(Senator Sam Nunn, D-GA)
As you may have gathered, things are a little bit nuts here today. While dealing with the aftermath of a particularly savage terror attack in Manhattan’s Lower West Side, the GOP is going to roll out their tax reform program that will only add $1.5 Trillion to the national debt.
No one seems to care much about that at the moment. We probably just forgot about it while we were doubling the debt in the last decade, and show no apparent desire to do anything about it but pile more on top. At some point the piper is going to have to be paid, right? We know that with a fir amount of confidence. We just don’t know when.
I know, I know. Unleash business by slashing the corporate rate. Half the people pay no taxes at all at the moment, with the top 10% of wage earners footing a little more than 70% of the net. How you can lower taxes without a disparate impact on that top ten beats me. So I suppose we will see a tussle about all that starting this morning.
The Halls of Congress will be jumping, and the US Senate in particular.
I know a little bit about that, having been a bit player in matters with a lot of moving parts.
Just after the conclusion of Operation DESERT STORM, I was working in the J-2 (intelligence) component of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon- essentially the Five-sided Adult Care Center division of the Defense Intelligence Agency. “Operation Haven” had been launched by the Brits to support Kurdish Refugees who were being scourged by a petulant Saddam, who viewed the Kurds as having a dream of a united homeland.
The 1991 uprising in northern Iraq resulted in an Iraqi military response against the rebels in both Northern and southern Iraq. Fearing a massacre similar to the one Saddam conducted in the 1988 Anfal campaign, millions of people were on the move, fleeing for safety in the north.
The U.S. was profoundly disinterested in taking any further action in the Gulf. I was personally in agreement with that view, but a humanitarian crisis was looming. The British Prime Minister’s lobbied hard for NATO support, leveraging US air support and logistics. Thus, our part of this was dubbed Operation PROVIDE COMFORT.
It was eventually deemed a successful operation, even though it initially appeared to be risky, given the climate of those times. The Coalition’s main task was to enter Northern Iraq, clear the designated area of the Iraqi threat and establish a safe environment for the Kurd refugees to return to their homes. The mission was both a military and humanitarian operation; once security had been established, supply and rebuilding of infrastructure could get underway.
The people who were going to authorize and appropriate the cash were interested, and inclined not to see things go south. Two Senators decided to go and see for themselves. Senator Carl Levin and Sam Nunn then requested a joint briefing on the current situation to support their trip. A Navy Captain named Tim L. from the J-3 (Ops) was tapped to present the plan and forces required. I was snagged to provide the current intelligence on the situation on the ground.
(Senator Carl Levin, D-MI)
We got a car and headed over to the Senate Russell Office building, and we were joined presently by Chairman Nunn and Senator Levin. Intelligence normally leads off and I was wrapping up the daily assessment when there was a mild flurry of activity at the rear of the hearing room, and a tall fellow I recognized as Al Gore bustled in.
He stopped as I concluded my remarks and leaned in close. “What about the Kurds in Syria?” he asked, sotto voce.
“We are here to provide information on PROVIDE COMFORT, Sir. I can say that we are not currently tracking activity against the Kurds outside Iraq.”
(Senator Al Gore, D-TN)
The Senator than marched to the dais and took his seat. Senators Nunn and Levin seemed familiar with how Mr. Gore operated. Time delivered the current Operational picture, and since the two had been able to ask questions and exchange views before Mr. Gore arrived. They were both engaged, courteous and professional. Senator Nunn looked over at Mr. Gore and invited him to ask any questions he might have.
“I have information that the Defense Intelligence Agency is ignoring a real humanitarian problem with the Kurds in Syria. The briefers are not prepared to answer my questions.” He glanced at a folder he had been carrying. I looked on in amazement, that I had personally been accused of unprofessional conduct, and slander about the Agency I was representing. I was so startled I was literally dumbstruck.
Having completed his set-piece- to what effect I don’t know, since there were only the five of us in the chamber at the time- gathered his papers, and strode out of the room at a brisk pace.
Tim and I were frozen by the outburst, but Senator Nunn seemed unflustered and returned to the matter at had. Senator Levin was representing Michigan at the time, and we got back to a discussion of Kurdish customs, preferences for statehood, and what a unified Kurdish state might be like. It was very collegial, and eventually Senator Nunn thanked us, but they could finish their preparations without us and cut us loose.
We gathered up our briefcases and made preparations to depart. I thanked Senator Levin for the privilege of being one of his constituents, for Senator Nunn’s service to the people of Georgia. Tim and I then left the room to try to find our driver and get back to the Pentagon in the gathering gloom. As soon as we were sure we were out of earshot in the hallway, Time turned to me and said: “What was that all about?”
“I don’t know. Some agenda, obviously, but I have no idea what it is about unless he is convinced there is a war in Syria.”
“I have another possibility,” he said. “He could just be a jerk.”
“I think you might be on to something, Captain.”
Copyright 2017 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com