perspectives

IRAQ: A Racquet with Secrecy of Human Costs

The headlines are everywhere: Secrecy Shrouded Bush Trip to Iraq.

Secrecy seems to be a repeated pattern in the Bush Administration actions and behavior. Go for the surprise; show up for the staged show. Today, White House officials reportedly bristled at the idea that the trip was a publicity stunt.

The question they need to ask if how their actions, history and execution might have left such impressions?

"There are some people who might try to deride this trip as a photo opportunity," Perino said. "We wholeheartedly disagree. This is an opportunity for the president to meet with his commander on the ground and his ambassador on the ground. ... And he will be able to look Prime Minister (Nouri) Maliki in the eye and talk with him about the progress that is starting to happen in Iraq, what we hope to see and the challenges that remain."

The secrecy we live with has permeated every aspect of American life and we keep allowing it to hoodwink us as our human treasure and tax dollars are spent for greed and corruption as the expense of people here and there.

One of the Bush's secrets are the facts about the dead, maimed, wounded and displaced in Iraq. Oh, we occasionally hear the soldiers death total via the media --- and we show a picture up on the screen of some young life gone; and occasionally, we hear a profile of wounded soldier, but none of these paint the gruesome picture of the impact this war has had on soldiers and "collaterals". This would seem to be a key part of any status report.

Have you heard Bush personally give the American people a clearly stated assessment of the status about the lives loss and sacrificed in this war that is costing billions every month?  This would seem to be key accountability requirement.

The totals are shocking...

IRAQ WAR STATISTICS

158,509 wounded and medical evacuations

3740 dead - 118 self-inflicted 

77,808 Civilians reported killed by military intervention
(named and identified victims of the Iraq war by Iraq Body Count
New recent events

2.2 Million fled Iraq for Jordon or Syria in last four years

"The mass exodus and internal displacement of people have been brought on by escalating sectarian conflict combined with the presence of foreign troops. United Nations refugee agency spokesperson as saying that massive displacement of Iraqis, internally and externally, continues unabated, causing a great deal of suffering and uncertainty. Estimates put the number of people fleeing the violence at 2,000 daily." Source: Relief Web - Act Communications, Geneva, Switzerland.

Why is this administration left without accountability?

In the classic anti-war book, War is a Racket, written by someone who earned the right to provide a trusted perspective, Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler, known as America's most decorated soldier, wrote in 1935 what remains true today:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center and
Leadership Solutions Companies
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

MICHAEL VICK's Apology: "There but for the Grace of God, go I."

I don't know much about Michael Vick. I admit I am not a sports fan. His reported behavior and abuse of dogs is beyond comprehension. However, I would like to cast the light on his public apology.

Michael Vick's public apology was one of the best --- and one of the first heart-felt apologies --- I've heard by any world leader, public official or celebrity in many years. It took a lot of courage for Michael Vick to stand up and make the admissions he made today on a public stage from his heart. I can't remember seeing such a "true confession" by a celebrity or leader at any level. No excuses. No half-truths. No blaming. His face and eyes and words came across as TRUTH and by doing so, he set a new standard for accepting responsibility for one's mistakes, poor judgment and its implications on the lives of others --- and in this case the lives of innocent animals. Thank you, Michael Vick.

What's been ringing in my ears for days when I've heard the reports on Michael's case is "There but for the Grace of God, go I." The reports that have been the most distressing are the ones with finger-pointers with their mean words thrown out carelessly, blaming, calling him names and yelling in modern day terms, "Crucify him." It makes me wonder about our capacity for compassion for one another. I wonder if those with mean-spirited words for Michael Vick have examined their on lives lately? Or if any of them have ever stood up publically with such courage?

Every time I've thought about his mom and family, or imagined how devastating it must be for him to wake up in the morning, knowing he has demolished at least temporarily a pretty remarkable life with promise that he had going --- all in the name of momentary power and few poor decisions, because he could. It makes my heart ache for him.

______________________________________________________

"There but for the Grace of God, go I."
Inspired by following Michael Vick's story in the distance, Bay Area artist, Sally K. Green, traced the history of this famous quote that we hear so often and discovered it was said by John Bradford in a moment of compassion for someone else in the year circa 1555. She painted a painting of John Bradford today with the story to remind us to have compassion for others in the human family in distress.
Go see the painting and story.

______________________________________________________

MICHAEL VICK IN CONTRAST TO OUR LEADERS
It is interesting to contrast of Michael Vick's courageous apology with that of the lawyer written apologies, half-hearted apologies, or non-existent apologies of our most powerful leaders of the world.

