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11/12/2006
HUMINT: Purging Blame
Thoughts on the end of Rumsfeld's career as Sec Def.
HUMINT: The boxes of blame were piling up in the Sec Def's office. Partisan politics demanded he load them on his shoulders and walk out the door with them. It adds further emphasis to the perception that the real battlefield is Washington DC not Baghdad. Think about what we've done in terms of the message it sent to the Middle East. It says violence is working. It says the reward for doing one's public duty is blame and ridicule. Is that an experience we should expect Iraqis and Afghanis to emulate?
What we've done is reward the chaotocats in the Iraqi parliament by blaming and then dumping one of the few qualified American leaders of this war. Rumsfeld has made great strides under excruciatingly difficult circumstances. It's our collective intolerance of difficult circumstances that made us do what we did. By “we”, I am referring to the American people - By “did”, I am referring to the act of creating anxiety among a presidential administration in the middle of a war to make them sacrifice a key member of their team.
I’ve read outstanding analyses that claim Western democracies can’t win small wars. I surmise Western democracies can’t function as if they are at peace domestically while they fight a difficult war abroad. Unfortunately, no amount of “political postulating” or “blame trading” will make national security threats disappear. War is an unpleasant reality that the Sec Def will forever be responsible for. As a nation, I think this is the message we are sending loud and unclear to the world:
"keep the world's wars behind the curtains Mr. President. I'd rather watch Borat joke about rape, racism and prostitution than consider alternative national policies to effectively combat dysfunctional societies. You, not them are the reason those dysfunctional societies state loud and clear they wants to kill us all. Fix everything by doing nothing Mr. President and get it done yesterday!"
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