Today's Washington Post has an article entitled 'The World According to Rummy'. In it, Bob Woodward reports the following:
On May 1, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld circulated a secret memo titled "Illustrative New 21st Century Institutions and Approaches." The six-page document, excerpted below, highlights the Iranian threat, calls for a multilateral military force and argues that the United States' antiquated system of government makes competence "next to impossible." I obtained the contents of this memo while reporting for "State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III" (Simon & Schuster).-- Bob Woodward
Several of the suggestions Rummy makes in this memo are very ominous. Join me below...
Rumfeld states:
Today, as U.S. goals in the world at large have changed, existing international institutions have failed to adapt sufficiently. Effective international organizations are needed to bring competence to such areas as quick reaction forces, military training, military police training, counterproliferation, capacity building for the rule of law, governance and domestic ministries. This may require institutions designed for those purposes rather than struggling to reform existing institutions to take on tasks for which they are ill suited.
Rummy is calling for the military to develop a lightning fast response or 'Blitzkreig' if you will.
The broader [U.S. government] structure is still in the industrial age and it is not serving us well. It is time to consider a new Hoover Commission to recommend ways to reorganize both the executive and legislative branches, to put us on a more appropriate path for the 21st century. Only a broad, fundamental reorganization is likely to enable federal departments and agencies to function with the speed and agility the times demand. The charge of incompetence against the U.S. government should be easy to rebut if the American people understand the extent to which the current system of government makes competence next to impossible.
WTF??? So we need to rewrite the Constitution because we unwashed masses just don't get it? With his track record I wouldn't trust Rummy with organizing a bake sale. Remind me again who was the Seretary of Defense for Ford during the end of the War in Vietnam? (Oh... Right)
Foreign assistance. The present structure of the U.S. government foreign assistance is an anachronism. A system is needed that recognizes assistance for what it really is, a component of our national security strategy. In simple terms, DOD has resources but not authorities, while State has authorities but not resources. . . . The only choice is to trash the current laws and to undertake a total overhaul of the current systems.
State department? We don't need no stinking State department. Is he calling for a Ministry of Peace?
Strategic communications . . . A new U.S. agency for global communication could serve as a channel to inform, educate and compete in the battle for ideas. . . .
And a Ministry of Truth? It sure looks like it... Mr. Orwell Line 1... Mr. Orwell, Line 1...
Today the centers of gravity of the conflict in Iraq and the global war on terror are not on battlefields overseas. Rather, the center of gravity of this war are on the centers of public opinion in the U.S. and in the capitals of free nations. The gateways to those centers are the international media hubs and the capitals of the world.
I thought we were fighting them over there... yada yada yada...
When the U.S. government tries to compete in the communications arena it runs up against lack of national consensus and understanding about what means are acceptable to the media and to the Congress and disagreements as to what is legal. . . .
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier...just as long as I'm the dictator..."
- George W. Bush - Washington, DC, Dec 18, 2000, during his first trip to Washington as President-Elect
We cannot rest until we take back the House AND Senate on Nov. 7th. We cannot allow this group of facists even one more day of unchecked power!