As an example, Desmond TuTu commented sometime back on the value of saying we are sorry and the BIGNESS it takes to do so. He shared his perspective related to  George Bush's and Tony Blair's inability to make amends for their blunders in the Iraq War. Desmond TuTu shared his comments several years ago --- the war rages on with no end in sight --- and no apology or admission of wrong doing. One must note that there are far bigger implications and costs in lives of people, soldiers, and animals in their mistakes, as well as destruction of infrastructure, fraud, displacing millions of people from their homes, misappropriation of public funds, abuses to our fellow citizens, lies and poor judgment. But rumor has it that they won't be either accepting, or be held to any such accountability as Michael Vick is called to do. This is certainly a clear example of a double standard laws of our broken society and governments.

INSIGHTS FROM DESMOND TUTU
"How wonderful if politicians could bring themselves to admit they are only fallible human creatures and not God and thus by definition can make mistakes. Unfortunately, they seem to think that such an admission is a sign of weakness. Weak and insecure people hardly ever say 'sorry'.

"It is large-hearted and courageous people who are not diminished by saying: 'I made a mistake'.

...We've seen it at home in South Africa in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when people who had made, I mean, perpetrated some of the most ghastly atrocities say, "Sorry." It has an incredible capacity to change the dynamics of a situation. Well, those of us who are married know just how difficult it is. It is the most difficult set of words to say in any language. I find it difficult to say it in the privacy of our bedroom, to say, "Sorry, darling, I -- yes, I'm sorry." But what it can accomplish. You say sorry. It pours balm. We've seen it do that. A country that should have gone up in flames, South Africa, was saved by the fact that people were ready to forgive, and people were ready to say, "Sorry." That would be the first step."

FORGIVENESS for Michael:
"There but for the Grace of God, go I."
What has really touched me about this case with Michael Vick has been watching how easily we can fall from Grace. A few wrong turns and we've ruined our reputation, lost our careers, disappointed those who looked to us for leadership, left our mothers heart-broken and left a long and winding road to walk to reach redemption. It is one of those times, when you think of many temptations in your own life that could have so easily led you down a life-altering road and it makes it easy to say, "There but for the Grace of God, go I."

To Michael Vick --- Thank for your leadership today. It was refreshing. I forgive you. I look up to you for setting an example for us all in how to say we are sorry.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center and
Leadership Solutions Companies
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

Falling Bridges and Other Sorrows

I chose an icon marked with an L. In this case the L in this case if for LEADERSHIP. We somehow have a great lack of it at the moment and tragedy-by-tragedy we continue to see this truth unfolding before our eyes.

I had the good fortune to work for IBM in my first career. It was a wonderful value-based organization with the highest standards for its leaders. This instilled in me a consciousness that has carried me a long way and stayed solidly part of my belief system for leaders at all levels. One of the key lessons I learned in my early leadership training as an IBM Manager was that our key role was not manage problems, but to avoid them. We were charged with the stewardship for our span of influence. This not only meant managing day-to-day issues, but it also meant holding the responsibility and accountability for all of our company assets under our command. These values meant something then.  Many times, I witnessed, upclose or from a distance, that if managers violated the company's trust or failed to effectively manage our company assets, they were YANKED out of their jobs---discreetly, respectfully, but they were not left to do more damage or to destroy the integrity of leadership we all grew up believing to be the standard of any leader. As a young leader looking on this left a lasting impression on me. What examples do our leaders provide for our children today?

This week, we have again watched another example of our country's failed policies in action with the tragedy in Minnesota. But our leaders accept no responsibility for the unsatisfactory performance this tragedy demonstrates. There is no fingerpointing. They hold the funds. They aren't the least bit embarrassed to visit for photo ops. I saw Bush sending Laura today to open the way for him --- probably a trial balloon to see how he is received tomorrow when he arrives for his photo-op. It is hard to believe they have the gall to show up in the face of the facts that have been streaming on the news the past few days ---- 77 of our key bridges in the U.S. are rated a FOUR on a scale of 9 (or 10); taxpayer dollars have been diverted to athletic stadiums, bridges to nowhere, as well as billions and billions to Iraq. Meanwhile, a great source of national prestige and national security is left at great risk with shoddy work, not enough funding and leaders with a mentality that is so full of self-interest that they cannot properly perform the duties for which they are being paid: To be the stewards of our country's assets and to keep its citizens safe.

Leaders in our government aren't held accountable for anything. Few of us vote and frankly, waiting to deal with our issues in elections is unacceptable, especially when you consider that the elections we are to believe in have already proved to be faulty at best, and fixed at worst. I am certain that the founding fathers never thought about us electing and paying a corrupt system of officials, especially ones that have shown such contempt for the values that make up the foundation of our country and that we once proudly, if not perfectly, espoused to the world.

