overcome, when one lacks courage, bravery, and competence, when, in sum, one is a bumbling wuss, is explored in this Yowl.
When the leader and leadership group of the modern Free World are bumbling wusses, consequences are dire.
Hang with The Yowling Wolf!
A DISASTER/DEBACLE THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED (BUMBLERS ENCOUNTERING BUMBLERS, FOLLOWED BY…)
9/11 SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. OF THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT.
Ever since 9/11, every few minutes in all major airports there is an announcement that passengers should keep an eye on belongings, leave nothing unattended, and “report all suspicious activity.” Not a lot to ask. Common sense precautions. However, too late.
Although unprompted, seriously suspicious activity directly related to the 9/11 attack was observed and reported. Had it been heeded, there is no question 9/11 would have been prevented. However, the report, albeit made by someone highly reputable, was not heeded. It was dismissed out of hand.
For two years preceding 9/11, four Arab, Arabic-appearing men, whom any paying the slightest attention to the possibility of terrorist plotting might deem suspicious (several terrorist episodes by Arabic groups having already occurred in the Middle East!), who would eventually pilot the four ill-fated planes on 9/11, took flying lessons in America.**
In August of 2001, mere weeks prior to the disaster, four Arabic-appearing men, who would be among the 19 identified agent/participants in the strike, took a trial run on the Boston-to-Salt Lake City flight that was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center.
The four would have attracted notice, even were they not Arabic in appearance. They boarded with no carry-on luggage. They pointedly ignored, were even rude and dismissive toward the (female) attendant in first class where they were seated. They looked around agitatedly and spoke excitedly (in Arabic) throughout a four hour flight.
The men and their unusual behavior was indeed noticed. At the end of the flight their suspicious manner and behavior was brought to the attention of the airplane’s captain by a fellow first class passenger of stature who witnessed all. He prefaced his remarks of concern by saying, “I am not the sort who becomes easily suspicious, or who usually comes forward. However, …” He related what he had seen, his view that the four men seemed to be “casing the situation” and up to no good, and described the men.***
Reflective of America’s woeful, even criminally lax state of alertness and readiness respecting the possibility of terrorist threat pre 9/11, this obvious red flag was casually pooh-poohed and ignored.
In sum, despite having had multiple terrorist incidents both abroad and at home in years preceding, monitoring of possible terrorist activity under both President Clinton and the second President Bush was lax and unobservant. Criminally so.
[The Yowling Wolf ventures the view, as a contributing factor, that both men, contemporaries of The Wolf, were and are lax slackers by nature.]
Simple, obvious preventatives such as locking doors to pilots’ cabins and noting last-minute, all-cash purchases of expensive one-way, first-class tickets by nervous, Arabic-appearing men (as occurred at Boston’s Logan Airport the morning of 9/11) were non existent. [Yes! By all means profile as Israelis do!] Either simple, obvious, inexpensive measure would have thwarted the 9/11 disaster, certainly its extent.
The 9/11 disaster/debacle was brought to fruition not by highly trained, experienced operatives, but by 19 nervous, neophyte amateurs, naive-but-dedicated enough to choose suicide—four with sufficient intelligence and education to train as pilots, fourteen “musclemen.”
These run-of-the-mill bumblers merely had the good fortune to come up against “intelligence” systems—FBI, CIA, NSA, local police and fire departments, etc.—that, for reasons of pride, jealousy, inertia, had yet to learn to share respective intelligence, overseen at the highest levels by bumblers lacking foresight, will, and competence to insist upon such sharing.
9/11 was a strike that succeeded beyond the wildest aspirations of its architect, who was solely a wealthy, educated, Saudi Arabian malcontent in far-off Afghanistan—Osama Bin Laden! (Now extinguished by a more competent, but also possibly somewhat wussy leader. [See below.])
[Note! THE ARCHITECT OF 9/11 WAS NOT, as is today clear (except to a sizable portion of proudly blind and ignorant Americans who still cling to the big lie promoted by a craven president and vice president), and was clear at the time (if anyone cared to to make a reasoned assessment], SADDAM HUSSEIN AND IRAQ in any shape or fashion!]
Thanks to initial lack of leadership, followed by bumbling mistakes of bumblers in and around the United States presidency (and down to the level of New York City police and fire captains and sergeants), there now ensued behavior and consequences that can only be characterized as A NATION OF (wussy) SHEEP REACTING TO THE BUMBLING MISTAKES OF WUSSES AT THE VERY TOP.
WUSS OVERREACTION TO 9/11
The 9/11 strike was not merely dramatic and horrific. It was incredible and surreal. One of The Wolf’s (many) brothers was a stock broker in downtown New York City at the time. He literally witnessed bodies falling from the first tower struck from a window across the street, and then as he fled to a nearby ferry dock to return home to New Jersey. A subsequent romantic partner of The Wolf had been booked on the ill-fated Flight 93 from Boston to Salt Lake City that went down in a Pennsylvania field.****(4)
The (future) Yowling Wolf was coming off a golf course in western Pennsylvania when news and images of the 9/11 New York City World Trade Towers strike and subsequent 9/11 events unfolded. It was a crisp, sunny, beautiful fall morning. In subsequent weeks The (future) Wolf found himself in various major airports around the country. New, strict TSA screening/security procedures had been put in place.
From the very first The (future) Wolf thought reaction to 9/11 was … Overwrought, overkill in terms of security concerns. No question but the blow was severe. However, it also seemed “lucky” in the sense of doing far more damage than could have been expected or even dreamed possible by the perpetrators. And the reaction of the American government and people was …
Well. What The (future) Wolf detected was a huge measure of “How dare you!! [Whoever you (brown, inferior?) foreigners are.]” A substantial measure of the reaction seemed to reflect embarrassment, pique, and—from both government and citizens—, NOT A SMALL AMOUNT OF WUSS.
Yes. GOVERNMENT REACTION WAS WUSSY. So, following the lead of leaders, was the reaction of the average citizen.
The (future) Wolf recalls being in an airport that was not New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Franciso, or anywhere a would-be (overseas) terrorist would likely know about. (Dallas? … St. Louis?) There was one of those serpentine lines moving toward the new security screening stations. The (future) Wolf put a heavy briefcase down, thinking to retrieve it as he came back around to it. (It was never more than 10-15 feet away and in plain sight.) A fellow passenger in line who had not seen who put the case down—male, mature, caucasian—suddenly began pointing and bleating in alarmed fashion, “Whose briefcase is that?! … Whose briefcase is that?!”
When The (future) Wolf acknowledged ownership (rather curtly), the man got angry. “Well, you need to pick it up!,” he spluttered. He was clearly embarrassed at his fear being revealed, and his overreaction. However, he was not unlike United States leadership and many fellow citizens. He was similar, for example, to leadership of Boston and Massachusetts in shutting down an entire metropolitan area while they searched for a single 17 year old terrorist following the marathon bombing. (“Boston Strong?!”)
What The Wolf is alluding to is A MAJOR FACTOR OF WUSS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING REACTION of leadership, and therefore the American people. … Citizens quite understandably followed the wussy lead of then President George W. Bush (“Bush 2”), his Vice President, Dick Cheney, virtually the entirety of American leadership!
Hang with The Yowling Wolf!
LEADERS UNDER DESKS AS 9/11 UNFOLDS
9/11 found the President of the United States, Leader of the Free World, the “most powerful man in the world,” engaged in a task that seemed, curiously, tellingly, to fully occupy his attention for a questionable amount of time following news of the first strike.
President George W. Bush was reading a children’s book—The Pet Goat—to a group of inner-city second graders (also listening to students recite the story) at the Emma L. Booker elementary school in Sarasota, Florida, when news that a commercial airplane had struck The World Trade Towers in New York City, very likely intentionally, was whispered in his ear.
And there he remained a full seven minutes—a very long time! (Try it.)—, while a 110 story skyscaper in the nation’s premier city began to melt and collapse from the intense heat of burning airplane fuel, and while his handlers apparently frenzied over what to do, how to react. (How to avoid another hurricane Katrina fiasco.)
