Guest Post: Slight Of Hand At Work Again

Slight Of Hand At Work Again

Colonel Donald J. Myers USMC (Ret)

Magicians are famous for having your attention riveted in one area as they prepare to surprise you in another. The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus does the same as it focuses the spectators attention to a side ring while the main ring is setting up for one of the stars. Our military used these ploys very successfully during World War II when it established a fake army headed by general Patton in England. The ploy was to convince the Germans that the invasion of France would occur at Pas de Calais and cause the Germans to keep troops in that area and also not commit reserves in the rear areas. The main invasion at Normandy would have a better chance of success with a large portion of German troops waiting for an invasion at Pas de Calais. The ruse worked and the invasion at Normandy was successful. It was a close thing initially and those German troops at Pas de Calais and the reserve forces that include Panzer forces could have spelled defeat for the allies.

The United States has been negotiating with Iran for about ten years concerning nuclear weapons development. Those negotiations have been warm and cold, but mostly cold. Economic sanctions have been placed on Iran by most of the free world and they have caused significant hardship for the people, but the development of a nuclear bomb has not been deterred. Since 1 October 2013 most of the media attention has been on ObamaCare and its abysmal failure in signing up for that program. Almost little else has been in the news, but that does not mean newsworthy items have not been occurring.

The Syrian debacle has become back page stuff and President Assad of Syria has improved his position against the rebels. President Obama's pledge of action if the "Red Line" of chemical weapons usage was crossed by Assad  is yesterday's news. We totally backed off when Assad promised to get rid of his chemical weapons and our president took a deep breath of relief and agreed. Iran is a major supporter of Assad so it has gained more power in the Middle East along with Assad its client. Israel is deeply concerned with what has happened in Syria and with Iran continuing to develop a nuclear bomb. As all of this is happening, the United States and Iran are negotiating some type of deal that will cause the sanctions on Iran to be temporarily reduced as an incentive for Iran to reduce its development of a nuclear bomb. 

We have been down the same road with North Korea and provided it with food, oil and a nuclear reactor for conventional means. It did not work because North Korea continued to develop its nuclear program and now has nuclear bombs. We tried the carrot and stick approach on numerous occasions with North Vietnam and only once did it work and that was in the Christmas bombing on Hanoi by B52s. It was the stick and not the carrot that worked. WE also went down that road with Sadam Hussein in Iraq following the first Iraqi war. Will we never learn that trusting an untrustworthy individual is stupid? Remember, Prime Minister chamberlain returned from meeting with Hitler and touted "Peace in our time." That didn't last long.

I fear that before the end of the year, the United States will sign an agreement with Iran and President Obama will be hailed as a fantastic peacemaker. I can see the headlines now, "The president has shown that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize with this agreement that has escaped the grasp of so many nations." All else will be forgotten to include ObamaCare, Benghazi, IRS, NSA and all the other minor difficulties. Be prepared, the center ring is being organized.

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Donald J. Myers a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at dmyersusmc@aol.com.