Third Saturday Seminar 2010-2011
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom
 Session 07

The abrupt interruption of the news cycles and the sudden appearance of exuberant masses at the Whitehouse, college campuses etc. was a clear indication, the news of the termination of Osama bin Laden must mean something to a great many people.  Pundits of every stripe and persuasions are opportunistically trying to put meaning to every little thing. 

Many Media networks are taking the opportunity to review to drag out whatever footage they have of training to be a Navy SEAL, which I had experienced first hand in 1963.

The Christie, the Korean lady who runs the delicatessen in the building where I spend a lot of time and knew I had been a SEAL congratulated me for the accomplishment of our SEALS and then through her hands up and said “What took you so long?”

I call all these symptoms  “The bin Laden Effect.” 

But what does it mean.  I have lots of ideas (not surprising) but, we would really like to hear from a number of you, my fellow seminarians to see what “the end of the age of bin Laden” means to you.
Were you really afraid that al Qaida would attack you in your sleep?
Did thoughts of bin Laden occupy your waking hours?  Emotions?  Fear? Hate? Curiosity

Impact of al Qaida on you and yours and your neighborhood

What does the future hold?
To help your Memory try this link:

Timeline: Osama bin Laden, his life and death

Sun, May 8 2011

(Reuters) – Here is a list of milestones in the life of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan this week:

1957 – Osama bin Mohammad bin Awad bin Laden was born in Riyadh, one of more than 50 children of a millionaire businessman. There are conflicting accounts of his precise date of birth.

Sources: Reuters; open-source material; Steve Coll: “The Bin Ladens”

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/08/us-binladen-qaeda-events-idUSTRE74530C20110508

The Cover of TIME

Time magazine cover of Osama bin Laden in Times Square looks odd
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/03/time-magazine-cover.html

Obama on Time cover 1 October 2001
http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/2001/1101011001_400.jpg
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20011001,00.html

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/05/sneak-peak-time-magazine-cover-bin.html

Everybody’s favorite question is: With bin Laden dead, will we be safer or will things be worse? (Do I dare say “Mission Accomplished!”)

One expert says al Qaida is now headless (and toothless), and the Secretary of State says we have to be even more vigilant!  Which is it?

The real answer is Nothing Really Changes. (Unfortunately)

The death of a star player will not cause the NFL to go out of business.  There is just too many interests, some conflicting, and too much  money in play on all sides of the Middle East Situation for those at the controls to bring these ships of state into port.  As a bonus, our captains of finance and industry and their toadies in Wall Street and Washington helped cause  the Great Recession and now it’s aftershocks which deepen the depths to which the good workers and honest middle class of the world will be driven as they try to satisfy an insatiable monster that demands  more and more of their diminishing personal resources.

Throw into this mix, a world of poorly educated, angry and exploited citizens who are being fed a plethora of Religious, Racial and Ethnic narratives intended nurture hate to block mutual respect amongst all peoples by a limitless supply of institutional and self-appointed leaders of  Religions, political and economic factions that have twisted their core philosophies to purposes exactly the opposite purposes to those for which they were created. (and they call it compassion, justice, stability).

Furthermore at the same time, we see an information and youth driven force at work in the Middle East and North Africa who wants the same civil liberties that most of us in the West enjoy so they can realize their own potential and the promises they feel should be naturally available to them in a modern, peaceful, free world.

Every crime is the product of Means, Motive, and Opportunity.  Means and Motive are freely available to the determined.  The only thing that will provide real security is when individuals are no longer motivated to commit acts of violence.

Of course those who presently hold the power and all it benefits and wealth in those countries, don’t, with very few exceptions, see any way it is possible for them to share with their citizens.  Further, many of those in power have been stewards of Western Interests in their countries since the end of WWI.  When those rulers are deposed there are some very, very real problems that will threaten those within the countries and well as outside interests, without some sort of enlightened authority and a population that is willing to respect it.

Way Forward:

What I suggest is that for the time being we need to think about how we have allowed  an otherwise unremarkable religious/nationalist extremest,  to dominate our lives and economy.  Where the very whisper of, “bin Laden” or al Qaida has been enough to panic our leaders to think of a even higher state of alert that we can can raise the country to, and what new inconvenience can they impose on innocent citizens, instead of improving their own performance.

Sure bin Laden or his surrogates or franchisees have, in several criminal terror attacks, even on our own embassies, one of our naval combatant ships, a train in Spain and of course the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, doing billions of dollars in damage and killing thousands of people, not to mention the devastation experienced by their families, friends and neighbors.

And we are aware that there was a loose connection between al Qaida and the Taliban, but they have have different interests.  Al Qaida has many foreigners and they are committed to the oppression (purification) of the world through terror.  The Taliban are Afghans who believe they are fighting to replace a corrupt government.

