The Stone Unturned – PT. II

 

Obama then begins to build another arc of tension with his historical acknowledgement over structures and processes and the concrete position that the United States exists in at the present time.

I raise this point, I begin with this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter what the cause. And at times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world's sole military superpower.

The president seeks to then build consensus over the role the United States is performing by stressing that the sacrifices American servicepersons have made is in the collective interest. His statement that the future’s children and grandchildren will be better if others offspring are secure is hypocritical. I am under severe CHEMICAL ASSAULT - SCORCHED EARTH. I HAVE NEVER MARRIED AND HAVE NEVER HAD CHILDREN. This statement is simply an abstract straw man. There is severe fallacy of separation from this idealistic statement and the real world condition under which natural persons and citizens exist in the United States.

But the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions -- not just treaties and declarations -- that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

In the context of being a commander in chief Obama acknowledges what apparently seems counterintuitive that war is necessary and also a folly. Here there is a materialist self evident truth that human systems are differentiated and that the benefit to cost ratios determine correct leadership choices. Obama invokes a trajectory from Kennedy to make a concrete statement in the direction and goals in which he intends to lead the United States and the world.

So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable truths -- that war is sometimes necessary, and war at some level is an expression of human folly. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. "Let us focus," he said, "on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions." A gradual evolution of human institutions.

Before Obama clarifies this activity, he recapitulates his role as a sovereign head of state. This is centered on the unilateral right to use deadly force. This is an issue that deeply divides the United States and the majority of the world. He reasserts his position as Thrasymachus the sophist in Plato’s Republic. Hence that Justice is in the interest of the stronger, to help our friends and harm our enemies. Plato’s Socrates’ answer is that Justice is in the interest of the weaker. Here this means rights. Justice means that the good or the strong take up the argument for the weak and defenseless to see the good or truth. This is the Greek philosophic basis for human rights of the UDHR and the Bill of Rights of the United States.

Here my criticism is based on concrete objective empirical history. This is not stating a correct abstract principle. Obama and the analysis must not be totalitarian and isolate reality from perception. (I am writing along the Colorado River near Blythe CA - Ehrenburg AZ, and the river is despoiled.)

To begin with, I believe that all nations -- strong and weak alike -- must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I -- like any head of state -- reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards, international standards, strengthens those who do, and isolates and weakens those who don't.

Furthermore, America -- in fact, no nation -- can insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don't, our actions appear arbitrary and undercut the legitimacy of future interventions, no matter how justified.

The unattractive truth emerges. Barack Obama states in the affirmative that the use of deadly force is justified against a sovereign nation-state is culpable against attacks against it’s own citizens and natural persons living in it’s territory.

And this becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.
I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That's why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.

Duplicity is the lack of respect of persons. Here the world is condoning the attack in the United States as most of the free world is dependent on the United States to maintain the peace and economic prosperity. This type of mass defection is irrational. It is however the main choice of action where the immediate short payoff is for everyone to defect to receive a payoff in prisoner’s dilemma. Obama divides the argument. Unity is strength and fragmentation is weakness. The best efficient optimization is to uphold the Bill of Rights and stop the Chemical Assault - Scorched Earth here. Then, international security of which the United States has lesser control and whose legal jurisdiction is more questionable will be STRONGER!

America's commitment to global security will never waver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. America alone cannot secure the peace. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.

Obama is preparing to close his presentation. In doing so he clearly presents himself as hypocrite who states one thing and does the other. Obama exhorts a legal - moral posture for other nation-states and natural persons while he looks the other way as a Prefect Dictator while secret police actions carry out abuse against his own citizens.

Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant -- the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.

Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. (Applause.) And we honor -- we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it's easy, but when it is hard.

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