Bush Ignored own National Intelligence Estimate
on Danger, Nature of Iraq Insurgency
Or, Ozymandias and Empire
Knight Ridder reports that US intelligence agencies warned Bush in the summer and fall of 2003 that the guerrilla war was growing in strength, was mostly local, and was fueled in part by the big US military footprint in the country. The report says,
' Among the warnings, Knight Ridder has learned, was a major study, called a National Intelligence Estimate, completed in October 2003 that concluded that the insurgency was fueled by local conditions - not foreign terrorists- and drew strength from deep grievances, including the presence of U.S. troops.
The existence of the top-secret document, which was the subject of a bitter three-month debate among U.S. intelligence agencies, has not been previously disclosed to a wide public audience.
The reports received a cool reception from Bush administration policymakers at the White House and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, according to the former officials, who discussed them publicly for the first time.
President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and others continued to describe the insurgency as a containable threat, posed mainly by former supporters of Saddam Hussein, criminals and non-Iraqi terrorists - even as the U.S. intelligence community was warning otherwise. '
And they were making fun in the White House around that time of the "reality-based community" that "judiciously" studied the facts on the ground! Because, you know, "we are an empire now."
Let me introduce the "empire" in the White House (or maybe that "thinker" has already been frog-marched out of it?) to Ozymandias.
Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said--"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart....Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
posted by Juan Cole @ 3/01/2006 06:11:00 AM
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4 Comments:
that poem has been a longtime favorite of mine. it's a fitting epitaph for the stillborn neocon pipe-dream.
a more recent similar theme comes to mind:
"Though Olympus pierce the very skies, in all the history of Earth, there's never been a heaven, never been a house of gods ... that was not built on human bones."
Alan Moore, Miracle Man #15
Eclipse Comics, November 1988
You know? I have to wonder if the there is something to the notion of curses being visited upon the heathen unwashed infidels for their actions in various colonised locales around the World. As with Ozymandias, there are traces of good things to seen, good and wondrous, while in effect there are more numerous ruins and fallen idols. We've heard of the same sorts of things being experienced by the raiders of the Pharoahs' temples and pyramids, with mythically mysterious deaths occurring as a result of defiling the resting places of the once-great.
As we've seen with the Egyptians, we have also been offended by the consequential looting of the Iraqi antiquities, purloined not for any other noble cause than personal enrichment, the treasures winding up not in some generally or mutually neutral place like a museum (where they once were), but in some private collectors' homes and vaults to be admired and appreciated by the select and elite few. Just as the Taleban were deposed and defeated in Afghanistan, so their plight and fate was determined largely by the denial of hospitality to history, the defaming and defiling of the ancient Buddha sculptures. Kismet meets Karma with a kick.
While it might be said that the English motives in Iraq were redeemed by the actions of a few, among them TE Lawrence and G Bell, the integrity of the Iraqi nation was not reclaimed until the Westerners and their satraps were removed from power. Once again, but this time with emphases, the Anglophiles have penetrated the sanctuary and, in effect, raped the land and its people, creating an unHoly situation, effecting a gestation and and eventual birth of something entirely alien to its culture.
This has been a problem in the past, what with the who knows how many Eurasians left in Vietnam who are marginalised simply because of their existence as reminders of a previous imperial power that came to make things all neat and unwrinkly for the SouthEast Asians. As now, there are living and breathing symbols of bygone times, times when the empire struck out, something that one GHW Bush specifically maintained was to be avoided when embarking on the 1990-91 (mis)adventures in the desert, that of Iraq becoming another VietNam.
As we've seen with the case in Iran, the ability of the Americans to blackmail their way out of perilous and prickly predicaments is rapidly coming to a close. The reality of any miltary situation is the requirement for occupation in order to stabilise the situations on the ground once every other thing has been done. The ability to "nuke 'em 'til they glow" is about as useful as eliminating a village in order to save it: there are no allies left whose hearts and minds might be won over, much less the sympathy of the mourners who might seek revenge or retribution against the perpetrators for any acts committed. As in Okinawa, the concept of personal dignity and pride begins with the integrity of the gonads, the fertility of the nation stemming therefrom, something that -- once violated -- is repellant to those who should have derived pleasure and satisfaction from its existence and expressions.
While there have been late-coming noble "values" asserted as to the purposes of American interference in Iraq and the Middle East overall, the idea of some uninvited visitors is repulsive. The irony of the late Summer visitation by one Ms Sheehan to Crawford, TX, highlighted the issue of invasion and sovereign privacy at a prominent someone's getaway. It seems all too real now that people can actually go down yonder and pester the bigwigs and make their sanctity uncomfortable, not a far piece from having people just drop in and, in rock star (something once aflame but now burnt out) fashion, vandalise everything and anything. Even Dead-Eye Dick has a glimmer of what it means to witness the wounding and hospitalisation of a comrade under arms. While Iraqis aren't quail, a potentially dead friend isn't either as American GIs are equally not, there remains a possibility for a funeral or memorial service.
It is ironic how the heathen infidel is dealt his due once the forces of Justice, now hidden in part, are unleashed. When the curtains or drapes are drawn away, there is nothing more than the naked truth to be beheld. Denying it or hiding it serves only to impede the Universal or Infinite ideals, denying their existence, attempting to hide the fact that they cannot be limited nor contained serves no end for Justice, Truth, or the American Way.
Alkaloids and the Vision Thing
A beautiful poem, and a caution to rulers everywhen and everywhere.
Was Shelley one of the Romantic poets that used opium, the cocaine of the era, to enhance his poetic visions?
Do leaders today use drugs while making decisions?
One of the things about W. that is impressive, is that at one point he defied orders to report for duty at a medical station, and stopped flying. He presumably had a very good reason, though he's never gone into it. Maybe he felt that continued flying might not be advisable.
Can he make a similar judgement regarding Iraq?
Our armed forces have done a heck of a job, but it's time for them to start heading home. A sumo wrestler may be the best in his field, but may look awkward and not place well in a track meet. No discredit, just doesn't have the skill set for the task.
Unfortunately, Osama, Omar, Zarqawi, and Sadr are all still at large. Maybe a small, dedicated group, like the Canadian Mounties or the Texas Rangers should be given the task of dealing with the tiny number of truly dangerous characters out there. It could be international, perhaps under UN auspices, and probably low profile until the job is done.
In order to provide an incentive to get the job done, a TV series would run the season after, with everyone playing themself, unless they wanted to pick someone else to play their role. Helpful officials worldwide could appear, showcasing their assistance....
In the meantime, the US, empire or no, ought to spearhead a series of international efforts to achieve universal education, clean water, basic health care including eradication of major diseases such as malaria and TB, and food security. US share of the funding should probably be on the order of what the wars would have cost, with other countries kicking in according to their means.
It appears we may need to do a bit more to regain friends around the world than we currently are. The best way to get a friend is to be a friend.
If W. and Co. don't think so, maybe there are others who could take their place.
From a poem of mine called "Soldier's Soldier" (in the style of Orwell's "Beasts of England"):
Ozymandias' sneering statue
Crumpled in the desert bare
Look upon my works, you mighty,
See their ruin, and take care
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