Paul Wolfowitz / Cassandra
The movie "Why We Fight" mentions the March 8, 1992 New York Times article "U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop: A One-Superpower World."
The article reports on "the Defense Planning Guidance, an internal Administration policy statement that is distributed to the military leaders and civilian Defense Department heads to instruct them on how to prepare their forces, budgets and strategy for the remainder of the decade" and notes that the document says "both Cuba and North Korea seem to be entering periods of intense crisis -- primarily economic, but also political -- which may lead the governments involved to take actions that would otherwise seem irrational." Also: "the same potential exists for China." The Times says the drafting of the document was overseen by Paul Wolfowitz, now President of the World Bank.
1.) Great hyperbole (but more likely poor editing): "intense crisis." Whew, I thought it would be just a mild crisis.
2.) Nice hedging: "seems to be," "which may," and "the same potential." The case for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was never sold using language like this.
3.) Totally wrong analysis. As far as I know, Cuba, North Korea and China haven't undergone any revolutions in the last 14 years. Certainly, trade with China has increased, but that isn't what the document is talking about.
4.) The Peter Principle: from Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs to Ambassador to Indonesia to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy to Deputy Secretary of Defense to President of the World Bank Group. Woody Allen says most of life is just showing up, and Paul Wolfowitz proves it.
5.) Please consider reading my post on U.S. "defense" spending to see how many trillions -- yes, trillions -- we've wasted on such incorrect analysis over the years. And still we go on without health insurance for 46 million Americans, on poor roads and aged rail lines, and not enough money for education.
The article reports on "the Defense Planning Guidance, an internal Administration policy statement that is distributed to the military leaders and civilian Defense Department heads to instruct them on how to prepare their forces, budgets and strategy for the remainder of the decade" and notes that the document says "both Cuba and North Korea seem to be entering periods of intense crisis -- primarily economic, but also political -- which may lead the governments involved to take actions that would otherwise seem irrational." Also: "the same potential exists for China." The Times says the drafting of the document was overseen by Paul Wolfowitz, now President of the World Bank.
1.) Great hyperbole (but more likely poor editing): "intense crisis." Whew, I thought it would be just a mild crisis.
2.) Nice hedging: "seems to be," "which may," and "the same potential." The case for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was never sold using language like this.
3.) Totally wrong analysis. As far as I know, Cuba, North Korea and China haven't undergone any revolutions in the last 14 years. Certainly, trade with China has increased, but that isn't what the document is talking about.
4.) The Peter Principle: from Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs to Ambassador to Indonesia to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy to Deputy Secretary of Defense to President of the World Bank Group. Woody Allen says most of life is just showing up, and Paul Wolfowitz proves it.
5.) Please consider reading my post on U.S. "defense" spending to see how many trillions -- yes, trillions -- we've wasted on such incorrect analysis over the years. And still we go on without health insurance for 46 million Americans, on poor roads and aged rail lines, and not enough money for education.
posted by a librarian at 10:09 AM
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