President Bush was not hiding under a desk. He merely sat in a chair in an elementary school classroom, indecisive, seemingly unable to move….
Meantime his vice president, Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney, he of Halliburton millions amassed after leaving an impressive resume of Republican government service,*****(5) and, later, shoot-your-hunting-partner-in-the-face fame, literally hid under a desk. Actually, Dick Cheney apparently hunkered under a succession of desks, as the Secret Service hustled him here and there to secure his safety and, presumably, that of the nation.
Wait a minute! Should one for more than a nanosecond imagine that someone, something, mounting an attack via a technique so primitive as flying airplanes into buildings, albeit large, prominent buildings, and large, destructive airplanes, rather than using more efficient, more sophisticated means—nuclear missiles for instance—, or at least “dirty” nuclear devices, was possibly mounting a serious threat to the ENTIRE nation?
Okay. Perhaps for a minute. Perhaps for a minute and a half. However, sitting immobile in a chair in an elementary school classroom for seven minutes is something else. That is clearly, plainly, inexcusably … confusion and paralysis.
[At least get up and briskly, authoritatively walk into the hall! … Get in the presidential vehicle and drive away!]
And the source of this confusion and paralysis could be nothing other than (yes) confusion, uncertainty respecting WHAT TO DO! Also incomprehension, incompetence (leading to confusion and uncertainty), and, most of all, plain ‘ol simple, shut-down-the-ability-to-move, deer-in-the-headlights FEAR. (Stemming from realization a situation is beyond one’s capabilities.)
Hiding under desks was something The Yowling Wolf was taught to do in preparation for a possible Soviet nuclear strike when he was a fifth and sixth grader in Washington, DC. It surely would not have been effective. Probably just something to reassure us kids (and our parents) that protective measures were in place. However, “hiding under desks” is an apt description of the President’s behavior. ….
Also that of all of America’s 9/11 top leadership, including generals, admirals, senators, cabinet officials, and the feisty, combative (once the “all clear” signal was given), draft-dodging son of a draft dodger, NYC mayor, Rudy Guiliani. (Who would make millions in security consulting fees following a disaster his police, firefighters, and emergency response personnel were entirely unprepared for. Presumably for advice on what to do after the fact.)
OF WUSS, WUSSNESS, MANLINESS, “MANNING UP”
As noted at the outset, when it comes to leadership, no question but a nation, a state, an army, a city, a town, a tribe, a village, a family, an athletic team (to a large extent corporations and other entities) is best served by mature, wise, calm, skilled, especially courageous leadership. Whether male or female, in a leader one wants, in addition to wisdom, qualities once known as “manly,” chief among which are calm, cool, bravery under duress.
“Wuss,” “wussy,” “wussness” (wuss-i-ness?) are words that did not exist when The Yowling Wolf was coming of age. [Spell-word check seems to have a problem with them even now.] Comparable terms in the 1950’s to 60’s were “sissy” (apologies to gay readers), “chicken,” “momma’s boy,” “pussy” (more apologies), “crybaby,” possibly (doubtful) “wimp.”
Young men were guided in appropriate behavior, demeanor, character development as they grew by such expressions as “[be, act like] a man,” “be manly,” “don’t be a sissy, … a girl, … a pussy, … a baby, … a crybaby, …. a chicken, … a coward.”
It may be noted that with the rise, power, and influence of technology, another meaningful epithet and effective put-down of The Wolf’s formative years—nerd! (as in, “What a nerd!,” “Don’t be such a nerd!,” “You nerd!”)—is now more a compliment. (Certainly in higher income/education circles where the term is understood and used.)
It may also be noted that women are generally unburdened with exhortations such as the above. The burden they carry is to be “ladylike,” “sexy,” and, of course, conform to demanding cultural standards of physical beauty. Unless, …
They play sports and/or assume adult leadership roles. Then admonitions of assertiveness, aggressiveness, “don’t be a wuss,” and the like will also apply. In current parlance, women in leadership are supposed to “lean in.” Even “be more like a man.” Certainly, “man up!”
However, it is unlikely that girls and women ever take to heart and invest weight in the “manly” ideal. Surely not in the same measure that many boys and men do. For a man, living up to the ideal of manliness (non-wussness) can assume the order of a grail, pursuit of which, being tested in various ways, pervades many aspects of the male life, continuing throughout life.
Men, for example, must learn when, if ever, it can be manly to cry. (Not a problem for women.)
Today, the concept of “manly” faces suspicion and questioning in (again) higher income/education precincts of the United States. (Man and manly still seem to have meaning in western Europe.) For many (higher income/education circle) boys and youths, character and development-growth guideposts are surely muddled.
Not so middle and lower income boys/youths of all colors, races, and ethnicities throughout America and most of the world. “Be a man!,” “Act like a man!” still hold sway. (Also, “Don’t be a [sissy, girl, pussy, coward, nerd, wimp, and now wuss]!”) The current popular expression, mentioned above, derived, as are so many pithy, colorful, “right-on” expressions in the lexicon, from urban, lower-income African-American youth, is “Man up!” Any straying from what is understood to be correct, manly behavior and deportment—girls now included—are instructed to “Man up!”******(6)
Whatever the uncertainty of “Man up” for some, the concept is alive, well understood, deeply ingrained in any man over the age of, say, 40. The model of who and what one was to emulate and aspire to—the manly man hero!—was front and center for young men who are now 40 and older, including The Wolf. He was clearly etched in the form of heroes returned from The Great War (to save the world from facism, also communism). Namely World War II.
If a manly, hero GI was not a boy and young man’s father growing up in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s (as was The Wolf’s father), he was a brother, uncle, neighbor, or grandfather. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter, Ford, H. W. Bush (“Bush 1”), and even Nixon fit the mold. United States Senators Robert Dole, Daniel Inouye, and countless other men in American political life were models of manly steel and courage under fire. (John McCain, mostly a victim who eventually cried “uncle” following being shot down after careless flying [in the Vietnam War] is a pretender.)
Similar to Sergeant Alvin York before him (most decorated American soldier of World War I, played in a movie of his name by Gary Cooper), Audie Murphy, Congressional Medal of Honor winner and the most decorated soldier of World War II, offered the model of all a boy could aspire to respecting courage and heroic behavior on the big screen. (Given his movie star good looks and appeal to women, Audie Murphy offered even more in this regard.) Countless movies depicted the example to follow. There was, of course, The Duke—John Wayne. (Who, along with Charlton Heston, never fought anywhere, but typified the manly Great Pretender. [Typical tough-guy Republican?])
YOWLING WOLF WUSSNESS FACTOR?
The Yowling Wolf prides himself (and Yowls) on honest, rational examination (of problematic matters). Compassion and sympathy are not lacking. However, exposing BULLSHIT is essential for discovering, furthering sympathetic, compassionate, above all workable, effective, sensible thinking and solutions.
The question perhaps arises in the instant examination, “What about The Wolf? … Is he a wuss? … If so, or if not, does that color the investigation, the thinking? Is it possible that a wuss would be less likely to identify and condemn wussness as a negative influence?… Or more likely? Likewise, the opposite. If a fearless, modern day Neanderthal …?”
Perhaps such insight is not relevant at all. If a consensus of wuss versus non-wuss, bravery versus non-bravery, can be agreed upon and applied, at least in the instance explored herein, the existence, non-existence, or something in between respecting Wolf wussness or lack or amount thereof is a non factor. After all, The Wolf held no leadership post following 9/11, but was merely a citizen experiencing the event and its aftermath. Therefore, it is only required that rationality, informed common sense, and honesty be brought to bear.
However, lest there be hidden bias, suspicions, questions, whatever, … The Wolf does not shy from self-assessment. (Indeed, such is a critical aspect of acquiring insights and knowledge.)
