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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Imperial Hubris |
| 2004-06-24 |
| Diggs at 4 Mile Creek takes a look at the kind of blinkered Arabist foreign service mentality that produces drivel like Imperial Hubris. If you’re not already reading 4 Mile Creek on a daily basis, shame on you. New Day, New Book, Same Old Bull Some anonymous CIA official writes a book claiming that the President has fought two "half-wars" and has played into the hands of the enemy. I’d like to see what Mullah Mohammad Omar (former spiritual leader of the Taliban, now cave dweller) or Usama Bin Laden (former leader of al Queda, now a pile of bleached bones) or Saddam Hussein (former dictator of Iraq, later a sub-level septic tank dweller, now a POW) or even al Sadr (former spiritual leader, now completely disgraced leader of a beaten group of thugs) would have to say about that. In fact, what I’d really like to see prior to reading his book is two things. One, this guy’s curriculum vitae credentials. All ivory tower academia, I’ll bet. Or academia and State Department. Prior to my first assignment in the middle east, I was sent to some military finishing school at Wright-Patterson AFB to learn how not to insult my arab friends (didn’t take, by the way). Some of our instructors were university professors who had traveled extensively in the middle east. But only among other university professors. So of course they knew squat. One female professor told us about how lucky and empowered the women are under islam. She said "I feel very safe as a woman in Saudi Arabia." To which one of the military students shouted out, "Yeah, but you have an exit visa!" Chuckles all around, except the professor of course. Another professor tried to explain to us, all military students, how Israel had been the aggressor in all the later wars they had fought, because of the fact that Israel had moved first with offensive operations. We all pshawed, and shook our heads in disbelief. That kind of idea may go over well with the coeds he taught regularly, but for a miltary officer who understands tactics, it’s ridiculous. A country the size of Israel cannot allow other nations to build up superior forces on it’s borders and then wait for them to attack. Their very survival depended on one of two things. Either peace, which the arabs would not give them, or taking the fight to the enemy. Israel had to attack first, or they would have lost in a day or two. But this professor wanted us to believe the arab side of the story; that Israel was the aggressor because they had attacked first, ignoring the fact that the buildup of forces on Israel’s border was a sign of aggression and done by the arabs first. I lost all hope that any professor or state department official (and now some CIA officials) could ever understand the arabs if all they ever contacted were their arab counterparts in the professions. Second thing I’d like to see of this guy’s (or girl’s) before I read his book is his written, or orally stated, positions on the middle east prior to 9-11. There are professional apologists in both the CIA and State Department whose whole governmental career has been designed around never taking a firm stand. That way, they can never be wrong. They are useless, but if being useful was a requirement to work for the US government, then D.C. would quickly become a ghost town. This guy is probably retiring, and is willing to cash in on his current position to rake in a bit of cash from the rabid Bushaters who will buy this book, as they did Clarke’s book, just in the hope that there’s a new reason to hate Bush more. It’s easy to take a strong position on the way out, eh Clarke? (Well maybe not that easy, he ended up looking like a moron.) What is a lot harder to do, is to take a strong position when your job is on the line. I’d be willing to bet the firmest stand this guy has ever taken in his life is this book. Written anonymously. Why not, no one has forced him to take a stand before, why take one now? As anyone in contract law will tell you, if you ain’t willing to sign your name to it, it’s worthless. |
| Posted by:Zhang Fei |
| #4 Fortunately, this stagnant, Fifth Column CIA is being smacked around by a former CIA operator (or official?), the House Intelligence Committee chairman ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-06-24 9:21:20 PM |
| #3 Air Force sensitivity classes are the stuff of legend. As a young captain in the 70's, I was directed to attend two, the most memorable of which taught sensitivity towards drug users and homosexuals (amongst other oppressed groups). The high point (no pun intended) was when the students (officers and senior NCOs) were directed to sit in a circle around a burning pellet of marijuana so that we would be able to recognize the aroma. The low point came after the mandated indoctrination to homosexualtity and how we, as supervisors, needed to modify the workplace to make it more friendly to such people. It was a touch and go whether or not the senior master sergeants taking the course would die of apoplexy before they lost control and beat the insructor to a pulp. All in all, a serious waste of time and taxpayer money. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-24 3:14:10 PM |
| #2 I think Diggs at 4 Mile Creek missed the point during his classes. He and his pals are completely right about Islam, but the point of the classes was "to learn how not to insult my arab friends" and the arab friends believe the professors bullshit version of events. Reality is not a requirement for the Arabic worldview. |
| Posted by: Yank 2004-06-24 11:02:33 AM |
| #1 They did a piece on this guys book on ABC news last night. He'd already been removed from the anti-terrorism section before he wrote the book, guess he was a little bitter. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-06-24 8:56:44 AM |