Before it slips by, I just want to call this BBC story to your attention.
The US has lost its status as the world’s most competitive economy, according to the World Economic Forum.
The US now ranks only sixth in the body’s league table of global competitiveness, behind Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Singapore.
Risks attached to the large US trade and fiscal deficits prompted its fall.
Now on to regular Shrub snarking — it seems the sections of the NIE that the Boy King declassified say that the Iraq War is fueling global terrorism.
Makes you wonder what the stuff he’s still sitting on says.
Speaking of sitting on reports, Nicole Belle at Crooks & Liars says that Bush has blocked release of a report that says global warming can cause really nasty Katrina-level storms.
Raw Story has more about the comprehensive strategy to attack al Qaeda that Condi says never existed.
The last paragraph in the Raw story link is interesting. Seems I’ve heard those words before, except that Bush was mouthing them to the world during his machismo days. At least we know that Bush’s speech writer read Clarke’s memo even if Condi or Bush didn’t.
When you want to see the whole picture (in 3D) you need to actually read the document.
See this interactive categorization of the NIE Doc:
http://www.rightsideredux.com/2006/09/nie-doc-needs-editor-or-librarian.html
For example, below are all of the “forward looking” statements in the NIE doc. We can talk about blame and status until the cows come home.
The Question is: what will make us successful in the war on Terror.
The Answer: Win in Iraq.
(see below)
ABOUT IRAQ
“Perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere.”
“Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.”
ABOUT GLOBAL JIHAD
“Greater pluralism and more responsive political systems in Muslim majority nations would alleviate some of the grievances jihadists exploit. Over time, such progress, together with sustained, multifaceted programs targeting the vulnerabilities of the jihadist movement and continued pressure on al-Qa’ida, could erode support for the jihadists.”
“Concomitant vulnerabilities in the jihadist movement have emerged that, if fully exposed and exploited, could begin to slow the spread of the movement.”
“The jihadists’ greatest vulnerability is that their ultimate political solution an ultra-conservative interpretation of shari’a-based governance spanning the Muslim world is unpopular with the vast majority of Muslims. Exposing the religious and political straitjacket that is implied by the jihadists’ propaganda would help to divide them from the audiences they seek to persuade.”
“Recent condemnations of violence and extremist religious interpretations by a few notable Muslim clerics signal a trend that could facilitate the growth of a constructive alternative to jihadist ideology: peaceful political activism. This also could lead to the consistent and dynamic participation of broader Muslim communities in rejecting violence, reducing the ability of radicals to capitalize on passive community support. In this way, the Muslim mainstream emerges as the most powerful weapon in the war on terror.”
“Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require coordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders.”
“If democratic reform efforts in Muslim majority nations progress over the next five years, political participation probably would drive a wedge between intransigent extremists and groups willing to use the political process to achieve their local objectives.”
Justin, sorry to rain on your parade of hypothetical ‘forward thinking’ ideas. Fact: the Iraq war has increased the extent of terrorism. Fact: the Bush team who took us to war on lies also have, through utter incompetence, already lost any chance to ‘win the war in Iraq’. They have repeatedly failed to secure that country. It is the height of folly to continue to follow failed leadership demonstrated by Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld who couldn’t even be bothered to secure the huge plastics explosives stored at Al Qaaba south of Baghdad in April of 2003. That huge storage facility was under seal when we got to Iraq. The Bush team was urgently warned by El Baradei to secure those explosives…….and because of the Bush team utter hubris and incompetency, those unsecured explosives have ever since been killing our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Don’t even get me started on the Abu Ghraib mess created by some twisted logic within the Bush administration
So, as to the points you make about ‘forward looking’ parts of the NIE document, you surely realize that we cannot count on the Bush team to carry them out. It is imperative to understand that ‘talking of blame ’til the cows come home’ is not at all the same as taking a clear-eyed look at what failures led to increased terrorism.
I say, pull the plug on the momentum of the Bush team that sinks us ever deeper into failure. Vote for Democrats who are adult enough and strong enough to stop the downward slide of damage Bush has done to America.
Well the Justin/Donna exchange seems to be the major party talking points today. It seems that anyway you slice it Dumbya looks.. well dumb. That being said and the importance of getting some control over someone that dumb and powerful being impossible to overstate, the sad fact is that Democrats are still going to blow this thing if they do not come forward with some sort of cohesive approach to clean up this mess and show some real backbone in the process. My suggestions which admittedly are based on nothing more than middle aged, somewhat liberal armchair musings, are to immediately redeploy most of the troops in Iraq either to Afgahnistan or “over the horizon”. Continue to try and help the government achieve some stability, protect Iraq from foreign aggressors and use special forces to try and keep the heat on the worst of the bad guys. This will hardly look like a “victory” to the jihadists although they will claim it is. Iraq simply has to work things out internally and it may take a full fledged civil war or partition to do it. It is surely hubris as well as stupid to try and control the internal strife. We need to refocus on Afgahnistan big time and achieve a real “victory” there which should send a message not only to the jihadists, but also to Iran and Pakistan that in the long run you can deal with the radical/terrorist elements of your societies. Why would losing in Iraq be more damaging than losing in Afgahnistan? I also think that the Democrats can not sit idly by and allow the GOP to ram through the torture light and enemy combatants don’t get no stinkin due process legislation for fear of appearing “soft” on terrorism. As Dumbya himself has noted the war against terrorism is an ideological one and unless we maintain the moral high ground we can not win. I appreciate that most Americans are abject cowards, but the voters have to be convinced that Dumbya’s “tough” approach actually makes them less safe by guaranteeing that the war against terrorism will never be won. A difficult argument to make because it involves more than sound bites, but frankly I love this country too much to support any candidate who is willing to sacrifice its future because he or she thinks it is the best way to get elected and that includes Democrats. Democrats fall into the same trap that Dumbya fell into if you sink to the level of your adversaries instead of presenting your own vision. As far as I am concerned, no Democrat who does not take a principled stand to defeat the pending legislation will not get my vote or monetary support—ever.