Back to Gaffer's Archives.
On Nobility, Citizenship, Scum, Desert Rats, and Duty:

For the record, I and Wesoomi Publishing hereby place this essay in the public domain. It has no copyright protection. Anyone who wishes may copy, retransmit, or republish it in any way. This only applies to this particular essay and not to other works to be found on this website.

First, I want to discuss the nobility of many of our citizens. Folks who have read my ravings will know that I have often been very critical of our media people. I make no apology. Now, however, I have cause to recognize another aspect of these folks. At this time, I cannot honestly ignore the nobility of their behavior in our recent crisis. I could not watch all the channels of news delivery, so I stayed with ABC and Peter Jennings. I am sure the others acted with equal courage and resolve.

Following the insane acts of war on Tuesday morning, December 11, 2001, I watched Jennings and his associates doing their duty. I witnessed the American media at its most noble and best. In the face of extreme personal stress they continued to respond to the crisis and continued to keep us informed. There were several people in the field reporting back to Jennings. Some of them demonstrated indomitable courage, continuously putting themselves in harms way to give the most accurate reports of the unfolding events. At least one of these reporters suffered a personal loss, but he did not let that keep him from his duty.

There were many news agents working, but I noticed in particular, Diane Sawyer. She had been up and working since the early morning hours, yet she continued on throughout the day. I saw her standing in the dust; tired, dismayed, sick at heart, dirty, and disheveled; and still she continued on. I have never seen a more beautiful or magnificent example of the American woman in her finest hour. She offered a model of behavior for every professional throughout the world. In fact, she was an example of strength, courage, and determination to inspire all of us.

I have also been critical of the police in some of my essays. Again I make no apology. But, again I have cause to recognize another aspect of our police. I have seen New York's finest at their finest. The people of New York have great cause to be proud of these men and women. Their losses were grievous, but they continued on, serving their city and its citizens. We owe them a huge debt.

And, the fire fighters acted with equal nobility in this crisis. Though they also lost too many of their own, they stayed and did what no others could have done. All of these fine people worked beyond the point of exhaustion to do what they could. In addition I noticed emergency medical people and many citizens lending their efforts. I can only stand in awe as I salute these courageous people. Noble men and women, beyond any doubt.

Now, on citizenship and Middle Eastern backgrounds I have some points. I am disgusted at the overtly racist behavior of a few of our citizens. Regardless of the circumstances, there is no justification whatsoever to generalize about our Arab American population. Michigan has a very large Arab American population. We are blessed by that for I know these people to be exemplary citizens. They are here because they believe in democracy and love America.

I have personally had associations with two different Arab Americans. One I met when I worked as a computer specialist for the now defunct Bendix Corporation. His name was Bob Essad, but we called him Moosie Baby. He was a gentle giant who looked a bit like a moose.

I got to know him in an interdepartmental softball game. I got what I wanted desperately to be a hit. When I came thundering down the base line he was the first baseman and he happened to put his foot on the bag just as I came down on it with all of my considerable weight. As soon as I was able to stop running, I came back to apologize. As he limped away, his response was typical for him. "Oh heck," he said. "It's just part of the game. I should a had my foot under the bag."

Later I had the opportunity to work with him on a project. It was then that I discovered that he was a technical genius. Together, using a junk computer, we built one of the first engine combustion data collection systems ever built. The magic was that he had to modify the computer to make it do things it was not designed to do. He did and we built the first fast burn system at Bendix.

Later I left Bendix and went to Ford. There I met Nadie Ghailie. I doubt that I have the correct spelling, but that's how it sounded. I know he was from Egypt. I was his team leader on an engineering data collection project. My team built the software for the system.

Later, Nadie took a vacation to visit his homeland. He asked me if there was anything he could bring back for me. "Oh sure," I said, as a joke. "Bring me a camel." When he returned, he handed me this five inch high stuffed camel made of real camel hide. It is a treasure which I still keep on a shelf near my desk.

This is just a bit of my experience with Arab Americans. Please let these people be. Do not judge them by the acts of some slimy skulking cowardly desert rats. They are not the same. These members of our communities are good citizens deserving of our respect. They have their own grief to bear. They live with the heart crushing humiliating knowledge that people of their own ethnic background have committed unspeakable atrocities against humanity.

Now, concerning scum, I only refer to two that I have learned of. First are the opportunistic swine who rushed out and raised the pump prices threefold a few moments after the first strike against America. In our moment of crisis, all that occurred to them was greed. These people are always around. They deserve little attention in this piece except to notice their contemptible behavior.

The other scum are more damaging. These are the insane people who have been calling in false bomb threats during the crisis. I have always been of the opinion that anyone who makes such a threat should be treated just as though they had actually carried it out. They are criminals of the most disgusting variety and should be so treated. In a very real way, they are aiding and abetting our enemies. They draw our police away from their real work. It gave me rather a pleasant rush when Jennings reported that one had been caught and charged by the New York Police. He faces ten years if convicted. Good! It's not enough, but it makes a point.

Now about desert rats. I agree so far with what the president has said. Acts of war have been committed against the United States. We are, in fact, at war. We will make no distinction between those who have committed these acts and those who harbor them. All very good. Now let us begin.

First let us look at the facts. Many people are babbling on about Bin Laden as though he were the focus of this thing. I insist that Afghanistan is the true enemy. Those who harbor and nurture these desert rats are our enemies. Bin Laden receives the full support of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. He is, in fact, an agent of Afghanistan. His organization must be considered to be a military agency of that country. I submit that the only way to stop this agency from operating is to bring down Afghanistan.

Make no mistake, the United States of America has been attacked by a foreign power; namely Afghanistan. When Bin Laden attacked us in New York with his insane terrorists, he was acting as an agent of the Taliban which rules Afghanistan. He was acting as a military agent of Afghanistan. We must respond with a declaration of war, not against a single person. That is silly on the face of it. We must declare war on Afghanistan. Anything less is unthinkable. We must seek and destroy the military power of Afghanistan and install a military governor.

By their own acts, the rulers of Afghanistan have declared themselves to be the enemies of the United States. In this case we must do what any rational nation would do in self defense. We must act to destroy our enemies ability to wage war of any kind; covert or overt. We do that by destroying their sanctuaries. We eliminate their hidey-holes.

We must deal with these desert rats in the same way that we dealt with the imperialist Japanese military in WW2. We must drive them back into their holes, burn them out and kill them. We must systematically take away their places to hide. We must neutralize their threat for all time. We do that, first by defeating them and then by installing a military governor. With that, we can turn an imperialistic bunch of savages into a democracy. Let's finish it this time.

There is no short term easy fix. This will require enormous patience and a large investment of money. Think about how long it took to turn imperialist Japan toward democracy. MacArthur occupied Japan for a very long time and it cost us a great deal of money. The reward is that Japan will never be tempted away from democracy. Ditto for Germany. With our help, the people of those nations have created shining beacons of democracy for the whole world to see. They will remain democracies for all time.

Now, we must do the same thing in the Middle East. We must set up shining beacons of democracy which will give the lie to the desert rats. Let us not make the mistake we made in Iraq and go only part way. That will only exacerbate our problems. These desert rats will not quit unless we force them to.

In this particular situation we can count on the entire civilized world to approve our effort. In some cases we may even expect participation. Most of the others, given an option, will remain neutral.

Let's get clear on this. The Taliban is not a political organization. Neither is it a religious organization and it has no right to any political or religious recognition. It is a criminal organization. It has no more legitimacy than the Mafia. Criminals have often acquired power. The fact that the Taliban rules Afghanistan does not make it legitimate.

There is nothing in any major religion which supports or condones what these fiends are doing. There is nothing in the Muslim faith which support what they call Jihad or holy war. That is nonsense no different than the Christian holy wars of the middle ages. In neither case do the scriptures and teaching support that monstrous behavior.
In fact, the scriptures specifically state otherwise. All major religions are identical on that issue. What these monstrous desert rats are about has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with insanity.

