Francis Report 12-21
Dave Francis
Dave Francis on a bridge spanning the Seine in Paris.
-St. Petersburg, Russia: What next? The war in Afghanistan is almost over. The USA has achieved a number of it’s goals, and a few things have happened that may be more important than the impending destruction of al Qaeda and the removal of the Taliban.
I know we aren’t done yet, and the really important war is out there beyond the borders of Afghanistan, but if we keep our current attitude, and continue to pursue this war with the seriousness it deserves, it is well on its way to being over. US secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld has warned NATO allies that they should be prepared for possible devastating attacks on their largest cities. These attacks, according to Rumsfeld, could be chemical, biological, or even nuclear and facilitated by cruise missiles.
The USA went to war, and did it seriously. Not with a harsh, shrill scream like you hear about ‘intifada’, nor with the willful lack of purpose evident in some of our other military responses recently, but in a cold, calm, calculated manner that has been noticed in the seats of power around the world.
The Arab street is noticeably quiet. Iran has quietly retired its objections; even Saudi Arabia has begun to soften on its stance regarding USA military moves beyond Afghanistan. Turkey has openly, bravely offered to help the USA if Iraq is our next target. Turkey’s defense minister, Sebahattin Cakmakoglu said, "We have several times said that we don't wish an operation in Iraq, but new conditions would bring new evaluations to our agenda." In private, Turkey has agreed to allow the US to use its bases for an assault on Iraq.
What this teaches us is something we have known for a long time. Nothing succeeds like success. We may never be loved on the streets of Baghdad or Damascus, so we damn well need to be feared. To be scorned and discounted as weak is dangerous. George Bush has moved the US into it’s obvious place in the world, as the last remaining superpower, and contrary to the lessons that Afghanistan may have thought it learned against a tired, weakened Soviet Union in the 80’s, no rag-tag group of zealots can defeat a superpower, unless the superpower cooperates.
Does anyone remember all the dire predictions before we went in? The British couldn’t do it, the Soviets couldn’t. The landscape was impossible, the Afghan fighters fearless and undefeatable.
The US lost one life in combat, and that wasn’t in combat, but in a role of interrogating prisoners.
The difference in US military might and the rest of the world is larger than anything that has ever been seen before. America is not only a super-power; we are capable of exercising our will on other countries with minimal effort.
Security was tight at the Eiffel Tower and other tourist attractions.
Thank God for our allies, for Pakistan, England, and Russia’s assistance, among others. Truth is though, had we had no help, the result would have been roughly the same.
Now, the mopping up is being done, and apparently the British have volunteered to oversee the nation building in Afghanistan. It don’t get much better than this folks.
At the end of WWII, the USA provided a large amount of assistance to Europe, and to Russia. We did one thing that served us very well. We painted American flags on everything. No matter what Uncle Joe told the people in the old Soviet Union, they saw the jars the peanut butter came out of, the bags that held the flour, and to this day people remember that. We should do the same now. Give whatever assistance we are going to with a big flag emblazoned on it to the Brits to distribute while we go hunting.
That’s right, hunting. Right now, the time is ripe. If we continue the offensive, and it appears we will, you will find regimes around the world that have been hostile to the US lining up to support us. To be sure, there will be screaming and yelling, complaints about the US abusing it’s power, about the danger we are placing ourselves in by taking these terror-sponsoring regimes on, but the New York Times always complains.
Coming back to Russia from the US, I flew into Frankfurt and rented a car. From there, I drove around southern Europe for a while. I spent time in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and lastly Estonia before coming back to St. Petersburg. I did all this overland, and spent time with the locals, talking to them, getting the feel of the people as I went.
In Rome, by the Colliseum.
Dave at the Vatican.
Americans are now warned to not be obviously American as you travel. We are advised to try to blend in, and appear European. (I guess that means we shouldn’t shower when in France….) I didn’t care much for that idea, so I went the opposite route. I wore a handkerchief in my sport-coat that was USA flag-style, and I wore a red-white-and-blue ribbon on my lapel. I also wore a cowboy hat, so I don’t think many people mistook me for being Flemish. I had no negative reaction. None.
