Connecting the dots…

[I know I shouldn’t write this article.  I have some things on my mind and an irresistible urge to blurt them out but I just know it’s all going to be misinterpreted and that will surely cause a lot of needless fun.

A few of you are going to think, “hey, that’s just a bunch of dots…”  And quite so, too.  Just dots.

But my many alert readers are going to venture further, take out their pencils, join up the dots and exclaim, “say, that’s a picture of a zebra crossing a road!!”  And, yes, it is true that there is only one meaningful way to join up the dots I am going to present and, yes, it is also true that the only possible result is a picture of a zebra crossing a road.*

So I want to be very clear about this point.  I am not saying a zebra is going to cross a road, OK?  Nor disclosing whether there even is a zebra.

So if you comment on this post and say, “what, you think a zebra is going to cross a road!?  Or a zebra is even thinking about crossing a road!!?  Are you nuts!!!??”, I will just smile sardonically, OK, because that will be exactly the kind of needless fun I am anticipating.

After all, nobody can predict the future.  How do we know who is telling the truth about anything?  You could always turn your pencil around and just erase those dots; who cares?

All I am saying is, if a zebra does cross a road sometime, somewhere, don’t act all hurt and surprised about it because you should just recall that you read this carefully-researched and presented article, “Connecting the dots…”.  That’s all.  :)

Very good.

Please do read on…]

 

Sometime last year, koan911 went on “ops” in the Indian Ocean.  I am not at liberty to reveal any other details of what he was doing there except to say that, as a result, I did learn from him the existence, nature and location of a place I will refer to only as “Diego Garcia”.      7 18 51.45S 72 25 03.96E.  ;)

Then, last month on March 14th, my attention was captured by a FLASH message crossing my desk about “bunker buster” bombs being shipped to Diego Garcia.  (Vide first the 3/14 entry below.)

07/20    ISRAEL: Nuclear attack submarines through the Suez Canal with Egypt’s OK

            In the last 15 years, the Germans have built 5 Dolphin-class submarines for Israel, donating them or selling them at a deep discount.

09/15    USA Prepares to Attack Russia in 3 or 4 Years?

            Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis, said in an interview with Pravda.ru, “the US Military Academy at West Point has recently launched extensive courses to study the Russian culture and language. They started teaching the Iraqi culture and the Arab language three years before invading Iraq.”

                            

02/17    Rick Rozoff: US-NATO Military Strike against Iran?

            Rick Rozoff [expert observer of NATO] says that the US and NATO are tightening the military noose around Iran.

                                                     

02/19    Will US-NATO start world war III by attacking Iran?

            Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group (Global Research), believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war.

                                                 

02/28    Russia Lashes Out at NATO for Protecting Afghan Drug Production

            Narcotics smuggled into Russia has doubled since the anti-terrorist operation began in Afghanistan says Viktor Ivanov, Russian Federal Drug Control Service chief.

03/12    Israeli Historian: Israel Could Find Itself Forced to Wipe Out Europe

            Reported by a Palestinian site, so take this one with a grain of salt, but it indicates two points of interest: a) Israel has the weapons, and b) feels so isolated as to be dangerous if backed into a corner.  (The historian exists.)

                                   

03/14    War Preparations: Final Destination Iran?

            Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.

 

03/14    The War in Afghanistan and the Central Asia Pipeline Plan

            “The whole reason the U.S. is in Afghanistan and Pakistan today is to deny those pipelines from being routed through Russia, China, or Iran.”

                                   

03/17    Why Punish Iran for What Israel Has Already Done?

            Israel has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and it has never declared its nuclear weapons program publicly.  It is estimated to have between 200 and 300 nuclear weapons.  BBC: Israel's Secret Weapon.

                                 

03/18    American Naifs Bringing Ruin to Other Lands

            The U.S. military is shipping “bunker-buster” bombs to the U.S. Air Force base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.   “They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran.”

