by Col. W. Patrick Lang (Ret.)
People keep asking me how to “fix” the Iraq mess. Hey! I didn’t make it a mess. Those that did should fix it.
Brings to mind the old saw about driving your car off a cliff. “Once you’ve done it you might as well enjoy the view on the way down.”
I opted out of the policy business after Vietnam and refused to take jobs in that field from then on.
Policy makers are in the business of trying to create some new reality that they fancy. Intelligence people are in the business of describing reality as it is or as they think it will come to be.
It is very important to keep these two functions separate because if you don’t, then the policy guys start making decisions based on what it is they WANT TO SEE in support of their proposed new world.
Continued BELOW:
Now, it is true that some intelligence people get “tapped” as individuals to do things for the government that are more in the nature of covert action, but that is not intelligence. Intelligence is about information.
Since I am interested in information and teaching the teachable, I offer the following two short pieces written by T.E. Lawrence, one on British occupied Mesopotamia and the other on the Revolt in the Desert. There is also a picture of an art deco bronze plaque of him which my wife bought me in Buenos Aires of all places.
Pat Lang
Download A Report on Mesopotamia (PDF format).
Download “Evolution of a Revolt.”
Download Lawrenceinbronze.bmp.
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
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My Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free, by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
I guess I should have guessed by the fact that you have a bronze statue of the man, but…80 some years ago?
Damn. Those who don’t learn from history, and whatnot.
With regards to this:
With all due respect, I hope that more and more people are asking your opinion on this.
The current plan for ‘solving’ problems in Iraq is not based on any knowledge of the people of Iraq whatsoever. It is based on an arrogant, idealistic view of American influence.
You have a great depth of knowledge about the Iraqis. If people are finally asking you, that means they realize that we actually need to take that aspect into account if we’re to have any hope of succeeding (which by now, probably means getting out of there in the least worst way).
I will agree that this is the way it SHOULD be.
The problem is, the people who caused this mess aren’t capable of fixing it. It won’t be fixed until well after Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld are gone.
Assuming that it is “fixable.” Somethings are so badly broken that you just have to bulldoze over them and walk away.
You’re so right, Rick. And whoever gets the thankless job of really working on the mess will get kicked from from this side to sundown … it may even a consolation to John Kerry and John Edwards that they didn’t have to try to tackle the mess (and I’m not sure they’d be the people to do it anyway).
I take that back… Kerry and Edwards would be more proactive, but they’d be mercilessly criticized by the GOP-controlled Congress, so it’d be a living hell for them, especially since they’d have one tough time trying to pass constructive legislation.
The funny thing is that I am sure that is what the Bush/Cheney/Rove White House and the Republicans in general feel like is happening to them. The result is that they will feel perfectly justified to pillory any Democrat who gets elected.
I see no end to it, certainly not within a generation. If there ever is an end, I am certain it will not come from conservatives. And, yes, I recognize that my distrust and dislike for them is now part of the problem. I just consider them to be like scorpions and rattlesnakes, expressing their innate and unchangeable nature.
Crap, I just spent the better part of an hour reading your links. Once I started I just couldn’t stop. Now I’ve spent good working hours becoming a far better informed person than I was before. I hate it when that happens cause I like to think I know it all. (See various posts)
Ok, here’s a question I have. The Bushies have said that they will not develop a timeline for withdrawl because the insurgents will just wait out the timeline. To me, this would be exactly what we (the US in Iraq, like it or not) would want to encourage. Freeze the insurgency while they wait for their “opportunity”. This would allow rebuilding and solidify the introduced government’s position in the hearts and minds of the populace. Thus undercutting the support from the public any insurgency needs in order to prosper and eliminating the “opportunity” from ever occuring. Who really cares if the the timelines are met, as long as the end goal of dominance is achieved?
Am I totaly off the reservation on this one?