08/26/2026
Frederick Buechner said if he only had two words to say they’d be, “Pay Attention.” That’ll preach. We especially suffer when leaders can’t distinguish between their desires and observable reality. Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War 2500 years ago. His text is still required reading for military leaders. In it he writes, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." So, is this strategy, known for millennia, unknown to our political leaders? It seems like it. Troops die, countries are ruined and people in our world suffer unmitigated sorrow when our military history is ignored and leaders are unaware of the enemy’s motivations.
An unaware citizenry is also dangerous because it perpetuates divisions and hatred. What it doesn’t prevent is strong, uniformed opinions. We applaud things we don’t understand and insist on things that have never worked. Democracy is dependent upon educated citizens, civil discourse, unity of purpose and acceding to majority rule. Our principles are maintained best in a climate of kindness and humility and our purposes are enlightened by paying attention.
Admittedly, I am no expert, but I have had my boots on the ground in the Middle East and attended meetings where decisions are made. I have had years of military training – Air Command and Staff College, Air War College and many seminars. I spent a year in Iraq working on General Petraeus’ staff. I have close family members with Iraqi heritage, dear Jewish friends for over 60 years and I have never met an Iranian I didn't like. Yet, answering the conundrum of the Middle East, I’ve concluded, is totally in the hands of Arabs, Persians, Kurds and Israelis. Hatred, a lack of common sense and an inability to forgive explains much, but how to make things better seems outside the realm of Western thought. Hearts need to change but America is ill-equipped to do it. My prayer is we stop making it worse. I want to share my observations because they point to a course we rarely take, even though evidence has poured in for decades.
Two years before my first communion (Jewish friends think, “Bar Mitzvah”) Dwight D Eisenhower warned, “Beware of the Military Industrial Complex.” He knew. Militarily, he was arguably the most important person in the Allied victory of WWII. “We face a hostile ideology-global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method,” Ike said. Yet, in the less than 10 minute farewell address Eisenhower worried our government could be coopted by powerful industrial merchants at the neglect of our social contract with the world and our own impoverished citizens. I wonder what he would have thought of our 2025 Military budget of $954 billion – almost twice as much as China and Russia combined. The proposed $1.5 trillion for 2027 would be shocking to him. The fact that powerful corporations have no limit on the money they can spend to sway politicians is worse than he could have imagined.
It appears Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon didn’t heed the warning. Ike’s small contribution to the anti-communists in Vietnam became a catastrophic war costing over 50-thousand American lives, doubling the national debt and tearing at the social fabric of our nation. Our violence against the Vietnamese cost hundreds of thousands of their lives, poisoned their beautiful land and made the outcome much worse than it would have been if we stayed out. We should have paid attention to the French leaving and left well-enough alone.
A few years back, I visited a shop in Hanoi run by mangled women. They were suffering from the effects of Agent Orange. We also visited a museum named for “The War of American Aggression.” Some wounds never heal but I’m thankful for the kindness showed by a forgiving people, much more interested in having a prosperous nation than rehashing old grievance. They have a knack for capitalism, although they are listed as a “Communist” country.
Jimmy Carter’s high IQ, attendance at The Naval Academy, and Christian willingness to pay the price for peace made his tenure as Commander and Chief far better for our world and our troops. He was willing to risk not being re-elected to spare thousands of our troops from a war against Iran. He could do the math – 66 Americans were captured; thousands of lives would have been on the line. He was right – the math would never add up, and, of course, they gave our hostages back. Had we thoughtfully considered why the Iranians were angry with us in the first place, perhaps, our fragile ego wouldn’t have felt as bruised. The crowd called out for vengeance -- the whole Middle East cries out, "Vengeance lasts forever." Thank God, there was a Sunday School teacher from Plains, Georgia paying attention!
Carter’s miraculous work, however, was bringing Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin together at Camp David. Those talks led directly to the ending of three decades of war and establishing a normal relationship between Israel and Egypt. The peace still holds today! Our country has never been as instrumental in the Middle East as it was under Carter. Graciously, the Norwegians also brought the Oslo Peace Accord to fruition, getting Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin to shake hands and work for peace.
When Jimmy Carter died, his dedication to world peace and the world’s impoverished was clear. Anwar Sadat’s commitment, likewise, was evident when he died at the hands of his own troops. Yitzhak Rabin, also was assassinated at the hands of an Israeli extremist, after a Peace rally in Tel Aviv. When hate is great Peacemakers pay a big price. The reward, however, is thousands of innocents are spared and the world ends up a more peaceful place.
President Reagan took a different approach in Lebanon. He sent in the Marines. His noble purpose, getting PLO, Syrian and Israeli troops out of Lebanon so the Lebanese could restore stability, didn’t change the disastrous outcome. He didn’t understand Carter’s magic or the hatred Hezbollah has for US troops. 241 Marines were lost in a bombing. We never went back, and Hezbollah is still there causing mayhem.