Thus, a quick detour into The Wolf wuss factor. The reader has a right to know about he from whom Yowls spew, perhaps respecting this one in particular.
EXPLORATION OF WOLF WUSSNESS
First, if The Wolf is in any wise Neanderthal (btw, a physically powerful progenitor of modern man [whose DNA is carried by most!], who is unfairly and inaccurately depicted as “sub-human,” intelligencewise), The Wolf is surely not fearless. Far from such.
No question but, growing up, The (future) Wolf had moments and thoughts of “Am I a WUSS!?” (Although the words were “chicken,” “scaredy/fraidy cat.” [Never “sissy,” “punk,” or “fag,” although such epithets were sometimes hurled by other boys in anger and jest.]) No question, but from a very young age The (future) Wolf was aware that he was not the toughest kid, and there was surely fear—e.g., of “country [witch] doctors,” who danced in frightening masks and regalia and bare feet in small jungle villages in West Africa (Liberia, 90 miles inland) when The (future) Wolf was a lad of 4-7.
All red-blooded American boys of The Wolf’s growing up era (including black and mixed racial boys) wondered if they would be as brave in battle or in a manly challenge as GI Joe, and more particularly The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Cisco Kid, Gary Cooper in High Noon (!!!), Gary Cooper in The Big Country, Alan Ladd in Shane [watched most than once with (see below) the macho step-dad], Glenn Ford’s many heroic characters, and assorted other bad-asses and good guys who populated western movies. And, of course, fearless, near invulnerable Superman (versus archtype scaredy cat, anti-hero, Clark Kent).
Would eating spinach, which turned wimpy, cartoon character Popeye into a powerful hero, do the same for The (future) Wolf? (This clever endorsement of spinach was certainly succumbed to.) Perhaps there was a boy—today’s “bully”—who should have been confronted, but wasn’t.
Such, for example, was the case in ninth grade. The 13 year old future Wolf (soon to be 14) moved from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. A rough-looking (African American) boy approached during “nutrition break,” a twenty-minute midmorning recess, during which students went out to the vast asphalted playground, and one could purchase the most delicious coffee roll-type sweets. The boy might have been older, as students were routinely held back in those (far) less indulgent times. Possibly not. However, no question but he appeared tough and menacing.
It may be noted that The Wolf tends to have total recall of long past events, even conversations. The boy said, indelibly, “Gimme piece o’ yo roll.” When The (future) Wolf hesitated in surprise (and alarm), and (weakly) mumbled something to the effect of, “Uh. This is MY sweet roll,” the boy frowned and slapped the snack to the ground.
Whoa! Scared for sure! The Wolf will admit to this day that he was greatly relieved the boy simply walked away. Actually, another boy with whom The (future) Wolf had become friendly, observing all, had interceded with words to the effect of “Leave him alone! He’s all right.” (A cooler, tougher boy!)
The would-be Wolf marveled at the example of the stepfather who entered his life at age 10. “Chet the Jet” was a top football/track man in high school and college, a onetime army paratrooper, an NFL guard for the Detroit Lions. He had fought—so he claimed—the longest boxing match in the history of Father Flanagan’s Boys Town, where he had indeed spent part of a checkered youth. A chemist by training (and medical school washout), the man was highly intelligent. He later acquired a PhD (in psychology) and became a (dashiki-clad) professor at the University of Minnesota. He showed the 12 year old Wolf-to-be how to use a slide rule. On the strength of success of peewee/pop warner football teams, on which he coached his seven natural (more athletic) sons—The Wolf’s half brothers—(e.g., outscoring the opposition 273-13 one season, the 13 scored against second stringers when the championship game was safely won), he was offered the varsity coaching job at a newly opened local high school.
“Chet-the-Jet” was also a serious, even pathological liar, and later a wife beater. (Yes, The Wolf’s mother.) Therefore, critical reader, do not be altogether confused respecting the outward appearance of manliness versus …
Moral courage, integrity, confidence, calm, endurance, perseverance, and self-restraint are also important aspects of non-wussness.
Bottom line. Thanks to regular knocking around by the stepdad and assorted scrapes from an early age (actual fist fights), also playing football (at a mediocre level) and even stints of boxing and karate, The Yowling Wolf is not without a measure of physical achievement and toughness. There are, moreover, indications of moral courage and integrity.
The Yowling Wolf in sum, same as all who are not pathological, has aspects of wussness. (It is human nature to have fear. Fear is a necessary survival response in all creatures.) The question, as it always seems to be, is one of degree, one of awareness (e.g., of wuss aspects), one of balance, courage, and rational choice. (Appealing, as one should, to the higher angels of one’s nature.)
IS ONE AWARE OF THE WUSS FACTOR? … DOES ONE COMPENSATE FOR IT? … DOES ONE QUERY AND ASPIRE TO, “WHAT IS THE SENSIBLE, RATIONAL, MORAL, ABOVE ALL COURAGEOUS PATH OF ACTION?”
Such is all that matters in the end.
BUSH “1”—EXAMPLE OF NON-WUSS, NON-WUSS LEADERSHIP
President George “W” Bush’s father, former President George Herbert Walker “HW” (“Bush 1”), son of Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush, was decidedly not a wuss. (Four names btw is a WASP thing.)
Tall and handsome, Bush 1 was an admirable embodiment of tough-guy indicia—successful oil wildcatter, captain of the Yale baseball team when baseball was The American Sport, genuine World War II hero pilot, veteran of numerous dangerous missions. Self-effacing and reserved in typical Yankee, upper class fashion, Bush 1 to this day is a fierce tennis competitor, a man of action, as evidenced by sky diving on recent 89th and 90ieth birthdays. One would not know it from Bush 1’s nice-guy demeanor, but he is proven tough, brave, manly in the mold of America’s Greatest Generation.
As President, Bush 1 proved his non-wussness in the First Gulf War by 1) calmly assembling a genuine international consensus and force to thwart and reverse Saddam Hussein’s invasion adventure into Kuwait; 2) [more important in The Wolf’s view] refraining from following up on the coalition victory and advantage by taking the war into Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein.
President H. W. Bush had the wisdom and courage (self-confidence) to exercise restraint!
A man of vast international experience before becoming president, Bush 1 understood that dictators such as Saddam Hussein, who had been America’s ally (indeed, proxy in a war against fanatic, Khomeini-led Iran), the same as such dictators as the Shah of Iran (installed by the United States, overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini), Mubarack in Egypt, and even the detestable Gaddafi in Libya, were necessary evils. Their (admittedly, cruel) iron fist rule kept the lid on primitive religious fanaticism and tribalism that today roils middle eastern so-called “nations” and (fledgling) “democracies.” [Such “nations” are actually merely constructs of European mapmakers following WW’s I and II.]
By contrast, Bush 2 (“W”) never measured up to the father. Not even close.
BUSH 2 THE WUSS
A prep school cheerleader and lackluster student (unlike the studious dad), W, admitted to Yale College solely owing to his (lengthy) Bush legacy, was an athletic wannabe. He dabbled at the (manly) sport of rugby, but rugby was not a varsity endeavor. IT WAS ONLY AT THE BAR OF HIS FRATERNITY THAT “W” WAS VARSITY LEVEL.
Indeed, he became an out-of-sorts alcoholic following college and a stint at Harvard Business School. (Where, again, the name “Bush” was the only necessary qualification.) Relentlessly, but unsuccessfully, W sought approval of his illustrious dad and … Some measure of success in his own right.
Unlike the father, Bush 2 never went to war. A drunk at the time (with several DUI’s), W dodged the misadventure of Vietnam, while simultaneously offering the appearance of “warrior,” by (as always) using family connections to secure a position in the Texas Air Guard, which never left Texas. Records show that the still heavy-drinking young Bush was mostly a no-show in the Guard—MIA!
Where the dad found fortune as an oilman (using, as the “self made” wealthy elite do, family money and connections), W, attempting a similar, subsidized, “self-made” oilman effort in west Texas, quickly ran the enterprise into near bankruptcy. Simultaneously, it may be noted, younger brother, Neil, implicated in the notorious Silverado banking scandal, narrowly avoided jail. (Being the son of a powerful, successful, manly dad can be burdensome.)