            "Former CIA official Philip Giraldi in his article, 'The Rogue Nation',  makes it clear that the U.S. government has a hegemonic agenda that it is pursuing without congressional or public awareness. The agenda unfolds piecemeal as a response to 'terrorism,' and the big picture is not understood by the public or by most in Congress. Giraldi protests that the agenda is illegal under both U.S. and international law, but that the illegality of the agenda does not serve as a barrier. Only a naif could believe that such a government would not employ 'false flag' operations that advance the agenda.

            "The U.S. population, it seems, is comprised of naifs whose lack of comprehension is bringing ruin to other lands."

                                                            

03/19    Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel

            The United States has diverted a shipment of 387 bunker-busters designated for Israel.  This “political decision” was taken a few days after VP Joe Biden (and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton?) visited Tel Aviv and were blind-sided by a unilateral decision on 3/15 by Israel to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.  As Israel’s liberal newspaper, Ha’aretz, put it, “Biden had to wipe spit off his face and say it was only rain”.  (Israel and a Red-faced Obama.) 

            "With friends like these..." 

03/20    Opinion Polls and Obama's Politics of Violence

            “Mr. Obama’s options are limited and nothing is left for him to do but to open a fourth war front in Iran.”  Tail wagging the dog?

                                                                       

03/20    Preparations for a Hit against Iran: Stopping Israel’s Next War

            “A new war in the region is inevitable.”

                                          

03/29    War Games: Israel gets ready to Strike at Iran's Nuclear Sites

            Israeli air force have practiced simulated strikes at Iran's nuclear facilities using airspace of at least two unidentified Arab countries.

                                           

04/02    Former Israeli Defense Minister: Israel Will Attack Iran by November

            Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by this November unless the U.S. and its allies enact "crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran," former deputy defense minister Brig. Gen. Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv.

            November?  What’s happening in November?  Oh yeah, OK, more AIPAC manipulation of the US “democratic” process…
                                  

04/11    Iran to Take US to UN Over Obama's Threat to Use Nuclear Weapons against Iran

            Iran has said it will file a formal complaint with the UN against the US, citing what it calls President Barack Obama's threat to use "nuclear attack" against it.

                       

04/11    Iran's first domestically built anti-aircraft missile system is operational

            Said to be more powerful than the US-made Hawk missile, ready to become operational.

                       

04/11    Israel ranks 6th with up to 300 nukes, comparable to the United Kingdom

            British Jane's Defense Weekly has revealed that Tel Aviv is currently in possession of between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads.

                                   

04/11    Washington Threatens Iran: US to Retain 90 Nukes on Iran Border

            The US has positioned a total of 200 B61 thermonuclear gravity bombs in Turkey, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany since the Cold War. Turkey is believed to be hosting 90 bombs at Incirlik Air Base.

                                               

04/12    Israeli Attack on Iran Might Lead to Nuclear Conflict – Medvedev

            Russians don’t like developments one little bit: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned Israel against a military attack on Iran, saying it might lead to nuclear war and global disaster.

                                   

04/15    Obama Threatens Iran with Nuclear War

            In his latest statements, President Obama has expressively warned Iran against an imminent nuclear strike. The surprising remarks by the politician who snatched the Nobel Peace Prize for his conciliatory stance in recent years, violated the UN Charter and astounded public opinion.

                                               

04/15    Obama Threatens Iran with Nuclear Weapons: Tehran's Response

            A letter from Iran’s UN ambassador Mohammad Khazaee.

04/18    Iran rightfully calls for US to be suspended from IAEA

            The leader of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rightfully called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to suspend America for constantly threatening to use nuclear weapons against his country and other states; and his bold stance could be a significant opportunity for the non-European world to stand up to western terrorism.

 

            [The first I ever knew of His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was when I read his open letter to The War Criminal Bush 43, published in the Washington Post on May 9^th, 2006.  Tears welled in my eyes and I thought, “why is it that I too cannot have a leader who can display this level of eloquence, this intelligence, this compassion?  Why do I have to suffer under this mangy, rabid dog, Bush?  I fling my shoe at Bush!”  And on that day, I resolved to memorize the spelling of Ahmadinejad’s name.  (Which admittedly is not as difficult as committing the Koran to memory, say, or spelling Schwarzenegger, something for which sadly I still have to rely upon the internet.)

