I'm sorry I missed the sy hersh piece. Thanks for drawing my attention to this. The idea that fighting a war looks anything like, say, the quiet progress a scientist makes when he or she doesn't give up after testing 1000 possible solutions to a problem is truly absurd. I've got nothing against the book or its author, or even the mediocre minds that require such self help hand jobs, but for g-d's sake *actions that include the deaths of one to infinity people are not failures that can be turned into sucessess like when I turn a fallen chocoloate souffle into brownies* they can't be rethought, renamed, or revalued in some clever way. The deaths *are* the failure and that failure is *final*.
aimai
Posted by aimai at February 3, 2007 04:30 AMIn this WH, failure is good. It builds character for future failures (tongue planted firmly in cheek). So, people die because of your failures. No big deal. That's the cost of failing. Tell that to the families of the dead.
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2007 06:19 AMOr maybe they should check out Reed Hundt's column at TPM Cafe:
At a conference on the shores of the Bay of Bengal I happened to have a long talk with a former general who while on active service ran an army engaged in conflict with a major Muslim nation. His comment about the "surge" was this: "You never reinforce a losing situation."
Posted by Susan S at February 3, 2007 06:28 AMI am not at all sure to take this piece too seriously. I have known since high school that America is the land of freedom---to fail. That is the attraction. You get the CHANCE to succeed, but the freedom to fail any way you want. And if you believe life is a succession of experiences through time, how could you not fail (or succeed) forward?
Self-help books are pretty much the same. Lou Grant (the MTM version, the serious journalist who failed forward thereafter) once famously said:
"Why is everybody always on the road to being somebody else?"
As aimai astutely observes, no one in their right mind would think that one of these BS business/investor-success pulps is "applicable" to international diplomacy and military strategy.
As though Deadeye has the same moral right to "take new risks" with the lives of others and the fate of nations as an investor does with HIS own money or a businessman does with HIS failing business. Disgusting, repulsive AND simple-minded.
But this gives chilling insight into the cretinous, self-centered "conservative" minds of Deadeye Dick and his psychotic flunkies. Too bad they've got the US military at hand to carry out their future failures.
Posted by euzoius at February 3, 2007 06:58 AMOkay, a constant (boring?) theme of mine: Bush has not failed according to 'Texas Good Old Boy' standards, he has succeeded in enriching his circle of friends with tons of money and has gained power and ego enhancement in the bargain. The country's health, for many, is determined by the health of Wall Street where frat boy is golden. These people simply don't look at events the same way we do. Read the Wall Street Journal's editorials. These people are different, and they are not failing now, they are getting very, very rich with OPM--other people's money (ours).
Isn't that the American capitalist way? Wall Street thinks it is--and so does Congress. Trust me, it'll get worse. We ain't seen nothin' yet. The Pentagon wants $622 billion for corporate welfare in 2008 at a time when the US is threatened by no other country and so doesn't even need a standing military.
Posted by Don Bacon at February 3, 2007 07:26 AMPoint taken, Don. The Bushco economy is buoyed by outlandish Keynesian militarist "defense" spending and Cheney's Halliburton stock options (how can he legally have any?) reportedly have increased 40-fold in value.
But the Colonel is reporting that Cheney's OWN STAFF is reading this "failing forward" shit, so clearly some of THEM have got the idea that there's some failure going on somewhere.
And however "rationally delusional" Cheney, Bush and the WSJ monied "conservatives" are, they know the standards for success that history measures presidents by, and it ain't "did the stock market do exceptionally well" or "did the wealthiest Americans make an incredible killing"?
As rich as this appalling group have made themselves at the expense of the nation, they can still sense the rancid stink and stench of "failure".
Posted by euzoius at February 3, 2007 08:03 AM“Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.”
Aren't you allowed to 'fold' in poker? You know, when your hand is so shitty you will lose the ranch? I think I understand now. Cheney et al are playing with someone elses ranch on the table. That makes it much easier to make these decisions to keep on bluffing with a shitty hand as you pour Trillions into something that only has a return for your buddies.
Too bad these jackoffs don't have a copy of the Constitution or some religous book around. They should stop getting their directions from the Salvadoran baby skulls left to them by Ray-gun admisistration. How these charlatans can look at their children and grandchildren and do what they are doing around the world is beyond me. The Golden Age, repelete with its evolutionary theories, has returned with a vengance.
Posted by phidipides at February 3, 2007 08:06 AMThis WH seems to have a fascination with the # ONE. A foreign policy of you're with us or against us, our plan is the only plan, the Executive Branch is the only branch; they choose to surge the military non-option and shrivel diplomacy; and now I see they are worshiping the simplistic pep talk/answers from ONE book. The tough part about diplomacy is by its very definition it demands complex arguments and weights the power of intellectual sway while the military stands apart and at the ready. I always get the feeling that they are demanding that the military not give up what this WH never engaged in in the beginning.
Posted by mainsailset at February 3, 2007 08:41 AMBush has not failed, " he has succeeded in enriching his circle of friends with tons of money and has gained power and ego enhancement in the bargain."
Don, how right you are. Thanks for reminding us that success to the upper 1% is not the same as success to the rest of us bottom feeders, aka, chattering class.
Posted by Judith at February 3, 2007 08:45 AMeuz,
I am always amused by people who think that, deep down inside, Bush and Cheney must really, really feel badly about what they're doing. Cheney has moved into a $2.9 million house in Maryland, his Halliburton stock options have risen in value from $240,000 to $8 million with the wars, do you really think that he gives a fuck what history thinks of him? I don't think so. These people hang out with their own and write their own history.
