Thursday, November 01, 2007
'Keep elevating the threat'
Granted, Donald Rumsfeld's 'snowflake' memos obtained by the Washington Post were probably leaked via a PR hack in the Pentagon (just guessing), so they mostly focus on his PR views toward the war and not on other matters. But his obsession with the media is still evident and classic Nixonian . ... I'd really love to know how his staff would "test what the results could be" for his PR ideas. Who would they leak to? Who would carry the water for them? ... Notice the use of the word 'insurgency' in May 2004. Recall how many inside and outside the White House/Pentagon criticized those who called an 'insurgency' an 'insurgency' and an 'insurgent' an 'insurgent.' Recall how after the November 2004 elections the non-counterinsurgency strategy of attacking entire cities was implemented in full. Recall that it took until November 2006 to fire Rumsfeld and put in place Gen. David Petraeus's counter-insurgency strategy. ... What wasted, wasted, wasted years. ...
Update -- Ah, the old 'insurgency' debate. Remember it well. ... It all comes back: baseball bat-vs.-fly tactics during the summer of '04 and the revised 'fly-trap' blather of 2005. ... What wasted, wasted, wasted years indeed. ...
... Hey, while meandering down botched-strategy lane, I might as well link to Armchair Gen. Savin Hill's classic "Did NO ONE in the Pentagon watch Lawrence of Arabia?" We only learned later that Gen. Tommy Franks really loved 'Braveheart.' ...
Granted, Donald Rumsfeld's 'snowflake' memos obtained by the Washington Post were probably leaked via a PR hack in the Pentagon (just guessing), so they mostly focus on his PR views toward the war and not on other matters. But his obsession with the media is still evident and classic Nixonian . ... I'd really love to know how his staff would "test what the results could be" for his PR ideas. Who would they leak to? Who would carry the water for them? ... Notice the use of the word 'insurgency' in May 2004. Recall how many inside and outside the White House/Pentagon criticized those who called an 'insurgency' an 'insurgency' and an 'insurgent' an 'insurgent.' Recall how after the November 2004 elections the non-counterinsurgency strategy of attacking entire cities was implemented in full. Recall that it took until November 2006 to fire Rumsfeld and put in place Gen. David Petraeus's counter-insurgency strategy. ... What wasted, wasted, wasted years. ...
Update -- Ah, the old 'insurgency' debate. Remember it well. ... It all comes back: baseball bat-vs.-fly tactics during the summer of '04 and the revised 'fly-trap' blather of 2005. ... What wasted, wasted, wasted years indeed. ...
... Hey, while meandering down botched-strategy lane, I might as well link to Armchair Gen. Savin Hill's classic "Did NO ONE in the Pentagon watch Lawrence of Arabia?" We only learned later that Gen. Tommy Franks really loved 'Braveheart.' ...