AGAIN I HAVE TO ASK --- What has happened to us?
How many more tragedies will we watch before we do something? How many more times will we elect the very leaders that are responsible for this mismanagement. Today, I heard Lou Dobbs and others punching hard with their words about Obama's lack of foreign policy and leadership experience. Look around folks. You will get a good look at what "EXPERIENCE" has created. I would take integrity over experience any day. Another important lesson I learned at IBM is that the key to a great leader is learning how to develop an idea, plan it out, execute second to none and achieve superior results. I believe that is what we need in a president and Obama is showing great promise in my book. I have to admit that at least Obama represents NEW THINKING and a NEW APPROACH and appears to have a set of values that have not been shaken. As Einstein said:

"You can't solve problems with the same thinking you use to create them."

We are run by leaders that are stuck in the money-filled groove of a broken record of mismanagement. We have allowed it by our complacency, indifference and lack of attention ---- or if you are like me, I'm lost in knowing what to do to stop it in a kind of citizens paralysis. With just this failing of the bridge in Minnesota this week, our Congress and Administration should be YANKED out of their jobs and replaced with leaders who are willing to accept the responsibility and accountability for the stewardship of our country and its people. It is obvious that Washington is not doing it. How many more tragedies do we need to see before we recognize we are entrusting our lives, our children lives and our country's tattered reputation and its existence to incompetents. Even those we see as the best in Washington, bear responsibility for mismanagement of our nation's assets and for crimes of negligence and abuse, don't you think?

I am deeply saddened for the families who have lost this loved ones in Minnesota and also deeply sadden for others who lost loved in Katrina and the Iraq War and other sorrows here in the U. S. and around the world that our lack of leadership at all levels caused.

MAY WE FIND A WAY TO RISE UP AS A COMMUNITY and be the generation that STOPS the falling bridges and other sorrows here in the U.S.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

Revisiting THOMAS PAINE's COMMON SENSE Wisdom

RELATED AUDIO PODCAST: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Its Role in Creating a Better World
...a virtual online dialogue with nine Berrett-Koehler Authors
John Perkins, David Korten, John Renesch, Angeles Arrien, Alex Pattakos, Charlie Derber, Lee Drutman, Stewart Levine join me in dialogue.

Every time I write about my questionings, I can't explain the uneasiness I feel. I've never considered myself a person who blames and complaines --- far from a typical activist. Oh, I have my opinions, but mostly the things I set out to do have been governed by what I thought was the right thing to do. Over the years, I admit the meaning of what is right has changed.

Perhaps, this idea of thinking, questioning and exploring ideas from others outside my seemingly mainstream thinking is relatively new to me. As Emerson said: "What is the hardest thing in the world? To think."  I'm assuming many of you out there may share this same sense of things yourselves.

When I was growing up, I was taught to not make waves (not lady-like), don't question those in authority or never be disrespectful of anyone or anything. These values served me well for the most part. I did do a little protesting in my early life, but in retrospect, it came more from following the flow of all that surrounded me vs. some deep philosophical conviction. In more recent times, as I have been called upon to lead change as a woman, I used a different skill. If I needed to step outside the boundaries of those early values I was taught, I relied more on what I would term INFLUENCING A POSITIVE OUTCOME, instead of making waves. My mentor, who encouraged and coached me, was right. This skill is invaluable --- it often asks more of you --- but INFLUENCE in a positive way can move mountains and create a situation where everyone wins.

The past six years has been an awakening for me. A lot of things I've believed in, and never questioned, have shown up to be myths. I've begun ranting and raving in front of my TV over the short-comings of our government, which hasn't been hard with situations like Katrina, abuses of power and a war gone out of control before my eyes with perhaps 100s of thousands of lives lost and human treasures of our own. Meanwhile, we sit seemingly helpless to stop this situation gone wild and crazy with its power.  It appears our founding fathers never imagined we would allow our country to be led by such incompetence, disregard and disrespect for its citizens or that we would be so complacent in our comforts and consuming. Stirrings. As I've been presented with new ideas and begun to think and question, I have realized that that there is much more going on here, and around the world, that was different than it appeared (past) and appears (present). Things I TRUSTED, I discovered were not trustworthy. These are different times. I see things now. Do YOU? They make me sad. Some days they worry me. I find that I feel a bit like my knees wobble when I speak out even like I am here, but I'm committed to practice in my own way and compelled to do it. These times call for leaders of all kinds to stand up for what is right in any way we can, when we see so much is not right. Who else is there to stand up, if not us? It is clear, we need to use spans of influence to sound the bell strongly enough that perhaps it will stir a few citizens to reconsider a few things for themselves.

REVISITING THOMAS PAINE's COMMON SENSE Wisdom
Yesterday, I found a newly published copy of COMMON SENSE by Thomas Paine. It was sitting on the counter when I went to pay for a book at a small bookstore. The quote on the front jumped out at me:

"When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir."

Stir? Yes, that describes what I see in myself and many others, we are stirring --- how ever slowly it seems, there are clear signs we are stirring as a nation of people. The world is stirring. I hope I am right.

Thomas Paine's wisdom seemed to echo into our reality today as I opened to the first page. He wrote:

"Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour, a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Times makes more converts than reason."

Time for me is converting me to see with open eyes that the country and our world sit here in peril and I am one of those as you are holding the responsibility for its future.

I was also taken immediately by Thomas Paine's wisdom about the differences of SOCIETY and GOVERNMENT. Ideas we've all forgotten if one measures the out of control abuses of power we have witnessed in recent years. Here is a refresher from Thomas Paine:

"Some writer have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.  ... Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country with government, our calamities are heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer...

Where I do think we can be different in recreating a better country and world than we know today is in HOW we go about it. Our generation has collectively witnessed the results of what six years of leadership, with a bent for aggression and violence and power. Violence does nothing but kill, maim, destroy and bring more violence. It makes people desperate and inspires their hate.

I think we need clear, fresh new thinking and a change in our national collective consciousness --- in our global consciousness. Albert Einstein certainly affirmed this when he said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Violence, war, greed, corruption and abuse of power have not worked well for us. Instead, it seems to me that we have to join together to reclaim our world by our actions, behavior and conviction --- we can start right where we are. We can speak-up; speak-out --- we can use our individual talents in our own spans of influence every day. There is strength in numbers and I believe that we have a powerful force of people wanting a new more economically just, socially peaceful and environmentally respectful, yes?

I have no intention of trying to change your mind to be just like mine --- what I do hope is that you will consider what's in your mind, rethink for yourself, consider some outside perspectives, perhaps even radical kinds of thinking that others put on the table --- dare to listen; it costs nothing ---- and then form your own informed perspective. It is doubtful to me that what you think will not be shaken when you finish this time of self-examination.

We have a long road ahead, but we are a society --- broken perhaps at the moment --- that with a slight shift in consciousness and a little more mutualistic thinking about one another, could be the generation that became the tipping point. This is a time for us to do our best thinking. Then we need to turn our stirrings into action.

The journey of a thousand miles, begins at your feet." --- Lao Tze

May we take a bold step.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

IRAQ: The WAKE-UP CALL for All of US

HEADLINES AS I WRITE:
14 troops killed in IRAQ today; 71 in last 21 days; 978 Iraqi security and civilians in last 21 days; millions displaced from their homes by BUSH's continuing war; war profits at an all time high.

I would not classify myself as an activist ,as I've mentioned before. I am a humanitarian. However, these times we live in certainly come with a call-to-action for all of us to THINK, QUESTION, EXPLORE NEW IDEAS and GET INFORMED enough to be the shapers of our future. We must be willing to let go of our party loyalties and do some fresh thinking "outside the box" of politics for the good of all people --- for the survival of our world. There is time, but it is ticking away. In futurist and filmmaker, Joel Barker's pioneering work on the Five Regions of the Future, he again reminds us of a very important TRUTH:

"We can and should shape your own future, because if you don't, someone else surely will." --- Joel Barker, futurist

Every day we are watching our futures be shaped by government officials that have lied, cheated and worked as terrorists in their own right. This shames me to admit it. I grew up with pride in my country and belief in its leaders. HOWEVER, the situation in IRAQ and other miseries we have caused or ignored in recent years, has fostered a wake-up call for my consciousness. How about you? Current affairs have been a catalyst for seeing how much of our current system of government is deeply broken and how much each of us plays into it through our desires for more and more, our consumerism, our indifference, our inattention ---- perhaps, most of all, how much we take it for granted, never thinking about what impact how much of what we have has had on others in the world or that in an instant, we could lose what most of us treasure. It makes me ache, knowing I too am a contributing part of our brokenness.

I have to ask again, WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?
There are many to blame, but lets acknowledge the role of the most powerful leader in the world. We have a President that wants to defend a "human embryo" for reasons that defy science, but doesn't mind having his own hands dripping in the blood of tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers of his ill-conceived war without conscience. He apparently has no care about the countries he destroys and the millions that are displaced by his pig-headed right to power. ...and what about us? Why do we turn a blind eye? I heard President Bush talk in the last couple days, wagging his finger at the extremists, while seemingly describing his own actions too, never acknowledging how the terrorists have gotten so desperate in our escalating use of military might and force at his command. Is it not extreme to go to war on false pretenses, recognize the flaw, defy all sound military counsel, ignore the will of the people in our democratic country and insist failed policies must continue not with sacrifice from your family, but with the sacrifice of other people's children, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Isn't this extreme? Isn't it extreme that no one questions or holds him accountability for any of his failings? He gets way too much credit for the few times he rhetorically takes responsibility --- but there are no consequences. How does our system allow this kind of incompetence and the array of public blunders in nearly every aspect of foreign and domestic policy with out consequences. In business, he would have been removed immediately --- in the military justice, wouldn't he been removed from his command? In domestic justice --- the kind you and I receive --- he would be locked up for eternity or sentenced to death. It is clear that all of us and the future of our children is being not only mortgaged by the ongoing saga of failed policies with no end in sight ----- our future is also being shaped by the actions, inattention and inaction.