The interesting thing is that we were well-aware of bin Laden’s gang after the embassy bombings but somehow they continued on to the bombing of the Cole and 911.   The back story of the 911 hearings was that government agencies let territorial politics blind them to their mission, so the terrorists had luck on their side.  I’m not sure things are much better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_organizations.  There are easily hundreds if not thousands of groups here and around the world that call themselves freedom fighters, revolutionaries, terrorists, fundamentalists, nationalists, etc. etc.  They exiested long before bin Laden and will exist after him.

De Ja Vu All Over Again

(When I heard the news that was being leaked along with inane small talk by news anchors who had the news but were cautioned it was embargoed until the President could make his own announcement.  Rather than listen to more small talk, I knew that nobody knew any real details but that wouldn’t stop them from expounding on what they didn’t know much about;  so I went to bed,.  I figured by morning a reasonably coherently picture would be in the paper and the Sunday Morning broadcasts.  I was right. My thought was this is going to be really interesting.)

I was five years old when in August 1945 my Mom woke me up in the middle of the night to go outside and listen to the the pandemonium as the people of Acton, a farming community, where my family was vacationing in western Massachusetts celebrated the news that Japan has surrendered! The war was over!

We lived on the coast just outside of Boston, next to Fort Heath, a monster shore battery reminiscent of the Guns of Navarone and our house had black-out curtains so the U-boats could not use our lights to navigate by.  However, in reality we were a long way away from most of the war, so my young life was pretty normal.  I’m sure I was told “repeatedly there was a war on.”  But to me I’m sure life wasn’t very fearful.

It seems to me that I enjoyed the fireworks and made an honest attempt to get into the spirit of things and cheer. And then went to back to bed

But, somehow I think that the death of Osama  bin laden should not have the impact that VJ day brought to the country after 4 years of war.

Whatever you want to call the last 10 – 20 years it has not been a real war.  In a real war, millions are killed and territories change hands.  Something is accomplished or resolved.  There were 60 million casualties in WW II for example and some territories did change hands and there was a crushing debt to be paid off.  Hitler died.  The Emperor Hirohito did not.  We started the Cold War to keep the money flowing.

What we have now is different.  We need a new term for this kind of conflict (Gang warfare?).  We have been able to squander trillions, but with far fewer casualties than a real war.  Our military future thinkers want to take it a step further with more high tech highly equipped special operations troops (Like SEALS) and more remotely operated machines of war which will cost more with fewer American casualties.

For those that like to Read Ahead, may I offer the following:

First, an Introduction to Major General Smedley Butler (War is a Racket) who in the 1930’s was as well known as and as popular as Colin Powell.

Then there are a number of links to articles and videos that were contemporary with the event  and very germain to our discussion in the session.  Pick one or two and absorb them and bring the ideas to the meeting.

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

He joined the Marine Corps when the Spanish American War broke out, earned the Brevette Medal during the Boxer Rebellion in China, saw action in Central America, and in France during World War I was promoted to Major General. Smedley Butler served his country for 34 years, yet he spoke against American armed intervention into the affairs of sovereign nations.  He was awarded two congressional medals of honor: Capture of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914, Capture of Ft. Riviere, Haiti, 1917

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4377.htm

Smedley Butler on Interventionism
— Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

“War is just a racket. 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 masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

…

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm

“War is a Racket” by Major General Smedley Butler
After he retired from the Marine Corps, Gen. Butler made a nationwide tour in the early 1930s giving his speech “War is a Racket”. The speech was so well received that he wrote a longer version as a small book with the same title that was published in 1935 by Round Table Press, Inc., of New York. (Wikipedia)

You can find the text of the booklet here: http://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/tag/osama-bin-laden/

The reckoning: Assessing the economic toll of Osama bin Laden
By William Brangham, May 6, 2011 video (8:19 minutes)

In 2004, with U.S. forces engaged in two simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Osama bin Laden boasted that he was “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” Bin Laden has said he was applying one of the lessons he learned fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s: a small force couldn’t defeat a superpower in head-on combat, but they could bleed that superpower economically. Bin Laden is now dead, but the economic damage wrought by his 9/11 attack on America continues to spiral upwards. While there’s no way to calculate the emotional toll of 9/11 on the victims’ families (and on all of us), we can consider the financial toll that attack has taken on the U.S. Need to Know economics correspondent Stacey Tisdale provides a tally.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/economy/video-the-reckoning-assessing-the-economic-toll-of-osama-bin-laden/9160/

Bin Laden is dead, but jihadism lives on
Bernard Haykel May 6, 2011 (video 7:55 minutes)

Once the news of Osama bin Laden’s death sank in, there was the fear that violence would follow. Is the big threat from what are known as “aspirational” terrorists, lone actors who might try to avenge the al Qaeda leader’s demise? Or, perhaps, would an attack be more organized? But organized by whom? What is a future al Qaeda likely to look like? Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, has been following the aftermath of bin Laden’s death by monitoring jihadi websites and the Arab press, and speaking to his contacts in the region. He spoke with Need to Know’s Alison Stewart about the remaining threat from jidahists around the globe.