I will forever be grateful for George H.W. Bush’s and Norman Schwarzkopf’s restraint in the 100-hour, First Gulf War. I was working in an airplane hangar set-up as a hospital, prepared to receive over 400 patients a day. Thankfully, they never came. I was able to go home early. They understood our capabilities and the motivations of our enemies. They did the job, packed up and went home.
It is hard for me to understand why Bill Clinton, after our loss in Beirut, would send barely protected troops to Mogadishu. How did he not realize there would be Muslim fighters willing to die for the opportunity to kill Americans? Once again, we hightailed it out of there after the loss of 19 troops, but al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, is still there waring against the Somalian people.
When I was working for Air Intelligence I was sent to a seminar in the DC Area. It was a long weekend, and I was placed in a small group that included 2 of the 7 famous rebels from Cashmere. I had never heard of them but my Muslim cohort let me know – they’re a big deal. It was after the first Gulf War. They were not upset about the war. They knew we were protecting the Islamic country of Kuwait. They roiled because we embarrassed Muslim men. When videos of Iraqi troops surrendering in mass went around the world, shame came with it. So, our kindest act – disarming troops, taking them off the battlefield and giving them more food than they’d had in weeks was the worst thing we could do!? I blanched at the alternative but I was picking-up on a mindset far different than my own. BTW, when traveling through Kuwait in 2006 on my way to Iraq, they wouldn’t let use their airport buildings – no Kuwaiti sandwiches between flights. We had to stay on the dark side of the airport using trailer outhouses. They didn’t want Kuwaitis offended by our presence…sheesh!
I had two, good Muslim friends in Iraq. One was the Iraqi general that sat behind General Petraeus at our daily Battlefield Updates. Petraeus turned to him to get the Iraqi perspective. I sat behind him at the update, and when I led out in Sunday prayer I would always pray for the Iraqi people and for peace with our enemies. We became good friends. He would invite me into his office for baklava and soda. I gave him a half a dozen car seats inexplicably sent to our Base Exchange. I felt privileged to sponsor his son to a university in Texas. Anyway, he told me why America couldn’t win a victory in Iraq. He put it this way, “When your troops catch someone doing something wrong they need to build a scaffold and hang him in that exact spot – the NEXT day.” He said taking them off to await trial was nonsensical in Iraq – nobody would learn anything.
My friend Waafa attended my weekly Sabbath services. She was a translator and had lived in Baghdad her entire life. She had an enlightening metaphor, “You cannot tell an Iraqi what to do and keep your gun in your holster.” To underline her point, when I first got to Iraq, I was billeted in an Officer’s Tent. KBR accidentally put a young enlisted guy in there with us. He shared stories of the happenings in Baghdad. One of his jobs was literally riding shot gun on a truck with Iraqi workers. One day his driver headed for our dump – unauthorized because we were afraid identifying markers, like addresses, etc. might put Service Member families at risk. The sergeant told the driver to turn around. No response. The truck continued to speed to the dump. The driver was not dissuaded by the sergeant’s commands. Only when the driver jumped out of the truck and headed for the heap, did our tentmate chambered a round in his M-16. There’s no mistaking that sound. Immediately, the Iraqi worker raised up his hands, apologized and got back in the truck.
At a Battlefield Update, we heard the story of a man who drove his car up to a government building. When he got out, he left two young children in the backseat. That was enough to put the guard at ease and not take the normal security precautions. When the car bomb exploded not only were the kids killed but several people in the area were too. The man leaving the scene must have thought the children would go to Heaven and his enemies would go to Hell.
A few years back when Israel started bombing Lebanon again, I was staying with friends in Ohio. The mom was a Christian, born and raised in Lebanon. I felt privileged to get insights from someone who grew up there and still had family members in the country. So, I asked her thoughts. She said, "Hezbollah keep missiles in their garages..." She went on to say how terrifying it is to have Hezbollah as neighbors because of their singular focus – destroying Israel. Hezbollah (and Hamas) will tell you their minds are not going to change – the fight against Israel is to death and they will kill people who get in their way. I was surprised at her equilibrium over Israel’s bombing. But when one considers what it would be like to have Hezbollah living next door it makes more sense.
I know these things are anecdotal, yet they stand to reason – very few, if any, Americans will understand the mindset of radical Muslims in the Middle East (Israeli extremists either). I know many Americans of Middle Eastern heritage and their mindset is all-American. It isn’t nationality that makes us dangerous, it is what we think – and there are people of every nationality that are dangerous. But often Middle Eastern Muslims have an opposite view of our long-established Western perspective. The way to reach them is out of our purview. The West’s religious battles were centuries ago. We figured a way to not kill each other over religious views back in the 17th Century.
The Arab/Israeli conflict started when Sarah told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ismael. She wanted Isaac to be raised unperturbed – 4000 years ago. Middle Easterners know these 4000 years of history. They don’t let things go. In fact, we defeated the Iraqi Army in 3-weeks. We spent almost 9 years trying to keep them from killing each other! Why? Well, for one thing our president and his team hadn’t paid attention to the animosity between Sunni and Shia. They were sure Iraqis would hail us as liberators. They had little idea of the enemy’s mindset and, seemingly, no idea of our military capabilities.
Many Iraqis weren’t nearly as eager to be liberated as they were to even the score on a 1400 year-old schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Sunnis believe Mohammad’s mantle should be passed down to an elected leader; Shia insist it be a member of Mohammad’s family. 1400-hundred years of killing, without a let-up in sight! Our leaders never saw it coming, they hadn’t been paying attention. They knew what they wanted and went after it. They disregarded what was evident to Middle Easterners and advise given by Sun Tzu thousands of years ago.
It is also important to realize that after 9/11 our country attacked Iraq. A country thousands of miles away that had nothing to do with it! Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died, we gave a hegemony in the region to Iran, Iraq was ruined and thousands of our troops were lost. When I asked Waafa for the Baghdadi point of view she said, “Many think we were better off under Saddam Hussein.” One might understand why Middle Easterners might take umbrage at Americans giving advice on military tactics. On October 7th, 2023 1200 Israelis were killed, a far larger proportion of Israel’s population than the 3000 we lost on 9/11 and 251 people were kidnapped by a people sharing their border. Is it our place to judge the toughness of their response?
I also believe we should give military equipment and non-combatant assistance for Israel’s defense. I have several reasons for thinking this, among them:
1) There are no Jebusites today – this was the tribe Israel defeated to make Jerusalem “The City of David.”
2) Long before barriers were built around the West Bank there were terrorist strikes in Israel.
3) Israel is surrounded by enemies.
4) Antisemitic behavior has caused horrors. This is not ancient history. Six million Jews were killed shortly before my birth – Jews should never be without a homeland. Every Palestinian has a national heritage – Israeli, Jordanian, Syrian, Iraqi, etc. All should have a home to go to.
5) I love the contributions Jews have made to Western Civilization.
Of course, there are far-right Jews who keep horror alive too – I don’t know what to do about them anymore than I know what to do about the Sunni/Shia split. I know there are more people like Rabin, Arafat, and Sadat. They are going to have to figure this out.
I’m advocating these measures because we have killed thousands and failed every, single time. The leaders who’ve paid attention have sought peace without troops on the ground. They were the only ones successful in my lifetime.
One of the things I learned in Air War College is 70% of Iranians are young. Our culture, and their culture before the late 1970’s, appeals to most young Iranians. We’ve probably ruined our advantage by attacking them and threatening to destroy the entire Persian culture – the wondrous Persian culture! Our one big advantage has been blown because somebody didn’t pay attention to the fact that people hate it when you want to destroy them and disrespect their ancient culture. Muslims call us “The Great Satan.” I can understand where they’re coming from. If friends, family and my children were dying at the hands of an outside force I would have hard feelings too.
Presently, our President has spent the lives of our troops, billions upon billions of dollars, and made enemies of our allies, as our actions have raised the cost of everything they do – all to be in a battle that history shows cannot and will not be won. We never, ever win these battles. Every bit of concrete evidence, since WWII shows us this.
The Iranians will not surrender.
1) We always leave. They know they can wait us out – they’ve been paying attention.
2) The majority of Americans don’t want to be there.
3) Iran’s leaders and religion glorifies death on the battlefield. It is a direct passage to Heaven.
4) The leadership would rather have their people eat dirt than give in to “The Great Satan.”
Stay tuned. Pay attention. Our President wants to build a nuclear plant in Saudi Arabia. Natural gas in Saudi Arabia is practically free. They don’t need nuclear power for energy. Then what do they need it for? My answer to that would be speculative. There’s no question, however, about what we know – 19 of the 20 hijackers from 9/11 were Saudis, so is the bin Laden family. The terrorists who exploded the Khobar Towers, killing 19 Airmen, were Saudis. Our intelligence community determined Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Yes, the same Crown Prince that gave Jared Kushner $2 billon, in investment money. Does greed make one’s thinking so dense it is unaware of the reality around it?
Clearly, to “seek peace and pursue it” won’t always work in the Middle East. But it is the only thing we’ve done, that didn’t make the situation worse.
Part of her Hidden Treasures concert, filmed for broadcast by CBS i...