I did see t-shirts on sale in Germany that said ‘Ich bin Ein (then an American flag.)’. I had several people comment on how sad they were about what happened to the US on Sept. 11th. I had many people tell me they were glad to see the US fight back.
The people in Europe are tired of terrorists. They have suffered longer and more directly from them than we in the US have. The governments of Europe may not get it yet, but the people do.
Estimates are that 70,000 to 80,000 people moved through al-Qaeda training camps. That means there are a lot of them still out there, maybe as sleeper cells, waiting to be activated. Intelligence gathering to find and destroy them is vital to the west’s efforts.
According to Russian news reports, Nikolai Patrushev, head of the FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, said counterintelligence officers caught 10 foreigners in the act of spying in Russia this year and interrupted intelligence operations by Iran, North Korea, China, Israel, Kuwait, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia among others. He also mentioned that cooperation between the US and Russia has improved since Sept. 11th. This has been a dramatic change, since earlier in the year the US and Russia took turns expelling 50 diplomats each in a spying dispute. The flurry was begun after FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for Moscow. Shortly thereafter, US Fullbright scholar Johnathon Tobin was arrested in eastern Russia on charges of spying for the US. He was released and repatriated to the US in August.
On an island north of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean there is a scene being played out that is of interest. Reports say about 100 armed men, mainly white, English speaking, some masked, have landed and begun taking over. They have seized the offices of the police and army on the tiny island of Moheli, one of the islands making up the nation of Comoran. The men have handed out pamphlets saying that they are US troops and are here to continue the battle against terrorism. The pamphlets further state that the head of state for Comoran, Colonel Azali Assoumani has been aiding terrorists, according to a telephone call from Moheli by former Prime Minister Mohammed Hosonari. Telephone links to the island were cut shortly after reports began filtering out on Wednesday. Identity of the troops has not been verified.
Large caches of weapons from China have been found in Tora Bora caves by US officials. This evidence, coupled with the confirmed deaths of several Chinese soldiers fighting alongside the Taliban, including 15 who were part of the security contingent of Basir al Masri, one bin Ladin’s chief lieutenants, and commander of the Arab contingent in Jalalabad point to China’s underhanded support of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Princess Baniah al Saud, a niece of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was arrested and charged with beating her Indonesian maid by an Orange county court. The US is resisting Saudi attempts to claim diplomatic immunity for the princess, who has not been traveling in the US on any recognized diplomatic mission. She could face 15 years in prison if convicted. She was released by a court in Orlando Florida on $2500 dollars bond.
In closing, if you find yourself in Demre, Turkey, farming community of about 15,000 on the Mediterranean, you will see a black statue of a bearded man with a sack over his shoulder. At his feet sit four children. Behind the statue are the ruins of an ancient church, the site of a theft more than 1000 years ago. In 1087 grave-robbers came to this village and stole the bones of the saint who was buried there. They now reside at St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari, Italy.
It was in the 4th century that the man depicted in the statue, a kind bishop named Nicholas, lived his life, performing so many good deeds he was eventually named a saint. Afterwards, his fame spread, as St. Nick, or Father Christmas, or to the Muslim world, Noel Baba.
On the anniversary of his death, December 6th, about 3000 children came here to the church and were treated to a day of tasty treats and otherwise rare joys for the children of this poor community.
St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, pirates, judges, prisoners, pawnbrokers, scholars, virgins, but mainly of children. Popular legend has it that a man was going to have to sell his three daughters into slavery because he could not provide a dowry for them. The good bishop, upon hearing this climbed onto the roof at night and dropped three sacks of gold down the chimney, one of which was caught in one of the young girls stockings, which had been hung to dry at the fireplace.
Merry Christmas to all, from The Francis Report.
Dave Francis