...and I see NOTHING
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm">here that challenges the anodyne banalities they've been pretending are Deep Policy all along.
To me, the whole thing reeks of deliberate leaking. I think it's meant to put Rummy and Iraq in a favorable light. Oooh, look, he's challenging preconceptions! he's Thinking Outside the Box!--qoth the breathless idiot media. Really? Where, exactly? The whole thing is simply meant to create an impression of Deep Thoughts without actually displaying any and
without challenging any basic assumptions. Even the most "critical" bit that keeps getting quoted is cotton candy: "It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." Um, gee, that's been the official party line for a while, albeit dressed up more formally. I see NO questioning of basic premises: Is the US more or less secure after invading Iraq? Was it a mistake to get so far out of sync with allies who are essential to fighting terrorists? How did we get from having the entire world's sympathy and support after 9/11 to having even more people hate us than ever did before? Is THAT good or bad for our security? etc etc ad nauseam.
The whole thing amounts to nothing more than the question, "Should we be going even faster down the {wrong} path we're pursuing?"
I repeat: There is NOTHING here that challenges the groupthink mentality that this administration has not just tolerated but made its absolute central operating principle.
This thing just looks like a more subtle part of the PR push to Think Positive On Iraq :loveya: