Expertology

May 5, 2008 | Australian Values, Democracy, Humour, Media Values, OzPol Values, Religious Values, USPol, Values, War

Expertology

 

How the Experts Won the Iraq War in Weeks Rather Than Years

 

The newest Bill Moyers Journal episode includes an interview with Victor Navasky and Christopher Cerf, whose new book MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! OR HOW WE WON THE WAR IN IRAQ looks back at what the experts told us would happen in Iraq. It’s quite funny except it’s all true.
You can watch it here:

 

What the experts said:

DONALD RUMSFELD:
“It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”
CHENEY:
”I think it’ll go relatively quickly…weeks rather than months.”
PAUL WOLFOWITZ:
“We can say with reasonable confidence that the notion of hundreds of thousands of American troops is way off the mark…We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.

WILLIAM KRISTOL: “The first two battles of this new era are now over. The battles of Afghanistan and Iraq have been won decisively and honorably.”

RICHARD PERLE:  The war, “…ended quickly with few civilian casualties and with little damage to Iraq’s cities, towns or infrastructure…it ended… without the quagmire [the war’s critics] predicted…relax and enjoy it.”
MONA CHARON: “the man who slept through many classes at Yale and partied the nights away stands revealed as a profound and great leader who will reshape the world for the better. The United States is lucky once again.”
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “The only people who think this wasn’t a victory are Upper West Side liberals and a few people here in Washington.”
WILLIAM KRISTOL:”I think there’s been a certain amount of frankly.. pop sociology in America…that…the Shia can’t get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There’s almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq’s always been very secular.”

Here’s an excerpt from the interview with Navasky and Cerf:

VICTOR NAVASKY: Well, at every stage, there was someone who proclaimed that it was over. And– when this book came out, we were told isn’t it a shame that it’s coming out now, because the country has reached a turning point with the surge. And based on our research at the Institute of Expertology … we were sympathetic to the point of view that we’ve reached a turning point. Because, as we show in the book, in 2003, we were told by the President of the United States that we’ve reached a turning point. And then, in 2004, we were told we had reached a turning point.
And then, in 2005, we were told by Donald Rumsfeld we have reached a turning point. And then– So every year, three or four times, we seem to have reached a turning point. So that’s one of the ways that we have triumphed.

 

BILL MOYERS: So how do you decide who is an expert? What makes an expert?

 

CHRISTOPHER CERF: Well, I think if you are in the government – this is one of the problems we have in the country – you are, by definition, an expert. In fact, you’re unpatriotic if you disagree with someone in the government. And your expertise, if you had any before, becomes suspect.

 

BILL MOYERS: But these experts also included scholars, pundits, columnists.

 

VICTOR NAVASKY: People are believed to be experts who proclaim their expertise. Some of them do it directly. Others do it by using jargon, by parading the number of articles they’ve published, by their titles, and by their uniforms. And then, people who have positions of status and power, whether in the press, who are supposed to be adversaries of the establishment. Or, you know, the heads of departments – great departments of government – are assumed to know what they’re talking about. So anyone who is presumed to know what he is talking about, we, at the Institute of Expertology are ready to say, as an expert, but you have to trust us – they don’t.

But who are their favourite “experts”?

VICTOR NAVASKY: I have a favorite expert and a friend. And Chris, I’m sure, has his. But my favorite quote – he’s my favorite expert. But it’s a quote by Paul Wolfowitz, who, you know, came from the academic community, and then had this very important career in the Defense Department, et cetera.
And he says, at one point, “I think foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq.”

The Devil Rides Again

Mar 21, 2008 | Australian Values, Democracy, Media Values, USPol, Values, War

The Devil Rides Again

 

Yes, Dick (“Dick”) Cheney has thrown off the coffin-lid; with a sulphurous emanation he has emerged from the flames of his hell; and he has spoken to a human – Martha Raddatz of American ABC News – about the War in Iraq and of his deathly dominion over all men (and women).

 

RADDATZ: Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: [with a smirk] So?

RADDATZ: So — you don’t care what the American people think?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

So let’s take a look at Lord Vader’s “fluctuations”. Surely, from what he said, opinions fluctuate pretty evenly between “for” and “against”.

Is the Iraq War worth the cost?

Um … gosh … It’s pretty obvious that however you look at it, the fluctuations are insignificant compared to the clearly increasingly negative opinion of Americans. In fact there has not been stable majority support for the war since about 2004/5.

But hey, let’s not get sidetracked by the facts. While we’re at it, why not claim, again, that Saddam ordered the 9/11 attacks and that he had WMDs, and that he had links to Al Qaeda.

Knowing it was a lie never stopped Dick (Dick) before.

Elsewhere:

In interviews to celebrate the fifth anniversary of peace and democracy in Iraq Bush answered “please may I suck your cock” questions from government employees from the Pentagon Channel, Voice of America and US-government-funded Radio Farda.

Bush expressed his view that it is very hard to trust governments if

“ they haven’t told the full truth…Once a nation hasn’t told the truth, it requires a lot of work to convince people that they’ll be telling the truth in the future.”

In your case, sir, to try would be a waste of time.

Froomkin reports,

“ Asked about his meeting with family members of those killed in battle, Bush responded: “I try to get them to talk about their loved one. I want to learn about each individual person who sacrificed, what they were like, what their interests were, and a lot of times the families love sharing their stories with the Commander-in-Chief.

Exactly! Once they have spoken to a man of god like myself, all the anguish and grief of losing a son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother, disappear and are replaced by sunshine and butterflies and laughter.

We were just wondering…why did you not interest yourself in the people you have been sending to their deaths in the first place, you know, like, “what they were like, what their interests were”?

And what is this:

“the individual person who sacrificed”.

Sacrificed?

Got shot in the head.

Blown up.

Torn apart.

Murdered.

They didn’t sacrifice. They were sacrificed. By you. You sacrificed them to your ego. They didn’t willingly throw themselves in front of a bullet, or lay their bodies down over a roadside IED. They got killed. By your madness.

Yes, we know it sounds better. It sounds holy and good. Even saintly. And the holy glow of their “sacrifice” makes you look beatific for giving them the opportunity.

Fuck you, George W. Bush 

In a videoconference with U.S. personnel in Afghanistan last week, Bush said:

“I must say, I’m a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you . . . in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks.”

Bush, of course, has always been keen to enjoy the romance of frontline warfare and he has always regretted being unable to share the fantastic, romantic excitement of Vietnam .

That was because of his need to be absent from the Texas and Alabama Air National Guards for extended periods – including those periods when he was required to pass an annual physical examination. At other times he was sadly required to make no effort to participate as a guardsman, and annoyingly at yet other times when he needed to show civilians in Alabama that he was a “Texas soufflé: all puffed up and full of hot air”.

We are sure that he is keen, though, to complete the 6 year military service commitment that he made in 1968 but never completed – and which in an amazing coincidence exactly covered the period of the Vietnam War – as soon as he is no longer “employed here”, say in January 2009.

Then he’ll be available to suit up and enjoy the romance of Afghanistan or Iraq.

And perhaps he will “sacrifice” there.

Passionate Indifference

Nov 17, 2007 | Australian Values, Capital Punishment, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Legal, Media Values, OzPol Values, Religious Values, Values, War

Passionate Indifference

Indonesian war crime 

 

” N SW Deputy Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, this week found that the newsmen known as the Balibo Five were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces 32 years ago to cover up the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

 

She has recommended that the Federal Attorney-General consider prosecuting those responsible, including military commander turned politician Yunus Yosfiah.

Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says any information referred to him by the coroner will be passed on to the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

 

Mr Ruddock says it is not his role to assess whether any offence has been committed, as the AFP are responsible for war crimes investigations and the DPP is responsible for prosecuting anyone charged.

Quite. And you would be entitled to expect that since it doesn’t have to do with secretly imprisoning Australians or incarcerating refugees the Nâzgul would have difficulty whipping himself into a frenzy of indifference about war crimes and injustice.

So why not do the obvious thing and palm the whole thing off onto the Indonesians’ friend, the notoriously inept Keelty and a DPP with a track record of getting the big questions wrong?

Luckily, the A-G will be toast (qua A-G) by Sunday and hopefully the Commissioner will do the decent thing and follow his masters into political oblivion.

Howard made the standard Howard-weasel-words flick-off: “I want to study what the coroner has said. I take what he [sic] said seriously. It was a tragic event and we will treat the coroner’s report seriously as it should be and if there’s anything we need to do, we will do it.”

And who would be deciding whether there was anything he needed to do? Why, he him very self! Standard plausible deniability. “Of course I didn’t lie. I said we would do anything we needed to, and we have determined there was nothing we needed to do, so we didn’t.”

Downer helped by explaining how it would be all too hard.

Rudd has been slightly more positive – “those responsible should be held to account” – but still leaving it up to someone else.

Then there’s the Indonesians. “Just because we love the death penalty and call it part of our “positive laws”, doesn’t mean we like killing people…oh, except Australians. Oh, and the Timorese. Oh, and the West Papuans.”

Hopefully we won’t leave it all to the corruption, ignorance, racism, bigotry and brutality of the Indonesian glitterati – its politicians, military, police, judiciary and religious leaders.

Disaster Capitalism

Oct 14, 2007 | Australian Values, Border Security, Capital Punishment, Citizenship, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Economic Values, Global Warming, Immigration, Legal, Media Values, OzPol Values, Racism, Religious Values, Science Values, Terrorism, Values, War

Disaster Capitalism

 

In other news…

Better the devil you know?

 

Howard’s appeal on 60 Minutes tonight fits right into the well-worn Disaster Strategy.

 

On the one hand:

“you’ve never had it so good”

but on the other:

“these are savage, uncertain and untamed times”.

In other words, you should feel disoriented and anxious and hang on to what you know.

