As Is The Feeling,
So Is The Result.
These studies date from early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF): 2004 to 2006. One perceives in them the U.S. Army coming to grips with terra incognita. They represent a rich retrospective for formulating lessons learned, lots of insights, answers, and projections to test against outcomes.
Of note is the author’s conclusion at the first essay, A Short View Of The Arab World:
Somehow, some-way, we must begin to help Arab nations with the problems of poverty and the “youth bulge” in the Middle East. And somehow, some-way, there has to be a solution somewhere to the Palestinian problem, or there will always be ten Usama bin Ladens waiting in the wings to replace the one we are trying to capture in Afghanistan.
Somehow, some-way . . . there has to be a solution somewhere . . . In other words, not a clue. Moreover, note the unexamined assumption: . . . we must begin to help Arab nations . . . . Says who? Says it where in the U.S. Constitution? Says it when in the annals of statecraft?
That assumption descends from clerical and academic eisegesis of The Parable Of The Good Samaritan. So, ultimately, clergy and teachers are responsible for this mess at 11 September 2001 and continuing.
Here is a right proper exegesis of The Parable Of The Good Samaritan, by The Rev. Dr. George Arthur Buttrick nearly a century ago.:
The entire U.S. Intelligence-Foreign Policy Establishment (FPE) was caught dangling their bonnets and plumes — some even complicit — when an enemy broke across the moat and through the portcullis to seize the family jewels.
The U.S. FPE prepared defense of a fixed position, than which nothing is more vulnerable to reduction by a resolute maneuver force.
BlackFive: After Action Review – Task Force 1-64 Armor, September 09, 2003
The first step in spiritual discipline is cleansing of the speech. Talk sweetly without anger. Do not boast of your scholarship or attainments. Be humble, and eager to serve. Conserve your speech. Practice silence. That will save you from squabbles, idle thoughts, and factions. Again, practice the attitude of joy when others are joyful and of grief when others around you are grieved. Let your heart move in sympathy. The joy and grief have to be translated into service; they should not be mere emotions! Train yourself by using the spark of wisdom that has been implanted in you. Once you try with all your might, the Lord’s grace will be there to help you forward! When the sun rises, not all lotuses in the lake bloom; only the grown buds open their petals. The others await their time. It is the same with people. Differences do exist because of unripeness, though all fruits have to ripen and fall someday.
- Sathya Sai Baba – Divine Discourse, April 23, 1961 / Daily Email, Sai Inspires: Subscription
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