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Owen Densmore wrote:
> Now THIS IS weird!
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> Date: August 15, 2007 7:16:36 PM MDT
>> Subject: Cheney on why we shouldn't invade Iraq -- 1994
>>
>> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9a8_1186873756
>>
>> I guess it was Bush's idea after all! Or Cheney lost his marbles.
>> Or is something else going on?
Personally, I think they started the conflict just so this
administration could be "at war" because, traditionally, war-time
administrations have more flexibility than peace-time administrations.
But, this document may have helped change Cheney's mind:
Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance by Ullman and Wade.
http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Ullman_Shock.pdf
And, if Cheney (perhaps) believed in "peak oil", then he would have
realized that, as oil becomes scarce, he who has the oil rules. In
essence, he's a patriot (?); hence, he had to agree that dominating the
middle east is necessary for the US to retain its position as _the_
world power. And Cheney's a very empathetic man (?); so Shock and Awe,
being a strategy for _rapid_ dominance is the most humane way to kill
people... like ripping off a band-aid or shooting your prey in the head
with your pistol after missing its heart with your rifle.
But, I still believe that they didn't do it for any of those reasons...
I think they needed to be "at war" in order to grab power for the
executive branch, which is what all "good" presidents do. The 4
branches of US government are in competition for power and the Bush
admin needed to make its contribution to the executive branch. Now we
need some equally loyal members of the other 3 branches (legislative,
judicial, and the press) to make some tactical counter-moves.
Either way though, it's popular for these "executive types" to maintain
a close analogy between team sports and their career paths. If you
can't make an analogy with football, then you're not a proper man. So,
looking at the actions of Cheney's generation of political insiders
through the lens of "team sports" can bring a little sense to it. [grin]
The teams they're members of are hierarchically composed: republicans,
executives, americans, "leaders/political insiders". Each individual
has different teams at each level that they play for. Yale, the Air
National Guard, Texas, and the "south west" fit in there somewhere for
Bush. "Big sky", hunters, and such fit in there somewhere for Cheney.
Any given objective is designed from the perspective of "what team am I
on?" and "what position do I play to ensure that my team wins?".
As for why Cheney changed his mind, he'd worked in many areas of
government and he probably used to view the 4-team league more
synoptically. When he finally committed to being a loyal member of the
executive team, he bought into the "war-time power grab" play. Since
Bush is an experienced yell leader, perhaps Bush invoked some team
spirit from Cheney?
- --
glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly
enforced. -- Frank Zappa
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