WAKE-UP Everyone! The KEY INGREDIENT
The last of man's freedoms as Viktor Frankl told us in his classic, Man's Search for Meaning is to choice our attitude...to choice our way. It is time, my friends, to wake-up! How do we get started waking-up --- get informed. Look at your own span of influence. Look at what you can do right where you are. Here are is a valuable resource you may find helpful in your own personal awakening:

Moments of Insight at the Global Dialogue Center...
(Free to the world - no charge)
OUR GEO-POLITICAL CRISIS and YOU with John Perkins, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Secret History of the American Empire (Buy the book) and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Buy the book). John's new book hit the NY Times its first week out. This 6- episode mini-podcast series is a primer to world affairs, highlighting "pearls and gems" from The Secret History... It is informative and also hopeful with lots of ideas about what you can do no matter where you are in the world. He talks of about lessons from ASIA, LATIN AMERICA, MIDDLE EAST and AFRICA and helps us think through how we can change the dream of our future and change our world. It is designed for "instant one-touch play" or you can download it as an MP3 to share with family and friends.

Today, as I write, I grieve with the world for 12 more US soldiers lives gone and the millions of civilians that are dead, maimed or displaced from their homes. How scared the women and children must be, yes?

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

BIG QUESTIONS: MORE SIGNS - US Soldiers' Memorial Ceremonies Cut; Halliburton-War Profiteering Hit $20 BILLION

We have to be asking some BIG QUESTIONS of ourselves and our government.
What have we become?

Every day we continue to see signs of a widening MESS --- of injustices --- greed --- poor judgment --- killing and maiming --- failed policies --- war profiteering --- build-up of arms --- ravishing what belongs to others --- lies and propaganda filling our airwaves --- American citizens abused --- hatred building around the world for anything U.S. and more. I know in my lifetime, and I'm sure yours, we have never witnessed an Presidential administration in the White House that has more disgraced, dismantled, denigrated the values upon which our country was built than this one ---- nor have we watched top officials lead one debacle after another, right before our eyes, without any serious accountability for such failed leadership and a warring nature way out of control. There are those that contend this is not new. Okay, I agree, but thanks to the Internet, it is at least more and more visible --- exposed --- to us all, if we care to become part of the citizens who are responsible for turning the tide.

MORE SIGNS; BIG QUESTIONS:
Fort Lewis Announces a New Policy to Trim Number of Soldier Memorial Ceremonies; Halliburton, Leading US War Profiteer Hits $20 Billion in US Government Contracts

You might think it odd to capture these two seemingly unrelated current events, but they do have a relationship --- a relationship to where we put our values and where our government is investing US Taxpayer dollars.

In a shameless proclamation, the Fort Lewis acting commanding general, Brig. Gen. William Troy, in a memo to commanders and staff last week, announced a new policy. Fort Lewis, which this month has suffered its worst losses of the war, will no longer conduct individual memorial ceremonies for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Source: The Olympian - May 30, 2007). A copy of the General Troy's memorandum was obtained and posted on the United for Peace of Pierce County website.

"As much as we would like to think otherwise, I am afraid that with the number of Soldiers we now have in harm's way, our losses will preclude us from continuing to do individual memorial ceremonies.

I see this as a way of sharing the heavy burdens our spouses and Rear Detachments bear, while giving our fallen warriors the respect they deserve. It will also give the families of the fallen the opportunity to bond with one another, as they see others who share their grief."

In his memo dated May 22, Troy apparently said he asked the post’s senior chaplain, Col. Jack Van Dyken, to work out the details of the new policy. The Olympian reported: “This is not an intent to streamline the process or in any way detract from honoring the soldiers,” Van Dyken said. “It’s just being cognizant of the fact that when you have this many, the time involved in doing each one individually is just prohibitive.” Can you believe what you just read, knowing the time investment, sacrifice and anguish that our soldiers and military families bear every day?

In the same report, it is also noted that  "other Army posts already consolidate soldier memorials into one or two ceremonies per month," as if it justifies this shameless cost cutting, time saving, disrespectful, inhuman decision.


THE BOTTOMLINE:
So, if we are to get the full message here, our government will take every soldier they can get. Use them. Ask for the ultimate sacrifice from them and their families. Put them in harm's way, but because too many are dying, our government is unwilling to invest time, money and resources to honor each of those that fall in service to our country. This is immoral.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, we discover that our government, choosing its investments, has now lined the pockets of Halliburton (VP, Cheney's former employer) with $20 Billion in contracts that have been less than exemplary. CorporateWatch Hall of Shame reported May 16, 2007:

"...Houston-based Halliburton was chosen for allegedly being "the nation's leading war profiteer, for grossly under-delivering -- and shortchanging our troops -- on more than $20 billion in lucrative government contracts and for planning to move its headquarters to Dubai, enabling them to shirk paying their full share of United States taxes."

