RE: Rumsfeld Says He May Drop New Office of Influence

From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 26 2002 - 18:39:36 GMT

  • Next message: Wade Smith: "Re: Rumsfeld Says He May Drop New Office of Influence"

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    From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
    To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
    Subject: RE: Rumsfeld Says He May Drop New Office of Influence
    Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 13:39:36 -0500
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    Well, 'better' he did, but that does not raise his performance to an
    adequate level. He did better, in terms of image: the policies he adopted
    are, and will prove to be, disasterous, for many reasons, some of which I
    have explained in earlier postings to this list. I would add the death of
    Daniel Pearl (a fellow alumnus); the failure to secure bin Laden; the recent
    moves of the Israelis against the Palestinians along with Sharon's
    'solution'; the proposed US defense budget; the loss of support for US
    policies in Europe; Rmsfeld's Office of "Strategic Information" fiasco; and
    rumblings in Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as exhibits of the
    consequences of these policies. With, I suspect, a lot more to come.

    I do use the term 'stupid' in its technical sense, and can explore that, if
    you wish. I do apply it to the adminsitration, rather than to Bush
    personally: what we are doing - Afghanistan, "war on terrorism" language,
    Ashcroft legal actions, emphasis on hardening US targets rather than
    defusing terrorist motivation -- all of this is stupid and ineffective. And
    horribly costly.

    Now: why do you think that saying this is dangerous? Or counter-productive?
    I am intrigued and worried by your thought that it might be.

    Regards,
    Lawrence

    > >The depths of the raw stupidity we are seeing from the administration is
    > >frightening.
    > >
    > >Lawrence
    >
    > Lawrence, as much as I can understand your frustration, I think it is
    > dangerous and counterproductive, to call the administration stupid.
    > Bush did so much better as a candidate and as the president than many
    > people expected, because it was easy for him to show himself in
    > much better
    > light than public opinion granted him
    >
    > Joachim
    >

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