Sobered up (abstaining from all alcohol), assisted in sobriety by wife, Laura (librarian of reputed grit, rumored to have freely indulged in weed during her sojourn at the Dallas university for the privileged—SMU), yet again trading on the Bush name and connections, W backed into part ownership of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise. There he served as the affable figurehead (his true talent) and face of the corporate office, and reaped many unearned millions (as the wealthy and connected do, then claim credit for their success).
Although a teetotaler, as noted, W’s true talent was being the affable non-serious-guy-you-would-like-to-have-a-beer-with. As evidenced by dim-bulb former Texas governor Rick Perry, such a quality, abetted by fervent back-slapping, along with an affected (same as the dad) west Texas “y’all” drawl, and (most important!) willingness to be the toady and tool of wealthy businessmen, makes one a prime Republican candidate for governor (achieved on W’s second attempt), even national office.
However, no amount of vigorous bike riding and tough-guy cowboy talk (or jogging and later prolific book writing and do-gooding in the instance of former President Jimmy Carter) can alter one’s status as draft-dodging n’er-do-well and wuss.
Bush 2 was and remains a wuss. Tellingly, he never sought the wise counsel of the father, whose commanding (often disapproving) shadow he sought to emerge from.
9/11 found President W—for Wuss!—bewildered (frightened!) at the helm, largely guided by yet another wuss, whose age and experience had reassured the many who doubted W’s thin credentials as commander-in-chief—Dick Cheney.
CHENEY THE WUSS
Despite multiple heart procedures that have kept him going, Dick Cheney snarls and looks a mean, tough-guy game. Moreover, he has indeed proved himself dangerous. Apart from being the “most influential Vice President in American History,” posterity will recall that he “accidentally” filled a hunting companion’s face with birdshot. However, no question but Cheney is a wuss. HE PERSONIFIES THE INSECURE BULLY.
Born in Nebraska, raised in Nebraska and Wyoming, this midwesterner/westerner was no rugged cowboy. Never roped cows or rode the range growing up. (Only later after pocketing Halliburton millions and buying a ranch did Cheney adopt cowboy garb and aspect.) Nor, apparently, did he play sports. In and out of hospital as an adult with severe heart problems (currently on meds with a pacemaker implant), Dick Cheney likely would not have been cleared for rough and tumble sports. Ditto a stint in the armed forces, not that (despite a war raging—Vietnam) he ever sought to enlist and fight for his nation.
Rather, without doubt, young Dick Cheney was a wussy nerd, as evidenced by application to and acceptance by (doubtless, to a Wyoming perspective) an elite, effete college back east—Yale. (Yes. Another Yale weenie.)
However, Dick Cheney was not tough enough even for Yale. Or, alternatively, he was not smart enough. He flunked out freshman year and returned (tail between legs?) to Wyoming.
Nevertheless, from the very small pond that is Wyoming, Dick Cheney climbed his way to levers of power. He was an intern to a Wyoming congressman. He became a White House aide under Nixon and Ford, ending up as Chief of Staff from 1975-77. He became a five-term congressman from Wyoming. He became Secretary of Defense under Bush The First. He parlayed that connection into many millions during a five year stint as CEO of perhaps the primary beneficiary of Suckling the Great Teat of United States Government Contracts—the Halliburton military/industrial conglomerate. And he returned to shepherd wet-behind-the-ears, out-of-his-league presidential candidate, Bumbler Bush, tool of business, in his search for a vice presidential candidate. Who turned out to be—surprise, surprise!—Dick Cheney!
Finally rich (the seeming dream of all Republicans), having a secure grip on levers of ultimate power, Dick Cheney became in full the BADASS that most nerds who never dated the cheerleaders (or were even noticed by the cheerleaders) aspire to be. Doubtless, the snarl (practiced in a mirror?) became more snarly, the tough guy frown more meaningful. Having the President’s ear in hand (and possibly his balls), Dick Cheney was primed to kick anyone’s ass—such as Saddam Hussein.
[Yowl correction. Dick Cheney was indeed noticed, and was embraced by the most important cheerleader ever (ex-cheerleader in any case)—George “W” Bush.]
[The Yowling Wolf notes that some make their way to the top via drive, ambition, and talent. Many, many more make their way to the top via drive, ambition, and a capacity to ingratiate themselves to those in power—i.e., kiss ass—, make themselves indispensable, and otherwise toady and weasel their way upward.]
At bottom, however, deep down inside, as revealed during and after 9/11, Dick Cheney remained a wimp and a wuss. A WUSS IS A WUSS IS A WUSS IS A WUSS!
The Yowling Wolf has not the slightest doubt that, mano-a-mano, he can kick Dick Cheney’s punk ass. Easily. Probably so can you. (But don’t go hunting with him!)
OBAMA THE WUSS?
Among photos of young “Barry” Obama is one of a 10 year old boy smiling, hugging his mother. The boy is slightly chubby. The (future) Wolf’s immediate reaction upon seeing this photo during the first Obama presidential campaign (which The Wolf assisted with $$ and door-to-door canvassing) was a bemused, “wuss!” As described, The Yowling Wolf was no tough guy as a kid. However, he knew boys who looked and seemed like the one in the photo. They were the sort who got picked on on the playground. (As, yes, The (future) Wolf was—once or twice.)
One hears nothing suggesting a tough-guy, young Barry. Apparently he got beat up or roughed up on occasion while living in Indonesia. (The opening scenes of the movie Officer and a Gentleman come to mind, wherein Richard Gere, as a boy growing up in Vietnam, gets his ass kicked, then learns karate and toughens up.) There is some reporting that young Barry’s stepfather taught him to “handle himself on the streets of Jakarta.”
As a teen (back in Hawaii) Barry grew tall, and, according to someone The Wolf met who was a year ahead of “Barry” at the pricey, prestigious Punahou School (yes, another preppie!), was “all about basketball and marijuana.” That later, as “Barack,” he became diligent and ambitious about larger matters was a total surprise to this person, as in high school Barry seemed a slacker stoner/baller.
By all accounts President Obama is a competitive, reasonably skilled basketball player, not afraid to bump and shove. If challenged to a fist fight, the lean, athletic President could probably acquit himself well (if willing to fight). He could surely best his predecessor (“W”), Bill Clinton, and probably Jimmy. But not Gerald, not Ronnie (in his day), probably not Nixon, not Kennedy (absent the latter’s physical ailments), and surely not Ike or Harry. … Abe, George, ‘Ol Hickory? … No way. And not Bush 1!
Same as Clinton and Bush 2, Barack Obama never served in the military. Having cleaned up a half-hearted, sloppy salute (with a couple lapses), he is doubtless fascinated by the men and materiel of warfare. He is doubtless eager to prove himself a worthy, deserving Commander-in-Chief.
President Obama’s green-lighting and overseeing of the Bin Laden kill mission was impressive. However, one has to question his seeming over-reliance on the (in The Wolf’s view) cowardly expedient of drone strikes.
WUSS COVERUP 101—INVENT A WORTHY ADVERSARY, BELATEDLY GET TOUGH
Once the considerable dust literally settled around the downed Twin Towers, and it was clear that the adversary was … Well, in point of fact it was merely individuals living in caves in Afghanistan, and American intelligence sources doubtless presented that strong likelihood to Bush, Cheney, and the leadership, including then New York City mayor, Rudy Guiliani.
However, BUMBLING MALCONTENTS TO WHOM AMERICA HAD RECENTLY SUPPLIED ARMS (aiding mujihadeen against Russian invaders of Afghanistan), NOW LIVING IN CAVES, WOULD NOT JUSTIFY THE CHICKEN-WITH-HEAD-CUT-OFF SCRAMBLING WUSS RESPONSE FOLLOWING THE PLANE STRIKES.
