B(log) O(f) T(he) D(ay)
OK, it's not really a blog, but Jonathan Alter, writing in this week's Newsweek:
Bush's Iraq policy is a textbook illustration of why the sword works best when it's sheathed. The mythical giant up in the hills loses his power when he lumbers down into daylight. Now the whole world knows that American military forces are stretched thin and not as infallible as advertised. The war on terror is known as "asymmetrical combat," where the weak—a few men with box cutters—can humiliate the strong. So old-fashioned definitions of power don't mean as much. As the 9/11 Commission reported, our new world requires a more resourceful approach, with fresh attitudes toward intelligence, diplomacy and international education as important as anything coming out of the Pentagon. This will demand an eye for complexity, not a line in the sand.
Bush's Iraq policy is a textbook illustration of why the sword works best when it's sheathed. The mythical giant up in the hills loses his power when he lumbers down into daylight. Now the whole world knows that American military forces are stretched thin and not as infallible as advertised. The war on terror is known as "asymmetrical combat," where the weak—a few men with box cutters—can humiliate the strong. So old-fashioned definitions of power don't mean as much. As the 9/11 Commission reported, our new world requires a more resourceful approach, with fresh attitudes toward intelligence, diplomacy and international education as important as anything coming out of the Pentagon. This will demand an eye for complexity, not a line in the sand.
posted by JFH @ 5:25 PM
<< Home