 

            Incidentally, the New York Times, as I recall, mistranslated Ahmadinejad’s statement about seeing the Israeli regime wiped off the map.  This error has been exploited ever since to claim that Iran has hostile intentions toward Israel.]

* I was wrong about this.  As you will read in the comments, one of my less alert readers [name suppressed] joined the dots and thought he observed a gay, socialist camel.

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The Rich Have Stolen The Economy

From an article by Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal:

While the US speeds plans for the ultimate bunker buster bomb and President Obama prepares to send another 45,000 troops into Afghanistan, 44,789 Americans die every year from lack of medical treatment. National Guardsmen say they would rather face the Taliban than the US economy. 

[My emphasis added: nyuk nyuk]

Read the whole article here.

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US soldiers taking a moral stand against illegal wars

Afghanistan War Resister to “Put the War on Trial”

The nation of Afghanistan did not attack the United States

by Dahr Jamail

US Army Specialist Victor Agosto served a 13-month deployment in Iraq with the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion. “What I did there, I know I contributed to death and human suffering,” Agosto told Truthout from Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas, in May, “It’s hard to quantify how much I caused, but I know I contributed to it.”

His experience in Iraq, coupled with educating himself about US foreign policy and international law, has led Agosto to refuse to deploy to Afghanistan. “It’s a matter of what I’m willing to live with,” he said of his recent decision, “I’m not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong.”

Agosto’s lawyer, James Branum, who is also the legal adviser to the GI Rights Hotline and co-chair of the Military Law Task Fore, told Truthout during a phone interview on July 10 that, contrary to mainstream opinion that believes Afghanistan to be a “justified” war, the invasion and ongoing occupation are actually in violation of the US Constitution and international law.

“Victor is approaching this from the standpoint of law and ethics,” Branum explained, “It’s his own personal ethics and principles of the Nuremburg Principles, that the war in Afghanistan does not meet the criteria for lawful war under the UN Charter, which says that member nations who joined the UN, as did the US, should give up war forever, aside from two exceptions: that the war is in self-defense, and that the use of force was authorized by the UN Security Council. The nation of Afghanistan did not attack the United States. The Taliban may have, but the nation and people of Afghanistan did not. And under US Law, the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, any treaty enacted by the US is now the “supreme law of the land.” So when the United States signed the UN Charter, we made that our law as well.”

The Supremacy Clause is a clause in the United States Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 2. The clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and US treaties as “the supreme law of the land.” The text establishes these as the highest form of law in the American legal system, mandating that state judges uphold them, even if state laws or constitutions conflict.

This was also the basis for the stand taken by Lt. Ehren Watada of the US Army, who in 2006 was the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse a combat deployment to Iraq.

In an article for Truthout published August 14, 2006, I posted the text of a speech given by Watada at a National Convention of Veterans for Peace in Seattle, Washington, where I was present.

Watada outlined the principled stand he took, which applies to that of Victor Agosto today:

“The oath we take swears allegiance not to one man but to a document of principles and laws designed to protect the people. Enlisting in the military does not relinquish one’s right to seek the truth – neither does it excuse one from rational thought nor the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. “I was only following orders” is never an excuse.

“The Nuremburg Trials showed America and the World that citizenry as well as soldiers have the unrelinquishable obligation to refuse complicity in war crimes perpetrated by their government. Widespread torture and inhumane treatment of detainees is a war crime. A war of aggression born through an unofficial policy of prevention is a crime against the peace. An occupation violating the very essence of international humanitarian law and sovereignty is a crime against humanity. These crimes are funded by our tax dollars. Should citizens choose to remain silent through self-imposed ignorance or choice, it makes them as culpable as the Soldier in these crimes.

“Aside from the reality of indentured servitude, the American Soldier in theory is much nobler. Soldier or officer – when we swear our oath – it is first and foremost to the Constitution and its protectorate, the people. If soldiers realized this war is contrary to what the Constitution extols – if they stood up and threw their weapons down – no president could ever initiate a war of choice again. When we say, “… Against all enemies foreign and domestic” – what if elected leaders became the enemy? Whose orders do we follow? The answer is the conscience that lies in each soldier, each American, and each human being. Our duty to the Constitution is an obligation, not a choice.”

