More Questions for Secretary Rumsfeld

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld has given the American people a clear view of the current U.S. foreign policy. For that, we should be extremely grateful to the concerned citizen who leaked the now infamous, memo. If only more information would be provided to the American people, we might be a little better off. What we need is a new awakening of the populace where a greater number of people begin to realize the extent of malfeasance in every quasi-socialist government action. We must examine anew our foreign policy, our monetary policy, and the rules and regulations concerned with resource utilization, commercial exchange, and banking. A careful look must be taken at our total expenditures and our current sources of revenue. We would be best served by an educational cost-benefit analysis, as well as an insistence that "free trade" is really free trade. And thus, we have a long way to go.

We must begin with our foreign policy where I have a few more questions for Mr. Rumsfeld:

Can we get confirmation on how many "private" foundations the USG has created?

Can we get a national referendum on the "long, hard slog" ahead?

Is the USG response to everything and anything that may arise to create a "new institution"?

Great new slogan for the USG? "The harder we work, the behinder we get."

"Cost of billions"…but "we are just getting started," and have not "yet made truly bold moves"…uh oh.

"Have we fashioned the right mix of rewards, amnesty, protection and confidence in the US?" Our heavy artillery in the war against terror?

"Sensible, logical moves in the right direction." Yup, that's dear old Uncle Sam.

New standard of assessment in Terror war? "Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?" No, in fact, you are increasing the number and radical component with every "sensible, logical move."

Lew Rockwell recently hit the nail on the top of the head. "Here we have the Secretary of Defense admitting that he doesn't know if the US government is winning or losing the war on terror, and, more pointedly, admitting that u2018we lack the metrics' to know. u2018Is our current situation such that the harder we work, the behinder we get?' There you have it: a typical government program. Hundreds of billions down the drain, and nothing to show for it but confusion." Later in the memo, Rumsfeld asks "Do we need a new organization?" Rockwell concludes, "in a word, yes, and it shouldn't be government."

I hope, at the very least, the troops are enjoying their Hershey Pies over at the Burger King in the Baghdad airport. It's the only sweet taste in sight.

If Secretary Rumsfeld's memo is the depth of thought, the height of thinking outside the box, and the best the USG can offer, I have a few more questions for the secretary and his boss…

Is our every action and reaction causing an increase in terror activity?

Is the private production of defense the best route for completing our goals of security?

Could the money being spent best put toward another use? With less drastic consequences? Would the money remaining in the pocket of the taxpayer be the best outcome?

Can the American people protect themselves? Don't they anyway?

Aren't the police nothing but lousy investigators ex post crime? When was the last time you heard of a policeman preventing an actual crime? In the best case, aren't they just a mechanism for revenue collection and an unnecessary interference in the lives of citizens, who for the most part, are minding their own business?

Does the money and military arsenal we provide to nations around the world have anything to do with our current instability?

Does the confusion and complexity of our system of laws and regulations correlate with the increased lack of respect for morality and differentiation between right and wrong?

When these questions are answered, perhaps I would have a greater appreciation for our system of governance.

November 1, 2003