Blind to the Obvious

 Cogniosclerosis
 [kog-ni-oh-skleh-roh-sis] from the latin cognitiōn meaning knowledge and sklḗrōsis meaning hardening.
 
Like arteriosclerosis, a condition in which the hardening of the arteries impedes blood flow to vital organs, cogniosclerosis is a condition in which hardening of the ideas impedes cerebral function.
 
A concurrent medical term for cogniosclerosis would be chronic cerebrospinal arterial insufficiency. Basically this means that not enough blood flows to the brain to fuel the process of logical thought resulting in the inability to translate ideas into actions.
 
Politicians all suffer from varying degrees of cogniosclerosis and it is therefore thought to be species specific. I doubt this theory because politicians are generally also inflicted with a disease called bulimia mediaosa (insatiable need for exposure) and they are therefore highly visible and thus more readily diagnosed.
 
Although the World Health Organisation has not issued a bulletin on the spread of cogniosclerosis to the western military fraternity, all the signs point to an international outbreak. If confirmed, this could result in the loss of trillions in unnecessary military spending. And the problem will not get better anytime soon; not only is cogniosclerosis incurable, it is also progressive (meaning that it gets more severe with time).
 
Soldier’s toys have evolved little since Hitler’s little party.
Since soldiers don’t have much to occupy themselves with if there is not a war going on, they spend a lot of time learning from past battles. They call this “strategizing” or improving their strategic capability. They are also taught the love of big expensive toys and the myth that the bigger the gun the stronger the army. A more recent phenomenon has emerged; toys are controlled remotely. Soldiers in armchairs stare at computer screens and using video game technology drive planes and tanks. They are no longer confronted with the unpleasantries of war; blood, gore and gunpowder smoke.
 
The military is obsessed with the word “strategy”.
Everything is referred to in terms of strategy they have a strategic command, strategic missiles and strategic policy. Then there is the GTIS (Gay and Transvestite Integration Strategy). This over-use of the word roused my suspicion of an outbreak of cogniosclerosis amongst the western military commanders.
 
With so much strategy going around, it is inevitable that because of their intercestious relationships with politicians the military have infected them.
The political variety of cogniosclerosis is well known and is caused by a lack of ideas while the less known military strain is caused by lack of foresight. When cross infection occurs then the result is blindness to the obvious.
 
Military crave war more than sex.
And this has dire consequence for the safety of millions.
 
And since everyone is weary of starting another destruction party (like only the Germans can organise), politicians keep the military happy by starting little wars in remote countries. And everyone was happy with this arrangement.
 
Then the likes of Arafat, Ben Laden and Baghdadi come along and change the rules. Problem is that they changed the rules after the politicians and the military were infected and cross infected with terminal cogniosclerosis. This created much confusion in the military since the uniformed soldiers that they were used to fighting now wears robes and sandals and calls himself a terrorist. And horror of horrors there are even women in their ranks.
Because this new breed of enemy did not graduate from some traditional military academy their reading skills are severely impaired. Especially when it comes to reading the Geneva Convention. And because they don’t play video games they revel in the sight of real blood and gore.
 
Since the industrial military complex favours peddling their wares to established countries and dictators, the terrorists did not have access to proper soldier’s toys, better known as military hardware. And because they felt out of place; not understanding the accepted rules of engagement or having proper dress sense and armour clad vehicles, they declined the invitation to the “theatre of operations” and started small local shows in bars and theatres and planes around the world.
 
This vulgar and uncivilized behaviour was totally unacceptable and something had to be done. The politicians needed to keep the military happy so they declared war on terrorism. Even though this terrorism could not be clearly defined or even located on a map. They were everywhere and nowhere.
 
Any enemy being better than no enemy, the military dusted off their most sophisticated strategies and plunged headlong into battle.
At this point it is useful to remind the reader that military strategy is based on the type of weapons available and not on intellectual prowess. The best image that comes to mind is a blindfolded general wearing boxing gloves trying to play chess with a Bedouin goat herder.
 
The result is that the military have brought their toys to the terrorist’s theatre, which happens to be near Aunt Fatima’s house and little Mustapha’s school. And because social welfare benefits are better in Paris than in Palestine, Fatima and little Mustapha come to Europe when our military toys destroy their playground.
 
Because of rampant cogniosclerosis the military have not been able to adapt their weapons or their strategy to this new type of warfare. They continue to fight mosquitoes with howitzers.
Absurd and futile.
 
Out of frustration, or pure boredom, the so called “western coalition” has rained bombs on desert towns and cities in the Eastern Mediterranean Theatre of Operations for the last twelve years in a vain hope of flushing out the enemy.
Little Mustapha’s daddy and his cohorts have long understood how to dodge shells and bombs and stubbornly refuse to surrender. Instead they sow death and mayhem in our streets.
 
Cogniosclerosis has one weird side effect, it destroys the patient’s ability to see the obvious or to do simple arithmetic.
 
Military intelligence now has become a perfect oxymoron. And we only have cogniosclerosis to blame.