In a victory for Lieutenant Watada, the Justice Department decided in May to drop any further attempts to retry the officer for his refusal to deploy to Iraq.

Having served three years and nine months in the US Army, Agosto was to complete his contract and be discharged on August 3, but due to his excellent record of service and accrued leave, he was to be released at the end of June. Nevertheless, due to the stop-loss program (a program used to keep soldiers enlisted beyond the terms of their contracts which has affected over 185,000 soldiers since September 11, 2001) the Army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan anyway.

When Agosto refused, the Army issued him a Counseling Statement (a punitive US Army memo) on May 1, which outlined actions taken by the Army to discipline Agosto for his refusal to obey a direct order from his company commander, Michael J. Pederson. Agosto wrote on the form, “There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect,” and posted it on his FaceBook page.

On another Counseling Statement dated May 18, Agosto wrote, “I will not obey any order I deem to be immoral or illegal.”

On May 27, rejecting an Article 15 – a nonjudicial punishment imposed by a commanding officer who believes a member of his command has committed an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice – Agosto demanded to be court-martialed instead.

In words prophetic of Agosto’s ethical and lawful refusal to deploy to Afghanistan, Watada said:

“I have broken no law but the code of silence and unquestioning loyalty. If I am guilty of any crime, it is that I learned too much and cared too deeply for the meaningless loss of my fellow soldiers and my fellow human beings. If I am to be punished it should be for following the rule of law over the immoral orders of one man. If I am to be punished it should be for not acting sooner.”

Agosto continues to show up for duty at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, where he is currently stationed, but refused to take part in any duties that supported either the occupations of Iraq or Afghanistan. He told Truthout during a recent telephone interview he was “cleaning the motor pool” and “pulling weeds,” and that the Army was being careful not to order him to do anything that would cause him to refuse to comply.

Meanwhile, Branum was in negotiations with the Army in efforts to seek a lower-level court-martial so that Agosto would suffer the minimum penalties possible.

“We were working with the Army’s Trial Defense Services (TDS), and Victor has a military lawyer on his side as well, which I recommended he have,” Branum told Truthout during a July 10 phone interview.

“TDS had communicated to the prosecution for me that we were willing to accept an Article 15 and do a month of extra duty, then if he (Agosto) got a summary court-martial we’d take it – which would mean Victor would serve a maximum of 30 days in jail, and receive an Other Than Honorable discharge,” Branum explained, “So TDS said they took this offer to the CG (Commanding General) who was to sign off on it, but they said he made a mistake and wrote “special” rather than “summary” on the court-martial and sent it back down.”

Branum explained that “a summary court martial is little more than an Article 15. Supposedly there was an “honest” mistake made by them handing down this special court martial, but I think they are playing games with us.”

Branum, angered by this recent turn of events, explained the difference between the types of court martial, “They (the Army) are not acting in good faith here. What this still means, is the cap went from 30 days (of possible jail time for Agosto with a summary court martial) to a year (with a special court martial), so a pretty big jump I would say, and a leap from an Other Than Honorable discharge (summary court martial) to a bad conduct discharge (special court martial), which means once he is convicted his pay would stop.”

Due to the perceived breach of good faith by the Army during the negotiating process, Branum believes he has no choice now but to up the stakes in Agosto’s upcoming court-martial.

“Now we’re going to put the war on trial with their special court-martial,” Branum said, “They had their chance to keep this quiet and move on, but now we’re going to pull out all the stops and put the war on trial, and show how the whole thing is illegal.”

The most significant factor in Agosto’s case is that he has taken a principled stand against the occupation of Afghanistan long before the “point of crisis,” according to Branum. The “point of crisis” to which he refers is generally an ethical crisis a soldier experiences when he or she is getting on the plane to deploy.

“He connected the dots long before that point of crisis,” Branum explained, “To me, this is a very morally developed point of view. Most resisters don’t reach that point until much later on.”