Rather, a powerful, evil, dangerous, worthy adversary had to be presented to a frightened, breathlessly-waiting-for-news-and-protection, gullible audience. (I.e., the relentlessly ignorant sheep known as average [even above average] Americans.)
That adversary—Saddam Hussein—had no apparent or credible connection to 9/11. None!
Iraq under Saddam—stable and peaceful, unlike the present post-American invasion, near-failed state, now home of legions of fanatical America Haters, it might be noted—was an enemy, not an ally of Saudi Arabia, whose nationals (15 of the 19!) predominated among the 9/11 attackers. (Not a single one was Iraqi!)
To this day, however, a majority of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein and (Saudi Arabian citizen) Osama Bin Laden, the true perpetrator (living in an Afghanistan cave), were co-perps. Heck, they were probably related and hung out together plotting against the U. S. of A. (Both “A-rabs,” correct?! … Enough said!)
For all his palaces, crimes against his people, and the evil excesses of his spoiled sons, Saddam Hussein was a run-of-the-mill, tin-pot, posturing dictator/despot. Until his clumsy foray into Kuwait precipitated (non-wuss) Bush 1’s masterfully managed Gulf War, and caused him extreme embarrassment and a severe (but measured) bloodying, he had been both ally and proxy of the United States in a war against Iranian fanatics. Indeed, the incursion into tiny neighbor Kuwait occurred only because Saddam miscalculated America’s intentions following a visit by an American emissary.
(It may be noted that Bush 2 Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, an outspoken proponent of war against Saddam, was himself at one time an emissary to Saddam-the-American-ally.)
Commercial airliners hijacked and flown into buildings by nervous amateurs hardly pointed to a nation state possessed of modern arms and sophisticated intelligence and operatives as mastermind. In particular, 9/11 did not point to a nation possessed of—OH MY!, OH MY!— “WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.”
Nonetheless, THE BIG LIE that SADDAM DID IT! was carefully orchestrated and sold to a gullible American people, national and international media, and the American Congress.
One recalls Bush (the Feckless and Incompetent), front man for desk-to-desk-scurrying Dick Cheney, on national television, ominously lowering his phony, aw-shucks drawl to a conspiratorial, just-between-you-and-me intonation that not only was Saddam Hussein behind the 9/11 strikes, but—pump it up, pump it up!—”Saddam possesses WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!”
Moreover, telltale “yellow cake from Niger” was proof that Saddam had such weapons. Worse, he was intent upon using them against the United States and her allies. (After, of course, the decidedly lo-tech trial run of bumblers hijacking airplanes.)
That the American people, including Bush 2, had no idea who/what/where “Niger” was (somewhere in darkest Africa, and sounds like “Nigger” is helpful!), or WTF “yellow cake” was, was but part of the subterfuge. Not that the gun-toting/loving, scared-shitless American public needed much persuading. WE WANTED BLOOD. SOME M-F’ER HAD TO PAY. And IT NEEDED TO BE A WORTHY ADVERSARY.
Saddam Hussein was portrayed as a threat nigh equivalent to Hitler. (Perhaps flattering Saddam, before he realized the fate being manufactured for him.) Borrowing from WWII, Bush the Wuss announced a second “Axis of Evil” confronting the (cowering) nation—Saddam Hussein and his evil nation of Iraq. Also, for good measure, Iran (Saddam’s enemy) and North Korea.
Once again, as the illogic bears re-emphasis, why, having weapons of mass destruction and a modern army, Saddam Hussein would resort to commercial aircraft, … moreover, piloted by men possessed of limited flight experience (mostly simulator training), in such a ham-fisted, iffy-lilelihood-of-success assault, was a question never (to The Yowling Wolf’s knowledge) posed. Nor, for a nation eager, desperate to retaliate in a Big American Way, need it have been.
Saddam Hussein (aided by Iran, North Korea, Lord knows who else [GOD, indeed, being, of course, on America’s side!]), a sadistic dictator who had already had the temerity to challenge America (tiny Kuwait, actually), who had doubtless acted out of revenge, was a worthy target of American might.
[BTW. North effing Korea?! … (Why not? Another place Americans can’t locate on a map. Moreover, why not add Yellow Peril to Brownish Peril.)]
[Iran and North Korea also had not the slightest connection to 9/11. They posed no credible threat to the United States. Such an axis could in no fashion approximate Germany, Mussolini-led Italy, and Japan during World War II. However, Saddam and Iraq alone, …. Well, that threat needed some shoring up.]
In truth, in The Yowling Wolf’s not-so-humble opinion (as he has expressed to many from 9/11 to present), the real motivation behind the choice of Saddam and Iraq lay in rumor of an apparent, plausible, Saddam-backed plot to assassinate the man who had defeated and humiliated him in the Gulf War—Bush 1.
Truly the vindictive, mean-spirited offspring of the (supposedly) nasty, vindictive mother,*******(7) possibly stung by the realization he [doubtless] had also harbored occasional (oedipal) wishes for his father’s demise, here was the primary motive behind Bush 2’s True Believer pique and ardor for Taking it To Saddam—HE TRIED TO KILL MY DAD! (Dadgummit!)
PERSONAL REVENGE MADE TAKING DOWN SADDAM A TWO-FER!
[Indeed, a three-fer, as such braintrust advisers of Bush 2 (let’s make sure their names are repeated for deserved ridicule by future historians) as Richard Perle, David Wurmser, Douglas Feith, and such Iraq War applauders as (conservative, avidly pro-Israel [Canadian][onetime] Washington Post columnist and onetime Wolf fellow Oxonian!) Charles Krauthammer, along with Cheney and Rumsfeld, saw an opportunity to pursue heartfelt, “neocon” notions of democratizing and nation building in the Middle East. (While at the same time securing oil reserves for a [pre shale oil boom] energy-thirsty America. Not to mention an opportunity for hefty profit via traditional $600-dollar-hammer, Republican [and Democrat] deep skimming from the American taxpayer trough.)
“Axis of Evil against the United States” had an imperiling ring. (Good talking point on Fox News and elsewhere.) For all the reliably ignorant American People knew, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were alien, warlike planets beaming deadly rays at American cities.
Enter America’s most trusted general, the measured, avuncular Colin Powell, to cement his name in history as stooge, foil, and pitiable fall-guy in what is turning out to possibly be America’s most costly misadventure. Also Bush 2 buddy and lapdog, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. These two men in particular lent credibility and sealed the dastardly misstep.
Nary a murmur of dissent at the incredible illogic of the adventure from such as Hillary and Bill Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, John Kerry, [enter the name of any American “leader” one cares to].
NO AMERICAN “LEADER” RESIGNED IN PROTEST OVER THE FARCE AND IMPENDING DEBACLE! NO AMERICAN “LEADER” EVEN MADE MUCH OF A FUSS.
War fervor and hysteria, times when true courage and man-up behavior is called for, have always cowed dissent, lest one be accused of cowardice and, worse, treason.
In short order assault on “America’s Enemy” was launched. The American public cheered as missile strikes lit up the Iraqi night sky, Saddam’s palaces were obliterated, and even the flower of the Iraqi army fled offering scant resistance. (As armies of mere dictators always do.) One by one, “fifty evil henchmen,” members of Saddam’s leadership coterie and army, depicted playing-card fashion in a much-publicized grid, were run to ground and (literally) X’ed from the collage, the biggest prize being Saddam himself, caught cowering in a hole in the ground.
The costly consequence of men and women in leadership positions seeking to compensate in a crisis (under fire as it were) for wussness was under way with a full head of steam.
Fourteen years later America remains a costly mess with no end in sight.
Indeed, anti-western, anti-American groups such as “ISIS” (Islamic State), which have flourished amid chaos prompted first, by the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, second, by encouragement of democracy movements in societies too immature for democracy (!!),********(8) are posing an ever greater threat, terrorist and otherwise.
