"There Is More To It Then Just Showing Up"

When I didn't perform properly in school, my teachers were always ready to give me a failing grade. Early on, the scary power that teachers had over me was that they were going to tell my parents, saying things like "he isn't trying," or "he isn't concentrating," and my otherwise cushy life would be ruined. There was in fact a price I paid for failure.

The only time in my life that I can recall inept being acceptable was during my four years of service in the United States Air Force. You could be horribly inadequate, but as long as you showed up you were okay. Most of the military chain of command that I was exposed to at my level just showed up, and did as little as possible when they arrived. Avoiding blame and responsibility became an art form.

Working in the entertainment industry for 50 years has exposed me to competent and incompetent managements. I find myself contemplating the failures in the execution of the war we are waging in Iraq. We have had three years of military mismanagement, yet the same incompetent management is still saying, "Trust us," and "We must see it through."

President Bush may be receiving messages from a higher power, but whatever skills in management he learned at the Harvard Business School are missing. Perhaps his attendance at this school mirrored his Air National Guard attendance.

The president continues to use television in order to sell his war rational and execution. He repeats the "I have a plan" and "We will win this war and must not leave Iraq to the terrorists."

It would be much easier to sell the case if he were to announce that, with regret, he has accepted the resignation of the Secretary of Defense.

I know that we are trying to bring all of the freedoms we enjoy to the Iraqis. We do need at the same time to pay attention to the freedoms of our own people. A friend received the following e-mail from his grandson who is on duty in Iraq with an Air Force unit:

"Unfortunately, the day I got here they put up a computer firewall that blocks all web based email sites, and believe me I have tried them all. Hopefully for morale reasons they will take the firewall down before long, otherwise I will have to wait in a long line at the Internet cafe (of course everyone reading this message is worth waiting in line for). It is one of those "cafes" that has no coffee, tea or food, only some plywood desks."

Welcome to 21st Century America

Norman Horowitz

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