I ask again, and I hope you will too, what have we become?

In response, as I was finishing writing this piece, I heard Barak Obama speaking. He said, "We all have the opportunity to shape history." We need to wake up. Pay attention. See there are some BIG QUESTIONS to ask. We need to connect the dots and watch for the seemingly unrelated stories that serve as symbols of all that is wrong --- we have to share them with others, so they too can see the truth. We have to join together to stop the war, honor and care for those who served and recognize that the urgency and significance of the need for change in our country.

Together, we the people, can change things. The future is ours to create.

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

GET EDUCATED:
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IRAQ: Losing the War; Saving America?

In the first 29 days of MAY:
122 Coalition Forces DEAD in 29 days of May
(117 US, 3 UK, 2 Other)
1721 Iraqi Security Forces and Civilians DEAD 29 days of MAY
3468 US Military DEATHS reported by DOD
Source: Iraq Casualty Count

A couple weeks ago a friend sent me a link to an article about the Iraq War. Like a lot of emails you probably receive, I didn't read it. I was too busy at the time. However, I did print it out and over the weekend, I finally sat down to give it my undivided attention and I'm glad I did. It is an article WORTH THE READ...one that will make you think and question the Iraq War from a new vantage point. I hope you will find the time.

The Moral Obligation to Lose The War
by Robert Shetterly
Published on Thursday, May 10, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

Every act has moral and immoral potential. The girl scout who helps an unsteady old man across the street could also have pushed him aside. The aftermath of each action engenders a new range of moral possibilities. Having pushed him aside, she might then regret her act and return to help him. Even when we’ve made bad choices, acted out of indifference or greed rather than compassion and generosity, another choice awaits us: how to compound or rectify the immoral act, stay the course or imagine how to salvage some measure of moral standing. Since even a racist like George Wallace can have a Road to Damascus experience, anything is possible.

The immense immorality of the choice to attack Iraq, and base that choice in lies, propaganda, and fear is hardly news now. But the fact that, above all else, it was a moral choice means that another moral choice is possible. And only one choice would atone for the original.

This war will not end until the funding is cut off. Anyone who would continue the funding to “support the troops,” should also tell you that once you make a moral mistake, keep making it, and that those who pay with their blood for your mistake are grateful for the support. The logic of this position would also maintain that policy is made by soldiers and officers, not by the people, the Congress and the President.

None of the offered plans now before us to de-escalate the war disavow what we all know to be its original goals — control of Iraq’s oil and the building of large, permanent US military bases in Iraq. Nor do any of these bills address the central issue of accountability, the fact that this war is a war crime, a crime against our democracy, our Constitution, the Iraqi people, international law, and our own soldiers. Without accountability, our democracy is meaningless. Without moral action, our claim to integrity and respect are meaningless.

Our obligation as citizens is not to play political games with the Democrats or Republicans to help them position themselves for the next election. Our obligation is to demand that the laws and ideals of this country be upheld. The problem with the Iraq War is not that we are losing it and that we need a better strategy. The problem is that we have no moral right to win it. As bad as the colossal mismanagement, greed and corruption are, they are not the true issue. Betrayal of the public trust is the issue. Pre-meditated murder is the issue.

It is my deepest belief that the only good that may come from this disgraceful time in our history, will be the honest acknowledgement of how and why the country was mislead, followed by punishment for those responsible. Without that justice, we will learn nothing and be easy prey for the next abuse of power.

It is horrible to think that our soldiers have died and been injured in vain. However, if we demand accountability, demand impeachment, something honest will have been redeemed. All that blood and those blasted bodies of beloved people may form the bulwark against future abuse. In a sense freedom will have been won, democracy will be affirmed, justice will be established — here.

No one can tell you what will happen when the US withdraws the troops. Although, many did predict the chaos of insurgency and sectarianism that resulted from the attack. But whatever happens after our withdrawal, it will be made easier if we involve international peacekeepers, remove our bases, forego any claim to the oil, and pay reparations. The war is a moral and legal catastrophe and will continue to be. But since we precipitated it, we can’t pretend also to want to protect the Iraqis from it. We can’t. We’re the cause of it.

This administration has acted from a position that denigrates human rights, legal rights, moral rights, the rights of decency, inalienable rights, privacy rights, civil rights, women’s rights, environmental rights, worker’s rights, and children’s rights. The only right they have respected is the right of entitlement. Their own. Our only hope is to demand our rights, our rights as citizens, our rights to our ideals, our rights to a sense of morality.

The destruction of a small village in Vietnam was once explained away by our military as a village that had to be destroyed in order to save it. That perversity became symbolic of the entire war. Accurately. The War on Iraq should now be described as a war that must be lost in order to save America. That is our moral obligation.

Robert Shetterly is a writer and artist who lives in Brooksville, Maine. He is the author of Americans Who Tell the Truth. See his website.

