How the “Game” is played?

by Patrick Lang


In listening to the “Beltway/K St.” crowd discuss the ever widening Abuse of Power scandal surrounding the Bush Administration I am struck by the profound immorality of many of the statements being made by people who have served for decades at the right hand of presidents and members of Congress.


Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

His CV and blog are linked below the fold.

“That’s just how the Game is Played,” or “Let’s not Criminalize Politics” would be samples of the kind of rhetoric floating around these days in the world of the “talking heads.” What is meant by that?


The idea implicit in statements of this kind by people like David Gergen and Pat Buchanan is that there is nothing wrong with using the power of the executive branch of government to manipulate the press to destroy the reputations and livelihoods of political opponents. The belief seems to be that pressurizing or seducing media executives to accept false and misleading statements about critics of the policies of the government of the day is just a form of “contact sport” and that, in fact, all is truly fair in love, war, and now politics. It seems that the “wise men” also believe that it is just part of the game to “recruit” reporters for the national print media and then use them as instruments of propaganda to deceive the public and contribute to the destruction of the “loyal opposition.”


If it is true that the politics of personal destruction are so widely accepted by the political establishment … Cont. below:

by Patrick Lang


In listening to the “Beltway/K St.” crowd discuss the ever widening Abuse of Power scandal surrounding the Bush Administration I am struck by the profound immorality of many of the statements being made by people who have served for decades at the right hand of presidents and members of Congress.


Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

His CV and blog are linked below the fold.

“That’s just how the Game is Played,” or “Let’s not Criminalize Politics” would be samples of the kind of rhetoric floating around these days in the world of the “talking heads.” What is meant by that?


The idea implicit in statements of this kind by people like David Gergen and Pat Buchanan is that there is nothing wrong with using the power of the executive branch of government to manipulate the press to destroy the reputations and livelihoods of political opponents. The belief seems to be that pressurizing or seducing media executives to accept false and misleading statements about critics of the policies of the government of the day is just a form of “contact sport” and that, in fact, all is truly fair in love, war, and now politics. It seems that the “wise men” also believe that it is just part of the game to “recruit” reporters for the national print media and then use them as instruments of propaganda to deceive the public and contribute to the destruction of the “loyal opposition.”


If it is true that the politics of personal destruction are so widely accepted by the political establishment … Cont. below:
If it is true that the politics of personal destruction are so widely accepted by the political establishment in the city named for one of the most honest men who ever lived, then perhaps we should change the name of the place. Maybe “Nixon City” would be more realistic or perhaps “Pedernales Flats” for one of my “favorite” presidents.


Patrick Fitzgerald is evidently still deciding what to do about the cruel and selfish “system” that his investigation into the equivalent of the “bungled burglary” has revealed. To my mind, the central question before him and his grand jury is not whether or not some combination if these monkeys “outed” Mrs. Wilson.


No, the main issue is whether or not it is a crime punishable under federal law for federal officers and employees to use the power of the state to combine in the covert destruction of a man’s reputation and livelihood.


It seems possible that the putative conspirators have violated the civil rights of Joe Wilson by so combining against him. If Fitzgerald thinks so, and a conviction occurred on this charge….


There might be some change in the “rules of the game.”


Pat Lang


Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
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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