Meantime (returning to post 9/11), OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH THE TRUE PERPETRATORS, still holed up in Afghanistan caves and hardly off the radar of (cowed, pandering [wussy!]?) American intelligence, WENT AWASTING. Far too late were American resources redirected from the colossal Fuck-up of a mistaken war in Iraq to Osama Bin Laden, his followers, and Taliban allies. These successfully fled to Pakistan via mountains and cave complexes of the Tora Bora region.
COLOSSAL 9/11 COST OF WUSS (AND INCOMPETENCE)
It is the contention of this Yowl that A PRIME MOVER IN THE REACTION OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH (and his primary, ever-whispering-in-the-ear advisor, Veep Dick Cheney), with the entire apparatus of the United States Government dutifully falling in step, WAS COMPENSATION FOR INITIAL WUSS REACTION TO THE 9/11 STRIKE.
Calm deliberation and physical/mental/emotional courage having quickly gone by the board, wussness continued to inform a deeply flawed response.
Rather than calming and reassuring the nation, rather than reminding citizens raptly watching news loops of the Twin Tower strike of the sheer physical vastness of America, of how threat of danger to any one person or place amounted to less than that of a random lightening strike, scared, embarrassed “leaders” scared the crap out of the nation.
Imagined threat of further strikes throughout the country was allowed to magnify unchecked. Airports in lesser cities and relative hamlets such as Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Shreveport, and Spokane, places Saddam Hussein and imagined perpetrators had never heard of, much less would have plans or means of attacking, were suddenly beefed up by nervous police forces.
A burdensome, non-citizen-trusting, wholly ineffective, for-show, airport security apparatus was hastily patched into place in hundreds of places that needed no security, which but fanned flames of fear of imminent threat.
America’s borders were sealed—thousands of miles of borders—, the many checkpoints thereof hosting overtime and double-time new hires, and the nation’s commerce grinding to a minimal crawl as cars and trucks backed up for miles.
The farce of securing airports and border crossings*********(9) would be followed by creation of what is today the largest, most expensive new federal bureaucracy in existence—the Department of Homeland Security. This by the very political party that decries Big Government.
[In truth one must pause to marvel at the colossal, cynical hypocrisy of Republicans. No one benefits more from federal government (bloated, frequently non-competitively bid) contracts, tax loopholes, and expenditure in general than owners and executives of businesses, whose trucks and trains travel federally-created/maintained interstate highways and rail systems. And these owners and their executives near universally vote Republican.
Post 9/11 security apparatus, including $150,000 visual screening devices that show private parts of passengers, but not a gun positioned sideways next to the body (!!!), … All good for (mostly Republican) business.]
WAR, as the age-old adage goes, IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS!
NO ONE HAS PROFITED MORE FROM THE OVERLAY OF SECURITY OCCASIONED BY SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF AMERICA FOLLOWING 9/11—including at least two ongoing wars—THAN BUSH-CHENEY LED REPUBLICANS AND THEIR GREEDY, CYNICAL, BUSINESS ELITE SUPPORTERS!
The colossal expense of war; the colossal expense of many thousands of soldier deaths (and many many more thousands of soldiers lacking limbs, committing suicide at astronomical rates [estimated at 22 per day], and acting out deadly family scenarios as a result of PTSD symptoms, that will be with us for a generation to come); the colossal expense of a massive security overlay, much of which is ineffective and designed to shield “leaders” from responsibility for another terror strike; the colossal expense of mortgaging the high ground of American morality via descent into the very evil, torturing mindset of the fanatics American seeks to thwart, …
All this the result of COWARDLY LEADERS COVERING UP COWARDICE—WUSSNESS!—WITH AN HYSTERICAL, COWARDLY OVERREACTIVE RESPONSE.
BOTTOM LINE! … tERRORISTS (small “t” intended) WON!
Thanks to cowardly, wussy Bush/Cheney, thanks to wussy American legislators who rubber stamped their bullshit, thanks to cowardly, wussy denizens of the Home of the Brave, who even today are gathering guns and going nervously about their business.
YES! TIME TO ADMIT THAT A SPOILED/WEALTHY-BUT-DISGRUNTLED, FANATICAL N’ER-DO-WELL OPERATING FROM A CAVE —Osama Bin Laden—, now the namesake and inspiration of tens of thousands of young Muslims across the sweep of Africa and Asia, in frightening an entire nation into a costly overlay of needless expense and additional lives lost, KICKED AMERICA’S ASS BEYOND HIS WILDEST DREAMS!
Thanks to encountering a bumbling, cowardly American leadership, elected by an arrogant, ignorant, cowardly electorate. (And the many many millions who did not bother to turn out to exercise the right to vote that many around the world are today dying to obtain.)
WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAID FOLLOWING 9/11
[Of course, had Bush, Cheney, the entire apparatus of the United States government not been so incompetently lax, had the country been just slightly more alert and on guard, had airline personnel been prompted to pay a little more attention (heeded such as James Wood), … Had intelligence services been upgraded such that information could be shared—pretty obvious measures—, the 9/11 fiasco would not have transpired in the first place. The more appropriate, courageous, non-wuss reaction and statements suggested dollowing would not have been necessary.] …
A more wise, secure, courageous leadership following 9/11 would have calmed hysteria by putting the whole awful affair in an entirely different light. It would in matter-of-fact tone have pinpointed the ham-fisted, even primitive nature of the attack, that the attack could have been easily avoided with but minimal additional awareness (yes, admitting gross error!), and—most important!—that its origin was but a group of fanatics left unmonitored amid the tatters of a failed nation-state run by fanatics—Afghanistan.
BUSH/CHENEY, ET AL, WOULD HAVE ADMITTED THAT THEY FAILED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN OBVIOUS, ELEMENTARY MEASURES OF SECURITY. (Again!, Katrina having been their first fuck-up.) IT WOULD HAVE BEEN POINTED OUT THAT ALTHOUGH 9/11 WAS A DRAMATIC, DEVASTATING BLOW, IT WAS AN AMATEURISH EFFORT, SUCCESSFUL BEYOND THE WILDEST DREAMS OF ITS PERPETRATORS, AND AMERICA AS A WHOLE WAS UNDER MINIMAL THREAT.
Had Bush 2/Cheney been Bush 1, a worldwide coalition of the many sympathetic to America’s plight and eager to assist would have been assembled. The fanatics in their caves would have been quickly surrounded. Osama Bin Laden and his adherents (including Saudi backers, reaching high into ranks of the ruling elite!) would have been brought to justice before a Court of The World. The emptiness of their brutal, envious motivation would have been paraded for judgement and condemnation.
There would have been no Iraq incursion, … Leading to the current conflagration in the Middle East.
There would have been no costly war and futile nation-building operation in Afghanistan, merely timely, selective strikes and special operations missions that proved quickly successful.
Immediately following 9/11, a calming pronouncement such as the following would (and should) have been made by Bush 2 (assisted in the making, of course, by those more wise and articulate):
Our nation has experienced a shocking, horrific assault. Not just upon buildings in the midst of our largest, most populous city. Not just upon over 3,000 of our citizens. But upon our civilization, our way of life, upon the values we hold dear. This brutal, cynical assault will not go unpunished. The nation will employ all means and resources to scour the planet and bring to justice the perpetrators of this unspeakable crime.
As your President, I would like at this time to express not only my deepest sorrow over this tragedy, but also my sincere apology to the nation. I DID NOT KEEP YOU SAFE. MY ADMINISTRATION DID NOT KEEP YOU SAFE. We were too complacent. I WAS TOO COMPLACENT. I was too trusting in programs and operations that were not nearly as effective as they should have been, that allowed terror to occur on my watch.
That being said and acknowledged, as it should and must be, WE MUST NOT BE PANICKED INTO OVERREACTION. Such a response, giving in to the same primitive, savage impulses that motivated our attackers, is precisely what the evil persons and/or entity behind this horrific crime desire. They want us to compromise, even suspend the very freedoms they hate. They want us to alter the lifestyle they so envy. They want us to cease being the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave, the Greatest Nation in the History of the World.
