Tuesday, October 08, 2002

Sorensen


The Bush plan (actually developed by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1992 and at that time called Defense Policy Guidance) is to maintain American dominance over the whole world. Right now, our permanent presence in southwest Asia is a mite weak, because nobody wants us there.

So, once we defeat Iraq, we can set up permanent bases there, just as we have in Germany and Japan and Cuba. Then nobody in the region will dare get out of line.

These days, with the government lying to us routinely, it's wise to look for the hidden agenda. Last Friday, at the Pentagon press briefing, we were told that our forces in Afghanistan had located and destroyed a buried cache of bombs, the largest such find since that war began.

One of the Pentagon reporters had the good sense to ask whether the munitions were aerial bombs. Yes, he was told, they were.

But, oops, the people we're fighting in Afghanistan don't have combat aircraft. Why would they have a huge supply of aerial bombs?

Something's wrong with this picture, and the Pentagon reporters picked up on it. All their subsequent questions about the bombs were met with "I don't know" and "We'll get back to you on that."

My best guess is that the bomb discovery never happened. Our noble leaders want us to believe they're doing a great job in Afghanistan, and, with the absence of any results, they make up stories.

Two weeks ago they showed us film purporting to be of an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile being fired at American aircraft over the no-fly zone. Maybe, but the missile they showed appeared to be far too large to be an anti-aircraft missile.

I'm doubtful. And one has to wonder why, over the past decade, the Iraqis have targeted our aircraft almost daily and have never hit one. In most such cases, we "retaliate" by blowing up the targeting installation.