The country's in the toilet, with a new war coming up, who gives a shit what Cheney's OWN STAFF is reading? What is this, gossip web?
Nearly every recent US president has left office in disgrace, big deal. The impeached Clinton is bouncing around like a blown-up toy, and some want him to run again. Believe it or not, some people would rather be rich than famous. They can buy friends who adore them.
Sam,
then there's the ever-true examples of the no-talent rich kid brats who blow through their trust funds and end up broke. Only this time, the trust fund is the United States wealth ever funded by the taxpayers.
If Bush & Cheney don't get their funding requests from the Dems, then all they have to do is start shifting funds from other sources...say maybe $1.3B from NOLA levee rebuilding.
Posted by Alex at February 3, 2007 09:25 AMChrist, now we have the administration developing war strategy by reading motivational literature, kind of like Chicken
Soup for the Chickenhawk Soul.
BTW, did anybody see that Hillary spoke at an AIPAK get together, called Iran an enemy, said that striking Iran would not be taken off the table? AIPAK, the lobby of a foreign government that was involved in the Franklin spying affair.
Posted by Julie at February 3, 2007 09:34 AMSam,
if there's ever been a valid case for dismantling the DoD and the standing military, and going back to the War Department like it was under Truman, this has been it.
This adventure was never about Saddam & WMDs, Iraq, Iran or anything else.
It was all about handing out contracts to weapons and arms makers and companies like Halliburton & KKR. That's the sole and only reason. To keep fighting the Cold War, and if there's no Cold War, recreate one. This was what Eisenhower said in Farewell Address about the military industrial complex...what we now have.
In the 21st century, people and countries will "vote" with their money, by transferring it globally from countries/corporations/people/etc. That's 21st century warfare.
Posted by Alex at February 3, 2007 09:37 AMJesus, Julie, at least get the acronym right--it's AIPAC.
Posted by Julie at February 3, 2007 09:38 AMAs far as Rodham, she'll say anything to get elected.
If she wasn't married to Bill, no one would giver her a second look...fat ankles and all.
Posted by Alex at February 3, 2007 09:41 AMSisyphus
Posted by k at February 3, 2007 09:44 AMOne gives a shit about what they're reading because it's evidence of what some of the cabal is thinking, which may help one guess what they plan to do---Neocons think they're great ideological philosophers of power. But call it "gossip web" if you want. It seems of value to me.
BTW, some time ago you put up a link about Madison's views regarding the Congress's power to end a war. It was a great quote, but I can't find it---could you refer to it again, please?
Posted by euzoius at February 3, 2007 09:52 AMIts called HUBRIS. "Even when we're failing, we're really succeeding". When you try to convince others of this, its called deception.. when you HAVE convinced yourself, its called delusion...
Posted by tjschill at February 3, 2007 10:07 AMPop Management claptrap. Feh.
'Failing forward' doesn't work so well when you are walking along the edge of a roof. Sometimes it's not about 'refusing to admit defeat', it's about 'your brains splattered across the pavement'.
Posted by biggerbox at February 3, 2007 10:17 AMIf there was any justice on this mudball, the 4 horsepeople of the apocolypse(conarteesta, gates,deadeye and chimpy)should have to lead the charge of the surge-lite brigade.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 3, 2007 11:16 AMThe idea of the Cheney regime taking risks is mistaken. None of their families, friends, or friends' families are getting killed or maimed.
Posted by jwrjr at February 3, 2007 11:35 AMbillmon had a great post (sigh), but his archives are down. something about the "flight forward," which was a term used by the nazis -- an audacious, impossible agression to get out of the last disaster. my german fails me, though.
Posted by benjoya at February 3, 2007 01:19 PMFor James Madison fans:
Madison insisted that the power of commander in chief be kept separate from the power to take the nation to war: "Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded. They are barred from the latter functions by a great principle in free government, analogous to that which separates the sword from the purse, or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws."
http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep03.html
This is linked to the page "How Does It Happen" on my Smedley Butler website.
Posted by Don Bacon at February 3, 2007 03:25 PMbenjoya,
Here's a link to an archive of Billmon's work. It's not everything, but maybe you can find the piece you're looking for:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://billmon.org
You see this type of training ("create your own reality" through "the power of positive thinking") from biz school lecturers, motivational speakers at sales rallies, sports psychologists, and fundamentalist preachers.
It has become very popular, and there actually is a body of research that shows this kind of motivational training does improve performance -- especially when taught in groups that buy into the same terminology and concepts. Measurable improvements have been shown, for example, in the air force amongst the top squadrons, and in sports within the best performing teams (remember the admonition to "be perfect" in Friday Night Lights? -- this is a great example of this technique).
Unfortunately, the known weakness of this type of training is that it is exceptionally vulnerable to groupthink, notably in groups whose jobs don't have objective measures of success/failure.
Posted by mba at February 3, 2007 04:15 PMthanks, susan!
Posted by benjoya at February 5, 2007 09:36 AMIt's not just hack How-To leadership advice, it's hack How-To leadership advice "To equip international Christian leaders to effectively serve the growing Body of Christ around the world." or "Blending Biblical Wisdom with Workplace Excellence". It's almost as though these people are managing a holy war, not US national security.
The author, John C. Maxwell, heads multiple organizations from ministries to leadership seminars that all preach the same crapola. If I want to learn about Jesus and leadership I'll read the Bible, not John C. Maxwell. Adding other 'books' is hardly Christian now is it?
See link in sig for more on Maxwell from his ministry or click the link below for one of his 'leadership' seminars.
http://www.injoy.com/