Desert rats are not true Arabs. They have no nationality. They were born somewhere, but they have no national allegiance. They are evil. These people are so stupidly gullible that they can be made to believe insane things. They believe that murdering thousands of people will earn them a heavenly reward. There is nothing redeemable about them. They are the personification of evil.

These desert rat nations are the antithesis of civilization. They have the trappings of civilization. They have the tall buildings, the big American automobiles, and the silk suits, all bought and built with oil. Their people are, by and large, savages living in poverty. Their governments are ruled by opulent savages. They stupidly wallow in their wealth while their people suffer. They deserve no consideration.

Civilization is not about the trappings. Civilization is in the hearts and souls of the people. It is not about power and wealth. It is about behavior. Those who prove they are savages by their behavior are not civilized.

As to that, we must admit that no government can exist without the tacit support of its populace. This is true in America and in that savage nation of desert rats. As Americans, we are responsible for our government. It's not the other way around. We are responsible. Just so, the Afghanistan people must suffer the consequences of what their government does. Those who harbor and nurture desert rats must bear the consequences of that.

To be sure, there are some people in Afghanistan who are redeemable. That is the entire hope of this operation. They can be redeemed to lead their nation into democracy. They are the ones we must count on to carry the torch, but they cannot do it without help. There is too much threat from the madmen within and without. They need a stable environment to make it work. They need a military government to bring that stability. Make no mistake, it will require an enormous investment and an infinity of patience. This must continue over several administrations of our own government. It is time to begin.

If we had done what I am now proposing in Iraq, this situation in the Middle East would be very different than it is. It would have changed the whole situation. We would not have to tolerate the festering thorn of Iraq in our side. When we take the time and spend the money to put a viable democracy down into the middle of that pack of desert rats it will change everything. The balance will be changed forever, just as it was in Europe.

There is one other thing we should get clear on. I get sick of hearing political hacks talking about our friends in the Middle East. We should not mistake allies for friends. An ally is one who shares a common goal or interest with us. A friend is one who shares a common cultural background and value system with us. Those are few, being our traditional friends who always stand with us. Though we may have allies in the Middle East, we have no friends. The cultural gap is simply too large. Should we ever help those people to create a democracy, that too could change. We could end up with something akin to friends in the Middle East.

Now on duty, here is my open letter to the president.

The Honorable George W. Bush:
President of The United States of America.

Dear Mr. President:

Please act to defend our country from the madmen who have afflicted us. We have no other reasonable or safe alternative. This time we must finish it. You must demand that Congress declare war against Afghanistan. America must act to destroy terrorism at its root. We must bring Afghanistan to the bar.

Congress has been selfish with its mandate to you. You must demand the whole power to act for us. If they refuse, we will know how the vote went. Those who deny you will mark themselves forever as unconscionable power mongers more concerned with their petty prerogatives than with justice for the American people.

Please pursue a full scale war against Afghanistan and if necessary Pakistan, or anyone else who interferes with us. They will mark themselves as enemies of the United States. Please do not lose the momentum that the American people and the civilized governments of the world have given you.

Call on all Americans. I believe you will not be disappointed. As for myself, I will serve if necessary. I served in Korea many years ago, but I stand ready. I'm sure I do not stand alone. I only ask that this time you finish it. Don't go half way and stop. Don't make the mistake we made in Iraq, leaving a thorn to fester in our side for decades. Put a military governor in Afghanistan.

And, do whatever else is necessary. Tax the hell out of me. I'll ante up. Ration my use of gasoline if necessary. I'll get by. Just, for God's sake, finish it this time.

Sincerely:

Staff Sgt. Willie Gaffer (retired).
Back to Gaffer's Archives.

Wesoomi Home Page

The Wesoomi Archives

Wesoomi Site Map