[lbo-talk] Hersh on Bush & Iran

[Sean Johnson Andrews]

On the other hand, it seems that Doug was talking about people who knew 
something about Iraq.  It now seems, in hindsight, that a pretty good test 
for the people who actually did know something about Iraq are the people who 
predicted the civil war--and, within the administration, many of those folks 
were ignored or fired.  Not that this helps with predictions about Iran. I 
doubt Bush consulted LBO-Talk at all, but an interesting point on that front 
as well (I wasn't watching this list, but haven't seen any mea culpa's 
lately.)

Still I am not sure whether the question is if it would be crazy to use a 
tactical nuke (or stupid or a "miscalculation") or if the current 
administration is that crazy/stupid/inept.  It would seem the answers are 
yes and maybe, but I am not sure what the overall strategy is of the first 
one or how capable these planners are in working through the tactics of 
anything more than a hearty game of beer pong.  As in that game, this one 
seems to make your aim and thinking worse the more you lose.  Eventually you 
just start pelting the ball to see if you can hit something: this almost 
never works, but it seems like a good idea at the time.  Who knows, maybe 
you'll win: there's always a chance, right?

-s


> Doug wrote to Marvin:
> <blockquote>
>>I also think it's mistaken to consider the invasion of Iraq an act of
>>"stupidity" so much as of miscalculation
>
> Almost everyone who knew anything about Iraq predicted what would
> happen if the US invaded, and the Bush admin ignored or fired them.
> Miscalculation seems too kind a word for that.
>
> Doug
>
> That sounds like revisionism, Doug!  Even on LBO-talk, for a _long_
> time, those who thought that Washington could and should provide
> "security" for Iraqis, "reconstruct" Iraq, "prevent" a civil war, etc.
> were a majority.  Look into the archived threads on Iraq from 2003
> till at least early 2004.
>
> --
> Yoshie
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
> <http://mrzine.org>
> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
>
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