It is a similar point reached by Watada, who in the aforementioned speech precisely articulated this experience:

“Now it is not an easy task for the Soldier. For he or she must be aware that they are being used for ill-gain. They must hold themselves responsible for individual action. They must remember duty to the Constitution and the People supersedes the ideologies of their leadership. The Soldier must be willing to face ostracism by their peers, worry over the survival of their families, and of course the loss of personal freedom. They must know that resisting an authoritarian government at home is equally important to fighting a foreign aggressor on the battlefield. Finally, those wearing the uniform must know beyond any shadow of a doubt that by refusing immoral and illegal orders they will be supported by the people not with mere words but by action.”

Agosto spoke with Truthout on July 8, immediately after receiving the news of his “special” court-martial. “I was escorted over to the headquarters of Fort Hood and was handed a folder with the paperwork that said he (Commanding General Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch) approved this kind of court-martial. We were in the middle of negotiating a deal where I would have taken a summary court-martial, where the maximum penalty is 30 days in prison and an Other Than Honorable discharge. But somehow during this process someone submitted the case over to the general’s discretion, and that’ s not something that is supposed to happen in this negotiation phase. I’m surprised, because I thought this deal was going to go down last week and it didn’t. I was with my military lawyer, and we were talking about the case, and during that discussion she got the call from the prosecuting attorney that the case had been referred to the general, and then we knew it wasn’t likely we would get the deal I’d sign ed off on. So yesterday I went to the III Corps building and got the news.”

Agosto said he has “gotten the indication” that he will be leaving the company he is currently in to be moved to the Battalion’s rear-detachment company “because that’s the one that will stay here. I think they want to avoid a Jeff Paterson moment, I guess that’s their thinking. They won’t try to deploy me, they just want to punish me for my intentions and for what I’ve done so far.”

Jeff Paterson was a US Marine during the US attack against Iraq in 1991. Paterson opted to apply for conscientious objector status. When that was denied, he refused to board the plane that was heading to Saudi Arabia during the build-up to the war by literally sitting down on the tarmac and refusing to move. Eventually his unit left without him. Paterson told his story to Truthout last summer in Oakland, California.

“Leaving without me is what I thought they were going to do. I was a sort of liability. Also I had been on a hunger strike the previous week, and had at that point become a medical issue for them. So they left me behind, and I was taken instead to the Pearl Harbor brig, where I did the next two months in pre-trial confinement. I was court-martialed for a number of offenses. Ultimately they chose to cut their losses and give me a quiet discharge even before the court-martial ended.”

Agosto’s stand has already inspired another member of his unit to refuse to deploy to Afghanistan as well. Sgt. Travis Bishop, who served 14 months in Baghdad with the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion – the same battalion as Agosto, who served north of the Iraqi capital – recently went AWOL from his station at Fort Hood, Texas, when his unit deployed to Afghanistan. He insists that it would be unethical for him to deploy to support an occupation he opposes on moral grounds.

On his blog, he writes about his position:

“I love my country, but I believe that this particular war is unjust, unconstitutional and a total abuse of our nation’s power and influence. And so, in the next few days, I will be speaking with my lawyer, and taking actions that will more than likely result in my discharge from the military, and possible jail time … and I am prepared to live with that.”

Truthout spoke with him briefly after he turned himself in at his base in early June. He said he’d chosen to follow Specialist Agosto’s example of refusal, which had inspired him, and wanted to be present at his post to accept the consequences of his actions. Like Agosto, he, too, hoped others might follow his lead.

Agosto and Bishop are not alone. In November 2007, the Pentagon revealed that between 2003 and 2007 there had been an 80 percent increase in overall desertion rates in the Army (desertion refers to soldiers who go AWOL and never intend to return to service), and Army AWOL rates from 2003 to 2006 were the highest since 1980. Between 2000 and 2006, more than 40,000 troops from all branches of the military deserted, more than half from the Army. Army desertion rates jumped by 42 percent from 2006 to 2007 alone.

Branum, who has defended over a dozen war resisters, told Truthout, “As far as I know, this is the first time since Vietnam that we’ve had two resisters in the same unit.”

