Barrack Obama during his first Presidential election campaign
Seven years ago a young fellow called Barrack Obama was running for President. One of the cornerstones of his campaign was a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, which he called “a dumb war”.
In that much he was right. It was a dumb war, instigated by the dumb American and British politicians who preceded him and who had the deceit and arrogance to lie to their electorates in order to manufacture an excuse to invade that country.
It was always destined to be a disaster. Once Saddam had been eliminated there was no strong leader to hold Iraq together. He may have been a monster, no one is arguing he wasn’t, but without him, or someone like him, things have far from improved. That is just the harsh reality, like it or not.
Seven years ago Obama had no moral objection to the fact that a withdrawal of the occupying forces in Iraq might leave the way open to civil war and genocide. In fact to quote him from that period he said, “[If] that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven’t done.”
He could have said the same about many other countries in the world where civil strife raged.
So today the speeches laden with moral indignation, telling the world that he has ordered military action in Iraq “to prevent a potential act of genocide,” ring mightily hollow.
It would be much better if Obama came clean.
I know it’s a bit of a reach for a politician to start telling the truth, but it would help.
Obama needs to tell the world that he will clean up the mess he and his predecessors made. He needs to admit that the “sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq” that he said he had left behind, when U.S. troops pulled out, was a dream that has deteriorated into a nightmare. And he needs to remove the advisors who prompted him to compare ISIS to a junior varsity basketball team when he was interviewed on the subject in January this year. That was just another thing they got completely and tragically wrong.
Yes, I’m asking for a bit of honesty and humility, that’s all.
What I’m hearing instead, however, is more claptrap and confusion.
Vice President Joe Biden is telling everyone that the U.S. “will follow ISIS to the gates of hell”, while other senior Obama Administration officials are assuring us that America is, “not launching a sustained US campaign against ISIS…”
Journalist James Foley minutes before he was beheaded by ISIS terrorists
Conflicting statements like those, in the face of the continuing barbaric beheadings of men, women and even children, and other heinous crimes committed by these despicable and godless terrorists, will hardly strike fear into them. Perhaps the strategy is to have them so helpless with laughter that they cannot continue fighting?
Winston Churchill once said, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
After all this time and after all these failed initiatives we must be getting closer to doing the right thing – surely???
And remember if you get stuck you can find all the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: George Washington was the first President of the United States of America, who was the second?
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Q. 2: Barbie’s friend Ken has a last name, what is it?
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Q. 3: Most of us have played the board game “Monopoly”, but can you name the six tokens available to the players? (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 4: Which capital city is also the name of a very hot spice used in the kitchen?
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Q. 5: American writer Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel called “I Am Legend” was adapted for a movie of the same name in 2007 starring Will Smith. But this was the third adaptation of the novel, what were the first two and what were the names of the actors in the starring roles? (A point for the name of each movie and further points if you can name the starring actors.)
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Q. 6: The world was declared safe from which virus in 1979, after it had killed more than one billion people?
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Q. 7: What is the second highest mountain in the world?
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Q. 8: Which famous World War II general, who just before retreating from the Philippines in 1942 said, “We shall return”?
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Q. 9: Which Colombian city was notorious for being the center of the cocaine smuggling business, the drug cartel responsible even taking the name?
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Q. 10: Which island did Turkish troops invade in 1974?
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Q. 11: The 25th President of the USA had the highest peak in North America named after him, what was his name?
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Q. 12: Who was the British actress who starred in the epic movie “Gone With The Wind” and what part did she play? (A point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 13: What was the name of the national airline of Belgium that operated from 1923 until bankruptcy forced its cessation in 2001?
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Q. 14: Much in the news currently, what is the capital city of Ukraine?
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Q. 15: Josip Broz led the Communist partisans to victory against foreign occupation forces in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. By what name was he later better known?
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Q. 16: What was the name of the seafaring people based in Scandinavia, who raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands, from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries?
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Q. 17: What is the name of the Japanese delicacy consisting of very fresh raw meat or fish sliced into thin pieces?
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Q. 18: Which Russian word meaning “Speaking Aloud” was a policy of Mikhail Gorbachev in order to liberalize various aspects of Soviet life?
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Q. 19: Who was the South African surgeon who carried out the first heart transplant operation?
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Q. 20: Which famous singer songwriter and guitarist from the 1950s had his most famous hit, and only number one recording, in the 1970s with his ding-a-ling?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: George Washington was the first President of the United States of America, who was the second?
A. 1: John Adams.
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Q. 2: Barbie’s friend Ken has a last name, what is it?
A. 2: It’s Carson, the little dude’s full name is Ken Carson!
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Q. 3: Most of us have played the board game “Monopoly”, but can you name the six tokens available to the players? (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)
A. 3: The Monopoly tokens are a Battleship, a Boot, a Dog, a Flat Iron, a Racing Car, and a Top Hat.
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Q. 4: Which capital city is also the name of a very hot spice used in the kitchen?
A. 4: Cayenne (French Guyana).
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Q. 5: American writer Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel called “I Am Legend” was adapted for a movie of the same name in 2007 starring Will Smith. But this was the third adaptation of the novel, what were the first two and what were the names of the actors in the starring roles? (A point for the name of each movie and further points if you can name the starring actors.)
A. 5: The first big screen adaptation of the novel was “The Last Man on Earth” (1964) which starred Vincent Price, and the second adaptation was “The Omega Man” (1971) starring Charlton Heston.
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Q. 6: The world was declared safe from which virus in 1979, after it had killed more than one billion people?
A. 6: Smallpox.
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Q. 7: What is the second highest mountain in the world?
A. 7: Located Pakistan, “K2” (also known as Chhogori/Qogir, Ketu/Kechu, and Mount Godwin-Austen) is the second-highest mountain in the world with a peak elevation of 6,811 meters (28,251 feet).
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Q. 8: Which famous World War II general, who just before retreating from the Philippines in 1942 said, “We shall return”?
A. 8: General Douglas MacArthur.
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Q. 9: Which Colombian city was notorious for being the center of the cocaine smuggling business, the drug cartel responsible even taking the name?
A. 9: Medellin, now thankfully a much more peaceful place.
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Q. 10: Which island did Turkish troops invade in 1974?
A. 10: Cyprus.
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Q. 11: The 25th President of the USA had the highest peak in North America named after him, what was his name?
A. 11: William McKinley.
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Q. 12: Who was the British actress who starred in the epic movie “Gone With The Wind” and what part did she play? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 12: Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O’Hara.
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Q. 13: What was the name of the national airline of Belgium that operated from 1923 until bankruptcy forced its cessation in 2001?
A. 13: Best known internationally by the acronym Sabena (SABENA), which is the answer I’m looking for, it was The Societé Anonyme Belge d’Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne, or Belgian Corporation for Air Navigation Services.
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Q. 14: Much in the news currently, what is the capital city of Ukraine?
A. 14: Kiev.
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Q. 15: Josip Broz led the Communist partisans to victory against foreign occupation forces in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. By what name was he later better known?
A. 15: President Tito.
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Q. 16: What was the name of the seafaring people based in Scandinavia, who raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands, from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries?
A. 16: They were called Vikings or Norsemen, take a point if you gave either answer.
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Q. 17: What is the name of the Japanese delicacy consisting of very fresh raw meat or fish sliced into thin pieces?
A. 17: Sashimi. (Not Sushi, which includes cooked vinegared rice.)
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Q. 18: Which Russian word meaning “Speaking Aloud” was a policy of Mikhail Gorbachev in order to liberalize various aspects of Soviet life?
A. 18: Glasnost.
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Q. 19: Who was the South African surgeon who carried out the first heart transplant operation.
A. 19: Dr Christian Barnard.
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Q. 20: Which famous singer songwriter and guitarist from the 1950s had his most famous hit, and only number one recording, in the 1970s with his ding-a-ling?
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