They want us to be fearful. They want us to lash out blindly and indiscriminately. They want us to suspend the precious liberties that are the envy, the grail of the world. They want us to destroy what they, by themselves, are powerless to destroy. Namely, our FREEDOM to come and go, to speak, to trade.
This will not happen!
Do not mistake or overestimate the threat that faces us. The images you see countlessly looped on our television screens—Because ours is a nation of free press!—are indeed horrifying. It brings tears to my eyes to watch the choice of death by fire or death by a plunge to concrete below.
Thank God for our brave first responders by the way—the men and women of the New York City police and fire departments! My deepest, most sincere sympathy goes out to the families of the victims.
However. This is NOT a nuclear strike from an advanced country with advanced capabilities. This is NOT Pearl Harbor. Rather, this is more a man-made Katrina. (Yes. I will acknowledge my failing in that tragic episode as well.) Awful, for sure. Horrible! Wrenching! An abomination. Painful and anguishing. However, given the scale, the vast size of our nation, this, fellow citizens, is but a pinprick—at most a severe pinprick to the mighty body of our great nation.
I realize that at this time of great sorrow followed by great anger, this is not what you want to hear. “Pin prick” does not begin to convey the enormity of the event. It insults the ultimate sacrifice of each and every victim, the grief and sacrifice of every member of every victim’s family, and the nation as a whole.
However, it is my job as your President, in this time of roiling emotion, to be a beacon of more deliberate calculation and action. It is my job to swallow, to suppress the natural impulse to lash out indiscriminately.
We are yet the most powerful nation the world has ever seen. Awesome power is at our fingertips, at my fingertips. It is within our power to unleash a firestorm such as the world has never witnessed.
And, trust me, the impulse to do so sears and courses in my heart, my brain, my soul. … And in the hearts, brains, souls of all who surround me.
I am counseled by many to “Strike, Mr. President! … Strike hard!” I am counseled on all sides that we must send a message that utter destruction will follow close upon any attack on the American nation and its people. We must equally level buildings. We must level cities, an entire nation if need be.
That is exactly what we must not do.
Not until we have calmly assessed who and what the enemy may be. Not until we have consulted with the many friends and allies from around the globe, who this very moment are pouring their sympathy upon us, offering their resources, proclaiming their willingness to help.
This can be a watershed moment for unleashing the Dogs of War, for giving vent to primitive emotions that caused the century recently past to yield more lives in battle, many of them innocent, than ever before in the bloody history of man’s inhumanity against man. OR, …
It can be a watershed opportunity for inaugurating an unprecedented era of cooperation among forces of good to stigmatize, marginalize, isolate, and ultimately extinguish attitudes and behavior that has no place in this new century.
Rest assured that the perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice. No stone will remain unturned in this effort—an international cooperative effort! We shall track down and grind down not just those behind this attack, but we shall expose their thinking and beliefs for the shallow, inhumane toilet paper of ideology reflected in this attack.
However, we shall accomplish this in accordance with our more advanced values and methods—the American Rule of Law, the Due and Orderly Process that continues to be a beacon and siren to the world. We shall expose the false God of Barbarity. We shall demonstrate to the world what true strengh and power implies. We shall set an American example of calm deliberation and measured, appropriate response that will ring for generations to come.
Therefore, know this fellow citizens.
We shall, of course, immeidately heighten our vigilance. In such obvious targets for mischief as our leading cities we shall increase security in appropriate measure. We shall be on extra guard. However, know that America is a vast, vast land. There is no need to radically alter the freedom of our lifestyle in most of our vast country. To do so would be to give in to the very wishes of those who would do us harm. To do so would be to yield to barbarity.
AMERICA IS BIGGER THAN THAT. AMERICA IS BETTER THAN THAT.
Grieve! … By all means grieve! … We must grieve. And pray! … However, also go about your normal, freedom-loving way of life. Go about your business without fear. DO NOT FEAR!
AMERICA IS TOO STRONG, TOO POWERFUL TO FEAR!
A fearsome lightening bolt has struck. It has killed over 3,000 of our countrymen. However, we are 330 million strong. The chance of any one person falling prey to terror attack remains so slight as not to be a daily concern. It is precisely our freedom and our manner of living that those who would harm us despise. We shall not give them the satisfaction of altering that freedom, that way of living.
Every indication right now is that at most we are dealing with thugs of limited resources who got lucky. … Yes. THEY GOT LUCKY! … Their primitive attack succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of mayhem and destruction of life and property could have been imagined. They caught us with our guard too low, and for that I, your President, take full responsibility. We were too trusting, too complacent. I was too trusting, too complacent.
This will not happen going forward.
We shall indeed now go forward. We shall rebuild in our greatest city. We shall cleanse the earth of those who would bring such horror to our homeland. We shall strike with a mighty fist, but a measured fist. The punishment will fit the crime.
God bless you all! God bless America!
WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE FOLLOWING 9/11
Mature, courageous leadership would have brought calm reason, intelligence, and courageous actions to bear following 9/11.
Destruction of two monumental buildings in America’s chief city aside, as noted, the crude, primitive nature of the attack plan should have immediately ruled out a sophisticated adversary.
Likewise, 15 out of 19 assailants hailing from Saudi Arabia, together with the inherent unlikelihood of alliance between a largely self-serving, secularist dictator (Saddam) and pan-Arab, caliphate-restorationist fanatics such as Osama Bin Laden and his al Qaeda network should have placed Iraq not at the top of the list of possible suspects, but at the bottom. (Not that such mere compelling facts would deter a leadership group bent on covering up wussness atop incompetence.)
THEREFORE, THUS, … Lax airport security—e.g., doors to pilot cabins unlocked; expensive, all-cash, last minute, one-way ticket purchases by questionable sorts being beneath notice—should, of course, have been upgraded. Security around cities and symbols of obvious prominence should have been heightened. However, security upgrades EVERYWHERE, the entire cumbersome, shoes-and-belts off, new free-and-law-abiding citizen demeaning, outrageously expensive, in the end wholly ineffective TSA security overlay, …
An absurdity! A show designed to calm American human sheep.**********(10)
Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda should have been pursued in timely fashion, not months later during/following the wild goose chase of an unnecessary war, for which the nation is still paying a heavy price.
Of course, TORTURE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN TO SECURE INFORMATION. Torture is a proven ineffective method. More important, it is antithetical to American values. IT IS UNAMERICAN! It’s use by America, actual and proxy, has grievously undermined America’s moral authority and ability to point fingers at more culpable perpetrators of human abuses.
Above all, AMERICANS SHOULD HAVE BEEN URGED AND ENCOURAGED BY LACK OF CHANGES TO CONTINUE TO GO ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF BEING A FREE PEOPLE IN A FREE COUNTRY that is the envy of most of the world. While scrutiny at border checkpoints should indeed have been heightened, it should have been heightened only minimally.
PROFILING SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTITUTED, NO MATTER PC (political correctness) CARPING. It surely was. Appropriately so.
Of course, such measured response would not have filled so many pockets of the vast, greedy, economic maw of the War-Industrial Complex. The many wildly expensive (republican-businessmen-pockets-enriching, taxpayer-pocket-emptying!) measures that burden the economy to this day would not have been put in place.
Bush/Cheney wuss reaction imagined a quick-and-easy victory that would be more than paid for by grabbing Saddam and Iraq’s vast oil reserves.
Yet more incompetence and bumbling!
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
It is never The Yowling Wolf’s purpose to merely carp and point a finger. The Wolf typically has a better idea, a path to solution in mind. Damn right!
Going forward, let leaders pose the questions—in the manner of “What would Jesus do?”—, “WHAT WOULD BE THE WUSS RESPONSE?” … “WHAT WOULD BE THE MATURE, CALM, COURAGEOUS, MANLY RESPONSE?” (What would Washington do? … And Lincoln and the Roosevelts, and Truman and Eisenhower and Kennedy and Ford [untested, but yes!], and especially Bush 1?)