Applause to Robert Shetterly for his contribution to make us think! Now what do we do as Americans? Everyday I wake up wondering why we are not more outraged at how the current administration has disgraced our country in so many ways --- how our inaction continues to allow noble men and women serve in a war by order of the President for a cause that has proven to be far less than noble with decades of implications ahead. I'm not thinking politics here, folks! Our problems are so far beyond political alliances. We're all guilty for allowing and keeping such incompetence, poor judgment and lack of leadership to be at the helm of our country. Plato was right when he said: One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors..."

How can we join together to do what Shetterley suggests: Our only hope is to demand our rights, our rights as citizens, our rights to our ideals, our rights to a sense of morality.

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

REFLECTIONS on MEMORIAL DAY

IN COMMEMORATION: 106 soldiers (101 US, 3 UK, 2 other) and over 1536 Iraqi Security Forces and Civilian deaths this month so far.

How many deaths will it take before we stop a war that should never have been started?  Supporting our troops doesn't mean leaving them there ill-equipped amidst a civil war for a cause that is founded on lies, greed, profiteering and poor leadership judgment.

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Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the US. My dad was a "war hero". Funny, it wasn't something he ever bragged about---in fact, my knowledge of his two Bronze Stars didn't come from him. They came from reading clippings in a box he left behind and a glimpse here and there from members of the family.

Now that I am older and have had a time to think and question WAR, I know why he didn't mention it. He didn't believe in it either. I doubt that he could reconcile its value and rightness with what he witnessed and experienced---bombings, death and destruction. You see, he was a Chaplain. What he brought to this entrusted role was that he made a conscious decision to stay with the men on the frontlines and in the process, he was called upon to do some heroic acts in the line of duty that saved lives. However, I am quite certain, he too must have questioned how war and rumors of war were aligned with loving one's neighbor.

I don't like to remember him as WAR HERO...I like to remember him as my dad and somehow I am certain that out there in the distance are many daughters and sons, who feel the same today. So instead of talking about WAR, I wanted to share a story of one of my favorite early memories of dad in commemoration for his love, his bravery, his courage to serve and for being my HERO:

MY DAD and ME
Interestingly, most of my early memories start just as I was turning five. It was a year of great change. Just before this time, I have one memory I cherish. I was three, maybe close to four.

My father was a prominent minister in the East in a small church.
He was called to a larger church in California.
The family moved across country.

I remember walking out of the new house with him,
all dressed up in a fancy dress with my best shoes.
The house was right next door to the new church.
The walkway was lined with yellow rose trees.
He held my hand and warmly coaxed me to come along with him.
He had a warm presence that drew people to him.
I was one. I adored him.
He called me Honeybear.

He led me to the church steps.
Long and steep from my perspective,
reaching up and up and up to the big doors.
His encouragement made all things possible.
I climbed step-by-step alone---about halfway
I sat down, fixing my skirt,
then posing with with a smile meant for him.
He took my picture.

Epilogue...

After he died some years back,
I found this picture among his cherished things.
It confirmed my sacred memory of that day,
When he captured the picture of the two great loves in his life into permanence.

When I was five he went away.
It would be years before I understood why.
...and years more until I knew it wasn't about me.

IN COMMEMORATION of all the brave dads. May we find our way to PEACE for all the people. May we find the courage and care inside to SPEAK-UP! STAND-UP! and SHOUT-OUT! to until we, the people, turn the tide on this ill-conceived war of greed and profiteering and bring our toops safely home.

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com

IRAQ RAGES ON: Our leaders debate, demand and veto

NEWS FLASH! AS I WRITE:  9 More US Soldiers Dead in Iraq

For weeks, our airwaves have been full of governmental rhetoric about resolutions to end the war in Iraq. The Senate and Congress have debated, demanded, declared and postured, belting their opposing party positions over and over again on the IRAQ WAR. The media has followed their every move, sound-byted their every claim and brought in the pundits to argue their respective party points of view over and over again. The President too has contributed to the empty words as he has blustered out his threats and conviction to veto any resolution that requires accountability or results, helping us once again affirm that under his leadership, there is no openness for new ideas or earnest attempts for a course correction called for by the American people. While all this impotent talk has been going on, in just the last 28 days of April with no resolution in sight, 90 US and 11 UK military and a reported 1423 Iraqi security forces and civilians have died. Lives lost while our leaders are still talking.

Where is the conscience of the world's most powerful leaders???

You would think that our President and every leader in Washington would be working night and day, lots of overtime, all leaves cancelled, no vacations, no entertaining basketball teams or baseball teams at the White House, no trips to their ranches and resort homes, until a detailed, benchmarked plan was ironed out to stop this war.

Why are strategic benchmarks to measure effectiveness questioned?