Adam Szyper-Seibert, a counselor and administrative associate at Courage to Resist, an organization that supports war resisters, recently told Truthout that “in recent months there has been a dramatic rise of nearly 200 percent in the number of soldiers that have contacted Courage to Resist.” Szyper-Seibert suspects this may reflect the decision of the Obama administration to dramatically increase efforts, troop strength and resources in Afghanistan. “We are actively supporting over 50 military resisters like Victor Agosto,” Szyper-Seibert says. “They are all over the world, including André Shepherd in Germany and several people in Canada. We are getting five or six calls a week just about the IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] recall alone.”

The IRR is composed of troops who have finished their active duty service but still have time remaining on their contracts. The typical military contract mandates four years of active duty followed by four years in the IRR, though variations on this pattern exist. Ready Reserve members live civilian lives and are not paid by the military, but they are required to show up for periodic musters. Many have moved on from military life and are enrolled in college, working civilian jobs, and building families.

Agosto told Truthout he stands willing to face the consequences of his actions.

“Yes, I’m fully prepared for this. I have concluded that the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are not going to be ended by politicians or people at the top. They’re not responsive to people, they’re responsive to corporate America. The only way to make them responsive to the needs of the people is for soldiers to not fight their wars. If soldiers won’t fight their wars, the wars won’t happen. I hope I’m setting an example for other soldiers.”

“One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law,” Dr. Martin Luther King Junior said, words that concisely explain the ramifications of Agosto’s position.

As evidenced by the stand being taken by Sergeant Bishop, Agosto’s hope has already been realized. However, with 19,000 US soldiers recently added to the occupation of Afghanistan (bringing the total to 68,000) and violence continuing to escalate, there is an increasing likelihood for more to follow Agosto’s lead.

Visit Dahr Jamail's website http://dahrjamailiraq.com

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Exodus 1

In my very first blog post, Leaving Japan, I referred to the culmination of a long odyssey.  I knew then that I should have to write about how that odyssey commenced.

In November, 1981, at the tender age of 26, I quit my job, assigned power of attorney to a friend, packed a suitcase, pulled the front door shut for the last time and rode to the airport of my home-town, Adelaide, Australia, to board a flight toward a country I had heard a lot about, but never before visited.  My intention was emigration.  My first destination was San Francisco.

Arriving in San Francisco, I rented a car, checked into an airport hotel and then placed a call to Harvey Poenack, in Bethesda, MD.  No answer.

The business of Harvey Poenack International was three-fold: 1) immigration specialist, 2) head-hunter, 3) tax accountant.  Harvey brought foreigners into the USA to work.  I had entered the USA in possession of an H-1 visa, authorizing me to work for Harvey.  But I was now unable to make contact with my agent.

To kill time, I drove into downtown San Francisco, milled around awhile and then proceeded to circumnavigate the Bay via bridge and freeway.  It was the first time I had driven on the opposite side of the road.  I marveled at six-lane freeways, (per side!).  I observed drivers turning right on red lights and, after building up my own nerve (was it legal?), pulled the same stunt.  I found a diner nearby the airport and the quantity, quality and price of the food, along with the endless coffee refills, was remarkable to me.  Plus the service was as cheery as it was snappy.  Tipping was new to me.  So was putting down a fiver for something marked 4.95$, but then finding one needed some extra change as the register rang up the total with the sales tax added on top.  (Taxes are generally well-hidden in Australia.)

The plan was to interview for a week on the west coast; then fly to the east coast for another week of interviews.  Harvey answered the phone.  The economy was in deep recession ('81/82).  All he had for me was a lone interview in Washington.  State.  I booked a flight one-way, planning to rent a car and drive back down Route 1 by the Pacific, if the interview failed.

As the 727 banked right to turn 180 southbound for Sea-Tac airport, I was presented with a magnificent view of the Seattle skyline, Space Needle and Lakes Aurora and Washington.  All the wooden houses connoted a shanty town to an untraveled Australian, but I think I fell in love with Seattle right there and then.  I had been quite disappointed to think that I was coming to, (for me), the most exciting country in the world and was looking at being marooned in the furthest corner of the Forty-Eight.  But the natural beauty of Puget Sound, Lake Washington, the Olympics, Cascades and Mount Rainier was too overwhelming to resist.