Correct! Gonna have the word and concept “manly” in the prescription.
Hillary gets into office (The Wolf doubts he’ll vote for her. [Unless the alternative is an idiot like Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Christie, Walker, or worse]), sure, let her think, “What’s manly here?”
BTW. Who, in The Wolf’s view, is manly in the current crop of presidential wannabes? …
Well, Hillary perhaps. (Who also, it must be noted, a la Brian Williams [and Bill O’Reilly!], lied about “ducking gunfire” on a Bosnian runway in order to establish non-wuss cred). But more so Elizabeth Warren. (Who also lied a tad about being “Native American,” but not in order to establish non-wussness.)
RE SO-CALLED “ISIS” OR “ISIL,” currently much in the news? (What’s in a name?)
The considered, wise, courageous choice offers a hard conclusion—THE FANATIC FIGHTERS, many of whom, when defeated, will return to Europe, America, and elsewhere hardened, calloused, embittered, and dangerous, WILL BE IRREMEDIABLE! Fired in mind and experience in a cauldron of medieval brutality and ideology that makes them utterly unfit to exist in a progressive, modern world, THEY MUST BE EXTERMINATED!
Yes, THEY MUST BE KILLED in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, …
Wherever found!
YA-O-O-O-W-WL!
__________________________________________________
* Beast mode. The NFL running back, Marshon Lynch, he of the ill-fated 2015 Seattle Seahawks, is said to be in “beast mode” when his legs are churning and he is bowling over opponents in games. “BEAST MODE!” has become a rallying cry and ideal for those aspiring to kick ass, whether an athletic activity, in a corporate boardroom, or other competitive endeavor. However, … However inarticulate Marshon Lynch may seem to be (albeit a one-time Cal Berkeley student), or beast-like in action and effect, he is hardly just reactive when in so-called “beast mode.” Football cognoscenti will point out that Lynch is adept at picking “holes,” his feet and body make quick adjustments to elude would-be tacklers, his mind is hardly inactive. He thinks and plans. His impressive, devastating “beast mode” displays (more toward the end of runs) are more natural and acquired strength and endurance, applied with determination at the correct moment. True beast mode is a bull, bear, or other creature raging instinctively, usually motivated by fear, hunger, and/or territoriality.
** The four 9/11 pilots. The four men who trained to fly the suicide missions were recruited from among young, radical adherents of a jihadist, terrorist-leaning group of Arabic men living in Germany. They gained entry to the United States and enrolled in American flight schools two years prior to 9/11.
*** Suspicious pre 9/11 activity reported. The actor James Wood, an MIT graduate with a genius IQ, was seated in first class on the flight behind the four. He is the one who observed and reported their highly suspicious behavior. The pilot pooh-poohed need for concern. No report was made. No follow-up on the four occurred. Not surprisingly, Mr. Woods remarks and observations, which surfaced shortly after 9/11, have not been repeated in the “let’s-close-ranks,” “America-the-brave (and wonderful and vigilant and mighty)” cover up of colossal bumbling, bumgling, and incompetence on the part of officialdom that could and should have prevented the disaster—easily!
****(4) 9/11 Flight 93 cancellation. Owing to a fortuitous argument with her sister, whom she was visiting, on the Boston “Tee,” this person altered her itinerary and flew home early. She viewed the disaster from her home south of Salt Lake City. Adding greater impact to this story of chance, luck, survival, the brother-in-law of the sister worked as a lawyer in one of the World Trade towers. (He survived, having gone in late that day from New Jersey.) In an attempt to calm The (future) Wolf’s future partner and induce her not to change her itinerary, the sister invited this person to go down to New York City with her by train “on Tuesday,” the day of the strike, to visit with this brother-in-law and have lunch at The Top of The World, the famed restaurant atop one of the ill-fated towers. !!
*****(5) Dick Cheney. White House Chief of Staff under President Gerald Ford, 5X congressman from Wyoming, and Secretary of Defense under the first President Bush, Dick Cheney’s influence over W Bush was such that he is widely considered the “most powerful Vice President in American History.” One of the so-called “neo-con” conservative proponents of American intervention and nation-building in the Middle East (in order to promote democracy and secure both American oil and investment interests and the security of Israel), Cheney was a primary architect of the American response to 9/11 and an early and avid proponent of going to war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Cheny has been called “Darth Vadar” by his own daughter, and has remained unrepentant regarding both the Iraq War, and most other now-discredited post 9/11 policies, including CIA water boarding and other forms of torture used against suspected terrorists. Said Cheney recently in his combative, snarling way, “I’d do it again!”
******(6) Man up! In The Wolf’s immediate and rather large extended family, dominated in its approved modes and tones by an educated elite, one is unlikely to hear the expression “man up.” With one exception. The wife of one of The Wolf’s seven younger (athlete) brothers is Palestinian by way of a St Thomas upbringing. Although college educated and possessed of an MBA, although justly proud of her very smart, 11-year-old son by another liaison, this dynamic, aggressive, confident product of Caribbean island culture has no hesitation in upbraiding her boy, who tends not to exhibit aggressiveness on his youth football and basketball teams, with “MAN UP!” Indeed, she expresses explicit concern lest he grow up to be a “wuss.”
********(7) Bush 1 temperament. It may be noted that in temperament George W. Bush is thought to be more like mother than father. Barbara Bush is reputed to have an acid temper and vindictive streak. (How else would such a—stout?— woman, multiple strings of pearls constantly covering a prematurely wrinkly neck, keep a cool, handsome guy like her husband in emotional check these many years?)
******** (8) See Yowl on lunacy of “Spreading Democracy.”
*********(9) Farce of airport security. To date, all the tens of thousands of TSA security employees, earning billions of dollars (filling corporate pockets), manning all the hundreds of costly, annoying security stations, confiscating the many million knives, fingernail clippers, guns (yes), and bottles of whatever, etc., angering millions of innocent citizens daily, HAVE YET TO PROVEABLY STYMIED A SINGLE TERRORIST PLOT! Rather, hundreds of passengers are collected in a mass at airline gates where any would-be terrorist can walk up and detonate an explosive creating untold chaos rippling across the country. Any serious terrorist can get beyond security—via bribed employee or as an employee, via unscreened baggage, etc. SECURITY AT AIRPORTS IS FOR SHOW, TO REASSURE THE PUBLIC. IT IS A FARCE OF GIGANTIC PROPORTION!
**********(10) Farce of airport security cont. Immediate clamping down on every major airport, incurring extraordinary expense, heightening concern of every citizen who ventured therein (as well as sending an undeniable message, even to grandmothers and children—YOU MIGHT BE A TERRORIST! WE DO NOT TRUST YOU!—was a grave misstep. Indeed, it continues to be a significant step on the slippery slope of instituting (and accepting!) a totalitarian state.
The Yowling Wolf’s reaction every single time (literally hundreds of times!) he has endured the indignity of removing shoes, belts, etc., packaging toiletries, standing for photo exploration of every private part (while missing anything tucked next to the waist, such as a gun[!!], … As attempts to do exactly this with the $150,000 [each!] X-ray machines have revealed, thus rendering the whole operation yet another expensive farce.) … Then receiving the smiling acknowledgment from a TSA employee (as if one’s integrity has not just been thoroughly undermined), “You’re good to go!,” and “Have a safe trip!,” is … FUCK YOU!!! (Moreover, would that I WERE a terrorist, and could wipe that shit-eating expression off your effing face!) [Is this any way to earn the respect of other than cowed, unthinking citizenry?] …
Note: Saturday nights in airports are by far the worse. There are few passengers. However, numerous (8, 10, 15!) TSA employees are nonetheless gathered at the security stations. (WTF?!) Bored, joking amongst themselves, the savvy [often weary] passenger realizes that an especially thorough scrutiny is in the offing. Many pairs of suspicious, judging eyes will now check out everything about you. And exult in holding up a water bottle one forgot to ditch!]