If you've ever run a business, it is unimaginable that any entity would continue to execute a failed plan without tough measurements. A business would never continue to pour its assets and billions of dollars into a violent strategy that has been inefficient and ineffective in "achieving results." A reputable, value-based business would never agree to continue to send more and more of it's human treasure to be wasted because of a strategy peaking at the top of the diaster scale, such as BUSH's proven ill-conceived, self-initiated Iraq death trap without a clear mission, a concrete plan for resolution with high emphasis on diplomacy and full accountability. In any businesss, he would have been fired long, long ago. Instead, in a much more dangerously powerful assignment, we sit helpless six years into it.

It is also hard to imagine how the most powerful leaders in the world do not practice or realize the sweeping influence of setting the example for others as a means of bringing peace at home and abroad. The obsession of violent, hateful approaches has proven ineffective. Doesn't BUSH see the erosion of the world's view of the US since he began his reign? Is he so blinded by his ego that he doesn't feel any responsibility to find the best answers to resolve the fatal mistakes that have been made? I ask these questions, knowing the unfortunate answers and recognizing that he continues for one reason ----
BECAUSE HE CAN.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. found himself at the same crossroads of conscience like many of us do at this time in history, while he looked at the reality of violence in our neighborhoods and in the Viet Nam War. His message rings out in parallel to our time as we face the realities of growing violence today at home and in IRAQ and other hotspots of injustice throughout the world. He said:

"...it grows out of my experience in the ghettos of the North... As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion, while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through non-violent action. But they asked, and rightly so... if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted.

Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government." For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands under our violence, I cannot be silent." --- Trumpet of Conscience

I don't know how to change things, but I know it has to do with our collective will. I read once, "The biggest engineering feat is that of human will."

How and why do we remain silent and indifferent to the injustices we see?

Stand up! Speak up in any way you can!

Debbe

HOPE for PEACE: Replacing Our Need to be RIGHT

Our country and our world is in bad need of a revival of creative thinking and bold, innovative leadership in many directions. I don't know about you, but at least the polls, for what good they do, demonstrate a majority of us are tired of the senselessness, greed and tragedy of war. Currently, it seems we are in a fierce battle of egos, ideology and power ---- little of it having to do with what is in the best interest of the people throughout the world.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
--- Thomas Paine

I know. I know. I am an idealist. Perhaps!  When I wrote previously my heart was filled with HOPE, seeing a few leaders across the world giving us the impression they were sincerely reaching out beyond the wrongs, faulty methods and failed strategies that have not worked, to find a common ground upon which to build diplomacy and perhaps a genuine bridge to new HOPE for PEACE.

Unfortunately, no sooner had new possibilities begun to sprout through Tony Blair, Ahmadinejad, Nancy Pelosi and the released British soldiers, than the war of "killing the messengers and the victims" began with enraged criticism and hate talk for everyone who did anything --- from those who stood by and did nothing. The pundits, government officials in countries unwilling to give-an-inch and the media tore anything good all down with harsh words for everyone's motives and actions. Even the brave leaders who dared, seemed to back track, shrinking behind their words and actions --- degrading their own leadership --- to show what we witnessed was no more than business as usual. Politics, ego and a need to be RIGHT continuing its fierce grasp, holding the world's peoples and their resources captive.

How can we change the world, when we are so very closed to new ideas?

How can we stop the warring, killing and maiming, hunger, injustice, greed, threatening issues like global warming, if we are so set on having to be RIGHT?

It is difficult to innovative if all new ideas are squelched, squashed and the messengers discredited. It is hard to find creative solutions to the problems we face when we are unwilling to change course or recognize the failures and risks of continuing down the same path. More of the same with greater risks makes no logical sense. Six years of failed policy seems ripe for new thinking, new approaches and leadership from anyone willing and able to step forward and lead in their own right to build bridges, making resolution an open, earnest and mutually respectful solution. I come to this conclusion not from a political point of view, but from a pragmatic leadership perspective and as a humanitarian.

General Omar N. Bradley's earned wisdom speaks to our closed minds:

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount."

How do we ask others to disarm, when we belittle them with our words, threaten them with our might and refuse to talk with them? When has this approach worked effectively for enduring peace? How do we ask people to do what we are are unwilling to do? How do we lead without setting an example ourselves? Have you checked out how the cards are stacked country to country recently?

Wisdom long before General Bradley, credited to Hierocles, spoke of how eye-for-an-eye works: "We ought always to deal justly, not only with those who are just to us, but likewise to those who endeavor to injure us; and this, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice."

As our leaders, and perhaps many of us, stubbornly keep our heels dug into the ground so sure about the importance of being RIGHT at all costs, the headlines read, 10 US troops die in Iraq; 6 on Sunday. The account of the violence, executions and demand for us to leave as "occupiers" takes one's breath away.

There must be a better way.

As I write, I hear Maya Angelou whispering in my ear with a recipe for us to consider, "We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
author and founder
Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies