The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.
This of course is the same “strategy” the US military used in Iraq and Vietnam, that they could win from the air. It didn’t work then, it won’t work in Iran. And if you thought the US was viewed as a pariah state, imagine the reaction after such an unprovoked attack, as well as a soaring price for oil. Our leaders are quite insane, aren’t they?
“Our leaders are quite insane, aren’t they?”
That depends on what you mean… and what you think they want. I’ve become convinced that for their hidden agenda to work, they want and need chaos. They want the price of oil higher. They need to have enemies, real enemies who threaten this country. And if they can’t find them, they’ll make them.
Lest you think I’m nutty with terms like “hidden agenda,” we live in a time in which politicians say whatever they need to say in order to get elected. They do not reveal their true agenda. (For example, did you actually believe the Dems would end the war?) So words from politicians mean nothing, and all political agendas are hidden until revealed by actions.
So, to answer your question, our leaders are insane if you believe that what they say they want is what they really want. But that, almost by definition, is not the case.
I once believed that an administration that could begin two unwinnable wars, make enemies throughout the world, alienate our allies, “lose” hundreds of thousands of weapons to our enemies, and give nuclear material and technology to a country (India) beset with hundreds of active terrorist groups was criminally incompetent. Now I believe chaos suits them– and they’re investing heavily in its continuation.
I can argue that position quite well, but whether or not I’m right is actually irrelevant. What matters is, they behave as if I’m right, and that makes their future behavior (frighteningly) predictable.
However, they are zealot true believers, and that clouds their judgment and reasoning.
I’m not as convinced as you that the Bushies are intelligent or ruthless enough to pull off what you say. Messianic incompetence is also a factor!
I think the truth lies in a hybrid of both of your opinions, the policies are not that of one man but a complex group of the messianic and the rational with both gaining what they want from the results. On careful and rational analysis of what is going on there doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.
I neglected to add that according to the Boston Globe, Mexican cartels are being supplied from the U.S. with “assault rifles, armor-piercing pistols, and fragmentation grenades” which are “increasingly being used to kill police and soldiers fighting drug cartels.” Noting that armor piercing bullets and fragmentation grenades are not available to the American public (not even in Utah), I conclude that one way or another, the source is the U.S. government.
That suggests to me that it must serve someone in power to have strong drug cartels and a weak Mexican government. Which suggests that someone is planning ahead for the next assault on civil liberties.
I know Murphy says, “Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.” But in this case, there is a consistent pattern of encouraging violence against this country (and little or no effort to the contrary). In the context of this pattern, I have come to believe that the India deal is INTENDED to create a dirty-bomb attack on us or our allies.
Either our leaders are such complete idiots that they do everything wrong 100% of the time (and the consistency of the pattern is pure coincidence), or what they’re doing serves them in a way not immediately obvious (and quite disturbing). I’m having a hard time buying the pure coincidence of the pattern.
As to insanity, Hitler was insane. It didn’t stop him (1) getting elected, and (2) trying to rule half the world with efficiency and brutality. Insanity and genius are not mutually exclusive, and though I don’t think we’re dealing with geniuses here, there’s clearly a well thought out strategy.