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"Think Tank" Makes Lame Attempt at Humor
A respected think tank concluded Wednesday that the United States has lost influence as a result of failings over the Iraq war, encouraging its detractors including Iran and Russia and jeopardizing stability in Asia and the Middle East.Ah, the "respected" think tank thing. Wonder if that was the language used in the 80s when IISS backed a robust US strategic nuclear posture? But to the main problem - WHERE, WHEN, and HOW has the US lost ANY influence because of Iraq? Specifics? Oh, that's right - there aren't any. Thought so. In its annual report on global security, the International Institute of Strategic Studies painted a bleak picture of conflict in the Middle East, an emboldened al-Qaida and growing Islamic radicalism across Europe. New European leaders offer hope of a fresh approach in the fight against terrorism, the report said, but success is unlikely with the White House struggling to command global respect. WTF? "Emboldened" AQ? Examples, please? New European leaders offer WHAT "fresh approach" in the WOT? Examples, please? Do they mean Sarko, who if anything will move French policy even closer to ours (French intel and covert shenanigans have always generally been consistent with US and other allied approaches, public and political irresponsibility notwithstanding). So, IISS, do you think there's any govt. office on Earth that doesn't take the WH's phone call when it comes in? WTF about "struggling to command global respect"? Utter nonsense - but something you can hear every 15 seconds at any university faculty lounge, brainless Beltway "think tank" environment, or cocktail party with "informed" people. With weak leadership from Washington, "the risk is that simmering international tensions will spill over and endanger global prosperity," the report said. Quadruple WTF? Which tensions will spill over, where? Do they mean the WH's abandonment of the first intelligent MidEast policy in decades, when Dubya finally told the Palestinian psycho-gangsters to f**k off? Uh, probably not. And how the F is "global prosperity" endangered? Uh, excuse me, IISS, the US is THE source of global prosperity - not just its consumer demand, or its technology and innovation, but its commitment to free market development. And typically for the apparently rather dim security nerds at IISS, they have no idea how feeble and transitory would be the impact of nearly any conceivable "spilt over" tensions. They don't understand economics any better than they understand power and military force. The institute warned that a string of thwarted terrorist plots in Europe highlights the increased radicalization of Islamic communities on the continent and a wider failure to disable Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Can I scream now? How the F do THWARTED terror attacks - none of them particularly innovative, large, or bold - indicate anything other than an effective surveillance operation? So total, utter obliterarion of every single aspect of AQ operations is the standard for success? AQ hasn't laid a finger on CONUS for six years, is hunted and on the run everywhere they still exist, and they haven't been "disabled"? "The United States and its allies have failed to deal a deathblow to al-Qaida; the organization's ideology appears to have taken root to such a degree that it will require decades to eradicate," the report said.
In Iraq, U.S. troops need more support from Iraqi politicians to deliver improved security, the institute said. "There are grave doubts, about the ability, let alone the willingness, of the Iraqi government to do this," said the report. If the additional 30,000 U.S. troops deployed this year does not bring "sustainable security and political compromise" by early next year, the surge will have failed, the think tank said. Oh, blow it out your a**, IISS. Achieving all that in the next 6 months would exceed any political-military accomplishment in human history by several orders of magnitude - but that's the LOW bar you set? Idiots. Authors of the study asserted that the damage to international security and American standing from the Iraq war will take years to repair. Did they have staff meetings to review and ensure they hadn't missed a single unsubstantiated, stupid meme spawned by the very well founded and historically quite cheap and effective US pre-emptive elimination of one of modern history's most dangerous and odious regimes? Oh, and by the way - what "damage to international security"? Examples? The elimination, capture, and interrogation of thousands and thousands of jihadis? The gigantic advantage gained in intel and covert ops against the two principal threats to security in the region, Iran and Syria? The leverage gained over the "friendly" Sunni s**t-holes who pass for our friends in the region? And, most important, apart from the small, incapable minds of idiots in academia and politics and media and "respected think tanks", just exactly where and how has American standing been damaged? Specifics, please? Not holding my breath ... This is the sort of "intellectual" cover, to supplement the non-stop distortion and even falsehoods from major media, that the academic and quasi-academic worlds provide to buttress the upside-down thinking inside the fantasy bubble within which so many of our fellow citizens languish. Anyone discouraged yet? Posted by: Verlaine 2007-09-13 |
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