Also find more PBS’ “Need to Know” about bin Laden, al Qaida, and the Middle East at:
Osama bin Laden, March 9, 1957 – May 2, 2011
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/tag/osama-bin-laden/

Bin Laden’s Death ‘Long In Coming (Audio 11 min 41 sec)
Lawrence Wright, May 02, 2011
…
“Bin Laden is not irrelevant,” he says. “He was important all along. Just the fact that he was able to elude capture or being killed for nearly a decade — or more than a decade, if you go back to the embassy bombings in 1998 when we first went after him — he’s been a symbol of resistance and of the failure of American policy to reach out and stop this kind of terror. It emboldened other imitators all around the globe. So getting bin Laden is immeasurably important.”
…
“He will continue to live as a potent symbol. There’s no question that he’s going to have an enduring appeal for a number of people — not just perhaps radical Muslims but other groups that will follow the template that al-Qaida created — that’s my main concern. Bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaida, eventually, will die. But the model that al-Qaida has created of an asymmetric terror group that has enormous consequences in the world well beyond the size of the group — that’s going to endure. Other groups are going to try and follow that model.”
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135917389/lawrence-wright-bin-ladens-death-long-in-coming

Backgrounder
Fighting for Bin Laden (53:46 minutes)
A special report — in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, FRONTLINE takes you inside two fronts of the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban
http://video.pbs.org/video/1908468892 (This will play, sorry about the Goldman Sachs Commercial at the start commercial)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/fighting-for-bin-laden/#ixzz1LhpkWGUi (I could not get this to play)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/fighting-for-bin-laden/

FRONTLINE  Kill/Capture

Inside the military’s secret campaign to take out Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters

http://video.pbs.org/video/1917910631


From last time, in case you didn’t read it.

10/17/09 Session 2 Dealing with Dictatorships  – and the book From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp (101 pages. Free download as PDF)

Current Events: As usual we will start out with current events

I think we will talk some about Mississippi.

America’s Achilles’ heel: the Mississippi River’s Old River Control Structure
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1801

The Control of Nature: ATCHAFALAYA
by John McPhee February 23, 1987Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146#ixzz1MgK1BxKf

Will the Mississippi River change its course in 2011 to the red line?
Produced by MappingSupport, Updated May 13, 2011
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/gmap4files/p/news/mississippi_course_change.txt&ll=30.417887,-91.201416&t=h&z=9&label=on
This may require the Google Earth Program installed on your machine to view which you can download free at http://www.google.com

The Lone  Star College Montgomery ALL Program:
Here are the A.L.L.Websites:
http://www.Lonestar.edu/ALL-Montgomery (A.L.L. classes) http://www.lonestar.edu/14613.htm
http://www.Lonestar.edu/Montgomery (map of campus and parking lots)

Third Saturday Seminar – This is the last session til September, 2011!
To refer to an ancient Chinese saying, our world is in interesting times and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around us.  Time will also be spent on current events. (Class will meet on    4/16, 5/21. Note that March date was adjusted for Spring Break). 5 Sessions. No fee.
Lone Star College -Montgomery B102
16637 Sa  5/21 9:30 a.m. – Noon


Come, join the discussion! Let’s see if there is hope!

Public Service Announcements:

Charlie Lindahl has been great about bringing Coffee from Starbucks.  Please thank him.

    Sometimes a carry box of coffee shows up but nothing is organized. There are three excellent sources of very good coffee not far the college.

        *     Starbucks on the north side of Hwy 242 just east of Woodforest Bank.
        *     Caffe’ Diem and/or Brooklyn Cafe, both on the south side in the College Park Plaza shopping center.
        *     There is also a McDonald’s on the south side east of the shopping center and next to the Tradition Bank.

    I will continue to bring donuts.

See you Saturday and Don’t Panic,

If you can’t make it have a great (and safe) summer.  See you in September.  Thanks for your support!


Curt Gibby
Director, Third Saturday Seminar
P. O Box 73207
Houston, Tx 77273

P.S. As usual if anything in this notice doesn’t make sense, please let me know. (You won’t be the first, I will appreciate it and say, “Thank you,” Curt)

Mobile

http://northstarinst.org/TSS/