World Sojourner : 3760

Thanks to a good deal on Opodo.co.uk I am heading back to America for Easter. This is the first time I’ve been back home since November of last year. During my hiatus I’ve been in Australia, France and of course England.

My trip home could not come at a better time for me. The stress of work has really effected me in the last few weeks. I’ve become used to living in England. London is slowly becoming my home but slowly. Alissa and I still haven’t found friends or any good avenues to meet people.

My first move to Charlotte taught me that to really make a place a home one must meet people and form friendships. Distant friendships over the Internet are good and important but nothing compares to having people to spend time with and enjoy life.

I love Alissa and we are really good together but we both know that the thing missing in our lives is that expanded social network. My time in Charlotte was miserable until I found the Jaycees. The Junior Chamber provided me with place to meet people, become involved with my community and build work skills that helped me become successful.

Anyone who would happen along this web journal please take one piece of advice — make certain that you work hard to find friends in a new location. It won’t be easy but find them. The work you put in; the uneasy feeling of being new will be replaced with new friendships that will add the breath and depth to any living and working experience.

My most recent, and to be honest current, search and journey of discovery is one relating to financial matters. I worked in Charlotte until April of 2003 so I will have to file a tax return for last year. Normally, this means about an hour of quality time entering information into Yahoo’s tax program. It is a fairly automated process and has been a good experience over the last few years. Almost everything is imported, I list my charitable donations and then the government sends me money back. Single and living in the country makes the process go by quickly.

The 2003 return promises to be more of a challenge. During 2003 I got married to (and I’m quoting the IRS here) a “nonresident alien.” Alissa tends to hate it when I call her that because normally it comes along with the humming of the ET theme song. Sadly, I have a great relationship with Alissa’s family so I can’t even kick in any mother-in-law jokes here either.

Oh, and in 2003 I moved out of the country and found another job. Apparently, the IRS still wants a little piece of that action so I’ve gained myself about three more forms to fill out. It appears that I will not take a bath in taxes because I spent most of the year unemployed. Oh, I knew there was a blessing in that somewhere.

My single status with the government is gone too. I can either file jointly or separately with my wife. While the US government won’t let her work in the US they will happily allow me to declare her salary and pay joint taxes. I’ll file married-separately thanks.

My departure from the US was very organised but I may have missed a few key check marks on my action plan. One major mark is that I never actually told the state of North Carolina or the US that I have moved. My search this morning is to find out who I need to tell. The IRS supplies a couple forms but who else needs to know?

And the search begins….

If Al Queda got its way, would all the violence stop?

Over the last 24 hours, local television has been reporting that the bomb in Madrid was probably placed there by Al Queda rather than the ETA as first suspected. Now, the anti-war movement gearing up its machinery again, this time in Spain, pushing to have the leaders of the unjust war in Iraq removed.

The Spanish government, who from what I can read, seems to have been facing domestic terrorism for many years recognised the large and looming threat that organised terrorism posed to the western world. So did the Russians. So did the British. And so did a number of smaller east European countries during the war on Iraq.

The anti-war movement - the anti-globalisation - anti-capitialism crowd - organised numerous protests around the world for “peace.” Millions of people marched and protested this “war for oil.” I was in Paris for the 2 million person march not because I was protesting the war but because I had just gotten engaged over Valentines Day 2003 and saw the crowds, and I even saw who was participating. Your everyday citizen they weren’t. These were the same people protesting at the G8/7 meetings and once upon a time rooted for the Soviets in the Cold War.

Despite all the protests, all the marches, and all the media coverage the coalition of forces the war went forward. The coalition won the war relatively quickly and even found Saddam Hussein within the year. Did the US focus on Iraq because we needed a patsy to beat up on after 9-11 and since we had the military maps and planning in place from Gulf War I decide to invade there instead of Iran or Syria? Yeah, probably. A war of Gray it is most certainly.

The fact of the matter is that the US government, President Bush to be specific, recognised that there is a large, looming threat of organised global terrorism hell bent on not just evening the score with the peagan Americans (read anyone who isn’t them) but on destroying all that they (Al Queda) believe is wrong with the modern western world. Education of women, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the freedom to choose any unique cultural aspects one chooses (read: if you want the American way of life, like so many people around the word, then all that needs to be done is to live their way) are all high on the list of things that Al Queda dislikes and is willing to destroy in the west.

It appears with this last round of bombings that Al Queda is now back in action acting like a terrorist consulting group for smaller and isolated terrorists around the world.

What if Al Queda’s new objective is to create death and destruction on the countries that participated in the Iraq war so each countries’ people turned on the leadership and voted them out of power? Essentially, using democracy as a way of helping their own agenda.

Al Queda bombs innocent people in each country while the anti-war movement argues to throw the bums out of office. The international and local media pick up on the story and start reporting the deaths and building a really nice case for removing the leadership involved in the war on Iraq.

What happens if the leaders for these countries are removed? Then what? Does Al Queda send out a press release saying that they have reached their goal and will no resume their old jobs?

If Al Queda’s goal is destroying the United States then having Kerry in the White House or a new leader in Spain is merely an objective not their end goal. Have your enemies place a weak leader at the top and the battle should be easier. In business terms, it’s like writing a recommendation letter for a bad employee. The employee leaves for your competition then you win both ways. Stronger staff on our side and weaker staff on their side.

Please don’t take this entry as a defense against some of the tactics or things done during the “War on Terror” because I think that history will show them to be incorrect. What I am saying is this battle means more to Al Queda than it does to the general population who elects our leaders in the west and if we do not stay focused on Al Queda’s real goal they may manipulate the leadership game to give them an unfair advantage.