(3/2011) Unanswered Deficits Remain The Problem

Joseph Honick–

More than a year ago, I began raising some key questions in these pages and directly with people in government and politics.  Those inquiries remain disgracefully unanswered as scads of PR firms flourishing for defense contractors engaged in the Middle East wars are suddenly rethinking their involvements and running for cover.

Worse, the Republicans who gained political power in last November’s elections and could have come away heroes with new proposals for the wars and the economy have virtually evaporated as any kind of leaders.  That is not to say the President has not helped them along with additional military involvements in Libya as we seem unable to unravel ourselves from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan whose greatest beneficiaries have been hosts of defense contractors.

Here are the questions again that are greeted with puzzled looks, shoulder shrugs and unanswered telephone calls.

1. Precisely what is our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan…and now in Libya?(Add one to this with, will we likewise get into similar actions with Syria and Yemen?)

2. Why have we had to shoulder virtually the entire bill for these operations?

3. How can relatively few and allegedly backward “insurgents” be so effective against the most powerful military forces like ours and our allies(the ones who are left)?

4. Who is supplying the Taliban with arms, training, money and materials and how are the Taliban paying for them?(Corollary:  why can’t we interrupt those supply lines?)

5. How have the Russians suffered at all for having been run out of the region?

6. What are all the profiteering defense contractors doing to help our men and women fighting these wars?

7. Why have we contracted firms to build so many new bases in Afghanistan for billions of dollars?

8. Why are European Union, Americans and other governments  going to pay the salaries of Afghanistan cops for the next 15 years as revealed in the New Europe newsletter months ago?(Corollary:  this was after revealing the massive wealth of  minerals in Afghanistan with which the country could pay all their bills.)

9. When we leave both countries (and now Libya and goodness knows who else) what then?

10.Finally, why is  no one of either political parties or network even raising any of these questions?

To some it may have seemed noble for President Obama to put more of our forces in potential harm’s way with the current Libya decisions.  If it is a noble gesture, why did the President have to hold only secret meetings with administration officials and Republicans to explain what’s going on?

As for the PR industry folks, there is only a sudden sense of atonement for many powerful firms to have been hawking the goods of the countries well known for years as hardly democratic or friends of the United States.

While all this continues, the best we seem to get from our leaders in Washington, DC, are defundings of important social obligations and threatened closure of the entire federal system.  Hence a final question:  Why is this so?

Joseph J. Honick is an international consultant to business and government and writes for many publications. Honick can be reached at [email protected]

Copyright © 2006-2011, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Basil & Spice. All rights reserved. http://www.basilandspice.com/journal/” target=”_blank”Basil & Spice does not provide professional advice, diagnosis or treatment of any kind — medical, legal, professional, personal. The opinions you read on this site are those of members of the Basil & Spice community, not necessarily those of Basil & Spice.

Read more at Basil & Spice