The rental car company in the airport did not want to rent me a car without a credit card.  I showed them the contract I had for the rental from their San Francisco branch and so they happily relented.  Man, this was so long ago!  Credit cards optional.  Service.  Trust.  How things have changed!

I checked into the Thunderbird Lodge in Bellevue, just in time for Thanksgiving lunch.  (Americans are almost all surprised to learn that other countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  Makes you wonder how much American history they really know, doesn't it?    )

The interview was with an American affiliate of a German database company.  HQ in Reston, VA, and an engineering team of about 50 people in Bellevue, Washington.  (Just a couple of miles away from Bellevue a small but malignantly cancerous company was metastasizing in adjacent Redmond, WA.)  I got hired.  By the database company.

I theorize that I am just slightly agoraphobic.  Thus, I prefer an overcast sky.  I know that is weird.  There are two kinds of people: those who can hack constant drizzle and those who can't.  Seattle is no place for those who have no affinity for the rain gods and the locals accept this philosophically as a gift (to keep away the Californian sun-worshippers who wouldst resettle there).  Perhaps Seattle is the Valhalla of people who, like the Douglas Adams character, are unknowingly rain gods, attracting precipitation in all its dreary forms, unbidden? In any case, they also believe that there is no finer place on the earth — not in August and September, anyway, the only months during which the drizzle abates.  However, I was not to experience those months in Seattle…

For the first six weeks, I stayed with very distant relatives, Henry and Jenny and their 18-month old son, in Kirkland on the NE shore of Lake Washington.  That was a great introduction to restaurants, shops and friends.  We became great friends and I think Henry and Jenny particularly appreciated the in-house, baby-sitting services!

I have very fond memories of Seattle.  My first time seeing snow falling: those large, whirling flakes that create the mental illusion of a whirring sound even though the snow fall is actually deadening most noise.  Driving down I-405 with crisp views of the snow-caps on the Cascades on one side and the Olympics on the other.  The giant, snowy apex of Mt Rainier to the south, magnified by wood smoke and suspended above the haze, as if floating.  Watching ducks show off, flaring for a water-landing in the moat around the office park, feet extended forward for splash-down and wings cupped, braking.  Seeing the same ducks attempting the same maneuvre the morning after an overnight snap freeze, falling backward on their rumps onto the ice, coming gradually to a halt after a gently cork-screwing slide, embarrassed and furtively looking around for now-unwanted spectators.

Seattle people staying home from work and school after a single inch of snow-fall.  Avoiding the very few out on the roads like the plague, due to their inexperience with snow.  I discovered Saturday Night Live and it was in the John Belushi era.  I was invited to Christmas parties and found people very hospitable and friendly.  I saw a very early flight simulator operating on a very early PC.  And I remember one conversation in which I was told earnestly that, if the Russkies ever did decide to invade the US of A, they would quickly become surprised and consternated by the level of gun ownership in America: "go ahead, pry our weapons from our cold, dead fingers!!"; much like Afghanistan, I suppose.    People walking on their right-hand side of the sidewalk (they don't any more) and arranging their shopping carts accordion-style in supermarket check-out queues so as not to block other shoppers.  Receiving pleasant greetings from strangers.

Finally I moved to Bellevue, renting an apartment.  I had settled in at work and it had ramped up.  I wasn't technically so busy but the rest of the team were working about 90 hours a week.  I gritted my teeth and put in about 70, just for solidarity.  I still seemed to be spending all my time at work.  A very difficult adjustment for an Australian of that era, even one that liked to work.

In addition, at work, I felt like I was "hitting the wall".  I think every engineer goes through this and must learn to adapt.  It was the first time I had worked with so much code, written by so many other people with different coding styles, so many of them long departed, but with just the usual amount of documentation.  Next to none.  I was getting frustrated and not enjoying the work.  I started looking around for other possibilities.  The recession had deepened.  Nothing doing.

I called United Airlines to book a flight to the east coast to go meet Harvey.  The sales representative told me over the phone that only "coach" was available on the day I wanted to travel.  I didn't have time to cross the country by bus, so I politely declined and hung up.  (We call the back of the airplane, "economy class", in Australia.)  I never did get to meet Harvey. 

