Curiouser and Curiouser!

Rumsfeld's War. Excellent PBS Frontline special tonight on Rumsfeld's War. Can't say there is any radically new material here, but it does a good job of peeling back the layers of politics and exposing the decision-making process, the personal battles, and the complete failure to anticipate the need for massive peacekeeping forces post-battle.

Lots of insight into the Joint Chiefs vs DOD battle. Make no mistake -- under the US Constitution the military answers to the executive branch. Thus it has always been. Thus it should be. But Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration charged ahead with a plan that had focused on the rebuilding of Iraq without accounting for the mess that would arise once the governing structure fell.

Rumsfeld and the neo-Conservatives had an aggressive, far-reaching strategy for the Middle East, starting with Iraq. What they didn't do was spend enough time thinking through what to do if part of the plan failed. All their scenarios required unequivocal victory. And as any good scenario planner knows -- if you don't have a few scenarios of failure you're going to get surprised.

Well worth watching if you can catch it on a rebroadcast. Wish I had known it was coming on I would have saved it on my DVR.
[b.cognosco]

How timely. Over lunch today I watched last weeks first part of The Power of Nightmares - a BBC documentary about how America has reached it's present state of affairs with Rumsfeld, Cheney and co. It's a long story which starts with the neocon view that liberalism and individual freedom have lead to moral decay in America and follows their path and from the philosophy of Leo Strauss to the Axis of Evil.

Intriguingly the basic neocon premise is exactly the same as that of the islamic jihad movement. That a sublime end justifies any means including whole sale slaughter. The neocons need the fight against the axis of evil/the war on terror to soften the people up for phase 2 -- in which, presumably, everyone becomes a fundamentalist christian. Both groups would have had a warm welcome at Uncle Joes dinner table:

"You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves" -- Joseph Stalin

The first part of the documentary covers the period of Nixon, Ford and early Reagan. Of particular interest to me where the role of Donald Rumsfeld and TeamB in helping to craft the lie that was how the American public saw the Soviet Union. It was both interesting and bothering the way the CIA's black propaganda in Europe came back to haunt them when the neocons began flexing their muscles.

If Bush gets re-elected we can expect more of the same. It's not only in the interest of neoconversatives to make people more frightened -- it's their basic plan! Expect more rigid state control. Expect more and nastier anti-terrorism legislation (and the terrorist acts it will be a response to). Expect more fundamentalist christian ideology in politics. Expect more sabre rattling. Expect more democracy at the point of a gun. Expect new and scary enemies (they're surely doing their best to create them).

And, if Kerry wins...? Well expect exactly the same thing. These guys are powerful and they're patient. When Rumsfeld and Cheney failed to get their way back in the 80's they didn't pack up their toys and go home. Instead they waited for a better opportunity. I don't see them or their cohorts giving up just yet. Not while Amerika remains to be saved.

By the way I loved Dave's suggestion that Europe and Asia should join forces and liberate America :-) I only hope we're not so stupid as to get involved in a land war in the USA.

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia", but only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian, when *death* is on the line.". Hahahahahah. [Vizzini falls over dead] -- The Princess Bride

Part two of the documentary is tonight and covers how the neocons got into bed with the Islamic revolutionaries in Afghanistan.