CHALLENGING THE EYE CHART - MARINE STYLE
By Andy Weddington
Tuesday, 07 September 2021
"A M looks like F or B R I looks like O or D A"
That was mom reading a line during a recent eye exam.
" ... looks like F or B ... looks like O or D ... "
They did.
I was in the room with a completely different perspective and could not tell, either.
And still don't know if it was F or B or O or D because the technician said, "Good," and moved on.
Probably for so little else to occupy my brain, I have been thinking about all of mom's eye tests.
Her tired old eyes are still damn good without need for corrective lenses though sometimes she wears magnifiers - to clear up the F or B and O or D. That is, to see everything.
To analyze is first to see - clearly; everything.
To analyze is to not discount absurdity.
Every half-assed analyst knows any possibility can be off-handedly dismissed as impossible.
For sometimes absurdity is reality.
And reality is absurd.
What if U. S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller's recent scathing criticism, proffered on video and viral globally on social media, of senior leadership (Secretary of Defense and service chiefs) failing to accept accountability for the seemingly botched withdrawal from Afghanistan was all wrong?
Hold that absurd thought.
Yesterday morning came news the Taliban was not allowing six airplanes, full of Americans, to depart country. Particulars I do not know.
True?
Absurd?
Yesterday I heard report the White House Chief of Staff said there was not an ongoing effort to rescue/evacuate Americans trapped in Afghanistan.
True?
Absurd?
Throughout yesterday I heard and saw bits and pieces of reports of sundry U. S. non-military private outfits and foreign militaries still working to get U. S. citizens and others out of country.
That's true.
And yesterday evening I watched a short video of Dinesh D'Souza making claim that Secretary of Defense Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley knew in advance of the bombing attack that killed a soldier, a corpsman, and 11 Marines.
Mr. D'Souza said they knew (at least 24 hours prior is what I recall him saying) of the exact location and time of the attack - thirteen U. S. military personnel killed, more wounded, and hundreds of Afghans wounded and killed.
He said they let it happen anyway.
Is it true the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs Chairman knew?
Would that be absurd?
I have been mulling over Mr. D'Souza's report and entertaining the possibility of what I'd like to believe impossible.
Too, I watched and heard President Biden claim victory and remark what a great job was done leaving Afghanistan.
Absurd?
America abandoned diplomats and combatants in a raging hours and hours long battle in Benghazi years back on a 9/11 anniversary and now, approaching another anniversary, we abandon American civilians in a country that's basically a combat zone.
Absurd?
What if accountability is not an issue at all?
Because the withdrawal was executed to perfection as planned?
Absurd?
What if the issue is responsibility and President Biden decorates those who pulled off the withdrawal?
Absurd?
That would make Lieutenant Colonel Scheller's criticism misdirected.
Absurd?
When things America and American go upside down it's not possible to objectively analyze from the right side up position.
What if it's not F nor B nor O nor D?
I do not want to believe the withdrawal from Afghanistan was perfect to plan. And I do not believe most of what is being aired by media and trending on social media is true. Nor do I want to believe Lieutenant Colonel Scheller's accusations irrefutable. But the possibility of all, some, or none must not be discounted. It's still too early. There's much more to consider - to analyze. Without fail, truth and reality is somewhere between. Not in the middle but somewhere between. Between what is still at question.
20/20 is not what it used to be.
What if E and C?
AMERICA, a vision realized, is correctable.
But not by the blind.
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