(Speaking of which is a good time to mention a lesson learned: when you have the opportunity to do something, seize it.  All the while in Seattle, I heard good things about Vancouver, the only outside place Washingtonians will say good things about.  I deferred making a day trip there because I was renting a car on a miles-limited, monthly basis.  It wasn't until 2006 that I again had a good chance to finally visit Vancouver.  Washingtonians say "Vancouver, B.C." to distinguish it from plain "Vancouver", meaning Vancouver, WA.  Like "Paris, France", as opposed to just Paris.  Texas.  )

I called a colleague in Australia.  One I had dealt with in Australia only by phone, inter-company.  I asked for a reference, but he refused.  Rather, he offered me a job in Sydney.  Working for a computer company, in a telephone support centre.  (Which is how I had made his acquaintance: over the phone.)  But it was a large, American, multi-national, computer company and I conceived the idea of working for this company in Australia and then transferring back to the USA.  (This would turn out to be a crazy idea.)

I was by now quite despondent and so I buckled and surrendered the dream.  I phoned Sydney and accepted the job offer.  I felt then that it was weak of me and I still do to this day.  My chattels had only just arrived at the docks in Tacoma — just in time to be turned around and sent back.

I left the USA at the end of March, 1982, after only a little over four months.  Just enough to have a tantalizing taste of American life and truly whet my appetite.  The experience had been exhilarating, albeit bitter-sweet.

I returned to Australia, discouraged and with my tail between my legs.

[I was to learn several months later that the Bellevue development center had been closed down for relocation to Reston and all but three of the Bellevue engineers had left the company.  My office-mate, Floyd, had joined the Redmond company then in 1982 and had gone to work on becoming an early-retiring millionaire.]

If you've read this far, congratulations and thank you. 

I am intentionally going to avoid writing any kind of comparison of the two countries, (and am not at all confident I could do a competent and objective job of such a comparison, anyway).

This next part is the one I have been dreading to write.  What made me want to move from Australia to the USA?  To try to explain, I need to interpret the motivation of my former self, 28 years ago.  It's painfully introspective for me to do and will no doubt seem trite.  I recognize that self and recall some of what he was thinking, but it now seems implausible and, frankly, somewhat risible to me today.

There were three, main factors.

The first factor is the most easily defensible.  In those days, for a computer engineer, the USA was very definitely the centre of gravity of the computing world. That's changed a lot now with globalization and particularly the internet, but it was certainly true then.  I've had a most rewarding career and it is impossible to imagine having done all the things I have done if I had not been in the United States to do them.  I learned very much during my career working with all of my colleagues in the United States (and a considerable number of those had also emigrated from elsewhere).

The principal factor must just be blurted out and suffer its natural judgement.  I loved the United States of America and did so with all my heart.

America was, for me, the land of liberty and I yearned above all to be free.  Call that young man an idealist, naive and a fool — and there was very much I did not know then — but I can see no reason for shame on his behalf.

The most momentous day in my childhood / teenage had been Monday, July 21st, 1969.  I arrived at school that morning to learn that the Eagle had landed at 5:47 am (my time).  The whole school spent the morning watching live transmissions beamed from Houston (and ultimately the moon) and at 12:26pm I watched an American set foot on the lunar surface.  The whole history of the world had changed: ante Mare Tranquillitatis had transitioned to post Mare Tranquillitatis.  How could one not marvel and be inspired?

The third factor was that I know that I had a number of blind-spots in those days that prevented me from fully appreciating the appeal of living in the "Lucky Country".  I.e. Australia.  If I had, it would likely not have prevented me from making the move, but it may have dampened my zeal and shortened my odyssey.  Who knows?

I said I would not compare the two countries, but there is one over-arching observation to be made that I think is helpful.  When my odyssey began, I believed that America was the place "to do".  Now, at the end of it, I believe that Australia is the place "to live".

Possibly this reflects, more than anything else, something of the metamorphosis that I underwent during my journey.

(continued in Exodus 2)

From: The Monday Morning Quarterback

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