“Love me or loathe me, people know where I stand and what I believe in.”

Quite so, John.

It’s just that we hate what you stand for and despise what you believe in and we don’t want any more of it.

Loose Ends, Bad Ends

Aug 28, 2007 | Australian Values, Corruption, Democracy, Legal, OzPol Values, Terrorism, USPol, Values, War

Loose Ends, Bad Ends

  

Loose ends:

 

‘Lying’ Downer,

the Minister for opening his mouth and seeing what comes out, denying everything on principal and making it up as he goes

”  has rejected claims of a major connection between opium production in Afghanistan and funding of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and terrorist groups in South-East Asia.”

Also, water flows uphill.

Philip Ruddock

this week opined that people are sick of opinion polls and won’t decide whom to vote for until the campaign gets under way.

”  I think people have been polled out, quite frankly…In the end, I think people do make their judgments not only on your record but on the vision you have for the future…”

What he meant to say was that coalition politicians are sick of opinion polls that keep showing Labor with a 14-point 2PP lead.

Also, according to Friday’s Burson-Marsteller survey of 1156 voters only 77% of them have firmly decided whom they’ll vote for, and only 56% of them have decided to vote for Labor.

Also, we agree that the coalition has done a good job of articulating its vision for the future: more of the same, lots more, except meaner and greyer and colder.

Howard

Despite his determination to paint every Australian as a Palestinian-style terrorist who just can’t be trusted, a delinquent intent on murder and mayhem, who deserves to be locked away from the cringingly-fearful Israeli-style power elites behind a three-metre high steel wall, Howard is proud of the opportunity to display one of the beautiful cities of the world (minus inhabitants, of course) to his powerful pals. It’s just so sad that they won’t be able to see anything of the city except for, you know, a three-metre high steel wall.

 

 

Bad End

 

Alberto Gonzalez

Bush’s nasty, slimy, footpad, redefines “American Dream”, “lead”, “public service”, “honorable”, and “noble”.

Video evidence:

Also evidence of his slimy dishonesty :

George Bush

redefines “integrity”, “decency”, “principle”, “service”, “good name”, “talented”, “honorable”

Senator Chuck Schumer (D)

covers more of the ground here.

‘My Culture the Bastard Child’

Aug 27, 2007 | Arts, Australian Values, Citizenship, Cultural Values, Democracy, Economic Values, Lifestyle & Life, OzPol Values, Religious Values, Values, War

‘My Culture the Bastard Child’

This angry, loving, passionate, poetic piece from John White was a comment on the previous post but we love it so much we do not want it lost in the wastes of commentdom.

It deserves to be shared with you. So here it is:

 

Australian Values, Australian Gold
John White

I live in a nation of ghosts and spirits, of Anzac martyrs and rural massacres. The damp soil of Gippsland, the haze of her mountain ash – I was born here; but if you think that being Australian is a birthright, you do not understand my country.
My country is wattle and blood.

Melbourne is all around me, the ferns protecting William Ricketts, the river whose Yarra water draws up the clay, the bindi-i in the summer grass, and the two-dollar buskers and cafes edging the wide streets.

The magic of my land whispers deeper than prawns on barbies and bikinis in utes. I have lost patience with displays of bloody-minded jingoism. Posts are for football, not for displaying the flags of patriotic insecurity.

Leaving Bendigo in 1916, my great grandfather’s mining lungs could not contend with the poison air of the Somme fields. He died on a hospital ship, never to return. He had marched under the flag and sung the anthem; they were rags and noise compared to the children he left orphaned at home. The entrepreneurs of war lied to him, but his intention was true.

I am a part of the Australian community. Do not glibly say “one nation”: our country longs to be as one.

We slag on the vacuous slogans of politicians and the questionnaires of immigration bureaucrats. Our parliament mound infested with termites. They rejected our values when they took office shaking the hands of the perentie clans, their business mates. Leadership must be earned. Our Kelly sons went way too far in their war on the authorities, but we felt the injustice that took them to the edge.

Nor do we fear religion. We have been inside temples and churches, listened to humanists and prayed in mosques. Our feeble attempts to understand the transcendent only gives us affection for our fellow peoples, and a desire to depose the little kings of racism and fear that threaten their peace.

We celebrate our failures. Peter, Lalor’s wounding at Eureka stockade, the betrayal of Nancy Wake in resistance France, Albert Namatjira despondent in prison; these people are our characters. To be ‘true blue’ is not the ashes of success; it is to have integrity.

We demand a fair go for all humans, for family and friends and especially strangers. We barrack for the underdog (even at times for Collingwood!). We want to hear the stories of the refugee children, to decide for ourselves. And we know that it is never too late to engrave a treaty, to admit our past failures.

For I am an Australian, my culture the bastard child of indigenous and intruder civilisations. Not until I acknowledge our rainbow heritage can I know who I am. Only when I understand that this ground cannot be bought and sold am I truly at home. The home that I love.

 Coburg, June 2007