John Robb on Bush & decentralized war
2004-10-14 22:39:54.276103+00 by
Dan Lyke
6 comments
Every once in a while, someone summarizes a point so well that I just can't pull parts, so apologies, but I'm going to quote one of John Robb's entries today about the Bush approach to terrorism in its entirety:
This statement sums up the rogue regime approach of the Bush
administration. BUSH: Well, as I say, we haven't
heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the
center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where
he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that
concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I
was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country.
I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running
Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.
In this statement, Bush demonstrates that he fundamentally doesn't
understand decentralized guerrillas. If the scorecard on
victory is the elimination of rogue regimes, we will lose (and badly).
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-15 15:45:15.185729+00 by:
jeff
I totally agree. Instead of focusing on Afghanistan, Donald Rumsfeld wanted to attack Iraq right out of the gate, stating: "But there are no targets to bomb in Afghanistan; it's not a target-rich environment." (Insert caricature of Rumsfeld pleading to Bush here)
Bin Laden's blueprint for terror is fully mastered on CD, easily distributed around the world to decentralized cells. It doesn't rely on the Internet, but that medium has also been used as well as wireless technology.
The "War on Terror" is somewhat analogous to the "War on Cancer." We've had a number of success stories, but we need to fully understand whether the "treatment" (i.e. war) is indeed a cure or instead a catalyst for further metastasis.
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-15 16:56:10.811679+00 by:
baylink
And yet, and yet... there are some things that only nation-states can do.
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-15 18:38:05.91422+00 by:
Larry Burton
Let me see, Bin Laden has laid out his plans and his objectives out and published them on CD which has been distributed far and wide to all his minions. He's lit the fuse and is now in hiding, waiting for the explosions. No, I don't see that there is a need to worry about Bin Laden at this point. The worry is in putting out that fuse. Bin Laden is in a position where he has to be too worried about evading the Pakistanis and US Special Forces than in planning more terror attacks so I have to agree with Pres. Bush's statement about Bin Laden right now. I'm just not so certain that the current method of putting out the fuse will ever work.
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-15 20:40:16.371988+00 by:
polly
and more soldiers die over there everyday. my brother is supposed to be sent back by the end of this year. at least he was able to stay home for 6 months. damn bush.
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-16 13:50:39.220486+00 by:
jeff
"And yet, and yet... there are some things that only nation-states can do."
Baylink: Please do elucidate.
#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-16 13:57:15.516463+00 by:
jeff
Larry--many of the current methods used to fight terrorism only cause it to metastasize and become displaced elsewhere. Have you ever seen sparklers that you can blow out, only to see them re-ignite? That's another "fuse analogy" here, I think. There are also many analogies between cancer treatment protocols and the protocols we are currently using to fight terrorism. Perhaps the cure for both will occur simultaneously, when human-kind reaches a new level of awareness.