steissd usual razzle dazzle -- when does this kind of reaction stop? When the facts are thrust in their face like a giant cream pie.
Links Bush - Bin Laden are more concrete than links Hussein - Bin Laden.
Hence, Bush must be reckoned with.
The broadest problems have been alluded to here already:
1. That agencies like Central Intelligence and National Security need a raison d'être in the void left by the collapse of an international communist threat.
2. That there are conservative organizations with agendae based upon political propositions which are held with the rigor and the fervor of religious certitude, justifying any means to further the program proposed to achieve certain goals, or to defeat alleged dangers.
John Le Carré's The Looking Glass War is his finest novel in terms of a spare, economic and compelling narrative style. It tells the brief, pathetic story of a small, insignificant espionage agency which attempts to manufacture intelligence data to justify its continued existence. I mention it because it is only necessary to consider how much larger the stakes are for the thousands of employees (from full-time to "stringers") who benefit from the continued size and power of Central Intelligence and National Security, and to consider how much power they wield and how many resources are at their disposal. The proposition that these individuals, acting either as individuals, or in conspiratorial groups, would take drastic measures to continue their meal ticket is quite reasonable.
In the second case, i am reminded of the passage in 1984 in which Winston agrees to take any steps to defeat the regime of Big Brother, including throwing vitriol in the face of a child. When he is taken in, and then put through the interrogation/reindoctrination process, this statement on his part is used by his tormentors to convince him that he is no better than they. The difference between that literary construct and the very real conservative organizations alluded to, is that the zealots of the latter would likely never be abashed to consider that they were "as bad as the terrorists," because, of course, to their minds, their cause has the authority of holy war.
Very good, Setanta, you made a correct psychogenesis there. Out of enemies? Make new ones. If that doesn't work... imitate new ones. That's how brutally self-sustaining the NSC has become.
For all us real oldies (but goodies), Set, the reminders of the past are all over the place. Your reference to The Looking Glass War is exactly right. And today I once again listened to Les McCann's "Reality Compared to What!" and wished I could post the music right here.
You've put your finger on one of my betes noires -- the tendency of organizations to manufacture reasons for their survival in spite of human cost. If any single candidate actually acknowledged this and said he'd do something about it, I wouldn't just vote for her/him, I'd just about lick his/her feet!
Clinton licked their heels and opened the gates of hell with his statement that the CIA was needed now more than ever. Since then, the bin Laden construction could be sold to the public.
