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The only "lie" I see exposed by this memo is that oft repeated statements by the amdinistration that they had not yet chosen war as THE option until early 2003. Of course, I never onjce bought that. so I am not particulalry shot.
That post-war planning was a joke should have also been evident from day one.
These memo's carry no surprises anywhere for those who never once trusted this imbecilic administration.
As for Drake's notion of Bush remaking a crumbling status quo...WHAT ENDANGERED STATUS QUO? I am sorry, but AQ was not in 2001 nor is today, nor shall be, a threat to the global Status Quo. AQ has never had the power to overturn ANY secure middle eastern dictatorships. They simply don't. That they can plan immense crimes is not the same as saying that they are a threat to the global status quo, anymore than the waves of anarchist assasinations from the 1880's to the 1900's ever trully shook the global status quo.
As for Saddam- even if the sanctions regime around his fell, he simply was not a threat to the local balance of power, and would not be for years, and even then, he would probably not have ever been able to threaten the more secure Iranina regime, nor the better armed and increasingly more populous SA.
In 4 years Bush has done little if anything to reshape the world status quo for the beenfit of the US. The war in Iraq has given AQ an opening simply because while they would never have been able to bring down Saddam, the US did it for them, and was not capable of pluggin the whole well enough. Our poor example in Iraq makes the likelyhood of more "humanitarian wars" much more difficult. The fact is Bush has discredited significantly the idea of using direct military force to end dictatorships by his utter imcompetence in running the Iraq war, and the problem is, Iraq was by far the easiest target open.
Having "ideas and vision" is secondary to being competent. This admin. has many "visions", but they are not up to the task of carrying any of them out. And in their half assed attempts they have made things less stable in the world without adding stability anywhere.
That post-war planning was a joke should have also been evident from day one.
These memo's carry no surprises anywhere for those who never once trusted this imbecilic administration.
As for Drake's notion of Bush remaking a crumbling status quo...WHAT ENDANGERED STATUS QUO? I am sorry, but AQ was not in 2001 nor is today, nor shall be, a threat to the global Status Quo. AQ has never had the power to overturn ANY secure middle eastern dictatorships. They simply don't. That they can plan immense crimes is not the same as saying that they are a threat to the global status quo, anymore than the waves of anarchist assasinations from the 1880's to the 1900's ever trully shook the global status quo.
As for Saddam- even if the sanctions regime around his fell, he simply was not a threat to the local balance of power, and would not be for years, and even then, he would probably not have ever been able to threaten the more secure Iranina regime, nor the better armed and increasingly more populous SA.
In 4 years Bush has done little if anything to reshape the world status quo for the beenfit of the US. The war in Iraq has given AQ an opening simply because while they would never have been able to bring down Saddam, the US did it for them, and was not capable of pluggin the whole well enough. Our poor example in Iraq makes the likelyhood of more "humanitarian wars" much more difficult. The fact is Bush has discredited significantly the idea of using direct military force to end dictatorships by his utter imcompetence in running the Iraq war, and the problem is, Iraq was by far the easiest target open.
Having "ideas and vision" is secondary to being competent. This admin. has many "visions", but they are not up to the task of carrying any of them out. And in their half assed attempts they have made things less stable in the world without adding stability anywhere.
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It's pathetic, really, because we've got an enemy who can be defined any way we want to justify our policy of the moment, and a way to make sure there's never an end to this "war."
to Ted Striker btw)
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